Jury Private Equity Awards
Jury 2023
A jury composed of industry experts, entrepreneurs and BVA board members will draw a shortlist and finally select the winners.
Victor Casier
Victor Casier (48) is member of the Executive committee of Sofina, a family controlled investment company, listed on Euronext Brussels, with assets above 10Bn€ (www.sofinagroup.com). At Sofina, Victor leads the Consumer & Retail team and its direct investment activity focused on Innovation and Growth.
Having joined Sofina in 2006, he served and serves on the board of several portfolio companies incl. SES, Oberthur Technologies, Arcomet, Veepee (previously Vente-privée.com) or Drylock Technologies.
Previously with Roland Berger (strategy consultants), Transwide Ltd (e-logistics solution provider) and Banco Urquijo (private banking), Victor is a graduate of the Louvain School of Management (1999) and holds an MBA from University of Chicago (2005) and a Certificate in Corporate Governance from INSEAD.
Daan De Wever
Daan De Wever studeerde Economie aan de KUL, gevolgd door een Masterclass in Financieel Management in Antwerpen en volgde met succes verschillende management programma’s aan de Vlerick Business School. Daan startte zijn carrière in 2001. Vanaf het prille begin liet hij zijn ondernemersgeest de vrije loop. Zo richtte hij op 21 jarige leeftijd, samen met broer Samuel, Belgian Network Solutions (Benesol) op, dat server-ruimte voor Belgische IRC kanalen verkoopt. In 2004 leidde hij (samen met de CEO) de succesvolle opstart van Infranea, een bouwbedrijf gespecialiseerd in 3D engineering en in 2008 stampte hij Destiny uit de grond. De instap van een aantal business angels en kleine startersfondsen maakt het mogelijk om van Destiny een prominente Belgische speler te maken in de toen nog kleine cloudtelecom markt.
Vandaag is Daan CEO van Dstny, dat intussen uitgegroeid is tot een toonaangevende Europese aanbieder van cloud-gebaseerde bedrijfscommunicatie, die zowel rechstreeks aan bedrijven als via partners en service providers wordt geleverd. In deze snel groeiende scale-up zag Daan een enorme opportuniteit om zijn ervaring in de informatie- en dienstenindustrie toe te passen, evenals vaardigheden in M&A, management en het coachen van een jong, dynamisch team. Hij bouwde Dstny uit op een duurzame manier. Van de eerste overnames in België, Nederland en Frankrijk, over cruciale overnames in 2021 in Zweden en Denemarken, tot de meest recente overnames in oa UK vandaag. De snelle maar duurzame groei van Dstny heeft Daan weten te realiseren door een pijlsnel overnametraject en buy en build strategie dankzij het aantrekken van de juiste investeerders: Mentha Capital Private Equity in 2015 en in december 2019 heeft het Franse Apax Partners de fakkel overgenomen.
In februari van dit jaar verenigt Daan de meer dan 10 bedrijven in de groep onder één nieuwe merkidenteit en wijzigt de naam van Destiny naar Dstny. Om de Europese naamsbekendheid verder uit te bouwen, stapt Daan tevens in de wielersponsoring en wordt met Dstny de nieuwe co-titelsponsor van het Belgische UCI Worldtour-wielerteam Lotto-Dstny vanaf 2023.
Vandaag is Dstny – onder leiding van Daan – uitgegroeid tot een toonaangevende Europese speler in interactieve en cloudgebaseerde bedrijfscommunicatietools die vanuit het hoofdkantoor in Brussel actief is in 7 Europese landen (België, Nederland, Frankrijk, Duitsland, Zweden, Denemarken, VK), meer dan 750 medewerkers telt, het dagelijkse leven van meer dan 2,2 miljoen gebruikers helpt te vereenvoudigen en 2021 afsloot met een jaaromzet van €190 miljoen.
THOMAS DEWEVER
Thomas has over 15 years of experience in M&A and private equity. He is a BVA board member since 2021.
He is Managing Partner and co-founder of Smile Invest, an evergreen investment firm with €350 million of committed capital to support innovative growth companies. He focuses on investment opportunities in areas such as digitalisation, healthcare, and sustainability. He is currently a board member of 4ITEGO Group, Hospidex, Microflor and Rovers Medical Devices.
Prior to Smile Invest, Thomas was a Partner at Gimv where he was responsible for investments such as Contraload (now Tosca), Greenyard Foods, Hansea, Itineris and Lampiris (now TotalEnergies). He started his career at Airbus (based in France and Singapore) and Credit Suisse (based in London). Thomas holds a MSc degree in Electromechanical Engineering from KULeuven and a master’s degree in Strategic Management from HEC Paris.
Raf Moons
Raf Moons is Head of BNP Paribas Fortis Private Equity, the captive private equity branch of BNP Paribas Fortis. Raf joined Fortis Private Equity in 1999 focusing on seed and early-stage investments. In 2011 he was appointed Investment Director in the Direct Investment team of BNPPF PE. Before being active in Private Equity, Raf worked at Imec as industrial advisor in the business development department and started as scientific researcher at Imec/KU Leuven. Besides within BNPPF PE, he currently holds board positions at Studio 100, Het Anker, Epimède and Gemma Frisius-Fonds.
Raf holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the KU Leuven and obtained an MBA at Vlerick (KU Leuven).
Pierre Rion
Baron Pierre H. Rion is MSc (Civil electrical engineer electronics-IT), he graduated from the University of Liège in 1982, After having launched his first IT company in 1984, he took over the reins and destiny of IRIS .The optical-character recognition (OCR) developed by the company has since become an international standard. Since 1995, Pierre Rion has developed a vocation as a Business Angel devoted to boosting the regional economy. He is – or has been – an active investor in ventures like Pairi Daiza, DCinex, Belrobotics, E-Capital and in more than 15 other Walloon technological SMEs. In 1990, he relaunched the cultivation of vines in Belgium, becoming a pioneer in this new activity. Domaine de Mellemont, which remains a strong reference, was the largest vineyard in Wallonia for a long time. He was also founder and chairman of the Cluster TWIST, of the Board of EVS Broadcast Equiment for 13 years and of CPH Bank.
Today, he chairs the Boards of several technological companies like Euranova or Cerhum, and also active in other sectors like Maxel or IPM media group. Pierre plays a role in the public sector, amongst others as director of SRIW, Multitel, and InvestBW. Since 2015, he chairs the “Conseil du Numérique wallon” as well as the jury of the digital investment fund W.IN.G (Wallonia Innovation and Growth) within the framework of the “Plan Marshall 4.0”. In 2016 he also was awarded the prize of Economic Leader at the Lobby Awards.
Resolutely passionate about technology, he masters the art of ethical hacking, IOT’s and the block chain.
Annick Van Overstraeten
Annick Van Overstraeten is CEO of Le Pain Quotidien (Company Owned Stores & Master Franchises worldwide) since July 2020.
From 2010 until 2020 she was the CEO of Lunch Garden Group and member of the executive Board of Directors.
Before, she also headed as General Director Operations at Quick Restaurants BELUX (from 2004 until 2009), and she gained 5 years of experience as Commercial and Marketing Director at Leonidas NV (she started as manager of 30 establishments after which she had the opportunity to grow).
Furthermore, she is member of the Steering Committee of FEB (Federation of Enterprises in Belgium), Board member of Bemora (the Belgian associated restaurant organization), chairman and member of the Board of Directors of Euro Shoe Group NV, Board member and member of the Remuneration and Nomination Committee of Immobel NV, member of the Board of Directors of Financière de Tubize and Board member of MIG Motors Group.
SABINE VERMASSEN
Sabine has more than 30 years’ experience in venture capital and private equity. She started her career in the M&A department of an international law firm and has been working since 1991 for several venture capital funds and their portfolio companies. Sabine holds both a master’s degree in law and an MBA from the Vlerick Business School.
Sabine is now partner and member of the executive committee of Capricorn Partners, an independent partner-owned management company of venture capital, growth capital and quoted equity funds. Capricorn is investing through its Quest Sicav funds, the quoted fund Quest for Growth and through several closed-end private venture capital funds. Capricorn Partners is a fully licenced alternative investment fund manager with Sabine as its responsible for the risk and compliance department.
As of the general meeting of 2022 Sabine is Chairwoman of the BVA. Since a couple of years Sabine has been co-chair of the legal & tax committee of the BVA and member of the Professional Standards Committee of Invest Europe.
WILLEM BROECKAERT
Willem Broekaert is currently Managing Partner of V-Bio Ventures, a life sciences venture fund that he co-founded in 2015. V-Bio Ventures supports innovative young companies in the sectors of medical and agricultural biotechnology.
Prior to starting V-Bio Ventures, Willem was the founding CEO of the nutrition company Fugeia, a spin-off from the University of Leuven in Belgium, which was acquired by Cargill in 2013. Prior to setting up Fugeia, he was Vice President R&D of the entrepreneurial agri-biotechnology start-up company CropDesign, that was acquired by BASF in 2006.
Willem started his career as a biotechnology researcher and was full-time professor at the Faculty of BioScience Engineering of the University of Leuven in 1996-1999, and part-time professor from 1999 till 2023.
He holds a MSc and PhD in BioScience Engineering from the University of Leuven, and a Master’s degree in agricultural economics from the business school ESSEC in Paris, France.