Nina de Korte (NL)

Nina de Korte is one of the leading forces in making steward ownership recognized in The Netherlands. She is author of 'Toekomstbedrijven' about steward ownership. For this book she and her co-author Gijsbert Koren spoke to CEO's and stewards of companies in tech, infrastructure, services and production that all have one thing in common: not shareholders but stewards hold the majority of voting rights. Patagonia, TBI, Crowdbuilding, Voys, Novo Nordisk, Zeiss, Bosch and Ecosia are examples of companies with such an ownership structure.

Nina is a governance expert with a background in the startup world, where she noticed that the 'Silicon Valley' model of growth at all costs had some serious downsides for the entrepreneurial ecosystem. If the 'exit' is our measure of startup succes, all promising and innovative companies will end up leaving the Netherlands. In recent geopolitical light, this concern has only gotten more urgent. Remember Solvinity? Steward ownership can be a solution for companies that operate in commercial and competitive markets, but want to avoid mission drift or hostile takeovers. All while maintaining the freedom of taking on outside investment.

Nina currently holds a position at the research group New Finance at The Hague University, and has been part of the knowledge- and advice organisation Foundation We Are Stewards since 2020. She is initiator and co-host of the steward ownership podcast and member of the Academic Committee of SOFA2026, and cofounder of surf + outdoor sports organization DROP Delft.