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Margaretha (Marga) Jeannette Elizabeth Hoek (born April 1965), is a Dutch businesswoman, speaker, and author. She is a global sustainability Thought Leader, Board Member, and Chairwoman. Following a career as a three-time CEO, she dedicated herself to sustainable business as the Founder and CEO of the Dutch Sustainable Business Association (‘De Groene Zaak’) from 2009 to 2017 which later merged with MVO Netherlands. Throughout that same period, she was also the Founder and Chairwoman of the Dutch Sustainable Science Association (‘Het Groene Brein’).

Following her executive career, Marga Hoek currently serves as a Non-Executive Director and Advisory Council Member for multiple companies in Europe. In this capacity, she was recognized as an ESG specialized, sustainable Non-Executive Chairman and Board Member on Fairforce’s global top 100 Green Board Members in 2020 (ranked 43).

She was acknowledged by Thinkers50 as one of the top 30 management thinkers in the world in March 2019.

Marga Hoek is a multi-award-winning author on sustainable business. Her bestsellers, New Economy Business (2014) and The Trillion Dollar Shift (2018), both received the Golden Management Book of the Year award, the latter under the category Sustainability. Event publications, including COP 23 (2017), G7 and G20 Magazines, have acknowledged her as a ‘global voice’. Hoek also regularly writes blogs and articles for Forbes, Fortune, The New York Times, Financial Times, Huffington Post, CEO Today Europe, International Business Week, GreenBiz, Financial Executive, and more. Considered one of the top experts globally on sustainable busines, Hoek regularly speaks to a wide variety of audiences around the world.

Marga Hoek is a mission-driven business leader who coined the term ‘Business for Good’ and aims to demonstrate that ‘business for good is good business’, especially when paired with sustainable technological innovations.

Early life and education

Marga Hoek, born in the Netherlands, is the middle of three children. Hoek’s father was the CEO of a construction company, and her grandfather was the captain of a ship. Politically engaged and part of the resistance movement in the Netherlands during the Second World War, Hoek’s grandfather was an inspiration for her entrepreneurial spirit and drive to become a global influencer. Instilling a sense of leadership in her at a young age, Hoek’s grandfather taught her the responsibility that comes with the privilege to lead.

Marga Hoek was a student at the Amsterdam Ballet Academy in her early youth. She then attended and graduated from the University of Amsterdam with a degree in Communication Sciences in combination with a specialisation in business administration at the Erasmus University. Hoek also holds an MBA degree.

Career

Marga Hoek’s leadership career began at a young age. From an early stage, Hoek demonstrated a strong entrepreneurial spirit and mindset. Throughout her Executive Career, Hoek held three CEO roles in the property development and construction sector. Already in her early thirties Hoek was named CEO at Thunnissen, a mid-sized private construction company in the Netherlands. This was followed by a public role as CEO of Property Development Management at the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, which encompassed the city including Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. She proceeded to become a member of the Board of Directors of the AEX listed BAM for the housing division.

Given her outspoken profile as a CEO for sustainable business, in 2009 Marga Hoek was asked to establish the Dutch Sustainable Business Association (‘De Groene Zaak’) in collaboration with a number of frontrunning CEOs and companies, which later on merged with MVO Netherlands. De Groene Zaak’s mission was to proliferate the transition to a sustainable economy, and it did so by jointly influencing public policies and science. To unlock sustainable solutions and stimulating collaboration between business and scientists, Hoek also founded the Dutch Sustainable Science Association (‘Het Groene Brein’), for which she served first as CEO and later as Non-Executive Chairwoman.

After a successful CEO career, she sought to reposition herself in a non-executive capacity as a high-level global speaker and author on sustainable business and financial capital. She also became partner of the global boutique firm Chairman Mentors International (CMI) as to leverage the experience and knowledge of global Chairpersons to the benefit of newly appointed CEOs and Executive Committees of large, international companies.

Hoek is currently a Board Member of Aegon NL, Vice Chairwoman of SUSI Partners (Switzerland), Vice Chairwoman of Mazars Accounting NL, and an Advisory Board Member of Redevco. She is well known and appreciated as an ‘ESG’ Board Member and Chairman, being recognized among Fairforce’s global top 100 Green Board Members in 2020 (ranked 43).

Global impact

Acknowledged by Thinkers50 as one of the most influential management thinkers, and as a multi-award-winning author, Hoek is considered one of today’s most influential thought leaders spearheading the transition towards a sustainable world. She is a high-profile global keynote speaker on all themes surrounding sustainability, such as sustainable business, ESG investment and advanced technologies.

Due to her expertise on sustainable business and innovation, and profound knowledge and experience with how boards can effectively align with ESG objectives and the SDGs, Hoek is highly respected as a businesswoman, an impactful speaker, a compelling author, and an influential thought leader.

Books

Her first book was originally published by Vakmedianet in Dutch as Zakendoen in de Nieuwe Economie. It was awarded Management Book of the year in 2014, with reviewers’ comments that ‘the book preceded reality’, which characterizes Marga Hoek’s vision. The next year, a global version in English was launched in London as New Economy Business.

Her second book, The Trillion Dollar Shift, was published by the US publisher Routledge and launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 25th, 2018. The Trillion Dollar Shift was awarded a gold medal by the 2019 Axiom Business Book Awards, which recognizes and promotes the year's best business books. It was also explicitly mentioned in Fortune as 'required reading’.

Publications

Marga Hoek has authored numerous articles and blogs for notable media and global events like COP 23, G7 and G20, Huffington Post, Forbes, CEO Today, and more.

Some of her most impressive publications include: • Published in Cop 23 in 2017 under Global Voices for a profile overview. • Published article titled, ‘The scale of Business for Good must meet the scale of our Global Challenges’ in G7 in 2016. • Published a series of Huffington Post blogs between 2017 and 2018 on topics like Sustainable Business Leadership, Climate Change Stakeholders, Global Goals and Businesses, Corporate Venture Capital for Good, ICT For Good, and others. • Contributed to the article titled ‘It’s time for sustainability to get radical’ in Raconteur, 2018. • Published articles in GreenBiz under the themes of Corporate Sustainability, Leadership, and SDGs, 2018-2020. • Published the article titled ‘The Role Of Tech In The Fight Against Coronavirus’ in CEO Today, 2019. • Published the article titled ‘Creating Shared Value will drive post lockdown business growth’ in Global Banking and Finance. • Published the article titled, ‘4 Sustainable Growth Markets In MENA’ in Forbes Middle East. • 2020 Interview about the coronavirus published in Tech for Good magazine. • Published an article titled, ‘Why robots are key to transitioning to a sustainable business model’ in New Business, 2020. • Published an article titled ‘Tech: Saint or Sinner?’ in Business and Management magazine, 2021.

Awards and recognitions

General and Leadership Awards

- Marga Hoek was recognized among Thinkers50 as one of the top 30 management thinkers in the world in March 2019 - She was recognized among Fairforce’s global top 100 Green Board Members in 2020 (ranked 43). - She was noted for top 25 and top 50 quotations three years in a row by Trouw green top 100 2015, 2016, 2017

Book Awards

- Axiom Business Book award, gold medal, February 2019 - Required Reading in Fortune 2019 - Number one Amazon Kindle best sellers in 2019 - One of the 15 most essential books for the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, November 2018 - Management Book of the Year Netherlands 2014, Zakendoen in de Nieuwe Economy (in English published as New Economy Business)

Personal life

Marga Hoek is a mother of three children. She currently lives in the Netherlands yet considers herself a global citizen.