July 2025

Maud van Beuningen worked as a lawyer in both the Netherlands and abroad before transitioning to a career in project finance. Now, she is a board member at PYM. Her strong sense of justice remains a key motivator for her work today.

You’ve built an impressive career. How were you led to impact?

After studying law in Groningen, I began working as an M&A lawyer at Clifford Chance in the Netherlands, followed by a position at another firm in Paris. These were fantastic experiences, but I wasn’t really inspired by the pursuit of ‘making more money to make more money’. I wanted a change. I joined ABN AMRO as a corporate lawyer, where I worked with the Energy Transition Fund (now Sustainable Impact Fund). Here, I saw firsthand that you can make returns and do good, all while supporting innovation. It was a turning point. I decided every future job would have to have impact. 

I then started working on project finance for renewable energy at ABN AMRO and later joined Bluemetric, an investment office that advises family offices on investing in private and public markets. I served as the intermediary between analysts and families, helping to establish an impact focus in private equity, as well as a training program for the next generation. In this role, I learned how much financial conversations in families are determined by family dynamics.

How did you become a board member at PYM?

Just as I'd decided to leave Bluemetric, my cousin Liet called with the news that she was stepping down as chair of PYM and asked me whether I’d be interested in a board role. It was the perfect moment for this new challenge! I’ve now been a board member since February, and I am enjoying taking on the opportunity to help facilitate conversations about making impact with your wealth.

Do you also invest in impact yourself?

I do - I am part of a family office, an independent investment vehicle with approximately 300 family members. Together with nine other family members, I invest on behalf of the family, for the family. We have a nice portfolio, but it’s certainly not 100% impact. Not yet! 

Discussing money remains difficult, also within my own family. That is why I set up our own Family Academy with a few other family members, and we have just started an 'Introduction to Investing' course. With this, we hope to involve everyone more and open up the conversation as much as possible. I believe it’s essential to build a solid financial foundation in order to impact invest with confidence and joy. The next session will focus on impact investing!

Do you invest directly or in funds?

With the family office, we invest in a mix of funds and private equity. Examples of impact funds in which we have invested are Carbon Equity and 4Impact, but we also make direct investments. This summer, we will conduct a strategic review to determine how we want to invest further and, hopefully, establish some impact goals. Additionally, I am in discussions with my husband on one hand and with my brother and sister on the other to explore how we can invest more in impact together, using our own funds.

You’re doing a lot at once. What do you do besides PYM?

I’m the director of an Agri-business, and I serve as a coach for wealth holders. Today, I am supporting four women as a growth partner. Together we create investment plans, but I never make decisions for them. My goal is to empower people to make their own choices.
I am also the mother of a 5-year-old son and an almost 3-year-old daughter.

Is wealth a burden?

For some people, it definitely feels that way! Of course, it is a privileged thing to even think and let alone say, but I’ve noticed how many people with wealth struggle with it. There are high expectations, both within and outside the family. Many people of my generation, for instance, struggle to balance their parents’ expectations with their own ideas. There’s also a lot of shame, especially when people assume your life is easy because you have money. It can change dynamics with friends or colleagues once they know you have wealth. I think all of this can paralyse someone from deploying their money. So we just pass it on to the next generation in the same way as it was ‘given’ to us: as if it was never ours to begin with. 

I want to break the taboos around money because it doesn’t have to feel ‘dirty’, and having wealth doesn’t mean you’re lazy. We address a lot of these topics in our PYM circles.

What would you like to achieve with PYM?

Globally, a massive wealth transfer is underway. In the Netherlands alone, around €400 billion is going to pass from the current generation to the next. This is a huge opportunity for change! I want to push the conversation, both within PYM and in my own family, especially amongst those in this transition phase. 

PYM is a great network for supporting these young people, who are still finding their way. Together, I want to drive systemic change and open up the discussion on all the ways we can and want to make impact now and in the future. 

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