Thomas Leysen
Thomas Leysen
Thomas Leysen is Chairman of the Board of Umicore in Brussels since 2008 and Chairman of the Board of Mediahuis in Antwerp. From October 2011 until May 2020, he was Chairman of the KBC Group. In 2016 he became also Chairman of the King Baudouin Foundation. From 2008 until 2011 he was Chairman of the Federation of Belgium Enterprises (FEB). He holds a Master of Law Degree from the University of Leuven (Belgium). He started his career in the maritime business in Hamburg, London and Tokyo. From 1983 till 1988, he managed the Transcor group, which he built into an international oil and coal trading company with activities in Europe, America and Asia. In 1989, he managed the restructuring of Générale Trading Cy, a subsidiary of the Société Générale de Belgique. He joined Umicore in 1993 as member of the Executive Committee, and successively managed several industrial divisions. He became Executive Vice President of the company in 1998. Between 2000 and November 2008 he was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Group. During this mandate, he transformed the former Union Minière, a non-ferrous company in an international materials-technology group called Umicore. Thomas Leysen is also Chairman of the Board of media company Corelio, publishers a.o. of De Standaard and NRC, the Belgium and The Netherlands leading quality newspapers. He is also member of the Global Advisory Council of Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan. He is member of the European Table of Industrialists (ERT) and member of the Raad van Advies of the Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem.He chairs the Belgian Corporate Governance Commission.
