Governance

We believe that materials have been a key element in furthering the progress of mankind, that they are at the core of today’s life and will continue to be enablers for future wealth creation. We believe that metal-related materials have a vital role to play, as they can be efficiently and infinitely recycled, which makes them the basis for sustainable products and services. We want Umicore to be a leader in providing and creating material-based solutions to contribute to fundamental improvements in the quality of life.

Our Horizon 2020 economic growth ambitions are tied to the megatrends of resource scarcity, clean air and vehicle electrification. The social and environmental objectives are clustered in three themes: Great Place to Work, Eco-efficiency and Value Chain and society. These objectives reflect our operational excellence and the aspects of our products and services that we can further improve to turn sustainability into a greater competitive edge.

Download the report to read more about our Management Approach and Governance.

Board of directors

Standing left to right:Marc van Sande (Board Advisor), Géraldine Nolens (Board Secretary), Mark Garrett, Ines Kolmsee, Marc Grynberg, Laurent Raets, Liat Ben-Zur, Françoise Chombar, Koenraad Debackere, Thomas Leysen, Eric Meurice, Gérard Lamarche.
Not pictured: Karel Vinck (Honorary Chairman).

About the board

The board’s cumulative industry experience is broad, covering automotive, electronics, chemicals, metals, energy and finance sectors in addition to the fields of academia and science. It also includes people experienced in the public and private sector and members with experience in the different regions in which Umicore is active.

Collectively, the board possesses strong experience of managing industrial operations and counts 8 active or former CEOs in its ranks. The board also has collective experience in disciplines that are specifically relevant to Umicore’s non-financial Horizon 2020 goals such as health and safety, talent attraction and retention and supply chain sustainability

Thomas Leysen - Chairman

Belgian, 59

Date appointed to Board

10 May 2000 (date appointment Chair: 19 November 2008)

Education

Law – KU Leuven, Belgium

Experience

Thomas Leysen became Chairman of Umicore in November 2008 after serving as Chief Executive Officer of Umicore since 2000. During this mandate, he transformed the former Union Minière, a non-ferrous company in an international materials technology group called Umicore. He joined Umicore in 1993 as member of the Executive Committee, and successively managed several industrial divisions.

External appointments

Chair, KBC Group, banking and insurance group, Belgium
Chair, Mediahuis, a major newspaper publishing group in Belgium and The Netherlands
Chair, King Baudouin Foundation, Belgium

Marc Grynberg - Chief Executive Officer, Executive Director

Belgian, 54

Date appointed to Board

19 November 2008

Education

Commercial Engineering – Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management, Belgium

Experience

Marc Grynberg was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Umicore in November 2008 after heading the Automotive Catalysts business unit from 2006 to 2008 and serving as CFO of Umicore from 2000 until 2006. He joined Umicore in 1996 as Group Controller. Prior to joining Umicore, Marc worked for DuPont de Nemours in Brussels and Geneva.

External appointments

Non-Executive Director, Nexans SA, France

Liat Ben-Zur - Independent Non-executive Director

American, 43

Date appointed to Board

25 April 2017

Education

Electrical engineering – UC Davis, USA
Business Administration – UCLA Anderson, USA

Experience

Liat Ben-Zur has been Corporate Vice President for Modern Life and Devices Product Marketing Management at Microsoft since September 2018. Prior to joining Microsoft, she was SVP and Digital Technology Leader at Royal Philips where she was responsible for driving the connectivity and digital strategy, since 2014. She served previously in several leadership positions at Qualcomm, a US wireless telecommunications company, and was cofounder and Chairwoman of the AllSeen Alliance, a consortium for an open source, common language for the Internet of Things.

Françoise Chombar - Independent Non-executive Director

Belgian, 57

Date appointed to Board

26 April 2016

Education

Dutch, English, Spanish Interpretation & Honorary Ambassadorship for Applied Language Studies –
Ghent University, Belgium

Experience

Françoise Chombar is co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Melexis, a producer of smart sensor and driver semiconductors for automotive, industrial and durable consumer applications. She served previously as planning manager at Elmos GmbH and operations manager and director at several companies within the Elex group. Françoise was a mentor in the Belgian women’s network Sofia for 17 years and is committed to STEM and gender balance advocacy, for which she received a Flemish Community Honour in 2019. In 2018, she received the title of Science Fellow by the VUB, University of Brussels.

External appointments

CEO and Director, Melexis NV, Belgium
Chairwoman, Flemish STEM Platform, an independent advisory group to the government of Flanders
Independent Director, Soitec S.A., France

Koenraad Debackere - Independent Non-executive Director

Belgian, 58

Date appointed to Board

26 April 2018

Education

Engineering – Ghent University, Belgium
Management – Ghent University, Belgium
Management – MIT Sloan School of Management, USA

Experience

Prof. Dr. Ir. Koenraad Debackere has been with KU Leuven since 1995, where he teaches Technology & Innovation Management and Policy. He has won numerous awards for his research, and in 2010 was awarded a Francqui Lecture Chair in economics and business. Since 2005 he is the general manager of KU Leuven and member of the Board of KU Leuven.

External appointments

Non-Executive Director, Cera Beheersmaatschappij NV, Belgium
Non-Executive Director, KBC Group NV, Belgium
Non-Executive Director, Group Joos NV, Belgium
Non-Executive Director, LRM (Limburgse Reconversie Maatschappij) NV, Belgium
Member Board of Governors, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
Non-Executive Director, Televic Group NV, Belgium

Mark Garrett - Independent Non-executive Director

Australian/Swiss, 57

Date appointed to Board

28 April 2015

Education

Economics – University of Melbourne, Australia Applied Information Systems – Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia

Experience

Mark Garrett has been Chief Executive Officer at Marquard & Bahls AG, a Hamburg-based leading independent energy supply, trading and logistics company, since August 2018. Before joining Marquard & Bahls AG, he served as Chief Executive Officer at Borealis AG, Austria, a position he had held since 2007. Prior to that, he built an extensive career in the chemical industry working with companies such as Ciba-Geigy and DuPont.

External appointments

CEO, Chairman of the Executive Board, Marquard & Bahls AG, Germany
Non-Executive Chairman, Board of Directors, Axalta Coating Systems Ltd., USA

Ines Kolmsee - Independent Non-executive Director

German, 49

Date appointed to Board

26 April 2011

Education

Process and Energy Engineering – Technische Universität Berlin, Germany
Industrial Engineering – École nationale supérieure des Mines de Saint-Étienne, France
Business Administration – INSEAD Business School, France

Experience

Ines Kolmsee has been Chief Executive Officer of Services & Solutions at Aperam since October 2017. She previously served as CEO of SKW Stahl- Metallurgie Group, a specialty chemicals company with operations worldwide, COO and CTO at German utility EWE AG and CFO at Arques Industries AG.

External appointments

CEO of Services & Solutions, Aperam SA, Luxembourg

Gérard Lamarche - Non-executive Director

Belgian, 58

Date appointed to Board

25 April 2017

Education

Economic Sciences – Louvain, Belgium
Advanced Management Program for Suez Executives - INSEAD Business School, France

Experience

Gerard Lamarche built an extensive career, starting at Deloitte Haskins & Sells in Belgium, then Société Générale de Belgique as Investment Manager, Controller and Advisor to the Strategy and Planning Department, and Suez, as Secretary of the Executive Committee, then SVP in charge of Planning, Control and Accounting. In 2000, Gérard Lamarche joined NALCO as General Managing Director. He was appointed CFO of the Suez Group in 2003. In 2012, he joined Groupe Bruxelles Lambert as Co-CEO until April 2019. He currently serves as a senior advisor to corporations, families and their related entities.

External appointments

Non-Executive Director, Audit Committee, SGS, Switzerland
Non-Executive Director, Standing Committee, Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, Belgium

Eric Meurice - Independent Non-executive Director

French, 63

Date appointed to Board

28 April 2015

Education

Economics – Sorbonne, France
Mechanical Engineering – École Centrale Paris, France
Business Administration – Stanford Graduate School of Business, USA

Experience

Eric Meurice was formerly President and Chief Executive Officer of Netherlands-based ASML Holding, a major provider of advanced technology systems for the semiconductor industry. He was previously EVP in charge of Thomson Multimedia TV Division and held senior positions in several technology groups such as Intel, ITT, and Dell Computer.

External appointments

Non-Executive Director, Global Blue Group S.A., Switzerland
Non-Executive Director, IPG Photonics Corp, USA
Non-Executive Chairman, Board of Directors, Soitec S.A., France

Laurent Raets - Non-executive Director

Belgian, 40

Date appointed to Board

25 April 2019

Education

Commercial Engineering – Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management, Belgium

Experience

Laurent Raets joined Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL) in 2006 and became Deputy Head of Investments in 2016. He began his career in 2002 as an M&A consultant at Deloitte Corporate Finance, where he was involved in buy and sell mandates, due diligence and valuation assignments.

External appointments

Censor of the Board of Directors of Imerys S.A., France

Marc van Sande - Board Advisor (Formely EVP Energy & Surface Technologies)

Belgian, 68

Education

Physics – University of Antwerp, Belgium
Business Administration – Antwerp Management School, Belgium

Experience
Marc Van Sande was appointed Executive Vice- President Energy & Surface Technologies in June 2010, after serving as CTO from 2005 to 2010 and as EVP Advanced Materials from 1999 to 2005. Marc joined Umicore in 1980, and held several positions in research, marketing and production. He was also responsible for the Energy & Surface Technologies business group and China.

Géralidine Nolens - Board Secretary

Belgian, 48

Karel Vinck - Honorary Chairman

Belgian