Leadership

Audrey Hanard

Chairperson - Non-Executive Director

Audrey Hanard is an Associate Partner at Dalberg Global Advisors, a mission-driven strategy advisory firm focusing on social impact. She works with her clients, who are NGOs, UN agencies, governments and foundations to improve educational and employment outcomes globally by developing, implementing and measuring impactful strategies in support of inclusive development. In doing so she leverages 10+ years of experience advising corporate, government and philanthropic clients on those topics. Audrey Hanard is currently President of Be education, an organization supporting initiatives that contribute to improving the quality of education in Belgium. She previously was President of the Friday Group, a think tank of young Belgian talents from different professional backgrounds determined to inspire Belgian policy through diversity. Audrey Hanard holds a MSc in Business Engineering from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University.

Chris Peeters

Executive Director

Before joining bpostgroup as CEO, Chris led Elia Group. Under his leadership, it grew into one of the most innovative grid operators in Europe. Prior to that, he ran the business consulting activities of Schlumberger in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Russia. He also spent 14 years at McKinsey, where he specialised in the energy sector. At the beginning of his career, he launched an engineering firm and manufacturing company, before joining Hoogovens Aluminium as a sales and technical manager for part of Europe. Chris Peeters holds a MSc in Civil Engineering from the University of Leuven.

Véronique Thirion

Non-Executive Director

Véronique Thirion began her career at the Faculty of Law in Liège and afterward held various positions at Coopers & Lybrand, the Banking and Finance Commission (now the National Bank of Belgium), Dexia and Petercam Group. From 2013 to the end of 2021, she led the Belgian Competition Authority. Since 2022, Véronique is an associate partner at Advolis-Orfis and is a member of the Board of Directors and of the Audit Committee of the Institute for Radioelements (IRE). Véronique Thirion holds a master’s degree in law from the University of Liège and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. She also recently completed the Certificate in Public Management.

Denis Van Eeckhout

Non-Executive Director

Denis Van Eeckhout has over 30 years of experience in the public sector. He has held positions at (i) the Permanent Representation of Belgium to the European Union as Coordinator and Head of the climate and environment section, (ii) the Federal Public Service Health as Coordinator for the preparation of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, (iii) the Walloon Government as Chief of Staff and (iv) the Federal Planning Bureau as an expert. He has also been involved in the non-profit sector as Secretary General of Inter-Environnement Wallonie and as President of Coordination-Environnement. Denis Van Eeckhout holds a degree in bioengineering from the Université Libre de Bruxelles and has carried out research activities in the United States and Europe.

Ann Caluwaerts

Non-Executive Director

Ann Caluwaerts, Chief Corporate Development at Telenet, has more than 30 years of experience in the international and local telecom and media industry. Ann is a member of Telenet's executive committee since 2011, where she is currently responsible for New Business, People, Corporate Affairs, Partnerships & Transformation. She previously spent 17 years at BT, of which 10 in an international role, responsible for Marketing, Strategy and Transformation. She started her career at L&H as a software developer and product manager. She is also a board director at IMEC since 2016, member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences since 2020 and Honorary Solvay VUB Fellow since 2019. Ann Caluwaerts graduated as Civil Engineer Electronics and followed various courses at INSEAD, Columbia Business School, London Business School and Guberna.

Ann Vereecke

Non-Executive Director

Ann Vereecke is Professor and partner at Vlerick Business School, and Professor at Ghent University. Her main interests are supply chain management and manufacturing strategy – and in particular, international manufacturing strategy. Currently, Ann focuses on Industry 4.0 and how new digital technologies are transforming the supply chain. Through her research and executive education, she is or has been working with companies in a various industries (including Aliaxis, AB Inbev, ArcelorMittal, Bekaert, Bostik, Cargill, Carrefour, Etex, Goodman, Imperial Tobacco, Johnson & Johnson, OMP, PostNl and Tessenderlo Group). Ann has experience as director in a variety of listed and non-listed, private and publicly-owned companies and institutions. Ann Vereecke graduated as Electrotechnical Engineer from Ghent University and holds a MBA in Management from Vlerick Business School as well as a PhD in Management from Ghent University.

Sonja Rottiers

Independent Director

Sonja Rottiers graduated from the University of Antwerp with a master degree in Applied Economics (Major Accounting and Tax).

Sonja has more than 35 years of professional experience within the financial sector. During the first 10 years of her career at Gemeentekrediet (now Belfius), she played an important role in the professionalization of the retail distribution network. This experience in a commercial environment, contributed to a very entrepreneurial attitude in the rest of her career.

Since July 1999, Sonja has worked in general management positions (C-level) in insurance companies, primarily as CFO (Dexia Insurance and Axa) and with experience as CEO in smaller organizations. Her most recent executive position was with Lloyd's European subsidiary. She took the helm shortly after the company was founded. Her leadership was essential in establishing Lloyd's European operations leading up to and immediately following the UK's exit from the EU. Her key achievements were establishing relationships with local regulators and market stakeholders, structuring operations and building a strong team to manage and develop the business in Europe and across the region.

Sonja decided to focus on non-executive mandates in different industries, leveraging her experience in general management, governance, risk management and financial expertise.

Today, Sonja is also non-executive director at bpost SA and Matexi SA as well as chair of the Audit committee in these organisations. With her mandate as chair of the Board of PPG (Jab Holding Company) - Pinnacle Pet Group, a pan-European, fully integrated Pet insurance and health services platform- and her advisory role at the Insurtech DGTAL she closely follows and contributes to the digital and data transformation within the insurance sector.

She is an authentic leader who wants to pass on her knowledge to grow the business and help others thrive and connect, driven by the common good of the organization. Throughout her career, she has also promoted diversity and inclusion, both in organizations and by co-founding "Women on Board.

Michael Stone

Independent Director

Mr. Stone has extensive strategic and operational experience in the postal and parcels markets as well as the markets adjacent to these. This was initially gained through various regional and global level positions at DHL, followed by senior executive management positions at DX Group in the UK, and Neopost, both in the UK and Europe.

In addition, he is active with advisory roles with e-commerce logistics companies, both start-ups and established businesses. These roles have given him a broad understanding of the e-commerce, digital communications and logistics markets, in addition to his detailed knowledge of the commercial and operational challenges in the postal and parcel markets.

Jules Noten

Independent Director

Jules Noten started his career in 1985 at Unilever where he held several international management positions before becoming chairman of Unilever Belgium in 2001. After having been subsequently CEO of Massive and Balta Group, he joined Vandemoortele Group in 2012 where he was CEO from 2014 until 2020. Jules Noten serves as independent director for several companies such as Sioen Industries NV and Port of Antwerp. He studied at the KU Leuven and Vlekho Brussels and followed several courses at the Kellogg Business School (Northwestern University) and Harvard Business School.

Lionel Desclée

Independent Director

Lionel Desclée is a SVP and Walmart Officer and was President and CEO of Walmart Japan/Seiyu until March 2021. Before that he was President and CEO of Tom & Co. He also worked more than 10 years for the Delhaize Group where he held senior roles of responsibilities in different countries and developed a substantial experience in omni-channel retail business. He holds a Master’s Degree in Financial Management from Vlerick Business School and a Master’s in Economics from the University of Louvain-la-Neuve (UCL).

Sonja Willems

Independent Director

Sonja Willems was CEO of Janssen Benelux until early 2022. She worked for more than 30 years at the Johnson & Johnson group, holding international senior management functions in various countries (Belgium, Germany and Canada) in pharmaceuticals and medical implants. Sonja Willems chairs the board of directors of Flanders Investment & Trade and the Observatory for the Belgian Pharmaceutical Industry. She has a Master’s degree in Business from Hasselt University.

David Cunningham

Independent Director

Mr. Cunningham spent 36 years with FedEx, the world’s largest express transportation company. As president and CEO, he was responsible for the leadership and direction of the FedEx Express group, which includes FedEx Express and TNT. He led all customer-facing aspects of the company’s U.S. operations and its international business, spanning more than 220 countries and territories across the globe. Before being president and CEO, Mr. Cunningham was notably chief operating officer and president-international, regional president of the Asia Pacific division, chief financial officer of FedEx Express Asia Pacific. Mr. Cunningham is a member of the Board of Governors of Junior Achievement Worldwide, was a board member of the U.S.-China Business Council, a board member of Christian Brothers University and a former Chairman of U.S. Chamber in Hong Kong. He holds a Master Business of Administration from the University of Memphis.