The articles of association stipulate that the Board of Directors is composed of a minimum of three and a maximum of nine members, who are appointed by the general shareholders meeting for a maximum period of six years. The Board of Directors has to contain at least three independent directors.
The Board of Directors is currently composed of six members, namely: Eric Van Zele (Chairman of the Board of Directors), Raju Dandu, Nadia Verwilghen, Johan Michiels, Luc Boedt and Paul Matthijs.
Mr Eric Van Zele is currently executive chairman and managing director of Crescent NV and chairman of the E17 hospital network and Hermes decision committee of the Flemish Agency for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Prior to those mandates, Eric was chairman of Reynaers aluminium and a director of the Vandewiele group until 2022. From 2009 to 2016, he was CEO of Barco NV in Kortrijk. Before that, he was CEO of Pauwels International (from 2004 to 2008) and of Telindus nv (2000 to 2003). Before that, he was Vice President of Raychem Corporation in Menlo park, CA, USA and Managing Director of Raychem nv in Leuven, Belgium. (1972 to 1999). He was nominated as “Manager of the Year in 2012” and “ICT Personality of 2013”. Eric holds a degree in civil engineering in electrical and mechanical engineering from KUL (Leuven 1972) and a postgraduate degree in management from Stanford University (1992 CA, USA).
Mr. Raju S. Dandu is the Founder-Chairman of Danlaw Inc. USA. He is also the Managing Director of Danlaw Technologies India Ltd. He is responsible for strategic planning and corporate management of both companies. Prior to founding Danlaw Inc., he held positions at the University of Iowa hospitals, Ford Motor Company, Dana Corporation and worked as an independent consultant at General Motors. He holds a bachelors’ degree in electronics engineering from Kakinada, India, a masters in electronics from University of Iowa and an MBA from University of Detroit.
Nadia Verwilghen is a trilingual finance & strategy executive with +25 years of experience in international (listed & not listed) companies in biotech, digital/technology, network and industrial sectors. She supports companies in defining their strategy and driving effective execution, improving profitability and finance structures, corporate governance, financing (equity/debt), M&A transactions, international growth and transformation.
Johan Michiels is owner and director of Michiels Invest En Management (M.I.M.), Agents and Brokers in Banking Services.
In 1979, Luc Boedt started as study leader in the Soil Science department at the University of Ghent, and was responsible for several missions in Europe and overseas countries such as Indonesia, Mali, Congo and Senegal. In 1985, he became General Manager of OKOMU Oil Palm Cy, located in Nigeria, where he was mainly involved in feasibility studies for the development of oil palm and rubber. Over the years, he completed several more missions in the Far East, Africa and Brazil. From 1988, he became General Manager of; MICHELIN Ivory Coast (1988 – 1992), SOCFINCO Belgium (1992 – December 2011) and SOCFINCO FR S.A. Switzerland (since December 2011). In 2020 he was nominated as Chairman of Socfinaf. He will end this presidency in 2022 to take up the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Frederic Convent studied law at the universities of Namur and Leuven, and obtained an MBA at the Vlerick management school in Ghent. He has an extensive network in the middle of private equity that he used at TheClubDeal from 2017 until recently and with which he has successfully implemented several capital increases in various sectors of FinTech, SaaS as well as LifeSciences and MedTech. As interim financial director, he has also worked in various areas such as digital advertising, printing, retail supply and renewable energy. From 2002 to 2006 he was Vice President, CFO and Corporate Secretary at Option, the predecessor of Crescent. There he headed the accounting and financial administration department at the Belgian headquarters of this then global leader in mobile data cards. In addition to his financial activities and those in the field of investor relations on Euronext, Frederic was also Secretary of the Board of Directors of the company. Previously and for 3 years he performed the same tasks at Xeikon, the innovative manufacturer of digital printing systems. He was able to stimulate commercial targets in both companies through the necessary financial support and export insurance. Previously, he worked for five and three years respectively as a Senior Investment Manager at GIMV and as a Senior Auditor at Coopers & Lybrand (PWC). He served on the Board of Directors of Credendo for 10 years. As chairman of 2 Dutch-speaking primary schools in Brussels, he was the initiator of their capacity expansions through 2 projects of 3 and 6 million euros respectively.
