Bert De Graeve

After eight years as CEO of Bekaert, Bert De Graeve was appointed chairman of the board to ensure continuity of direction at board and executive-management level. “The things that are important for the chairman of a group like Bekaert is that you have enough feeling for the global environment in which we are working—the complexity of a global company with manufacturing operations on all the different continents.”

“The second element is knowing the delicacy and the sensitivity of having a reference shareholder, which in this case is the family that started the business more than 130 years ago. Within the context of our stocklisted company, this reference shareholdership represents a heritage, and I think that is a really important part of the Bekaert equity.”

With eight years’ experience in the company’s top office, Bert was a clear choice for chairman. “I would say that I have the advantage of having worked in the group for about 12 years, eight of which were as CEO, which is clearly an added value, because it gives a kind of continuity with the top leadership.

“It is a whole line of sensitivity that has to be appreciated; it's the complexity of the business, it's the new CEO coming from outside, the strong reference shareholdership. What is often considered a dangerous move, putting a CEO as chairman, I think, in this case, will work very well.”