Speakers

Hassan Al Hilou, Founder, Capital

Hassan Al Hilou is a serial entrepreneur, adviser and keynote speaker on the topics of radical innovation, leadership and the impact of all things digital on society and business. Next to it he builds innovative Youth Led programs to engage all youth in self-empowerment and economy and is the founder of CAPITAL.

Shahad Al-Sadoon, Co-founder, Needie Paddie

Shahad Al-Sadoon is an Iraqi-Belgian 21 year old pharmaceutical sciences student. Shahad confounded Needie Paddie aiming to break taboos around menstruations and help people touched by period poverty and is an Ashoka young changemaker.

Luna Aslan, Co-founder Noosafiber

Joss Bleriot, Executive lead - Institutions, governments and cities, Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Jocelyn Bleriot joined Ellen MacArthur in 2007, after 12 years spent in the media and publishing industry. He now focuses on leading the organisation’s institutional engagement with governments and supra-national bodies such as the UN, the G7 Resource Alliance, the OECD or the World Economic Forum.

Thomas Blettery, Ashoka Europe, Ashoka

Thomas Blettery participated in the creation of several social businesses and joined Ashoka in 2010. His current role is to strengthen the ecosystems of social entrepreneurs at the European level. He has also been co-leading an initiative on financing systemic change in France for the past two years.

Priscilla Boiardi, Policy Analyst in the Private Finance for Sustainable Development, OECD

Priscilla Boiardi led the creation of the OECD UNDP Impact Standards for Financing Sustainable Development and is working on a wide range of initiatives, in particular policies and standards that governments can adopt to maximise the impact of their investments made in sustainable development. Her work focuses on the impact of blended finance and innovative financial instruments.

Alain Boribon, Co-Founder, Solifin and Citizenfund

Alain Boribon has been at the cradle of the creation of the first citizen investment fund in Belgium and devotes his time to initiating or supervising projects with positive impact such as organic waste management, soft mobility logistics, food insecurity, the search for meaning, etc.

Frédéric Bourgois, Coopeos

Céline Bouton, Partner, LITA.co

Céline Bouton is a well-known bridge builder in the Belgian impact sector. She participated in the launch and development of several impact initiatives, such as Makesense, Microstart, LITA.co, Solifin, BeImpact or Forward. LITA.co is a participative financing platform dedicated to impact investing.  

Nathalie Braeckman, Co-Founder, Homaar

Nathalie Braeckman is the co-founder of Homaa, a place where young people (age 15-23) who are struggling with mental health can go for a short-term program. The goal is to enhance resilience and promote their growth potential.

Yonca Braeckman, Founder & CEO, Impact Shakers

Yonca Braeckman is a mission-driven entrepreneur and investor in underrepresented founders. She co-founded Impact Shakers, a global impact ecosystem tackling complex societal and environmental challenges through inclusive entrepreneurship and investment. She helped build the Belgian and European tech startup ecosystems and got awarded several times for her contributions. 

Marc Brisack, CEO, Inclusio

Marc Brisack worked for over 14 years for the Solvay Group. He switched to the world of real estate in 1998, working for Codemer, Bernheim-Comofi and then AG Real Estate. He then took on the role of CEO of Ascencio (Belgian REIT specialized in out-of-town retail) and finally joined Inclusio in September 2020 to take over the role of CEO as from January 2021.

Hugues Bultot, Founder & CEO, Univercells

As founder and CEO since its establishment in early 2013, Hugues Bultot has successfully led the company’s advancement in all activities related to business ventures. Hugues brings more than twenty years of expertise as a CEO and serial entrepreneur in the Life Sciences and Biotechnology industries. Prior to founding Univercells, he was CEO of MaSTherCell, Artelis, and Kitozyme. Hugues is an active member of several Boards and Committees and is the Vice-President SME of BioWin, the Health Cluster of Wallonia, Belgium.

James Burrows, Managing Director, Big Society Capital

James Burrows is managing director at Big Society Capital and looks after the social lending team, is spanning the work including Social Banks, Blended Finance, and Charity Bonds. Previously he led on the Places strategy, looking at ways social investment can play a role to make places which provide opportunities for the people who live there. 

Paul Buysens, co-CEO, Incofin

Paul Buyssens worked for 10 years at General Electric (GE Capital) as finance executive and 3 years at Deloitte as auditor.  He joined Incofin in 2017, an impact investment company active in emerging markets in sectors ranging from financial inclusion, to sustainable agri-food value chains, to drinking water. 

Sophie Buysse, Founder & Director, Debateville

Sophie Buysse is the founder & director of Debateville, an innovative debate program that empowers teenagers in low-income communities to attain their full potential. She is a member of the Friday group, a board member of Flagey and an elected fellow of Belgium's 40 under 40. Prior to Debateville Sophie launched Teach for Belgium in Flanders.

Carola Carazzone, Vice President, Philea- Philanthropy Europe Association  

Carola Carzzone is Vice President of Philea- Philanthropy Europe Association and Secretary General of Assifero, the Italian membership association of family, corporate and community foundations, since 2014. She also serves as Advisory Board member of Ariadne, ECFI (European Community Foundations Initiative), Alliance Magazine Editorial Board, the PCC Philanthropy Coalition for Climate, and of Ashoka Italy. 

Adélaïde Charlier, Climate and Human Rights Activist

Adélaïde is a co-organizer of the movement Youth for Climate. She is a Belgian teenager like a thousand others of this generation Z (born after the year 2000) and has been organizing actions, marches and occupations on a national and European level for over 3 years. She is a student at VUB and UGent studying Social and Political Sciences.

Tinotenda Chibebe, founder associate, AZTEQ

Within AZTEQ, Tinotenda Chibebe is working closely with the CEO and Founders to organize and undertake data gathering, analysis, fundraising, and follow-up on strategy execution.She is a board member of SheDIDIT, SimpliCity Climate Investment Fund and the IOM, the UN agency providing migration services and advice.

Piet Colruyt, Impact Investor

Piet Colruyt is an experienced (impact) investor and a board member of several companies including Colruyt Group and Korys. He is the founder of Impact Capital NV, an investment holding that focuses on enterprises and projects with a social impact in the field of ecology, environment and social innovation. Piet is part of the Steering Committee of IF Belgium (Impact Finance Belgium)

Prof. Dr. Kristoff Corten, Orthopaedic Surgeon

Prof. Dr. Kristoff Corten is a fellowship trained surgeon who specialize in joint reconstructive surgery of the hip. Within his PhD-thesis he conducted cadaver and clinical research that revolutionized the anterior approach on the regular OR-table. He currently focuses on OR efficiency and patient centered total care efficiency. 

Laurent Coulie, co-founder & CEO, Belgium’s 40 under 40

Laurent Coulie devotes his time to different non-profits and societal projects. After an experience in a philanthropic organization, he created Belgium’s 40 under 40, a purpose-driven leadership platform to boost societal engagement among the younger generation. 

Isabelle Coupienne, Graine de Curieux

After a professional background in clinical research and the development of innovative medical technology, Isabelle Coupienne created Land Farm and Men organic farming in 2015 aiming at the relocalisation of the complete organic farming in Belgium. 

Anneleen De Bonte, Project Manager, Blenders

Anneleen De Bonte worked as a general practitioner for ten years. She left the practice to do project-based innovative work and to approach the theme of health in an integrated and systemic way. She spent three years at FairFin on a research and campaign on pension provision for healthcare providers. Today she works at Blenders within two themes: Healthy people in healthy cities &  Healthy money.

François de Borchgrave, Founder & Managing Partner, KOIS

François de Borchgrave brings more than 15 years of experience in private equity investments with a specific focus on impact investing in the last 11 years. François co-founded KOIS, an impact investment and innovative finance advisory firm. He is leading KOIS’s efforts on social impact bonds in Europe and is the lead person on asset management and innovative finance product structuring in the renewable energy sector. 

Loic de Cannière, Founder & CEO, Incofin Investment Management

Incofin Investment Management is an impact fund management company operating in Africa, Asia and Latin America. He has been the company’s CEO for more than 20 years and became Chair of the Supervisory Board in 2022. Loïc is also Chair of the Board of Directors of the Social Performance Task Force (SPTF) and Board member of Finance Trust Bank (Uganda).

Olivier de Cartier, Copains

Peter De Coensel, CEO, Degroof Petercam Asset Management

Peter De Coensel is a senior investment professional with 30 years of experience. He joined Degroof Petercam in 2009 as fund manager and has been till this day, CIO Fixed Income and member of DPAM’s Management Board and Board of Directors. 

Paul Decraemer, CFO, Inbiose

Paul Decraemer joined Inbiose as CFO and strategic advisor as from 2015. Inbiose is a global pioneer in specialty carbohydrates offering novel and regulatory compliant health ingredients.

Noémie de Crombrugghe, Head of Innovation, Vicinity

Noémie de Crombrugghe started her career in the hotel industry improving sustainability programs. Then, as Head of Membership and CEO at PropTech Lab, she built further the community of startups and key players in the real estate and construction sector. Today at Vicinity she helps the company in fulfilling its mission of putting up to rent affordable housing for people in Belgium. 

Peter De Decker, Impact Investment Manager SFPI-FPIM

Prior to joining SFPI-FPIM, Peter De Decker gained experience in the renewable energy sector at Eneco Wind and in venture capital at Inventures/MyMicroInvest. At SFPI-FPIM, Belgium’s sovereign wealth fund, he helps mission-driven companies to scale. 

Tomas De Groote, Social impact manager, Social Innovation Factory

Tomas De Groote has a background in civil society as coordinator and policy worker for several non-profit organisations. Since 2015, he works on the incubation and acceleration of social innovative enterprises at Social Innovation Factory (Belgium). 

Jeroen De Keer, Head of finance & investments, King Baudouin Foundation

Jeroen De Keer joined the King Baudouin Foundation in 2021 as Head of Investments, after a long career in the banking sector. The KBF is an independent and pluralist foundation for the public interest. Their activities aim to foster sustainable and positive change in society, in Belgium, Europe and around the world.

Diane Delava, Senior project manager, Solifin

As a past entrepreneur in the field of sustainable finance for retail customers, Diane is now working at Solifin. She is working mainly on the transition towards the Impact Finance Institute for Belgium and on the organization of the Impact Week. She was selected for the new group of Belgian changemakers “40 under 40”.

Béatrice de Mahieu, CEO, BeCode

From 2019 until September 2021, Béatrice de Mahieu was the CEO of Co.Station Belgium (a tech startup co-working and innovation hub) where she created and developed the open innovation business line (including open innovation ecosystems like IO.energy, co.mobility, co.food, co.building). She is now CEO of BeCode, and is still acting as Innovation Advisor for Nova Reperta, who acquired the innovation activities from Co.Station end 2021. Since the start of her career in 1999, Béatrice de Mahieu has worked successively for large telecom, tech and media companies (Telenet, Microsoft, Elle Belgium...) where she contributed to the growth strategies and digital transformation.

Emilie de Morteuil, Environment & Health Adviser, Colruyt Group

Emilie de Morteuil gives advices to the agro-food industry and shares her passion through conferences or her book « Le guide de la consommation durable ». She has recently founded The House of Agroecology whose mission is to federate the different stakeholders in Belgium in order to accelerate the transition towards sustainable food systems.

Peter Depauw, co-founder, Strategies and Leaders

As a strategist and systems economist, Peter Depauw drives organisations with social impact and supports Social Entrepreneurs with their strategic processes. Besides he is the ambassador of the Steward-ownership movement in Belgium.

Chuck de Liedekerke, CEO, Soil Capital

Chuck de Liedekerke is on a mission with Soil Capital to scale regenerative agriculture and reverse climate change. Soil Capital helps farmers understand how to store carbon in the soil and get paid for fixing the planet, all while producing abundant and healthy food. 

Elinor de Pret, Co-founder & President, Astralis Foundation

Elinor de Pret has co-founded the Astralis Foundation, an organisation which supports systemic impact projects. She was involved in the 4 Belgian social impact bonds proving various concepts to getting people into employment or coding. Previously she has worked for EVPA and almost ten years in Public Affairs for the European Commission. 

Stijn De Roo, Co-Founder, Wattson

Stijn De Too is co-founder of Wattson, a Belgian full-scope ESCO. They prepare buildings for a sustainable future by combining energy efficiency and renewable energy measures into sound business cases that are successful in real life. They develop and manage energy cost saving projects in both public and private buildings.

Loïc de Schaetzen, Investment Director, Telos Impact

Loïc de Schaetzen previously worked at Korys, a major European family office operating and managing 3P investments and has also 20 years of experience in the fields of energy transition and waste management acquired within Engie and Suez.

Steven De Schepper, Senior Investment Manager, ParticipatieMaatschappij Vlaanderen

Steven De Schepper works in the infrastructure team of the ParticipatieMaatschappij Vlaanderen.  PMV Fund Management recently launched EPICoII that focuses on financing sustainable infrastructure projects ranging from wind energy projects to  water-reuse projects (e.g. the project water-kracht in the port of Antwerp). 

David Dewez, Managing partner, Incofin

Active since 2007 at Incofin and in charge of the Global Debt portfolio, Technical Assistance and People and Organization, David Dewez brings over 22 years of investment experience in the financial services and agri-food sectors. Prior to Incofin, he worked for 7 years at ACCION International. 

Philippe Drouillon, Catalyst of positive impact teams, organizations & territories, Metamorphosis

Philippe Drouillon is an entrepreneur, consultant, coach and trainer. After 20 years working for Solvay Group he created Metamorphosis which advise impact business actors. He is part of several company boards and is a guest teacher at the ICHEC Brussels School of Management.

Jesse Dubois, Trividend

Gwenaël du Bus, Agronomist and Innovative Farmer, Ferme du Peuplier

Gwenaël du Bus is an agronomist and innovative farmer. In 2011 Gwenaël started an organic farming project in Gottechain, a small village in Walloon Brabant, under the concept “From the fields to the markets, we take care of the environment and your health”. 

Christel Dumas, Associate professor of finance, ICHEC

Engaged academic, Christel Dumas is associate professor of finance at ICHEC Brussels Management School. She is a member of the external advisory board of Triodos Bank Belgium, KBC AM SRI and KBC Group, the ethics committee of Solifin, the register committee of Forum Ethibel and the Verifier of the Belgian label Towards Sustainability.

Pascal Durdu, Founder, Farming for Climate

Passionate about sustainable development, ecosystem resilience, agro-ecology, permaculture, circular economy and sustainable business model, Pascal Durdu is a former executive in telecom, semiconductor, automation, IT & logistics sectors. He founded Farming for Climate in 2019, contribute to support enterprises in their transition/reconstruction towards a desirable future.

Eglantine Eeckhout, Sustainability Expert, The Shift

Eglantine Eeckhout is expert in sustainability with expertise areas like the Non-Financial Values, Diversity & Inclusion, Circular Economy, and Rethink Capitalism. Since 2018, she is working at The Shift where she currently builds and drives the program “Work & Inclusion" and overseen the relation with B Lab Benelux. She is also Vice-chairman of Board of Inter Environnement Wallonie /Canopea.

Kenny Frederickx, Director, Forum Ethibel
After several years as a deputy director in organisations with a focus on north-south relations, Kenny Frederickx became director at Forum Ethibel in July 2017. Forum Ethibel promotes Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Socially Responsible Investing (SRI). Besides, he is member of the jury for the Awards for best Belgian Sustainability Reports, and member of the Human Rights Council of the city of Ghent.

Jente Fillet, The Shift

Gianluca Gaggiotti, research manager, EVPA

Gianluca Gaggiotti joined EVPA in 2017. She has previously worked as a research assistant for several projects related to development and social network economics at Bocconi University. 

Anne Gerset, co-founder, MakeSense seed fund

Anne Gerset has spent 20 years in the energy sector. She has joined the world of impact investing 8 years ago taking the lead in the development of the ENGIE Rassembleurs d'Energies fund in Latin America. In 2019 she co-founded MakeSense Seed I which invested in 16 social startups in the pre-seed phase.

Emmanuelle Ghislain, CEO, Pulse Foundation

After starting her career numerous in international posting with Doctors Without Borders, Emmanuelle Ghislain has joined the impact scene in Belgium in 2015. She has been part of various social entrepreneurship ventures and is the Director of Pulse Foundation since 2020. 

Stefan Goemaere, Papillon

Stefan Goemaere has been working for the last 23 years as a community worker for ‘SAAMO West-Vlaanderen’, an important stakeholder on energy poverty in Belgium. He is also the founder of ‘Papillon’, a social innovative rental model for energy efficient household appliances for people in poverty,  by the principles of circular economy. 

Jamy Goewie, Partner & Fund Manager, Shaping Impact Group.

Jamy Goewie is a serial social entrepreneur with experience in Africa and Asia. She worked as consultant for several large companies on CSR related topics and as a strategic advisor for foundations. She has launched the Dutch Chapter of Ashoka. In 2017, she joined the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) as the Community and Market Development Director.

Avi Goldstein, Founder & Director, PATHWAYS Institute for negotiation education

Avi Goldstein started his career working with Vantage Partners, a consulting firm in Boston. Over the past decade, he has been working in partnership with actors in education systems to establish problem-solving negotiation as a key transversal skill. He lectures and runs workshops at a number of universities and colleges, including Solvay Brussels School, VUB, UCL, Odisee, Haute École Galilée, IHECS, and Thomas More.

Sarah Gordon, CEO, Impact Investment Institute UK

Sarah Gordon is the CEO of the Impact Investment Institute UK which aims to make capital market fairer. She has spent 18 years working at the Financial Times and has experience in funds management. She is a non-executive director of Social Finance and a member of the Charity Bank Advisory Panel. She is also a member of the Leadership Council at Snowball Investment Management and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. 

Marjan Gryson, Founder, Touché

Working closely with inmates as a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist, Marjan realized how big the challenges and how limited the opportunities for change within the existing systems (mental health care and the prison system) were. Touché started to re-integrate people with aggression-related problems creating opportunities for them to co-create their own and each other’s solutions together. 

Romain Gustot, Community & Fundraising manager, Ashoka Belgium

Romain Gustot is animating Ashoka Belgium community and manages its fundraising. He has launched ReSolve Europe, an online media focusing on solutions to social and environmental challenges. Previously, he worked for 8 years on migration issues with NGOs, the European Commission and international organisations.

Joshua Haynes, Founder & Managing Partner, Masawa

Prior to Masawa, Joshua was a diplomat in the Obama Administration, managed a large portfolio of social impact fund, and was a technology entrepreneur. Masawa is the the first mental wellness impact fund and invests in founders catalyzing mental wellness for a combined financial and social return. 

Sevan Holemans, Solifin

Alex Houtart, Ether Energy

Alex Houtart is an international expert in sustainable finance.  He started his career as an attorney at law,  before joining BNP Paribas Fortis where he held several executive positions in corporate finance and trade finance and developed the bank's first responsible banking department and SRI products.  Since 2015, he has been an impact investing advisor for institutional and private investors, think tanks (SDG, COP 21) , private equity funds (Inventures, Simplicity) or sustainable energy platforms (Ether Energy).  He is a member of the board of several companies and associations.

Reynald Jacobs, Chair of the Board, Fonds de soutien/Steunfonds Marguerite-
Marie Delacroix
The Fonds de soutien/Steunfonds Marguerite-Marie Delacroix is one of the 10 largest endowed Belgian foundations, active to prevent disability and protect people with disabilities. Reynald Jacobs helped develop its strategy regarding impact and extra criteria when managing its investments and endowment. Reynald is also CEO of Digistone (real estate/tech) as well as board member of investment funds and startups.

Raf Jacxsens, President, Maatwerkbedrijf De Duinenwacht

Raf Jacxsens has been active as manager, director and owner in chemical companies for more than 35 years. On top of this, he held other responsibilities as President of Duinenwacht and board member of related organizations and companies.

Karen Janssens, Colruyt

Aymeric Jung, Managing Partner, Quadra Impact Finance

Aarno Keijzer, Innovative Finance Manager, Aqua for All.

Aarno Keijzer started his career at ING Bank as analyst in equity capital markets, where he was responsible for raising capital for listed companies. Later he joined the financial advisory firms Lindenaar & Co and JBR Corporate Finance to work on M&A as a corporate finance consultant. For several years he worked closely with SMEs and private equity on acquisitions, valuations and due diligence.

Luc Kindt, Owner & CEO, LK INVESTMENT

Luc Kindt has 20 years of global management experience including 5 years as top executive of this publicly listed company, offering solutions for large screen visualisation, visualisation systems for life-critical applications and systems for visual inspection.

Cyrille Langendorff, Vice Chair, FAIR ( Finance à l’Impact Social, France)

Cyrille Langendorff is vice chair FAIR (Finance à l’Impact Social, France), GSG board member and chair of the french NAB and managing partner of Phitrust.

Salma Lasri, RenoWatt

Tobias Leenaert, Co-founder, ProVeg

Recognising the lack of awareness surrounding the problem of unsustainable meat consumption, Tobias Leenaert has embarked on a quest to subtly shift market forces and incentivise a higher demand for vegetarian food and a stronger implication for businesses. EVA, the organisation Tobias founded (in 2000) and for which he was selected as a fellow, is now called Proveg Belgium, becoming part of Proveg International. 

Tamara Lenaerts, Co-Founder, She & Company

Tamara Lenaerts is passionate about working with (learning)groups and teams. Over the past 25 years, she has supervised numerous collaborations in organisations (including Colruyt Group, Flemish Government, BNP Paribas Fortis, Maastricht University, etc.) and beyond (Hummus, HRD Academy) through laDuende, She & Company, Vrouwencirkels vzw and The Pond & The Waterfalls.

Anton Maertens, BC Materials

Anton has been an advisor to both the Flemish & Brussels government on climate change, circular economy & city development. He studied Communication Sciences, Renovation Coordinator & Urban Development. At BC materials he's team leader where he coordinates the communication, business development and applications for R&D & expansion.

Frederik Matthijs, Director, Trividend

Frederik Matthijs is director of Trividend, an impact investment fund focusing on the Flemish region. He has a broad experience in funding social and circular enterprises from the banking, investing and crowdlending perspective. He’s founder of different social initiatives that are focused on supporting vulnerable people in underprivileged neighborhoods.

Kathleen Melis, Impact coach, Social Innovation Factory

Kathleen Melis is animpact coach at Social Innovation Factory, a Belgian based accelerator for social innovation and social entrepreneurship. She has developed and organised processes such as Social SportUp, Social Enterprises Act For Climate Belgium - South Africa, ... She is also one of the driving forces behind the Belgian movement on Inner Development Goals.

Miguel Meuleman, Professor Entrepreneurship, Vlerick Business School & Imperial College

Miguel Meuleman is professor of entrepreneurship at Vlerick Business School. He’s visiting professor at Ghent University and Imperial College (UK). He is specialized in entrepreneurial finance and new venture creation. He is Academic Director of the Vlerick Entrepreneurship Academy. His work has been published in leading international journals.

Nick Meysman, Legal Advisor, Brussels Economy and Employment

Nick has 10 years’ experience in economic law and is specialized in financial aid for enterprises. Recently, he took up the role of coordinator for the Financing theme of the Shifting Economy strategy of the Brussels Regional Government, aiming to reorient the Region’s financial and economic instruments towards the economic transition.

Antonio Miguel, Managing Partner, Maze Impact

Antonio Miguel has founded MAZE, a Portuguese accelerator and impact funds. He is responsible for the Government Performance work and the MSM impact fund as a Managing Partner. He has worked in impact investment for +10 years in the UK, Canada and Europe. Antonio teaches Impact Investment at NOVA SBE. 

Narina Mnatsakanian, Impact Fund Kempen

Global Impact Pool is a multi-asset impact fund at Kempen, a EUR 70 bn AuM European Fiduciary and investment manager. Narina is responsible for sustainability & impact management in non- listed companies, she is leading sustainable investment governance as well as further developing our work on Biodiversity risks and dependencies. Prior to Kempen Narina worked at Sarona Asset Management and at MN, 130 billion pension fund. 

Kruti Munot, Project Manager, GIZ (German agency for international cooperation)

Kruti Munot works with city governments in Africa on climate-resilient infrastructure finance, planning, and partnerships. She has led several sustainability projects at the Brussels Hub of the World Economic Forum-led Global Shapers.

Idriss Nor, Executive Director Impact Investments, Stichting DOEN
The DOEN Foundation supports pioneers who are committed to a green, socially inclusive and creative society. Idriss Nor is driving efforts to complement grants with loans and equity. He is also supervisory board member of Stichting Democratie en Media, Board member of the ProCredit Bank Macedonia and Advisor to Artsformation. 

Marilu Ortega, Senior Investment Manager, Kampani

Marilu Ortega is a senior investment manager at Kampani, an agricultural impact investing fund focusing on improving smallholder farmer's livelihoods. She has over 10 years of investment experience focusing on access to finance at Symbiotics, International Finance Corporation and Inter-American Development Bank and is a CFA charterholder. 

Hedda Pahlson-Moller, CEO, TIIME.org

Hedda has been building the impact investing field the last 15 years in Luxemburg across academia, government and EC advisory roles and also as an independent board director to family offices, NGOs as well as private and public equity funds. Hedda is a private investor, strategic advisor and adjunct professor committed to catalyzing a systemic shift towards Impact Finance.

Bénédicte Passagez, Head of Sustainability, Ethias

After 5 years practicing business law, Bénédicte Passagez decided to work in the financial sector. First in private equity, for the European Investment Fund, later on in banking at Cohen & Steers Europe SA, Belfius BNP Paribas Fortis. She also joined PwC as Director to head the regulatory practice for 2 years. She decided to join Ethias in 2021 as Head of Sustainability.

Kaat Peeters, Manager, Director, Social Innovation Factory

Kaat Peeters has a track record as an entrepreneur, civil servant and as coordinator of several non-profit organisations. In 2013, she took the lead of the Belgian based accelerator Social Innovation Factory. Kaat also passionately teaches about social innovation at the Erasmushogeschool in Brussels. Between 2019 and 2022, Kaat explored various contexts: as impact manager at Konekt vzw, as self-employed and then as coordinator of the Research Centre for Sustainable Organisations... before finally returning to her great love: the Social Innovation Factory.

Geert Peetermans, Co-CEO, Incofin Investment Management

Geert Peetermans co-founded Incofin in 2001 with Loïc De Cannière. As Chief Investment Officer, he has led Incofin’s investment teams for the past 20 years. From 2009 he became a member of Incofin’s Management Board. From 2022, as Co-CEO, he took on specific end-responsibilities over the legal, compliance and communication matters of the firm, in addition to a continued role with the private equity portfolio. He chairs the investment committees of several of Incofin’s funds.

Kurt Peleman, Director, Synergos Global Philanthropists Circle Europe

Kurt Peleman has worked for and with large organisations (eg MSF, UN, Ashoka, Co-Impact, city of Antwerp...), and for a European and an Asian network of venture philanthropists & impact investors (EVPA, AVPN). He has taken on positions as executive director, strategy consultant and member of the board. He has also launched a number of non-profit initiatives. He is currently directing Synergos’ Global philanthropist Circle Europe, and a manager for The Pond & The Waterfalls.

Elvire Perrin, IR and Impact Manager, Impact Expansion

Elvire Perrin is IR and impact manager at Impact Expansion, an impact private equity fund, providing growth capital to companies offering solutions to fight the climate crisis, structural unemployment and health accessibility and efficiency issues in Western Europe. She has more than 22 years of experience in private equity, having advised several impact investors building their portfolio and having acted as IR/ESG and Impact manager of two private equity funds.

Stefan Perceval, Artistic Leader & General Manager, Hetgevolg
After years of acting and directing Stefan Perceval has been the artistic leader and general manager of HETGEVOLG since February 2014. From experience he knows what if feels like to constantly be on survival mode and what theatre can mean when you’re not living the life you want to live. 

Arnau Picon, Research Associate, EVPA

Since joining EVPA in February 2019, Arnau Picon has conducted research on topics related to the impact ecosystem, such as impact measurement and management and the role of crowdfunding platforms within the impact sector.

Ben Piquard, CEO, LeanSquare: 

After 20 years in Corporate Software (Microsoft, Business Objects, Siebel,...), Ben Piquard became interested in the world of entrepreneurship in 2010, launching the Boostcamps in Wallonia and Brussels. Today, he manages the start-up investment fund Leansquare, part of the Noshaq group in Liege. He is part of several boards coach, author of MOOCs and host of the One Hour Challenges. 

Hugues Pirotte, Professor of Finance, Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management

Hugues Pirotte is full professor of finance at the Solvay Brussels School and the President of the Emile Bernheim Center of Interdisciplinary Research in Management (CEBRIG). His research is mainly oriented towards corporate finance, with a focus on risk and asset management, impact investing and behavioural finance. He is the co-founder of FinMetrics, a member of the Steering Committee of Euronext Brussels, and holds several board memberships.

Alexandre Pirson, Co-Founder, Gratiago

Alexandre Pirson is an entrepreneur in both Energy and Healthcare. After an experience in management consulting, he founded the social impact company Sun for Schools. In 2016, he founded Enerinvest and successfully made his first exit in 2020. He became the youngest elected municipal councillor at the age of 19 and became deputy mayor in Brussels at the age of 26. In 2022 he cofounded Gratiago, an E-Coaching solution that supports patients undergoing treatment.

Jacqueline Pistoulet, Marketing & Communication Director, Sofigroupe

Jacqueline Pistoulet is Marketing & Communication Director for SMAAART refurbished electronic devices in short circuit (phones, computers …). She is involved in circular economy and in building a qualitative refurbishing professional sector that is focused on protecting environmental and social concerns.

Anne Holm Rannaleet, Executive Director, IKARE

Anne Holm is part of the team that built IK Investment Partners, a leading European Private Equity firm where she now serves as Senior Advisor. She is also a founding member and the Executive Director of IKARE Ltd, the venture philanthropy operated UK charity. Anne is a previous board member of EVPA. She is also a member of the steering group of Filantropiskt Forum in Sweden and of the Swedish Securities Council (Aktiemarknadsnämnden).

Arnoud Raskin, Owner, Streetwize

Ashoka fellow and renowned social entrepreneur, Arnoud Raskin is the co-founder of Mobile School and StreetwiZe. Mobile School provides education for street children around the world and runs 40+ schools in more than 20 countries. StreetwiZe creates talent development and leadership training for corporate clients. He aims to transform society’s perception of vulnerable people and aims to multiply their chances of successfully reintegrating into society.

Katrien Rycken, Director, Leuven 2030

Katrien Rycken is director of ‘Leuven2030’, a network organisation across Leuven that joins forces for a climate neutral city. She helped ‘Leuven 2030’ grow into more than 500 companies, knowledge institutions, governments, organizations and citizens that join forces wit the city of Leuven to build a resilient, prosperous future for everyone. She and her team lead the systemic approach to this complex transition and is a proud ambassador of the European Capital of Innovation Award.

Virginie Samyn

Virginie Samyn has 20 years of experience in the world of social entrepreneurship : from working at Les Petits Riens asbl., as assistant director of the textile network, to develop the Belgian office of Ashoka, and launching of the 4Wings Foundation. In this last year she joined the public administration « Bruxelles Propreté » as special advisor of the executive body to support the transformation from collecting the waste to being a key actor in the transition. 

Edward R Schiettecatte, TrainM

Noor Seghers, Founder, Magenta

Noor Seghers is the founder of Magenta, a project that supports parents of children with disabilities or severe chronic diseases which is embedded in the University of Leuven. Scientific knowledge and expertise by experience are blended and resulted in a set of workshops and tools for parents.

Steven Serneels, Co-initiator, IF Belgium

Steven Serneels is a serial entrepreneur and impact investor on Belgian and European level. Working with both social and business actors, his focus is very much on the sweet spot where business and society are coming together. As ex chair and CEO of EVPA and board member of the Impact Investment Institute in the UK, he is one of the initiators of IF Belgium and the Impact Week.

Frédéric Simonart, Co-Founder & CEO, DUO for a JOB

After 6 years working for Engie, Frédéric Simonart co-founded in 2012 the NGO DUO for a JOB which aims to erase disparities in employment for young non-European, migrant and refugee populations by tapping into the underused resources of senior professionals and retirees over. DUO for a JOB is raising awareness on many of the barriers migrants face and showing that intergenerational and intercultural links can create more productive societies.

Daniel Sorrosal, Febea

Billy Swindells, EMF

Vanessa Temple, ING

Julia van Boven – Lead Impact Nation, ABN AMRO

Julia leads Impact Nation, a program from ABN AMRO that accelerates sustainable innovation within companies. She has been working at ABN AMRO since 2016, always with a strong focus on sustainability. Prior to that she led a family owned food business and studied philosophy. She currently also teaches climate ethics at University of Applied Sciences.

Kenneth Van den Bergh, CarbonAltDelete

Kristel Van den Bergh, Board Member, Baubo Vzw/Veldwerk

Kristel Van den Bergh is an entrepreneurial consultant who spent a decade driving change in the world of high-tech additive manufacturing. As innovation director at Materialise she started the innovation consultancy team with whom she developed a variety of industrial and healthcare-related products. Today she serves as managing director of the Prince Albert Fund (King Baudouin Foundation), a non-profit focused on NextGen leadership, and serves on the board of Baubo Vzw and the Sociale Innovatiefabriek Vzw. 

Tom Van den Berghe, Febelfin

Karolien van den Brekel, Director, Institute for Positive Health

Karolien obtained her doctorate in gynaecology and general practice in Utrecht and New York. She worked in general practices in Germany and Ireland, and followed international coaching training while living in Japan. Since 2010, she has been working as a general practitioner in Utrecht and started to apply Positive Health in practice on a daily basis.

Floor van der Heijden – Director Sustainability Advisory, ABN AMRO Bank N.V.

Floor is a Director Sustainability Advisory within ABN AMRO’s Corporate Banking department. She has been with the bank for almost ten years. Her expertise lies in providing companies with various sustainability services such as tailor made risk advice and sustainability-linked loans. Floor is currently also involved as an intrapreneur in ABN AMRO’s Impact Nation programme.

Wouter Vandersypen, Executive Director, Kampani

Prior to becoming Kampani’s Executive Director, Wouter Vandersypen was a consultant for PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers). He also worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Rescue Committee and the World Bank. Wouter is on the Board of Fairtrade Belgium, Trias, and a traditional private equity investment fund, called Invale NV.

Pascale Van Durme, Secretary General, Belgian Federation of Philanthropic
Foundations

The Federation brings together more than 120 foundations. One of its working group helps members sharing knowledge and best practices on combining non-financial and financial criteria in the management of their assets. Pascale Van Durme co-drives this alongside working groups on social impact, education, corporate foundations, family foundations. She has a long experience in managing social profit organisations.

Cédric Vanhoeck, Co-Founder & Executive Lead, Resortecs

CédricVanhoeck saw first-hand the huge disconnect between fashion and the circular economy at Antwerp Fashion Academy. Since 5 years, he dedicates his time and expertise to using technology to address the environmental challenges of the textile industry.

Tanguy Vanloqueren, Advisor to the Director, Foundation for Future Generations
The Foundation for Future Generations supports key stages along the journey of young generations, when they ideate, prototype, create and consolidate solutions for the 4 P’s: people, planet, prosperity, participation. Tanguy Vanloqueren drives the Foundation impact-first and SRI investments and helps steer its overall strategy and R&D. He is also a member of the Ethics Committee of Solifin. 

Frederic Van Pol, Chief Customer Officer, Copains.Group

Frédéric Van Pol has been active all his life in the food industry and decided 10 years ago to acquire a small bakery.  This bakery employs more than 100 people today.  Since 5 years the activities have been totally relocalised to source 100% of the wheat through local partnership farmers for the 5 million handcrafted breads they produce yearly. 

John Vanwynsberghe, Hefboom

Jasper Vekeman, Co-founder, Duurzaam Beleggen Academy

Jasper Vekeman is co-founder Duurzaam Beleggen Academy (Sustainable Investing Academy) and Editor in Chief at VFB (Flemish Federation of Investors). Previously he worked as a journalist for the financial newspaper De Tijd and for Trends. 

Magali Verdonck, Sohonet

Magali holds a PhD in economics, specializing in public finance. She is currently a lecturer at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and senior economist at DULBEA, the Department of Applied Economic Research of the same university. She is also a consultant specialized in public policy evaluation.

Yvette Verleisdonk, Partner, Aurion Law

Yvette Verleisdonk has been advising Belgian and international companies in connection to financings, restructurings, governance, M&A and investments for more than 30 years. She has extensive knowledge and experience with innovative impact finance (social impact bonds, blended finance and impact linked loans...) and impact governance, such as steward ownership.

Stéphane Vermeire, General Manager Private Banking & Wealth Management, BNP Paribas Fortis

Stéphane played a vital role over the past years in helping BNP Paribas Fortis to pioneer Sustainable Responsible Investments as part of the offering towards client investors in Private Banking and Wealth Management. Secondly, Philantrophy is something he takes to heart. A close cooperation based on mutual trust over the past years with the King Baudouing foundation through the "Venture Philanthropy Fund' is a proof of Stéphane's commitment for positive impact.

Bruno Wattenbergh, Chairman of the Belgium innovation board, EY

Chairman of the EY Belgium innovation board, Bruno Wattenbergh is a senior adviser within the SMEs and entrepreneurial ecosystem. Former head of Hub.Brussels (Inpulse), he is also a strategy and entrepreneurship professor at Solvay Business School.

Laure Wessemius-Chibrac, Founding Managing Director / CEO, Netherlands Advisory Board on impact investing

Laure Wessemius-Chibrac is the founding managing director of the Netherlands Advisory Board on Impact Investing’ (“NAB”), an initiative with the goal to scale up impact investments and to create more cooperation within the Dutch impact investing sector. Before she was head of Investments at Cordaid, an international NGO and impact investor. She also has supervisory functions at REGMIFA, a regional investment fund for Sub-Saharan Africa and at SNV Netherlands Development Organisation. 

Louis Wouters, Co-founder, Efiko Academy

Louis Wouters has worked as an impact and finance analyst for two years at LITA.co, an impact investing company. He co-founded Efiko, an online hub to learn critical sustainability and social impact skills. He is a member of the impact committee of Change, a Belgian impact fund, and board member of Give a Day, a social enterprise matching volunteers with non-profits. 

Luuk Zonneveld, BIO