Mediahuis group today announced three new members to its Board of Directors: Dr. Ulrike Handel, Marietje Schaake and Anita Zielina. They are set to succeed Peter Hinssen, Arian Buurman, and Anouk Mertens, who are stepping down from the Mediahuis Board as their terms on the board come to an end.
With these new Directors, Mediahuis further strengthens the diversity and expertise within its Board, and brings in additional perspectives. This is in line with the company’s strategic ambitions in fostering independent journalism, digital innovation and international growth.
Dr. Ulrike Handel is a business leader with more than 25 years of operational leadership experience across publishing, digital classifieds, ad tech, and digital media. Before taking up non-executive roles, she last served as President News Media Europe and Marketing Media at Axel Springer. Prior to that, she was the Chief Executive Officer of Dentsu International (Germany and DACH region) and served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of publicly listed ad pepper media International. Ulrike Handel currently serves on the Board of Directors of Hubert Burda Media (Germany), and Vend (previously: Schibsted Marketplaces, Norway). She also served on the board of Schibsted (Norway), before the company was separated into two entities (Media and Marketplaces).
Marietje Schaake is a leading international policy expert with extensive experience in technology governance, international relations, and digital rights. A former member of the European Parliament (2009–2019), she currently serves as Fellow at Stanford’s Cyber Policy Center and the university’s Institute for Human-Centered AI. Marietje is a widely respected voice on the societal impact of technology. She is a columnist for the Financial Times and serves on a number of not-profit boards, as well as the UN’s High-Level Advisory Body on AI. She is the author of The Tech Coup, published in 2024.
Anita Zielina is an experienced digital media executive with over 15 years of senior leadership experience in digital transformation, change management and innovation strategy. She was successively deputy editor-in chief at Der Standard, Austria and at Stern Magazin (Germany) and Chief Product Officer at NZZ Media Group (Switzerland). She is the CEO and founder of Better Leaders Lab. Anita also serves as an Executive in Residence at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, where she spent the past several years leading all continuing and executive education initiatives. In addition, she is the inaugural Board Chair of News Product Alliance (NPA) and a foundation board member of the Austrian Public Broadcaster ORF.
Thomas Leysen, Chairman of the Board of Mediahuis group: « I would like to thank Peter, Arian, and Anouk very much for their valuable contributions to our Board over the past years. They were all part of the journey that took Mediahuis from being a primarily Belgian publisher to becoming a leading European media group, and I am grateful for their wise counsel during all those years.»
« I am happy that we have been able to attract three very high calibre media professionals and thought leaders who will succeed them. I am very pleased to welcome Ulrike, Marietje, and Anita to our Board of Directors. They will bring highly valuable additional perspectives and experience to our board as we continue to develop our group.»
