Russ Curry, Ministry of New Media
On the evening of Friday July 16, 2021 Barco announced that CEO Jan De Witte had ‘decided’ to step down with effect as from September 1, 2021.
In April 2016 Jan De Witte, a former corporate officer of the General Electric Company, became CEO-designate in anticipation of the orderly handover of power from former CEO Eric Van Zele who was to retire later that year.
To replace Jan De Witte, the Board of Directors has appointed Charles Beauduin and An Steegen as co-CEOs. They will start respectively on September 1 and October 1. With his experience as a business leader at Van de Wiele NV and with her years of experience as a technology and innovation leader at IBM, imec and Umicore, and with their backgrounds as members of the Board of Directors of Barco, Charles and An form a perfect tandem to lead Barco in the coming years.
The press release stated that “With this choice, Barco is more than ever committed to innovation, growth and entrepreneurship. Moreover, the focus remains on the further internationalisation of the company in view of worldwide commercial and technological leadership in the various markets”.
The Board of Directors also appointed Frank Donck, an independent director at Barco since April 2015, as Chairman of the Board of Directors with effect from September 1.
Future co-CEO, An Steegen said “Digitalisation is changing our society at a rapid pace. New experiences, more insights and more connectedness are at the centre. This is a great opportunity for Barco, already a world leader in visualization and collaboration technologies, to differentiate and grow more than ever through its breakthrough innovations. I look forward to working with Charles and the entire team to build a promising future for Barco.”
- Since 1993, Charles Beauduin (°1959) is CEO and owner of Michel Van de Wiele NV, an international technology company and market leader in applications for the textile industry. He holds a master’s degree in law from KU Leuven and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Barco NV since January 2015.
- Since April 2017, An Steegen (°1971) is a member of the Board of Directors of Barco NV. She holds a Phd in materials science and electrical engineering from KU Leuven, in collaboration with Belgian imec. In 2000, Mrs. Steegen joined IBM Semiconductor R&D in Fishkill, New York. As head of R&D and a senior executive at IBM’s International Semiconductor Alliance, she was responsible for the development of IBM’s advanced logic semiconductor technology. In 2010, she returned to imec in Belgium, where she became executive vice president Semiconductor Technology & Systems. Since 2018, An Steegen is chief technology officer at Umicore. She is responsible for the company’s innovation strategy and heads the central R&D team.
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