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Career
Born into a large family living between Mons and Tournai, I was the only one in my family lucky enough to attend university. I joined FUCaM in Mons in 1987, where I obtained a degree in commercial and management engineering.
After a brief spell in the private sector, I joined UCLouvain at the Louvain-la-Neuve campus as a teaching and research assistant at the IAG, now the Louvain School of Management (LSM), where I was a member of Prof. Philippe de Woot’s research team (1995-2002). Under his aegis, my PhD studies took me to France, where I obtained a DEA in strategic management at Paris X, ESSEC and HEC Paris, and a PhD in management sciences at the University of Paris XII Val de Marne, the subject of which was the speed of change in large organisations. I then spent some time at HEC Montréal as part of a postdoctorate. From the moment I joined UCLouvain in 2003, I saw my presence at our University as a unique opportunity to contribute to science and education within an inspiring institution full of purpose.
As well as teaching business strategy and change management, I helped set up the Center for Research in Entrepreneurial Change and Innovative Strategies (CRECIS) within the Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations (LouRIM). I then served as LSM dean from 2009 to 2014. The experience was particularly rewarding in the context of the four-university merger project, in which LSM played the role of pilot faculty and which led, in 2011, to the merger of FUCaM and UCLouvain.
My personal development and my Hainaut origins explain why, on my return in September 2015 from a sabbatical year at the University of Cincinnati (USA) and Doshisha University (Japan), I applied to become UCLouvain Hainaut Province vice-rector (Mons, Tournai and Charleroi). I felt that returning to the province that introduced me to the University and made me love it was the right thing to do.
For the past eight years in this post, I have contributed to the development of UCLouvain Hainaut Province campuses and to the influence of our University in the country’s social, economic, political and cultural circles. Since 2020, I have also been vice-rector for alumni. Today, UCLouvain has a network of International Alumni Chapters in Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, Rabat, Santiago de Chile, Montreal and Luxembourg. Since 2015, I have been a member of the Rectoral Council, the Academic Council, and the Board of Governors.
Father to a 22-year-old son, I am passionate about photography, experiencing nature by mountain bike, hiking with my family anywhere in the world, and escaping through novels and music.