As of May 1st, five of the eight seats on the Board of Directors of the Antwerp Management School (AMS) have been allocated to women. In addition to Christien Van Vaerenberg (Port of Antwerp) and prof. dr. Silvia Lenaerts, Françoise Chombar (Melexis), Véronique Goossens (Belfius) and Anita Van Looveren (OMP) will also be joining the Belgian business school’s board of directors. Jan Remeysen (BASF) will take the torch from Alain Beyens as chairman.

Holder of the chair on sustainable transformation of organizations and society in collaboration with BASF, Port of Antwerp, Randstad and University Antwerp, Remeysen has been involved in Antwerp Management School (AMS) for many years. As CEO of BASF, he has been on the board of directors for two years now. Now he takes over as chairman from Alain Beyens (formerly of AB Inbev & -Pelican Rouge) after seven fruitful years. “It’s an honor and a pleasure to be allowed to take on the role of chairman of the Board”, says Jan Remeysen. “First of all, I would like to thank my predecessor Alain Beyens and continue his work. Society is currently facing daunting challenges and I strongly believe in the power of AMS, as a pioneer in management education and research, to be able to bring about the required positive changes at the individual, organizational and societal levels."

Three newcomers

In addition to the appointment of Jan Remeysen, the Board of Directors of AMS also welcomes three (relatively) new faces. Françoise Chombar, who chairs the Board of Directors of Melexis, makes her appearance. She has garnered several awards for her leadership and entrepreneurship and has already worked closely with AMS in the field of L&D. Chief economist at Belfius, Véronique Goossens has also worked in media, at Kanaal Z, more specifically. Like Goossens, Anita Van Looveren, the CEO of software company OMP, is an alumna of UAntwerpen.

Together with Christien Van Vaerenberg (Chief HR Officer at Port of Antwerp) and vice-rector and Prof. Silvia Lenaerts (UAntwerpen), five women now reside on the Board of Directors alongside Prof. Dr. Koen Vandenbempt (Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics at UAntwerpen), Prof. Dr. Steven De Haes (Dean AMS) and Chairman Jan Remeysen. The extensions of the mandates of Prof. Lenaerts and Prof. Vandenbempt not only endorse the strategic partnership with UAntwerpen but also the power of that bond. The changes within the board of directors will be effective starting May 1st, for a new four-year term.

Opening minds to impact the world

The new members underline the ambitions of AMS: to develop positive leadership, impactful transformation and sustainable ecosystems in a global framework of respect, openness, diversity and inclusion. “AMS has now been active as an international management school for over 60 years, boasting 25,000+ alumni from more than 90 countries. What binds us in the AMS community is nicely worded by our mission statement: ‘Opening minds to impact the world’, says Steven De Haes, dean of AMS. “With such a solid board of directors and such an inspiring mission to work from, AMS is ready to embark on another 60-year journey, together with all of our students, clients, alumni and partners, both locally and globally. I would like to sincerely thank Anette Böhm, Jan Suykens and Alain Beyens for their critical role over the past years and for bringing us to this point.”