Member of the Supervisory Board with a focus on finance and operations (member and prospective chair of the Audit Committee)

About Sité

A comfortable home for our tenants
Sité offers approximately 8,000 suitable and affordable homes to tenants in the municipalities of Bronckhorst, Doetinchem, and Oude IJsselstreek. Our goal is for everyone to have a nice home. A home is a house, yet so much more than that. It’s more than just bricks and mortar. We don’t just rent out homes; we work to create a comfortable home with and for our tenants. In a neighborhood where it’s safe, where there’s a strong sense of community, where people feel seen. For us, working together to create a comfortable home in the Achterhoek means staying close to the people. We’re constantly evolving and committed to making the necessary changes, with a heart for our current and future tenants in the wider area where our homes are located.

Collaboration and Vital Coalitions
We believe that together we can make a difference for our tenants. Collaboration is in our DNA. In the coming years, we will make an extra contribution to a thriving society, recognizing that our tenants’ various life domains (such as housing, work, education, health, and safety) intersect and influence one another. Drawing on our expertise in creating a “comfortable home,” we connect housing to these other areas of life. We do this by forming vital coalitions, both within our organization and with our tenants and professionals who, like us, are open to this approach. In the coming years, we will invest heavily in making our homes future-proof and keeping them affordable. Together with others, we are doing our utmost to keep neighborhoods livable. To this end, our employees are visible in the neighborhoods and districts, devising new housing concepts while simultaneously ensuring that our (financial) continuity is safeguarded. Would you like to know more about our ambitions? Then take a look at our Multi-Year Strategy 2022–2026.

Sound Financial Foundation
Sité is financially sound, and we intend to keep it that way. We have a strong operational foundation. This is essential, as the investments required for renovating and making our homes more sustainable place significant financial demands on us. We aim to ensure that we remain capable of realizing our ambitions in the long term. We do this by using three themes (affordability, availability, and sustainability) and by analyzing scenarios to assess the scope of our challenges in the short and long term, thereby enabling us to make appropriate strategic choices. In this way—in a context where this is becoming less and less a given—we ensure that we will still be able to offer our tenants a comfortable home fifty years from now.

Governance and the Supervisory Board of Sité

Sité is managed by a single-person board, the managing director. The Supervisory Board oversees the policies and performance of the managing director and the organization. In this regard, the members of the Supervisory Board serve, as it were, as the eyes of the organization. The Supervisory Board consists of a total of five members.

Collaboration is also a guiding principle for the members of our Supervisory Board. This means that we complement one another through our expertise, that we give each other the space to contribute our perspectives, and that we strive for unanimous decision-making. We aim to do this within a pleasant, open, and collegial governance culture.

The collaboration between our Supervisory Board and the CEO is characterized by:

• Trust as a foundation, while maintaining everyone’s specific responsibilities;
• The "no surprise" principle as a condition, based on mutual openness and the provision of complete information;
• Room for intuition and the unspoken to be taken for granted, with both the Supervisory Board and the CEO guided by a moral compass focused on doing what is right.

The Supervisory Board adheres to the Governance Code for Housing Associations issued by the industry association Aedes and the Association of Supervisory Board Members in Housing Associations (VTW). In addition, the duties, responsibilities, working methods, and appointment of members of the Supervisory Board are set forth inSité’s Articles of Incorporation, the Rules of Procedure of the Supervisory Board, and the Rules of Procedure of the Audit Committee.

The Supervisory Board and the CEO also have a supervisory framework in place, consisting of the vision on governance and supervision and an assessment framework. The guiding principles therein are:

• We place a focus on dialogue;
• We take a critical look, driven by genuine curiosity;
• We conduct situational monitoring;
• We make a conscious choice to embrace diversity.

We are looking for a member of the Supervisory Board with a financial background

We are seeking a member for our Supervisory Board with a financial background who will join our Audit Committee and is also capable of eventually becoming its chair. We are looking for a member with leadership experience in finance at the strategic and executive level. For example, you might be a CFO in an organization or a board member responsible for finance and operations. It is important that you are well-equipped to make the connection between mission and resources. You are curious and able to quickly grasp our strategic issues. In doing so, you think in terms of opportunities and possibilities. You are curious about what matters to our tenants and are a socially engaged person (as evidenced by your resume).

In short, we are looking for a Board Member who:

• Has experience in a managerial role (with responsibility for a financial portfolio);
• Has the ability to put things into perspective, engage in (self-)reflection, and has a sense of humor;
• Can bring clarity to discussions and is able to form an independent opinion on the broad topics discussed within the Supervisory Board;
• Has a good understanding of governance relationships and is able to build connections both formally and informally;
• Is able to share the financial knowledge required for the Supervisory Board’s decision-making with fellow Supervisory Board members;
• The Audit Committee of the Supervisory Board serves as a critical sounding board for the CEO and as a point of contact for the auditor;
• Feels at home on the board of directors of a housing authority where renewal and innovation are key to fulfilling its mission.

Other criteria applicable to all our Supervisory Board members are listed in the appendix.

Our Supervisory Board strives for a balanced and diverse composition, including in terms of gender, age, professional backgrounds, knowledge and expertise, ethnic origin, and personality traits. The Supervisory Board also seeks to be a true reflection of society. The current members of the Supervisory Board therefore represent a wide variety of backgrounds, expertise, experience, and personalities.

Compensation

The compensation for members of the Supervisory Board complies with the Act on Standards for the Remuneration of Senior Officials in the Public and Semi-Public Sectors.

Procedure

Sité is being assisted in this process by the executive search firm Colourful People. For more information about Sité, the position, and the application process, please contact Rick Verhoeven, a partner at Colourful People (06 267 067 57). You can express your interest by submitting a cover letter and resume (PDF) via the “Apply” button on this page. Rest assured that your information will be treated confidentially.

Schedule
The application deadline for this position is January 14, 2024. Interviews with the selection committee are scheduled for weeks 5 and 6. The intended appointment will take effect in May 2024.

Review by the Housing Association Authority

Part of the procedure for appointing a member to the supervisory board of a housing association involves a review by the Housing Associations Authority (Aw). Before the proposed appointment is reported to the Aw, a comprehensive assessment of the candidate’s qualifications and references is conducted. You can find more information about this on the Aw’s website.

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Appendix: General Profile of Supervisory Board Members

Internal Oversight at Sité

Sité’s Supervisory Board oversees the policies of our managing director and ensures compliance with legal, statutory, and other internal regulations. The managing director is accountable to the Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board acts as a representative of society and evaluates our policies against our social and societal objectives. The SB also assesses whether the Managing Director’s decisions have been made with due care. In light of Sité’s social objectives, the SB oversees all efforts to identify and manage risks. The Supervisory Board is responsible for its own functioning. The Supervisory Board and the Managing Director meet at least once a quarter to discuss matters related to Sité. Where necessary, the Supervisory Board acts as a sparring partner/advisor to the Managing Director.

General Criteria for Members of the Sité Supervisory Board

Members of our Supervisory Board:

• Are able to effectively analyze and reflect on complex situations at a strategic level;
• Have an affinity for Sité’s objectives and activities;
• Understand the characteristics of a regionally based housing association;
• Have knowledge of or experience in one or more of the following areas: public housing, finance, human resources, relevant real estate expertise, and legal knowledge;
• Understand the requirements that quality, efficiency, and continuity place on an organization such as Sité;
• Have a thorough understanding of the division of responsibilities and roles between the Supervisory Board and the CEO and be familiar with corporate governance issues;
• Have an understanding of the current state of affairs regarding good governance in the housing association sector;
• Have the capacity and the mindset to support the CEO by offering advice and serving as a sounding board;
• Be able to reason based on a balance between social and business interests;
• Possess integrity, a sense of responsibility, and an independent mindset;
• Are able to work effectively as part of a team;
• Are ambitious, sufficiently dedicated, available, and flexible;
• Be able to serve on a supervisory board as a representative of the company;
• Are socially active, politically aware, and have relevant networks;
• Be able to function effectively in networked environments;
• They are down-to-earth and have both feet firmly on the ground.

In addition, the Supervisory Board considers it important that its members demonstrate appropriate conduct: this refers to qualities that align with their personality and life experience, the most important of which are:

• Receptive, attentive, open-minded, listening, observant;
• Unbiased, proactive;
• Courageous, decisive, critical;
• Ability to reflect on oneself;
• Able to think in terms of opportunities rather than problems;
• Intrinsically motivated to serve as a member of the Board of Directors at Sité;
• The ability to think outside the box and think dynamically.