Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands, January 2026 — Top Employers Institute has announced the appointment of Hanneke van Baal as Global People Director (a.i.).
Top Employers Institute has appointed Hanneke van Baal as Global People Director (a.i.), effective January 2026. In this interim global leadership role, Hanneke leads the worldwide HR function supporting growth across multiple legal entities and a highly diverse international workforce. She works closely with global leadership teams and partners with organisations around the world to strengthen people practices and enable sustainable organisational growth.
In her current role, Hanneke plays a critical role in strengthening Top Employers Institute’s people strategy, supporting organisations committed to world-class employee conditions, and reinforcing the Institute’s mission of recognising and empowering great employers across global markets.
Prior to this appointment, Hanneke has been serving for approximately two years as Interim Strategic HR Consultant & Global HR Manager at COUNT Group, where she has been responsible for the implementation and optimisation of global HR frameworks, department restructuring initiatives, and the alignment of pension schemes in line with new statutory provisions. Her work has directly supported COUNT Group’s sustainability-driven transformation across energy and renewables markets.
Alongside this, Hanneke has spent over four years as Interim HR Manager & Strategic HR Consultant at CPH Chemicals B.V., leading the optimisation of HR policies, organisational structuring, and departmental strategy for the company’s globally distributed chemical trading and distribution operations.
She is also the Founder and Lead Consultant of Van Baal HR Projects & Consulting, where for more than five years she has supported organisations as an Interim Strategic HR Consultant, Senior HR Project Manager, and Employment Conflict Mediator. In this role, she has advised boards and leadership teams across multiple industries, delivering high-impact HR transformation, organisational design, and governance projects.
Earlier in her career, Hanneke served as Interim HR Director at The Ambitious Group, where she led HR and corporate recruitment teams during a phase of private equity-backed expansion and acquisition-led harmonisation initiatives. She also held senior HR leadership roles at DAS, Scoupy, DPG Media Nederland, and ITDS Business Consultants, managing major transformation, restructuring, and strategic workforce programmes. Her early career foundation was built at Brunel, where she held business leadership and recruitment management roles.
About Top Employers Institute
Top Employers Institute is the world’s leading authority on HR strategies. Through its globally recognised Certification and data-led insights, the Institute guides and empowers organisations to deliver transformational people practices that drive business outcomes and help attract, engage, and retain top talent worldwide.
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