Proximus SA — Board/Management Information 2021

Mar 19, 2021

Candidate Board Members

Karel De Gucht

Mr. Karel De Gucht, State Minister, was the European Commissioner for Trade from February 2010 until 31 October 2014, where he was pivotal in negotiating, concluding and managing several European Free Trade and Investment Agreements worldwide.

Previously he served as Belgium's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2004 to 2009, Deputy Prime Minister from 2008 to 2009, and as European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response from 2009 to 2010.

Currently he is the President of the Brussels School of Governance at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) – his alma mater (Masters of Laws, 1976) and where he teaches European Law. He serves as a Director on the Boards of ArcelorMittal SA, of EnergyVision, Sprimoglass and is a Member of the Advisory Board of CVC Capital Partners. He is also the manager of a family-run wine producing company in the Chianti region (Italy).

Pierre Demuelenaere

Until 31 August 2015, Mr. Pierre Demuelenaere was President and CEO of IRIS (Image Recognition Integrated Systems), a company he co-founded in 1987 to commercialize the results of his PhD.

Mr. Demuelenaere has more than 30 years of experience in Imaging and Artificial Intelligence. He has accumulated solid experience in technology company management, R&D management and setting up international partnerships with US and Asian companies (HP, Kodak, Adobe, Fujitsu, Samsung, Canon, etc.).

Throughout the years, he remained very involved in defining the R&D vision of IRIS and contributed to the development of new technologies, new products and the filing of a large number of patents.

In 2013, Mr. Demuelenaere successfully negotiated the acquisition of IRIS Group by Canon. The company has now become a member of the Canon Group.

Mr. Demuelenaere holds a Civil Engineering degree in Microelectronics from the UCLouvain and received his PhD in Applied Sciences in 1987.

He has received the "2001 Manager of the Year" award and the "2002 Entrepreneur of the Year" award. In 2008, Data News elected him "ICT personality of the year".

Amongst his other activities, in 2018 and 2019, he was Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO ad interim of EVS Broadcast Equipment. He is also member of the Board of Directors of Guberna and Professor of management at the UCLouvain. He served for 7 years as a director on the Board of BSB, an insurance and banking software company, for 23 years on the Board of Pairi Daiza and for 10 years on the Board of e-capital, a Venture Capital Fund.

Ibrahim Ouassari

Ibrahim Ouassari is the founder and CEO of MolenGeek. Following an atypical, self-taught career in technology, Ibrahim established himself as an accomplished consultant in the sector.

He went on to launch his entrepreneurial career with some of Belgium's largest and most renowned firms. It was his experience that drove him to launch in 2015 MolenGeek, an international inclusive tech ecosystem that makes the TechWorld accessible.

Born in Molenbeek in the heart of Brussels, MolenGeek has rapidly expanded across borders to open in Padua (Italy), Amsterdam and Rotterdam (Netherlands) but also in Antwerp and Charleroi (Belgium).

Mr. Ibrahim Ouassari is also founder and CEO of Urbantech, a company specialized in IT and Systems Engineering. Client portfolios have included: Fortis, BNP Paribas, ING, Elia, Sibelga , Fluxys. Based on the growing need, in recent years UrbanTech has pivoted to meet the specific needs of the education and social sectors. After 10 years of experience as a consultant with UrbanTech, Mr. Ouassari created an innovative recruitment management system that connects consultants directly with HR recruiters called Greator. Greator helps companies come together, manage HR tasks and grow their business easily and in a reliable way. It also gives workers the ability to focus on the mission by finding a perfect fit for their skills in companies who need reliable talent.