Reward Value is founded in 2018 by Frederic Barge. In 2020, Reward Value was transformed into the Reward Value Foundation & The Reward Value Association.
All research activities are initiated and owned by the Foundation. The foundation has a board of directors, supervisory board and advisory council to ensure quality and transparency. The Reward Value Association enables our stakeholders to become part of Reward Value and strengthen the positive change.
Reward Value comprises the Reward Value Foundation & The Reward Value Association. The Foundation owns an initiates all research activities. A board of directors, supervisory board and strategic advisors ensure transparency and quality.
Establishing Principles of responsible remuneration, accompanied by models and an index in accordance with those principles, will enable the change. In using a solid academic foundation, the discussion on executive pay is structured on facts rather than on emotions. This will allow firms, organizations, and regulators to establish the necessary changes towards responsible remuneration aligned to long-term sustainable value creation in contribution to a safe, healthy, and sustainable planet and society.
We conduct academic research that answers the how-question and validates the change towards modernised pay. Our academic stakeholders contribute to the quality of the academic research and validation.
Drive change from within by involving all relevant stakeholders. The change must have broad support and concrete applications. In this, consultants, institutional investors, and corporates themselves play a major role.
Safeguard the implementation of modernised pay. The successful realisation of impact and change is significantly enhanced by active involvement of and with regulators.
of responsible remuneration
of responsible remuneration
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Frederic is a former KPMG partner and HR executive at large organisations, Frederic has held a number of global positions for businesses and institutions at a management and supervisory level on executive remuneration. Some of his career highlights are Head of Compensation and Benefits for ING’s Real Estate, Insurance, Investment Management businesses before becoming ING’s Global Head of Performance and Reward. Global Head of ABN AMRO’s Reward and Performance Management teams. Senior Vice President Total Rewards for Ahold / Ahold Delhaize N.V. for Day-1 readiness in light of the merger between Ahold and Delhaize. A Reward Consultancy and HR Strategy advisor to the Executive Committee and Supervisory Board for Robeco Institutional Asset Management.
Frederic is a published author and recognised thought leader, who actively participates in sector discussions in the financial services industry in light of the guidelines from regulatory bodies on compensation, with particular expertise in: Executive remuneration, Private Equity compensation programmes, Equity plans, Corporate governance, HR aspects in M&A transactions, Performance assessment.
Danique Sondermeijer has been involved with Reward Value from the very beginning and is Reward Value’s Community Lead. Before joining Reward Value in 2018, she worked at corporates such as Ahold Delhaize and CRH.
“As a community lead, I think it’s important to build good relationships with the specific stakeholder. Keep everyone connected and establish a clear structure so we mutually know what is expected. In addition, my goal is to increase the value for the stakeholders as a whole by connecting. By bringing together the knowledge and insights of our stakeholders, you often come up with the most valuable lessons and new ideas.”
Also in her private life, she is the guiding force of the family for her husband and their three-year-old twins.
Mattijs graduated in Tax Law at the University of Amsterdam. He started in tax consultancy and then held a number of positions in the area of executive remuneration at international corporations such as ING and Ahold Delhaize.
Mattijs will start at Reward Value to look at the same topic from an independent position. He will mainly focus on content and manage the various research initiatives.
“More effective executive remuneration policies lead to better outcomes for all stakeholders. The alignment of purpose, performance and pay is a key contributor to the change for good. The need for change is clear. I look forward to being part of developing the road to the required change; establising principles of responsible remuneration based on fact based reseach”
Martijn worked for Robeco for 20 years of which the last 6 years as the Business manager of the HR department. Amongst others Martijn was responsible for implementing a new HR system (Workday) and running the Performance Management Cycle together with the head of HR. Martijn will join Reward Value as a research manager focussing on the reward analytics.
He is 49 years old and married to Judith, together with their two children they live in a small village near Gouda.
“The long-term sustainable value creation of a company accompanied with a sustainable reward system is appealing to me. The evidence based and equality approach will encourage the creation of wealth and well-being for the society at large.”
Caitlin (Cat) graduated with an LL.B with a specific focus on Corporate Law from Stellenbosch University in South Africa, as well as completing an additional major in French and a minor in Economics. She then completed her Masters in Law and Economics at the Università degli Studi di Torino, where her thesis focused on market design theory and private technology transfer.
Shortly after she began working with Reward Value, she decided to pursue a career in transnational politics, and is taking an additional Masters in European Affairs at Università degli Studi di Padova, with a focus on economic policymaking. Apart from academics, Cat is a qualified sommelier, passionate about the food & wine industry and a published poet.
Anamim is a Master of Science in International Sustainability Management candidate from Calgary, Canada. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance from the Haskayne School of Business and is passionate about bridging the gap between traditional corporate operations and finance, and sustainable development. Before beginning her Masters, Anamim worked in the international trade sector and was Chair of a not-for-profit organisation that worked to provide resources, community-based support and culturally-appropriate goods to immigrant, refugee and otherwise underprivileged individuals.
“I am excited to be a part of the team at Reward Value and contribute to potentially disruptive research and projects. I am passionate about finding, analysing and communicating data to support corporations move towards science-based sustainability goals and improve their economic, environmental and social sustainability.”
On the weekends, Anamim enjoys watching Formula One races, barbecuing for friends, or discovering a new hiking or off-roading trail.
Jacques graduated with his LL.B and LL.M cum laude from Stellenbosch University in South Africa,where he focused on competition law and public procurement. He is currently completing his second LL.M at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, where he writes about law, economics, and ex post merger review.
Prior to joining Reward Value, Jacques served as Head of Outreach for a non-profit organization in South Africa, worked pro bono at the Labour Courts in Cape Town, and represented Utrecht University at the 2022 Herbert Smith Freehills Competition Law Moot Court. In his free time he enjoys barbecuing with friends, talking about music, and learning about history.
Bruno is a graduate of the BSc in Civil Engineering of the Delft University of Technology. He is currently pursuing his MSc Transport, Infrastructure & Logistics at this same university. He expects to graduate from this after the summer of 2023.
From November 2021 until September 2022, Bruno has worked as Junior Project Manager for Zoncoalitie, a consultancy in solar PV systems. When given the chance to work at Reward Value as a database intern, Bruno decided to contribute to the change towards a more sustainable economy.
Theodore is from the Peak District in the UK, but lived both in Egypt and Northern Cyprus during his teenage years. Due to the contrasting experiences he had living in these countries, he developed a fascination for interpersonal and person-environmental interaction. From this, he decided to undertake a BSc in Counselling Psychology from Worcester University. During his degree, he became interested in researching altruism and reciprocity; specifically, environmental and interpersonal factors that stimulate altruistic tendencies. This research was later presented at the first official Evolutionary Cyberpsychology Conference and is currently in press. After finishing his BSc, Theodore moved to the Netherlands to complete an MSc in Social and Organisational Psychology, at Leiden Univerisity.
When not pondering the nuances of human social cognition and behaviour, Theodore can be found enjoying Leiden from his kayak, and when time allows, road-tripping and hiking around Europe.
Coming from Madrid, Spain, Mónica is a graduate Economist specialised in Economic Development and Growth. She obtained her Master’s studies at Lund University, Sweden, where she developed a special focus in inequality and welfare analysis. She is heavily interested in reading about Economic History and how are past events influencing economic settings and decisions today. Her interest for Economic Research comes ever since she started questioning the uneven allocation of resources in the world reading works by Thomas Piketty, Branko Milanovic and Xavier Sala i Martín. Her role at Reward Value is to research the convergence of firms in market valuation and account valuation, assessing whether externalities such as environmental damage are being insufficiently priced in the share price of firms. Looking forward to following her work!
Laurenz is currently pursuing an international bachelor’s degree in economics and business at Erasmus University Rotterdam, for which he spent a semester abroad in Indonesia. Aside from his studies, he is actively studying modern statistical theories and the most recent data analysis concepts. In addition to his nearly two years of working experience in the field of data science. He won the audience award in a national student competition, for developing a quantitative framework to determine BNG Bank’s net impact on the Sustainable Development Goals, supported by a gamification strategy to engage customers in sustainability. At Reward value, Laurenz combines his passion for sustainability with his knowledge of data analytics. The only thing that he values more than learning is spending time in the outdoors, where you can find him hiking in the mountains or skiing on the slopes.
Martina holds a LLB degree in Comparative, European and International Legal Studies from the University of Trento (Italy). She graduated cum laude in 2021 with a thesis on Human Rights Due Diligence and workers’ rights.
Currently, she is attending the LLM in Law and Economics at Utrecht University (Netherlands). Her main academic interests lie in EU competition law, sustainable development and corporate governance.
Her previous experience includes working as a Legal Intern at a consulting start-up in Dublin (Ireland), where she was able to put in practice her knowledge. During her studies, she also volunteered for the local Erasmus Students Network chapter.
She likes to spend her free time playing volleyball, trying out new recipes with friends and going to the cinema.
incent has extensive experience in the business community at large leading firms like Shell and Ahold Delhaize. He has led many complex transformations. He knows what change means and is therefore a valuable addition to Reward Value, which is all about change. Currently, he is board member at Deloitte Netherlands and IDNH B.V. He is also member of the board of Slachtofferhulp Nederland, ProDemos and museum Slot Loevestein, an advisory board member of the European Leadership Platform, council to the Dutch Ondermeningskamer, member of the selection committee of court judges in the Netherlands, and an active contributor to NL2025 and nlgroeit. As Reward Value, we are very grateful for Vincent’s commitment to the foundation. His expertise and public orientation are important enablers for our mission.
“Addressing executive remuneration as a catalyst for a transition towards more purpose-led organizations is very relevant to me”, Vincent says. “I gladly support the Reward Value Foundation”.
Adriaan Swart is an independent, trusted financial advisor with a broad experience in many professional fields of interest. He is a specialist in being a generalist, which enables him to recognize connections between different specializations and to provide guidance and insight into complex matters. He advises entrepreneurs, corporations, non-profit organizations and individuals on economics, finance, taxes, investing, estate planning etc.
Adriaan has worked for Swart&co Accountants for more than 40 years, of which 30 years as partner. During his career he acted as auditor, financial and tax advisor, mediator and focused on being the client’s financial general counsel.
Adriaan studied Economics at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsteardam and has a Postgraduate Accountancy.
Russ is an Australian advertising executive and founder of Twofish, a leading communication and advertising agency, servicing many of the Dutch multinational companies, translating complex topics into clear and strong messages. Russ has been involved with Reward Value from the beginning and is the mastermind behind the corporate identity of Reward Value and the producer of the video on the Reward Value website.
“Reward Value’s mission of changing executive remuneration in support of a sustainable regenerative economy servicing all stakeholders is very appealing and dearly needed. I am glad to support this important initiative”, Russ says, underscoring his personal commitment.