Frank B M Kunneman

Practice Areas

Corporate Governance

Career

Frank Kunneman studied Law (master) and Psychology (bachelor, University of Amsterdam). He was appointed as Lecturer at the University of Amsterdam in 1979. He obtained his PHD in 1986 with a book entitled "On the Introduction to Encyclopedia of Jurisprudence".

He had been Chairman of the Department ‘Encyclopedia of Jurisprudence’ at the University of Amsterdam before he moved in 1989 to Curaçao and became Senior Lecturer in Civil Law at the (then) University of the Netherlands Antilles. He was also the Dean of the Law School. 1993 Frank was appointed Professor of Civil Law and, later, Corporate Governance. In 1996, he was appointed Deputy Judge at the Common Court of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, until he became a partner with VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne (1999). He has been a managing partner of the firm for fifteen years. He left the firm in 2023 and established a full-service corporate governance practice.

Frank advises (financial) institutions, government authorities, and public legal entities on corporate law and corporate governance in the Dutch Caribbean. Apart from an attorney-at-law, Frank is an experienced director and supervisory director. He has served as director and supervisory director in 25+ organizations in the Netherlands and in the Dutch Caribbean, both in the profit and not-for-profit sectors.Among others he held positions in the boards of the “Preventieproject Drugs – Jellinek Clinic Amsterdam), the Deutsche Bank Finance N.V., Integrated Utility Holding N.V. (“Aqualectra”), Maduro & Curiëls Bank N.V. and the Public Sector Accountants Bureau Foundation (SOAB). As a result, he can scale back complex legal issues to practical solutions for executive boards and supervisory board members. Frank is also a certified supervisory director in the Netherlands (RCBM).

Frank was Vice Chairman of the Advisory Council (“Raad van Advies”) of the Netherlands Antilles and, after 10/10/’10, Vice Chairman of the Advisory Council of Curaçao.

Frank is one of the founding fathers of the Themis Institute for Governance & Leadership and provides many courses and speeches on corporate governance.

Publications

Frank is the author and editor of over twelve books and many publications on civil law topics and corporate governance. He has written since 2013 a biweekly column on corporate governance in the local newspapers Antilliaans Dagblad (Antillian Daily) and Extra. In 2020, he published two books, “The Seven Pillars of Corporate Governance” and “Practical Tips for Better Corporate Governance”. In 2022, Frank edited on the request of the Dutch organization NR Governance the book “Toolkit Commissariaat Dutch Caribbean” (available in Dutch and English). In 2023, he published the book “Governance is Mensenwerk”.

Languages Spoken

Dutch, English, German

Awards