Executive Board
S.Y. (Sarah) Wilton-Wels MBA
Executive Board - Chair
Executive Assistant: Naomi Luijkx – +31 (0)6 - 81 104751, cvb-secretariaat@hr.nl
Biography
Sarah Wilton-Wels is the new Chair of the Executive Board of Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, having been appointed on 1 September 2023. She holds a bachelor's degree from Stenden Hotel Management College, a Master from Radboud University in Nijmegen, and has also successfully completed a post-master's Executive MBA at the Rotterdam School of Management.
She started her career in the financial sector with two long periods of service at the ING Bank and at the ABN AMRO Bank. In 2018, she switched sectors and started working in higher education. To highlight two positions, she was Director of Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University in Rotterdam, and since 2020 was a member of the board at Avans University of Applied Sciences.
Sarah lives in Rotterdam with her family.
Dr J.G.M. (Hanneke) Reuling
Executive Board – Member
Executive Assistant: Georgette de Vries, +31 (0)6-34 054810, cvb-secretariaat@hr.nl
Biography
Hanneke Reuling has been appointed member of the Executive Board of Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences with effect from 1 April 2024.
Hanneke has had a long career in higher education. After completing her professional training in Pastoral Care, she obtained a Doctorate in Theology cum laude from the Catholic Theological University of Amsterdam. In the following years she obtained her PhD at the Catholic Theological University of Utrecht. To complete her studies, she studied temporarily at the Oxford Centre for Jewish and Hebrew Studies.
Hanneke started her career in higher education at the Catholic Theological University of Utrecht as a doctoral candidate and lecturer. She then worked as executive secretary and coordinator of the PhD and research masters programme at the National Research School NOSTER.
She continued her career at Fontys University of Applied Sciences in Tilburg, where she worked as a lecturer, site manager and acting director. At the Eindhoven location of Fontys University of Applied Sciences, she then worked as Director of the Education and Research Department, where she was among other things responsible for quality assurance in education, research policy and libraries
Hanneke continued her career in Amsterdam, first for four years at the VU University Amsterdam as Director of Operations of the Faculty of Social Sciences. She then held the position of Vice-President of the Executive Board at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences from 2017.
drs. F.D. (Erik) Boels
Executive Board – Member
Executive assistant: Georgette de Vries, 06-34 054810, cvb-secretariaat@hr.nl
Biography
Erik Boels has been a member of the Executive Board at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences since 15 June 2025. His areas of expertise are business management and strategy.
After studying Business Economics at VU University Amsterdam, he began his career as a manager at Deloitte Consulting, where he worked for nine years. In 2008, he switched fields to higher education. At VU Amsterdam, he started as a controller.
From 2011 onwards, he was Director of Finance, Planning & Control. Between 2015 and 2017, he was also Director of Finance at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, and from 2021 to 2023 he was Director of Implementation Strategy at VU Amsterdam.
Erik is married and lives in Amsterdam.
Secretary
The roles of the Executive Secretary and the Secretary of the Supervisory Board are fulfilled by Maartje Hamans, Corine van Toor and Sascha Winkel .