IBFD Executive Board

Jan Maarten Slagter

Jan Maarten Slagter is the CEO of IBFD since January 2017.

He started his career as a corporate lawyer, having read law at Leiden University (graduating in 1993).

After spending more than four years as an attorney, he switched to financial journalism, joining the newsroom of the Dutch daily Het Financieele Dagblad and serving as the paper’s correspondent in London from 2004 to 2007.

From 2007 to 2014, he lead the VEB, the Dutch association of investors, representing the interests of (mainly retail) investors vis-à-vis listed companies, financial institutions, political institutions and financial regulators.

In the two years before joining IBFD, he divided his time between teaching corporate governance at Nyenrode Business University, co-writing a corporate biography of the Dutch telco KPN (De koude kermis van KPN (Prometheus 2016), with Patrick Bernhart) and holding several directorships (among them, KPMG Netherlands).

Mr Slagter writes a regular column on financial and economic issues in De Telegraaf, the Netherlands’ largest newspaper by circulation. He is the chairman of the Stichting Keurmerk Objectief Vergelijken, the independent foundation awarding and supervising a quality label for comparison websites.

Prof. Dr Pasquale Pistone

Prof. Dr Pasquale Pistone is the Academic Chairman of IBFD (the Netherlands). He holds a Jean Monnet ad Personam Chair in European Tax Law and Policy at WU Vienna (Austria) and is habilitated as Full Professor of Tax Law in Italy and Associate Professor of Tax Law at the University of Salerno (Italy).

Prof. Dr Pistone is Professor Honoris Causa at the Ural State Law University (Russia), Doctor Honoris Causa at the University of Örebro (Sweden) and Honorary Professor at the University of Cape Town (South Africa).

He is editor-in-chief of IBFD’s World Tax Journal, International Tax Studies, Doctoral Series and Global Tax Treaty Commentaries. He is co-editor of Diritto e Pratica Tributaria Internazionale and a member of the editorial committee of many other publications.

Prof. Dr Pistone is also co-director of IBFD’s Observatory for the Protection of Taxpayers’ Rights, co-chair of the Tax Committee of the International Law Association, secretary of the Executive Board of the European Association of Tax Law Professors (EATLP), a member of the Permanent Scientific Committee of the International Fiscal Association (IFA), president of the Ius Fiscale Europaeum research centre, president of the Italian Association for Latin American Tax Law (AIDTLA) and, in such capacity, member of the Board of Directors of the Latin American Institute for Tax Law (ILADT).

Prof. Dr Pistone has (co-)edited more than 60 books and authored seven books and more than 230 articles and/or book chapters. He is fluent in seven languages, in which he regularly lectures and presents. He has published in 12 languages.

His core research areas are international and European tax law. His current specific research interests include analysis of ECJ tax case law, tax treaties, taxation of the digitalized economy, protection of taxpayers’ rights, inter-nation tax equity in relations with developing countries, settlement of cross-border tax disputes and the impact of public international law on international tax law.

Maarten Goudsmit

Maarten Goudsmit (1957, Dutch) became Commercial and Publishing Director of IBFD in February 2004 and a member of its Executive Board in 2008.

With over three decades of experience gained at IBFD, Reed Business and Elsevier Science (RELX), Mr Goudsmit has a strong background in publishing, business development and product innovation.

The core focus of his professional career continues to be the development of research platforms for professional specialists.

Mr Goudsmit holds a master’s degree in History from the University of Amsterdam and a bachelor’s degree in History and Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Belema R. Obuoforibo

Belema R. Obuoforibo, CTA ATT (Fellow), is Director of the IBFD Knowledge Centre, Member of IBFD’s Executive Board, and Chair of the Centre for Studies in African Taxation (CSAT).

Belema is also Extraordinary Lecturer in the Department of Economics, University of Pretoria, where she lectures on international taxation. She is also a member of the UN Subcommittee on Wealth and Solidarity Taxes. 

Before joining IBFD, Belema worked in London as a UK-qualified Chartered Tax Adviser.

Belema is an authoritative speaker, lecturer and presenter on international tax issues. She has lectured and presented extensively in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. She is the Director of the annual Africa Tax Symposium, the leading global conference on African taxation. She is also joint Technical Director of the annual International Tax Conference (Mumbai), jointly organized by IBFD and the Foundation for International Taxation, India. 

Belema is a noted writer and editor in the field of international taxation. She is widely published, including as an author of the esteemed publication, Global Tax Treaty Commentaries, for which she writes the chapter on Treaty Residence. She also serves on the editorial boards of leading international tax publications, including the Bulletin for International Taxation and the European Taxation journal.

Belema also serves in an advisory capacity for various African governments, particularly on matters relating to tax policy, tax treaties and effective domestic tax legislation.

Victor van Kommer

Victor van Kommer (1959, Dutch) became Tax Services Director at IBFD in 2011 and a member of its Executive Board in 2008.

Mr van Kommer previously worked with the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration, where he was also in charge of the Planning and Control Department, and later served as a member of the management team of the Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Division (FIOD). He has published several books on tax systems and its organization, implementation issues, performance management and tax reform process. His recent Handbook on Tax Administration has been translated into several languages. Mr van Kommer is involved for many years in many IBFD projects related to tax and developments (mainly in Africa and Asia) and his added value is in tax policy, investigation, compliance, revenue forecast, integrity and public finance issues.

Mr van Kommer holds a master’s and PhD degree in Tax Law from the University of Leiden, was Professor Tax Policy at the Utrecht University School of Economics, from 2008 until 2022 and is now Professor Tax and Economics at Nyenrode Business University.

Edmée Stoffele

Edmée Stoffele is the HR Director of IBFD as of October 2018. Her career started in 1998, when she joined Moret Ernst & Young in The Hague as a junior tax adviser, having graduated in Hotel Management and Tax Law.

After a year in tax consultancy, she switched to business consultancy and advised dozens of public and corporate organizations on issues concerning their internal organization. She specialized in optimizing support services and business management. After 15 years in consultancy, where she was employed consecutively by Capgemini, DCE and Twynstra Gudde, she decided to shift her focus from IT and financial issues and instead focus more on people, their development and their value.

In 2014, she became Head of HR and IT at the Dutch National Opera and Ballet. Before joining IBFD, Edmée also shared her knowledge and experience at KPMG in the reorganization of the internal people’s function as Manager Business Advisory.

At IBFD, it is her ambition to empower internal stakeholders in our growth towards becoming a high-performance organization, so that we may service the world of international taxation at the highest possible level.