Officially, members of the Supervisory Board can only be reappointed once after serving their first term of four years. On January 1, Wennink started his third term, which will actually last two years instead of four. Appointments and reappointments are always made by the Minister. The Supervisory Board has an advisory role and monitors the functioning of the Executive Board.

Executive Board President Robert-Jan Smits is happy with Wennink’s appointment. “It is tremendous that Wennink, with his exceptional knowledge and experience, will remain available for another two years to guide and advise the Executive Board, as an additional guarantee of quality governance,” Smits was quoted as saying in a news item on the TU/e intranet. The University Council also approved the appointment. 

In the past year, TU/e saw a lot of personnel changes. In May 2023, Silvia Lenaerts was appointed as Rector Magnificus, Patrick Groothuis has been the new Vice President of TU/e since November 2023 and Eric van der Geer-Rutten-Rijswijk became the new university secretary effective January 1. These individuals have all been appointed to such roles for the very first time.

According to TU/e, Wennink’s reappointment was necessary because the Supervisory Board was facing the departure of two members in the coming twelve months, including chair Wennink himself. To safeguard continuity, the Supervisory Board filed a request for reappointment of Wennink with the Minister of Education.

At the end of November 2023, Wennink announced his farewell as President and CEO of chip machine manufacturer ASML. In April this year he’ll be succeeded by Frenchman Christophe Fouquet.