With over twenty years of working experience for companies and foundations in Asia, Africa, and Europe, Marije has built up an extensive track record in leading multicultural teams and organizations, stakeholder engagement, and facilitating multi-stakeholder partnerships - mostly in the sustainable agri-food sector. She possesses a wide Dutch and international network and is skilled in strategy development, organization/program design, multi-stakeholder engagement, and setting up partnerships, as well as managing intercultural teams, board engagement, and PR and external communications. Her passion lies in engaging businesses in contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals. Marije is a creative thinker, problem solver, communicator, and match-maker.
After working in Myanmar for two years (2018-2020), Marije re-joined the Access to Nutrition Initiative as Program Director and later as Strategic Partnerships Director in 2023. She has been responsible for overseeing the Partnerships team that manages various company accountability projects with the aim of increasing companies' contributions to fighting malnutrition worldwide. Marije is responsible for stakeholder management, including companies in the food sector, NGOs, policymakers, academia, international organizations, funders, and investors. The Partnerships team also covers ATNI's communication activities and donor relations. Between 2014 and 2018, Marije was also engaged with ATNI as Senior Program Manager.
In Myanmar, Marije worked for the World Food Program, where she was responsible for founding the Scaling Up Nutrition Business Network: a network for companies in the Myanmar food sector with the aim of contributing to access to healthy diets. In addition, she undertook short-term consultancies, including coaching the Senior Leadership of a global Dutch feed company in designing, implementing, and communicating a new responsible business strategy for its Myanmar operations, contributing to reaching the SDGs.
Before 2014, Marije worked as team leader for the Sustainable Value Chain Team of the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) in Amsterdam, advising food companies and (I)NGOs in Africa and Asia. She spent four years in Laos and Vietnam as a manager/consultant for EU, ILO, and the World Bank. Marije started her career working for Unilever in supply chain management.
In her free time, Marije takes part in non-profit Boards, such as Nedworc Foundation, and occasionally writes columns about global and sustainable development topics.