Board member Holly Herner about the quarterly meeting in Denver, USA

04 oktober 2018

The Lovinklaan Foundation – the largest shareholder in Arcadis – is led by employees of Arcadis. The board currently consists of seven Arcadians from different divisions and countries around the globe. They balance their day-to-day workload with their responsibilities for the Foundation; contributing to the continuity of the enterprise and helping Arcadians grow and reach their full potential. In addition to work on Foundation programs and communications by e-mail and multiple Skype calls, the Board meets face-to-face each quarter to discuss developments, make strategic decisions and meet local participants.

Holly Herner shares her experiences about the board meeting in Denver (USA), which took place in July 2018. She is a board member of the Lovinklaan Foundation and is the Regional Manager for Operations at Arcadis Michigan. Firstly, we were impressed by the number of Arcadians who attended our face-to-face meeting in Denver. Over 100 people joined either face-to-face or on Skype. It was great to interact with so many of our colleagues all at once.

INVESTING IN NEW PROGRAMS

During this meeting, the aim was to really dive into how digitalization has accelerated innovation. The local team in the US showcased how they pro-actively use digital innovations to raise the bar on a day-to-day basis. This gave us an understanding of the way every region has its own speed when it comes to driving digitalization and innovation. Nonetheless, it is of utmost importance to stimulate regions to invest in digitalization to future-proof our business. Therefore, Lovinklaan invested in Expedition DNA, a new program accessible to all Arcadis employees, that launched earlier this year. We looked back at the preliminary results, which are quite impressive: more than 5,500 people signed up and 1,700 of them completed BaseCamp. We look forward to having more Arcadians participate, and are extremely pleased with the initial feedback received from some of the 50 people that went on the first Expedition earlier this month.

In addition to Expedition DNA, Lovinklaan also recently launched another program, Roots of Arcadis. We had the opportunity to attend interactive Roots of Arcadis sessions with US participants– both online and offline – and were very impressed by the quality of questions and high level of engagement of the Arcadians involved. Moreover, we are proud that this program has such a positive impact on our employees.

IMPROVING THE GLOBAL SHARE PLAN

As a board, we are always looking for ways to improve the services Lovinklaan offers. We have therefore decided that it is time to update the services connected to the Global Share Plan. Equatex was the plan administrator for GSP as well as for LTIP (the Long-Term Incentive Plan). From October 2018 on, we will switch from Equatex to Global Shares. This means you will only need one account for both GSP and LTIP from now on, instead of two. Moreover, this new system will provide a more reliable online environment. Participants of both programs have received e-mails with extensive information about actions required. We hope that the transfer process will go smoothly for everyone and are looking forward to an improved continuation of the Global Share Plan and Long-Term Incentive Plan.

As a final note, we are happy to announce that both Todd Bechtel and Holly Herner have been appointed for another term, as they are crucial in the process of steering the Foundation into the right strategic direction.

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