Why LEGO's New Chief People Officer Will Focus On Culture

The LEGO Group has announced it is naming Daan Ottink – van den Broek as its new Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer, effective 1 April 2026. 

Daan, who is currently LEGO’s Senior Vice President of Talent, says of her new appointment on LinkedIn: “It is a privilege to be leading the People, Places and Culture function of a company whose values I feel so deeply aligned with and where people are central to everything we do. 

“Since joining the LEGO Group, I have fallen in love with the company, the brand, its values and above all, its people.”

She will take over from Loren I Shuster who is transitioning into a new role as Group People Adviser to Niels B Christiansen, CEO of LEGO. 

According to Loren, who shared the news on LinkedIn, this new role will involve him working “on activities outside of the LEGO Group, within LEGO Holding, such as LEGO Digital Play”. 

Lego's new Chief People Officer

Daan first joined LEGO in June 2025. Prior to that, she had worked for Unilever for 27 years across the human resources function, holding the position of Chief Human Resources Officer for three years. 

Discussing the new appointment, Niels describes Daan as “a passionate advocate for our talent and values.”

He says she has “significant experience leading HR teams in a large global organisation”, and that he is “looking forward to Daan joining the Executive Leadership Team as we continue to work to sustain the LEGO Group’s record high levels of motivation and satisfaction”.

Lego’s people strategy under Loren I Shuster

These “record high levels” of employee motivation have led to LEGO being ranked in the top 10% of smaller sized companies internationally for its employee satisfaction and happiness by Comparably, with 87% of employees saying they would recommend it as a workplace on Glassdoor. 

As LEGO’s Chief People Officer since 2017, Loren has developed a “people first” approach within the company, which prioritises employee wellbeing and creating a workplace that provides opportunities to thrive. 

The company has nurtured this approach through its employee values: being focused, curious and brave. 

In an interview with McKinsey, Loren said “Our people promise is a critical component of our employee value proposition and how we attract and retain talent. It’s our commitment to creating a safe, healthy, respectful, diverse and equitable workplace for all employees.”

A key part of this people strategy, Loren says, is taking a “children’s” approach to learning and development. It does this via its ‘Leadership Playground’ model, which the company sees as a hands-on approach to cultivating leadership behaviours. 

In this model, employees are able to volunteer to lead groups around creativity and new ideas. According to LEGO, this aims to foster a space where employees of any level can take initiative, innovate and best align themselves with company purposes, instead of relying on static leadership. 

Loren says:  “We believe that to continuously thrive in the constantly changing world, everyone in an organisation needs to act as a leader, not the executive leadership team alone.”