Maija Van Langendonck

Maija is a corporate entrepreneur with over 20 years work experience, would describe herself as a people & culture strategist - who has held various commercial and strategic HR roles. These roles were both within Cargill as well as across various Companies and Industries including organizations such as NATO and Management Centre Europe.

Maija rejoined Cargill in January 2011 as one of the Global leaders in the Inclusion and Diversity team. In that role she supported and advised Cargill’s Global Food businesses, as well as led two Global Strategic Inclusion and Diversity initiatives.

Most recently, Maija joined the Global IT HR team as HR leader, bringing to this thought leadership – conceptual strength and best practices to ensure that changes made are both fitting the Cargill culture & businesses as well as are sustainable over time, this includes looking at ways in which to embed Inclusion and Diversity into our processes and DNA.

In her time as HR Director at NATO C3Agency (one of the largest NATO agencies specializing in providing NATO authorities with Consultation, Command and Control capabilities) - Maija initiated and led a major change initiative focusing on adjusting the organizational structure and culture to support the changing needs of its stakeholders. This initiative included the introduction of competencies – use of assessment centers, a redesign of the performance management process, implementation of an integrated HR system and the design & delivery of a customized leadership development track.

Maija is passionate about leveraging all opportunities that life offers her and use these to create a work environment where all people feel they can contribute and are recognized for their unique talents.

Maija is originally from the UK – raised in Belgium, worked and lived in North America and is a committed International citizen fluent in English – Dutch – French. Maija is also a faculty of the CIYO (Coming into Your Own) female leadership development program.

In addition to her passion for her work – Maija is a keen traveler – has interest in sustainability – community work – yoga and healthy living ( with varying degrees of success J).

Maija is married and has a teenage daughter.