Dear colleagues,
We are very pleased to announce new internal appointments, valid as from 1 February 2021.
Jean-Baptiste de Ghellinck, responsible for our activities in Qatar since 2018, joins the Business Unit International as Operations Manager. He will be replaced in Doha by Boudewijn Bartholomeeusen, who has been head of the Engineering Department of BESIX in Dubai since 2017.
As Operations Manager of the Business Unit International, Jean-Baptiste de Ghellinck will now be based in Brussels and will report to Mathieu Dechamps. In his new role, he will be responsible for the follow up and the successful delivery of major projects within the Business Unit.
Jean-Baptiste graduated from the Université Catholique de Louvain as a Civil Engineer and holds a Master's degree in Intercultural Management from the ICHEC Business School in Brussels. He began his career at BESIX Group. From 1999 to 2004, he contributed as technical manager to projects in India, Libya and the Middle East, mainly in the fields of civil and marine works. After professional experiences outside the group, notably in Asia, he joined BESIX again as Project Manager in Jizzan, Saudi Arabia (2015-2016), Project Manager for the Duqm Liquid Bulk Berths and Resident Manager in Oman (2017-2018).
From 2018 to date, Jean-Baptiste has done a remarkable job as head of our activities in Qatar, consolidating our presence in this country and actively contributing to the quality of our achievements.
Boudewijn Bartholomeeusen is taking over the functions that were held by Jean-Baptiste de Ghellinck in Qatar. He will report to Olivier Crasson.
Boudewijn has been working for BESIX Group since the beginning of his career, more than 18 years. He graduated from the KU Leuven as a Construction Engineer and holds an Executive Master in Management of Major Construction Projects from the Université Libre de Bruxelles. From 2002 to 2015, he contributed to numerous BESIX Group projects as Project Engineer in Libya and Dubai (2002-2005), then as Technical Manager in Abu Dhabi and Qatar (2005-2009). He joined BESIX NL from 2009 to 2017. He was notably Project Director for the works on the Princess Beatrix Lock, the largest inland waterway lock in the Netherlands.
As head of the Group's Engineering Department in Dubai from 2017 to date, he has supervised the design and preparation of our major projects in the Middle East. His contribution to the quality and continuity of our Engineering Department has been outstanding.
BESIX Group would like to extend its heartfelt thanks to both Jean-Baptiste and Boudewijn for their dedication and commitment to our group. We wish them all the best in their new functions, where they will be able to count on the full support of the entire group management and their new direct colleagues.
Boudewijn's replacement at the BESIX Engineering Department in Dubai will be announced at a later date.