Jan Willem Landré appointed as transition manager for the martial arts sector

Jan Willem Landré has been appointed by sports umbrella organisation NOC*NSF as transition manager (kwartiermaker) for the martial arts sector. The experienced sports administrator has been given the task of establishing one strong organisation for full contact martial arts.

Kickboxing, Thai boxing and mixed martial arts are organised differently from most sports in the Netherlands. The martial arts sector has traditionally been fragmented in organisational terms. It is not affiliated with the national sports umbrella organisation NOC*NSF. Since 2017 there has been a regulator, the Nederlandse Vechtsportautoriteit (VA, the Dutch Martial Arts Authority), and since then cooperation within the sector has also increased. In 2023, Dutch martial arts appear ready to join forces in one strong, modern organisation that can affiliate itself with the national sports umbrella organisation.

Following an open application procedure for a transition manager for the intended organisation, commissioning party NOC*NSF selected Jan Willem Landré. His most recent position was interim director of the Judo Bond Nederland (the Dutch judo federation). Before that, Landré worked as general director of the Atletiekunie (the Dutch athletics federation) and as deputy director of KNVB Amateur Football, among other roles.

Landré has been asked to design a broadly supported plan for the development of one modern martial arts federation, and to actually give shape to it. The transition manager works on the instructions of NOC*NSF. In carrying out the assignment, Landré will be supported by a transition committee consisting of the following people:

Eric van Looijen, kickboxing pioneer, gym owner
Martin van Emmen, Thai boxing/kickboxing pioneer
Maxim Leijdekker, MMA/BJJ pioneer
Eric van Lagendijk, VA board
Farid Gamei, director of the VA
Francesco Wessels, team leader performance managers NOC*NSF
Joep Tiernego, innovation manager NOC*NSF
Kim Boterenbrood, account manager sports federations NOC*NSF
Evelien Willems, policy officer at the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (ministerie van VWS)

Landré will start the assignment on 9 January 2023. The new organisation is expected to be in place by the end of 2023 and to be able to affiliate itself with NOC*NSF.