Governance
DEME encourages its shareholders to register and attend for the general shareholders meetings and to exercise their shareholders rights. It is a unique opportunity to meet with the management and to discuss the company’s results and strategy. DEME’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) is held on the third Wednesday of May at 2 pm. Shareholders can normally attend the meeting in person, submit written voting instructions or vote by proxy. Rules relating General Meetings and main rights and obligations of Shareholders are further detailed in the company’s articles of association. All necessary information and documents to attend the general meeting or to participate by proxy as well as the results of previous general meetings can be found here.
Annual General meeting May 17, 2023
The Board of Directors invites the shareholders to the annual general meeting to be held on Wednesday May17, 2023 at 14.00h at the headquarters of DEME (Scheldedijk 30, 2070 Zwijndrecht). The shareholders are welcome as of 12.30h to facilitate the admission formalities to the meeting.
Corporate structure
Board of Directors
1. Luc Bertrand (º1951, Belgian) - Chairman, non-executive director
Luc Bertrand graduated in 1974 as a commercial engineer (KU Leuven). He began his career at Bankers Trust, as Vice-President and Regional Sales Manager, Northern Europe. He has been with Ackermans & van Haaren as a director since 1985, where he joined as financial director in 1986 and was chairman of the executive committee from 1990 to 2016. He is chairman of the Board of Directors of Ackermans & van Haaren, CFE and SIPEF (prior to the Partial Demerger, he was also chairman of the Board of Directors of DEME NV) and a director of Delen Private Bank, JM Finn, Bank J. Van Breda & C° and Verdant Bioscience. He is also chairman of the Duve Institute and Middelheim Promoters, member of a number of other boards of directors of non-profit associations and public institutions, such as Museum Mayer van den Bergh and Europalia, member of the board of trustees of Guberna and member of the general board of the Institute of Tropical Medicine.
2. John-Eric Bertrand (º1977, Belgian) - Non-executive director
Co-CEO of Ackermans & van Haaren. Following his studies as a commercial engineer (UCL - 2001), John-Eric Bertrand obtained a master's degree in international management (CEMS - 2002) and an MBA (Insead - 2006). He worked at Roland Berger as senior consultant and at Deloitte as senior auditor and joined Ackermans & van Haaren as investment manager in 2008. He is member of the Board of Directors of a.o. CFE, Telemond Group, Agidens.
3. Luc Vandenbulcke (º1971, Belgian) – CEO, executive director
Luc Vandenbulcke graduated as a Civil Engineer in 1994 at the Catholic University of Leuven. In 1996, he obtained a Master after Master as a Maritime Engineer at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain. He started his career in 1998 as a Project Engineer for Hydro Soil Services, part of DEME. In subsequent positions, Luc Vandenbulcke has worked on projects in various European countries. He is the founder and was the CEO of GeoSea NV (currently known as DEME Offshore Holding NV), a fast-growing entity within the DEME group which is a pioneer in the construction of offshore wind energy parks. On 1 January 2019, Luc Vandenbulcke became CEO of DEME NV.
4. Tom Bamelis (º1966, Belgian) - Non-executive director
Member of the executive committee and CFO of Ackermans & van Haaren. After completing his studies as a commercial engineer (KU Leuven - 1988), Tom Bamelis also obtained a master’s degree in financial management (VLEKHO -1991). He joined Touche Ross (now Deloitte) and later Groupe Bruxelles Lambert. Tom Bamelis joined Ackermans & van Haaren in 1999. He is member of the Board of Directors of a.o. Delen Private Bank, SIPEF, Turbo’s Hoet Group, Van Moer Logistics, EMG.
5. Piet Dejonghe (º1966, Belgian) - Non-executive director
Co-CEO of Ackermans & van Haaren. After his studies for a law degree (KU Leuven - 1989), Piet Dejonghe obtained a postgraduate degree in management (KU Leuven - 1990) and an MBA (Insead - 1993). He worked as a lawyer for Loeff Claeys Verbeke (now Allen & Overy) and as a consultant for Boston Consulting Group. Piet Dejonghe joined Ackermans & van Haaren as investment manager in 1995. He is member of the Board of Directors of a.o. CFE, Delen Private Bank, Bank J. Van Breda & C° and Nextensa.
6. Koen Janssen (° 1970, Belgian) - Non-executive director
Member of the executive committee of Ackermans & van Haaren. After his studies as a civil engineer, electromechanics (KU Leuven, 1993), Koen Janssen also obtained an MBA (IEFSI, France 1994). He worked at Recticel, ING Investment Banking and ING Private Equity, before joining Ackermans & van Haaren as investment manager in 2001. He is member of the Board of Directors of a.o. CFE, Green Offshore, Rent-A-Port and Biolectric.
7. Christian Labeyrie (°1956, French) - Non-executive director
Christian Labeyrie is Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of the VINCI group, and a member of its executive committee. Before joining VINCI in 1990, he held various positions in the Rhône-Poulenc and Schlumberger groups. He began his career in the banking industry. Christian Labeyrie is a graduate of HEC, the Escuela Superior de Administración de Empresas (Barcelona) and McGill University (Canada), and holds a DECS diploma (advanced accounting degree). He is a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur and a Chevalier of the Ordre National du Mérite. Mandates held: a. Listed companies: - Member of the executive committee of the VINCI Group b. Non-listed companies: Member of the Supervisory Board of VINCI Deutschland - Director of Arcour – Director of Consortium Stade de France – Director of VFI - Director of SMABTP - Member of the executive committee of Lima Expesa (Limex) - Chairman of ASF Holding - Chairman of Cofiroute Holding - Manager of SCCV CESAIRE-LES GROUES - Manager of SCCV HEBERT-LES GROUES - Permanent Representative of VINCI Innovation on the Board of Directors of ASF.
8. Leen Geirnaerdt (° 1974, Belgian) - Independent director
After studying applied economic science at Antwerp University, Leen Geirnaerdt began her professional career at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where she worked for six years in auditing. She then moved on to Solvus Resource Group, a Belgian listed company where she held the position of corporate controller. After Solvus Resource Group was taken over by the Dutch listed company USG People NV, Leen Geirnaerdt was appointed director of the Belgian Shared Services Center, and subsequently in 2010 as Chief Financial Officer in The Netherlands. Following the takeover by the Japanese group Recruit, she was appointed global CFO of Recruit Global Staffing in 2016. From May 2019 until November 2021, Leen Geirnaerdt was CFO of Bpost. Leen Geirnaerdt was also Director, Chair of the Risk Committee and Member of the Audit Committee of Bpost bank from March 2020 until November 2021. Leen Geirnaerdt is currently a member of the Board of Directors of H.Essers.
9. Kerstin Konradsson (°1967, Swedish) - Independent director
Kerstin Konradsson holds a degree in Master of Science in Metallurgy from the Royal Institute of Technology where she graduated in 1991. She started her career at SSAB AB, a Swedish listed steel company where she held various management positions before she moved on to Åkers AB as President Åkers Cast Rolls Europe & Asia in 2007. In 2012 she became President for Boliden Smelters, a Swedish producer of base metals. She has served as board member and member of the audit committee of the privately owned Swedish metal powder producer Höganäs AB and is since 2021 a.o independent board member of Sibelco NV and since 2022 board member of the Swedish stainless special steel producer Sandvik Materials Technology (SMT) AB. In both Sibelco and SMT she is a member of the remuneration committee and in Sibelco also chair of the sustainability committee.
10. Karena Cancilleri (Italian) - Independent director
Karena Cancilleri holds a master’s degree in Chemistry (University of Turin, Italy, 1991) and an MBA of Strathclyde Graduate Business School of Glasgow in the UK (2004). She has a track record spanning over 25 years in the Chemical (Elastomers and Plastics), Textile (Hygiene, Floorcovering, Automotive) and Metal Industries in both private equity, stock listed and family owned companies. Ms. Cancilleri currently acts as President-Foundry Technologies at Vesuvius Plc. and previously held the position of Vice President-Engineered Products at Beaulieu International Group NV, Director-Hygiene Products at FiberVisions
Corp., Business Manager at Kraton Polymers LLC and Sales Manager at Shell Chemicals LP.
Executive Committee
Luc Vandenbulcke (º1971, Belgian) – CEO, executive director
Luc Vandenbulcke graduated as a Civil Engineer in 1994 at the Catholic University of Leuven. In 1996 he obtained a Master after Master as a Maritime Engineer at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain. He started his career in 1998 as a Project Engineer for Hydro Soil Services, part of DEME. In subsequent positions, Luc Vandenbulcke has worked on projects in various European countries. He is the founder and was the CEO of GeoSea NV (currently known as DEME Offshore Holding NV), a fast-growing entity within the DEME group which is a pioneer in the construction of offshore wind energy parks. On 1 January 2019, Luc Vandenbulcke became CEO of DEME NV.
Hugo Bouvy (º1970, Dutch) – Managing director – Offshore energy
Hugo Bouvy graduated as a Civil Engineer at the Technical University of Delft, where he also obtained a degree in Offshore Engineering. He began his career as an Installation and Project Engineer at various locations in the Gulf of Mexico. Hugo Bouvy was Area Manager for the DEME dredging activity line in the Indian subcontinent and in the Middle East. In 2011, he became a member of the DEME Management Team and became a director of several entities within DEME. Since 2019, he is member of the executive committee of DEME NV.
Eric Tancré (º1960, Belgian) – Managing director – Dredging / Managing director – Infra
Eric Tancré graduated magna cum laude as a Civil Engineer in 1983 at the Catholic University of Louvain (U.C.L.). He was briefly an assistant professor at the same university before joining FRANKI SA. In 1993 he started working for DEME, for the subsidiary Ecoterres SA as Operations Manager. In 2000 he became Area Manager of Northern European countries for Dredging International NV where he had commercial and operational responsibilities. In 2006, he became a member of the DEME Management Team and in 2018, he was appointed as Area Director of Europe as well as General Manager of the Infra Marine activities within DEME. A year later, he became a member of the executive committee of DEME NV.
Christopher Iwens (º1968, Belgian) – Managing director - Dredging
Christopher Iwens graduated as a Master of Science in Environmental Sanitation from the University of Ghent in 1992. He began his professional voyage in the environmental business before joining DEME in 1997. After several operational management positions on projects in Belgium, Africa and Germany, he spearheaded DEME’s dredging and offshore renewables expansion in Germany and North Europe in various management positions and as director of a number of subsidiaries within DEME. In 2020 he assumed the position of Area Director for Asia Pacific and became a member of the DEME Management Team. In 2023, he was appointed as Managing Director Dredging and became a member of the Executive Committee of DEME NV.
Audit Committee
Tom Bamelis, Leen Geirnaerdt, Christian Labeyrie and Koen Janssen
Remuneration Committee
Luc Bertrand, Leen Geirnaerdt and Kerstin Konradsson
