Marga Hoek

Margaretha (Marga) Jeannette Elizabeth Hoek (born 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. Marga Hoek currently serves as a Non-Executive Director and Advisory Council Member for multiple companies in Europe.

Marga Hoek is a business leader. She 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 World War II, 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 National Ballet Academy of Amsterdam in her early youth. She then attended and graduated from the University of Amsterdam with a degree in Communication Sciences. Hoek in addition received an MBA degree from NCOI Opleidingen.

Career
Marga Hoek's leadership career began at a young age. Throughout her executive career, Hoek held three CEO roles in the property development and construction sector. In her early thirties, Hoek was named CEO at Thunissen, a mid-sized private construction company in the Netherlands 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.

In 2009, Marga Hoek was asked to establish the Dutch Sustainable Business Association De Groene Zaak in collaboration with several front running CEOs and companies, which later merged with MVO Netherlands. The mission of De Groene Zaak 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 stimulate 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.

Marga Hoek has repositioned herself in a non-executive capacity as a high-level global speaker and author on sustainable business and financial capital.

In 2017, Hoek became a partner with the global boutique firm Chair Mentors International (CMi). which leverages the experience and knowledge of global chairpersons to the benefit of newly appointed CEOs and Executive Committees of international companies.

Since 2019, Hoek is a board member of Aegon N.V., Vice Chairwoman of Mazars Accounting NL, and an Advisory Board Member of Redevco.

Publications
Hoek's 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.

The next year, a global version in English was launched in London as New Economy Business. It received fifth place among 15 Wellbeing Economy essential books.

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

Marga Hoek's third book Tech for Good is about how advanced technologies can accelerate the transition to a sustainable world while at the same time improve business profitability, market share, and multi-stakeholder return. Tech for Good launched November 2023.

Articles

 * “The scale of Business for Good must meet the scale of our Global Challenges” in G7 (2016).
 * "Global Voices for a profile overview" in COP23 (2017).
 * Series of Huffington Post blogs on a range of topics: Sustainable Business Leadership, Climate Change Stakeholders, Global Goals and Businesses, Corporate Venture Capital for Good, ICT For Good, and others (2017-2018).
 * “It’s Time for Sustainability to Get Radical” with others in Raconteur (2018).
 * Themes on Corporate Sustainability, Leadership, and the SDGs in GreenBiz:
 * "Why mobilizing private capital towards the SDGs is good for business" 17 February 2018
 * "The call to business and capital, from business and capital" 13 July 2019
 * "Boards must put sustainability at the top of their agenda to thrive" 27 April 2020
 * "4 Sustainable Growth Markets In MENA" in Forbes Middle East, 24 October 2019.
 * “The Role of Tech In The Fight Against Coronavirus” in CEO Today Magazine, 28 May 2020.
 * “Creating Shared Value Will Drive Post-Lockdown Business Growth” in Global Banking & Finance Review.
 * “Why Robots Are Key to Transitioning to a Sustainable Business Model” in New Business, 19 October 2020.
 * "Tech: Saint or Sinner?" in Business and Management magazine, December 2020.

Books in Dutch

 * Zakendoen in de nieuwe economie: NextGen : zeven vensters op succes New Economy Publications, June 2015 ISBN 9789082378504
 * Zakendoen in de nieuwe economie - Internationale Editie Met 50 businesscases van over de hele wereld Boom, September 2015 ISBN 9789462760783
 * Zakendoen in de Nieuwe Economie e-book boom.nl, November 2015 ISBN 9789462760790

Books in English

 * "New Economy Business: Seven Windows of Opportunity," New Economy Publications, 2016 ISBN 9789082378528
 * “The Trillion Dollar Shift: Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, Business for Good is Good Business,” Routledge, 2018 ISBN 9780815364313
 * "Tech for Good: Imagine Solving the World’s Greatest Challenges" Routledge, 2024 ISBN 9781032490731 e-book ISBN 9781003392064

General and Leadership Awards
One of the top 30 management thinkers in the world ("Thinkers 50") since March 2019.

Fairforce's top 100 Green Board Members in 2020 (ranked 43).

Top 25 and top 50 quotations three years in a row by Trouw's green top 100 in 2015, 2016, and 2017.

Book Awards
For "The Trillion Dollar Shift":
 * Gold medal of Axiom.
 * Required Reading in Fortune 2019.
 * Number one Amazon Kindle best sellers in 2019.

For e-book "New Economy Business":
 * One of the 15 most essential books of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance in 2016.

For the Dutch version Zakendoen in de Nieuwe Economie:
 * Management Book of the Year Netherlands in 2014.

Personal life
Marga Hoek is a mother of three children, all of whom are entrepreneurs. She currently lives in the Netherlands yet considers herself a global citizen.