Feike Sijbesma is honorary chairman of Royal DSM and co-chair of the Global Center on Adaptation (together with Ban Ki-Moon). He is also a Climate Leader of the World Bank, focusing on carbon pricing as Carbon Pricing Champion, as well as member of the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum. Feike founded and is co-chairing the CEO Climate Leaders Group and is also a member of the Advisory Board of the IMF and co-chair of the UN Scaling Up Nutrition Movement.
He previously served as CEO of Royal DSM from 2007 to 2020 and transformed the company from a bulk-chemical company into a global leading life sciences company, focusing on nutrition (food), health, and sustainable living. At DSM, sustainability and innovation are not only key responsibilities but also core values and main business drivers. DSM became a clear purpose-driven company, being financially successful (doing well) by doing good for the world, e.g. by addressing the UN SDG’s. He created a very substantial total shareholder return. Feike is a strong advocate for inclusion and diversity as well.
From March until September 2020, Feike served as Covid-19 special envoy for the Netherlands. He also sits on a variety of boards, including as chairman of the Supervisory Board of Royal Philips, as a non-executive board member of Unilever, and as a member of the Supervisory Board of the Dutch Central Bank.
Feike is a recipient of the Humanitarian of the Year Award & Leaders of Change Award presented by the United Nations. He received an honorary doctorate from Maastricht University as well as University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Feike was included on Fortune‘s list of “The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” and on Harvard Business Review‘s list of “The Best-Performing CEOs in the World.” He also received the Courage to Lead award from the World Resources Institute. He got one of the Dutch highest royal decorations as Grand Officer in the order of Orange Nassau.
Feike studied medical (molecular) biology at Utrecht University and business administration at Erasmus University Rotterdam, in addition to following extensive courses at IMD Business School, INSEAD, and Harvard Business School. He is married and is the father of two sons.
