Yael van der Lek

Leading change management initiatives in support of the transformation that Philips Lighting is going through, has been the priority of Yael van der Lek since she made the move from the Philips Consumer division to the standalone Lighting organization in 2016. Being part of HR at the 125-year-old Dutch company meant that, from the start of her career as a graduate, she had the opportunity to operate in an environment of constant change. As part of its strategy to become a leader in Health Technology, Philips integrated its Consumer and Healthcare divisions and disentangled its Lighting arm. Already before the separation of the divisions of Philips, in 2010 the HR function entered a multi-year transformational journey with the aim to create a business focused and cost effective organization. In this dynamic, Yael held a number of HR generalist roles supporting among others the Sonicare power toothbrushes and the shavers businesses. Before joining Lighting as global HR BP for Finance and Legal, she worked as lead HR for the USA commercial organization of the Consumer Division. Outside of the corporate setting, she supports creative entrepreneurs to showcase their work. She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Business and master’s degree in Social Sciences. Living in the Netherlands, Yael has dual citizenship of Brazil and the Netherlands.