Zwolle, December 12th 2019 – Marlies van Wijhe, CEO at Royal Van Wijhe Verf has been knighted in the “Order of Oranje-Nassau” by the mayor of Zwolle Peter Snijders on Wednesday the 11th of December. She received this honour on the basis of her 25th anniversary at family business Royal Van Wijhe Verf and her commitment to sustainability, innovation in the industry on a social and cultural level.
With more than 100 years of history, Royal Van Wijhe Verf is one of the oldest family businesses of The Netherlands. Director Marlies van Wijhe – business woman of the year 2010 – is committed to family businesses through FBNed, which offers a platform for consultation with VNO-NCW and MKB-Nederland on economic developments and social issues. Moreover, for many years she was active for trade association of Paint and Printing Ink Manufacturers (VVVF), where she contributed to the collective labour agreement, as chairman of the VVVF and as a board member.
Within Royal Van Wijhe Verf, Marlies van Wijhe focuses on the UN Sustainable Development Goals and encourages young people to make a difference. In addition, she has put together a ‘green team’ of enthousiastic ambassadors in the company. She looks for collaboration with various universities and other organisations such as the Polymer Science Park in Zwolle. In 2016, Royal Van Wijhe Verf was the first chemical company in the world to obtain the B Corp certificate. B Corps are organisations with the common goal of giving new meaning to success in business: ‘using business as a force for good’. B Corps meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.
In her other positions, Marlies van Wijhe also encourages a sustainable society on a cultural and social level by being active in the board of organisations such as Future For Nature and Stichting Drents Museum.
