Board advisory

Proven under pressure. Deepened from within.

Two decades in high-pressure executive roles, leading carve-outs, exits and restructurings. Alongside them, a profound personal transformation that changed how I see people, power and decisions. Boards get both: hard-won commercial experience, and the clarity to see what is really driving the room.

Request a confidential conversation
Maarten van Neerven in a dark blazer, arms folded

Roles

Three ways to join your board.

Non-executive director

A seat on the supervisory board or as NED, with full accountability and an independent voice.

Scale-ups, corporates, PE portfolio companies

Board advisor

Focused counsel to the board or chair on a specific transition, from first diagnosis to completion.

Carve-outs, transactions, restructurings

Sounding board to CEO and CFO

A trusted peer who has sat in the same chair, for the decisions that are hard to discuss internally.

Leaders in the middle of change

Typical mandates

When the ground is moving.

AI, capital markets and ownership changes are rewriting business models. Whether change comes from growth, a transaction or outside pressure, reactive strategy is no longer enough.

  • 01 Carve-out or separation from a parent
  • 02 Preparing for a sale, exit or acquisition
  • 03 Restructuring, turnaround or cash focus
  • 04 Founder or shareholder misalignment
  • 05 Funding and scaling to the next life stage
  • 06 Finance and operating model redesign

How a mandate unfolds

Two lenses, one clear direction.

  1. 01

    Listen

    A confidential conversation with the chair and key stakeholders. What is really going on?

  2. 02

    Diagnose

    Numbers, cash and structure — and the unspoken tensions, trust and energy in the leadership.

  3. 03

    Align

    One shared view of the whole, owned by the people who must carry it, not just the board.

  4. 04

    Stay the course

    Present at the moments that matter, until the transition holds without outside help.

What I bring to every board.

Calm when the stakes are highest

A carve-out of a €2.5 bn business, a founder conflict before a sale, a pandemic mid-scale-up. I stay clear under that pressure, and it steadies the board.

The real issue, early

Beneath the numbers I read the dynamics: misalignment, unspoken tension, eroding trust. I name them early, so the board deals with causes instead of symptoms.

Alignment that holds

Plans succeed when the people who carry them help shape them. I build that alignment between board, executives and shareholders.

Financial rigour

Twenty years in finance leadership: transparent cash, a sound capital structure and numbers the board can trust from day one.

When a deal wobbles at two in the morning, a board doesn't need another opinion. It needs someone who has been there, stays calm, and sees what actually matters.

A confidential first conversation.

Share where your organization stands. You'll leave with a clearer view, whether we work together or not.

mvneerven@mauna.nl