Rutger van Hilst has been active in the international corporate and financial services industry since 2007 and brings extensive expertise across fiduciary, fund, trust and corporate services. He holds a Master’s degree in Corporate, Social and Economic Law from Utrecht University. Rutger began his career at ING Bank in compliance and subsequently held a series of legal, commercial and senior management roles at Citco.

Rutger joined Bolder through its legal predecessor, AMS Financial Group, where he led the Dutch office and became part of the global management team in 2018. Following the merger of AMS and Circle Partners in 2021, he was appointed Chief Operations Officer of the newly established Bolder Group, supporting the integration of operational teams and the consolidation of corporate and fund services under a single global platform.

As Chief Operating Officer of Bolder Group, Rutger is responsible for the design, implementation and continuous improvement of the firm’s global business operations. In this role, he oversees operational governance, cross‑jurisdictional process harmonisation, client‑service frameworks and the rollout of technology‑enabled efficiency initiatives across Bolder’s offices in the Americas, EMEA and Asia. His remit includes driving scalable growth, strengthening the firm’s operational excellence model and enabling a consistent, high‑quality service experience for all client segments worldwide.