My name is Diana van Gent, I am 44 years old and live in Rotterdam with my husband and three sons. Since 2023, I have been working at Advario as General Counsel/VP Legal. We are responsible for Legal, Compliance, Insurance, and Privacy. Additionally, I serve as Company Secretary for the (Supervisory) Board. Previously, I have held various legal positions, including General Counsel at Royal IHC and Smit Lamnalco. My career is characterized by a combination of legal expertise and a passion for building well-functioning, enjoyable teams within international, often maritime-related organizations. This fits well with my background; as the daughter of an inland shipping family, this world suits me, and I feel at home in the port and at the terminals near the water.
Advario, leading partner in liquid storage
Advario is a carve-out of Oiltanking and was launched in May 2022 to take on a frontrunner role in the energy transition building on Oiltanking’s 50 years of operational excellence and tank storage expertise. Today, Advario is a leading partner in liquid storage logistics with a global network handling a broad range of products from chemicals, gases and fuels to new energy products. Continuing a tradition of close partnership, safe and reliable operations, and consistent delivery, we build and work together towards future-focused solutions for our customers and partners. Our terminals and projects are in Europe, Middle-East, Asia and the Americas.
Jumping onto a high speed train
With the carve out, Advario had to rebuild its HQ in Rotterdam including the legal team. This gave me the opportunity to create the team in Rotterdam and define its focus areas from the ground up. Whilst this had a lot of advantages at times it also felt like jumping onto a high speed train and working my way forward cabin by cabin to reach the locomotive. Today, our legal team consists of 14 lawyers, of which 10 are based in Rotterdam (including myself) and 4 in the clusters. As an integrated function with a diverse range of expertise, our team include dedicated BD and commercial counsels and specialists focused on Insurance, Privacy, Compliance & Risk, Legal Operations, and AI. We are an international team, and whilst mostly female, we are very diverse in nationalities, training backgrounds and expertise.
Challenges for 2026: Change and Demand
As a new team in a new head quarter, our first priority was to build a strong foundation and establish the governance needed for a global, future-ready Legal, Compliance, Insurance & Privacy function. Over the past 2,5 years, we have evolved our structure and focus areas, resulting in a fit-for-purpose team that delivers strategic legal advice and supports the business in an often changing and very demanding complex environment. Looking ahead to 2026, our challenges lie in exactly that change and demand. We need to continue to respond effectively and efficiently to it. At the same time, the rise of AI fundamentally reshapes and contributes to how in-house teams operate and meet the demand. Our task is not only to implement these technologies, but to embed them into daily work so we can meet demand more efficiently, and focus our time on strategic matters. This requires intensive change management within and outside the department.
Integration of AI
I look forward to 2026, as it is the beginning of the next chapter in how we at Advario will integrate AI into our department and start redefining the way we operate. As AI takes on a bigger role across companies, the challenge for in-house legal teams in my view is about staying relevant, visible, and influential in a world where technology increasingly handles more ‘simple’ straightforward work and is therefore used more and more outside the legal department where colleagues work on finding answers themselves, which is creating new risks and more expectations.
It is therefore even more essential to have a good, strong collaboration with other departments and demonstrate where we add value, staying ahead of what truly matters, and proactively contribute to business development, innovation, governance and sustainable growth. I am convinced we can achieve this by combining our legal expertise with AI and show our true value which is in how we guide the organisation through legal complexity, provide pragmatic business focussed, sustainable advice, and bring context, ethics, and strategic legal insight.
Balance and Energy
Outside of work, I love spending time with my family and friends. Most weekends you will find us at the hockey or soccer fields cheering for our boys. When I have spare time I enjoy painting and going for walks. Being outdoors and spending time with family gives me balance and energy.
