After fifteen years, Erwin Cramer is leaving the Administrative Office of Bpf Koopvaardij. The Administrative Office is the eyes and ears of the Board, and ensures that the Board can take decisions effectively. Erwin handed over to René Hamstra as director on 1 January 2024, and on 1 September he will finally be leaving. Together they look back and look ahead. ‘Like on a tandem bike’ – that's how Erwin Cramer (64, left in the photo) and René Hamstra (52, right) describe their colla­boration and the transfer from one director to another. Until 1 January, Erwin was being the front rider of the tandem (captain) and René was looking over his shoulder (stoker). Since the beginning of 2024, it’s been the other way round. René is now in charge and Erwin assists and advises where necessary and possible, up until 1 September. René: ‘It’s very gratifying that I can still call on his knowledge, expertise, and experience for so long. I've been able to first practice football on the training pitch, so to speak, then play along on the main pitch, and as of 1 January I'm the referee, the boss of the pitch.’ Erwin is also pleased with the way the transfer is taking place. ‘It’s been really natural. It's like Laurel and Hardy: one leads and the other finishes. We’re very much in tune with one another. It's going really well, and we have everything under control.’ Erwin is glad that it's Rene who’s taking over from him. 'He's the right person for the job: for the connection with people and because of his experience with the merchant navy sector. So he's a really good choice for the fund.’ Expressing an opinion They've known each other for 18 years now, and started working closely together in 2009, when Erwin set up the Administrative Office. At the time, René was working for MN, the company that until recently did the pension administration for the fund (more about that later). In July 2022, René moved to the Administrative Office. ‘I came in as the risk management, audit and compliance manager, and I was the privacy officer of the fund. Prior to that, I’d worked for MN for 26 years. During my first 18 months at the Administrative Office, I realised that the fund works differently viewed from the inside than when I was on the admini­stration side. Here’s a brief example: when I worked at MN, we would submit a memo to the Administrative Office and the Board would express its opinion on it. I now get the same kind of memos from MN and I'm the one who's expected to express an opinion on them. Together with my Administrative Office colleagues, I'm then the eyes of the Board. I have to see what the Board will need before it can arrive at the right decision. I was less involved with that when I was at MN. “Expressing an opinion” has become more important than “delivering something”.’ Based on relationships Before Erwin was asked to set up the Administrative Office, he already had quite a bit of administrative experience, so it was then a logical step for him to become the director. A lot has changed in all the years that Erwin has been in charge. ‘For one thing, the Administrative Office itself, which I started up with just two employees, Doro Oppelaar and Rajesh Grobbe. I had about 30 meetings a year, with the Board and with the investment committee. The Administrative Office now has a staff of about ten people and we arrange more than 100 meetings a year, along with all sorts of other consultations.’ To manage all that, says Erwin, a director needs to make sure he appoints the right people. ‘The better you're able to gather people around you to do the job with you, the more manageably and effectively you can do your job as director. I think it’s important to connect people. I always work very much based on relationships. René too by the way, in that we’re similar.’