Globetrotter bridges the gaps

For many women determined to power through the glass ceiling on the way to the top of the corporate world, juggling a family can be a dealbreaker.

Maaike Steinebach, a 41-year-old mother of three who is chief executive of Dutch lender ABN Amro Hong Kong, is one woman who appears to have it figured out.

Born in the Netherlands, she grew up in Saudi Arabia, where her father worked for a Dutch dredging company. Steinebach and her two younger brothers spent their childhoods in the arid country, and learned to appreciate Middle Eastern fare such as whole roast goat replete with eyeballs.

She went back to the Netherlands to finish school, and then read business economics at university. Eventually, she became a banker. Her first job was as a trainee at MeesPierson bank, which later became ABN Amro, where she worked in a commodities finance team nicknamed the cappuccino desk because the team handled loans to commodity producers and traders of cocoa, coffee, milk and sugar.

Next, she took up postings in London, Singapore, Shanghai and now heads the Dutch bank's Hong Kong country office as well as serving as managing director of energy, commodities and transport in Asia.

Steinebach sat down with the Post in the bank's new premises at the International Commerce Centre in Kowloon and shared her views on managing a peripatetic career with a husband and three young children in tow.