Maike Nuyken, MBA, BA, HR Manager, has extensive hotel management experience working in the start-up and turnaround phases of a family-run hotel in the Black Forest, one of Germany's most successful tourist destinations. Working in a small business enabled her to gain varied, hands-on experience in all facets of the hotel business.
After graduating with honours with a bachelor's of International Business Administration (IBA) in Economics and Management from Wittenborg in 2014, Maike ventured into the consultancy business next to her assistant hotel manager role. Together with her partner, she founded a small consultancy business, specialised in helping businesses to understand and attract Gen Y and Gen Z consumers and talent. Through her work, she advised companies on how to take into better consideration the perspectives of these important demographic groups and thereby future-proof one's business. Maike's work allowed her to speak among experts at top industry events, such as Intergastra in 2016 and 2018, being invited by Foodservice Consultant International.
In 2018, Maike decided to deepen her academic skills, returned to Apeldoorn, and pursued a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Hospitality and Service Management at Wittenborg. She obtained her MBA with honours in 2020. Her dissertation "Restaurant Service Quality from the Perspective of Generation Z" combined her interests of hospitality management and generational marketing. An adapted version of her thesis was published in the peer-reviewed journal Research in Hospitality Management in 2022.
Maike has served on Wittenborg's Advisory Board from 2018 until 2021, representing the perspective of alumni.
After working on an interim basis in the Human Resources Department, advising the executive, Maike has taken on a permanent role at Wittenborg as HR Manager. Maike's work revolves around the entire employee life cycle and her focus is on further professionalising and continously improving the employee experience at Wittenborg. This involves handling part of the daily operations of HR, working on HR projects and initiatives, and functioning as a partner to Wittenborg's managers. Moreover, Maike is part of Wittenborg's management team and as such is working on policies and strategies for the HR department as Wittenborg pursues international accreditation.
In addition to her work as HR Manager, Maike is Wittenborg's prevention officer, working on implementing and (re)-evaluating Wittenborg's risk inventory and evaluation (RI&E) on a regular basis. Furthermore, Maike regularly gives guest lectures at Wittenborg to shed light on the practical aspects of human resource management to students.
