About

Deemed as ‘clearly one of the top names in our general counsel community’, by a nominator, Els Steen has built a notable career at large Dutch international retailer Ahold Delhaize, having taken on numerous senior legal roles within the company. She joined the company in June 2004 as senior corporate legal counsel, and shortly after became a corporate legal manager, moving to the position of corporate legal director in 2009. In January 2012, she was promoted to the role of vice president legal affairs and in 2016 – when Ahold merged with Delhaize and formed Ahold Delhaize – she took on the role of senior vice president legal of Belux, Central and Southern Europe. She is also member of the executive committee of Delhaize in Belgium and Luxembourg. Apart from her main responsibilities within the Ahold Delhaize Group, she has also been elected by her in-house peers as vice president of the Institute of Company Lawyers. ‘She has a well-deserved reputation in the legal market as being a top-notch professional, very bright and hardworking. Even when she has to travel extensively, given so many responsibilities, she is also very reachable and down to earth’, says a nominating source.