Maria Anne van Dijk

Maria Anne van Dijk is a sustainable banker who has been working at ABN AMRO since 2009. Her current role is Head of Environmental & Social Risk Advisory and Monitoring. Both a realist and an optimist, van Dijk acts as a corporate activist and is an expert in finance, environmental and social risks, and human rights. Based on her work as a business human rights practitioner, she recognises the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights requires collaborative work with civil society, governmental and intergovernmental organisations, multi-stakeholder initiatives and others in order to develop practical solutions and approaches.

Van Dijk initiated, and is responsible for, ABN AMRO’s Human Rights Programme. As part of this, van Dijk established public/private cooperation on human trafficking, involving the bank, law enforcement and the University of Amsterdam. She is also a member of the OECD Advisory Group for Responsible Business Conduct in the Financial Sector. As a Committee member, she hopes to forge and/or be part of many of these coalitions and to help companies embed respect for human rights across their business and in their value chains.

Van Dijk studied General Linguistics at the University of Amsterdam and also holds a post-graduate Certificate in Sustainable Business from the University of Cambridge.