Speakers - Realty 2023

European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Head of the New European Bauhaus

Anneleen Desmyter is CEO of Yally (=Your Ally). Yally was founded about 1 year ago together with Belfius, Gimv and TINC.  As a residential landlord of the future, Yally puts maximum focus on the tenant’s comfort and lowering the total cost of living by integrating smart techniques in the houses, reducing energy bills and an all-in service via the online portal Mijn.Yally.be. 

Anton Maes is the CEO of brainmove and in recent years has developed the company into a fully-fledged consultancy in the field of workplace strategy and change management. He is an organisational psychologist and an expert in internal communication, change management, innovative work organisation and strategic workplace development.

Arie Lengkeek is a researcher and concept-developer in the fields of spatial development and culture. Under the name /commongrounds, he works on research and practice of urban commons and ecologies. His motivation is to develop new commons as practice places for the city of tomorrow.

Senior Director – Responsible for CBRE Investment and Divestment transactions for Belgium and Luxemburg.

Head of Real Estate Finance Belgium at BNP Paribas Fortis, managing the department serving all the important real estate players

Notulus Oostende Bart van Opstal is a notary in Ostend and spokesperson for Notaris.be. From 2008 to 2012, he was

Bas Smets has a background in landscape architecture, civil engineering and architecture. He founded his firm in Brussels in 2007 and has since completed more than 50 projects in more than 12 countries with his team of 25 architects and landscape architects. 

CEO citydev.brussels – Benjamin Cadranel was born in Brussels on 12 September 1974, where he resides today. He obtained his

Ben Melcher (44, lawyer) has over 14 years of experience in the development of large-scale urban projects and is currently leading the development of Siemensstadt Square.

Mayor of Gembloux

Bert Van Severen works as project coordinator for T.OP Kustzone, a partnership between the Department of Environment and Spatial Development and the province of West Flanders.

Head of Communication – Design Museum Gent

Managing partner Colliers Belgium Charles Lasserre is currently Co-Managing Partner at Colliers Belgium since January 2023. He started his career

Associate Professor Real Estate and Urban Economics ESPI

CEO Interoffices/Workero, Chairman European PropTech Association – PropTech House In 2018 Dirk Paelinck founded Workero, a digital service provider organizing

Edward Van Keer is since 2004 a policy officer for “integrated water management” at the Department of Mobility & Infrastructure of the Flemish Government. He is an expert in water quantity management and sediment management.

Erwin Vrijens is head of the Real Estate Division at the Flemish investment company PMV where, with a team of 10 colleagues, he enables the realization of socially responsible real estate through (alternative) financing, helps develop (polluted) areas and ensures the future of heritage by enabling economically profitable reallocation

General Manager – Real Estate Eng.Fahad Altomaihy , graduated from King Saud University – Civil Engineering , MBA From Malaysia

Filip Dewaele is a prominent figure in the real estate industry, serving as the Chairman of the Board of Dewaele Vastgoedgroep. After his father laid the foundations of the first office in Bruges, Filip Dewaele, together with his two partners – Stefaan Coucke and Geert Berlamont – expanded the real estate group to 53 offices in Flanders and Brussels.

European Commission – EIC Program Manager, Climate Tech / Construction

Françoise Roels joined Cofinimmo in August 2004. She is a Law graduate (RUG 1984), candidate in Philosophy (RUG 1984), and holds a Master’s degree in Taxation (Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Fiscales 1986). She is in charge of the company’s general secretariat and its compliance and risk management functions.

Senior housing researcher – dep. Economics KU Leuven  Frank Vastmans (business engineer and master of statistics) his main research topic is

Frederic is Partner of Financial Advisory in charge of Real Estate, Infrastructure & Capital Projects and of Government & Public

Frédéric van der Planken, the founder and CEO of the Whitewood Group brings over 21 years of expertise in the real estate sector. Started in real estate at CBRE,  where he ultimately became Head of Capital Markets in Belgium and then on to CEE, he founded Whitewood in 2008.

Gaétan Clermont is co-CEO and shareholder of the Eaglestone Group. Eaglestone Group is active in both real estate development and

After studying law at ULB, Gilles Delforge began his professional life as a lawyer in 1998, specialising in property and urban planning law. He also taught urban and regional planning to future estate agents.

Gregory has a focus on innovation at PATRIZIA for more than 6 years. The main topics include the scouting process from analysing exsiting pain points and opportunites to piloting and implementing the best solutions…

Global Head of Innovation & European Sustainability, PIMCO Prime Real Estate

Guy joined Frank Buysse in the early days of Buysse & Partners. He is responsible for the real estate investment strategy, covering both the iconic (Smart Assets) and residential (Smart Living) real estate portfolio.

Jean-Marie Dedecker is a colorful Belgian politician and a renowned former judo coach and Olympian. He has been mayor of Middelkerke since 2019. A Belgian seaside town in full development.

Joris is 47 years old and has a Master in engineering & architecture (VUB) – Post Graduate in RED (KUL

Mayor of the City of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve (31,000 inhabitants) since December 2018, Julie Chantry, member of the Ecolo party, has won the bet to succeed Jean-Luc Roland, who was the first Ecolo mayor of Wallonia

Jungyoon Kim is the founding principal of PARKKIM, a Seoul-based landscape architectural firm, and Assistant Professor in Practice of Harvard GSD.

Partner at Bjarke Ingels Group

Ken De Cooman is co-founder of BC architects & studies, and BC materials. With these companies, BC starts from architecture, over research and expertise and experiment, towards material production and contracting.

Head of Enterpreneurial Innovation – Vinci “2007 : Mastère spécialisé en management du développement durable – HEC Paris2006 : Ingénieur

Kristiaan Borret is bouwmeester – maître architecte (BMA) of Brussels Capital Region since 2015. The bouwmeester is a government official who promotes spatial quality in urban development projects in Brussels from an independent position.

Public Private Partnerships Manager Jan De Nul Group

 Today, Kristof is managing partner and CEO, and together with Davy, he focuses on building a successful future for ION and its projects.

Manal Rachdi et son agence oxo architectes, s’affairent à développer aujourd’hui des projets qui varient de taille, d’échelle, de typologie : logements, tertiaire, enseignement universitaire et projet mixte, en France et à l’étranger

Director Embuild Vlaanderen

Trained as an urban planner and philosopher, Marion Waller was advisor to Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, with particular responsibility for architecture, heritage and the transformation of public space.

Michel Van Geyte holds a master’s degree in applied economics and a postgraduate degree in real estate studies from the Catholic University of Leuven and a master’s degree in corporate finance from Vlerick Business School.

Secretary of State for Housing and Equal Opportunities – Government of the Brussels Capital Region

Okalo Ikhena is a Director of Product Management at Google, and Head of Delve by Sidewalk Labs. Delve is a generative design platform empowering urban development teams to design better, healthier, happier, and more sustainable cities and communities.

Pascal is a designer and scenographer. He was classically trained at the royal academy of fine arts in Antwerp and specialized in Public Space at the Design Academy in Eindhoven

Peter De Wilde is CEO of the Flanders Heritage agency and acting CEO of VISITFLANDERS. Before he became VISITFLANDERS CEO in 2009, he was professor of French language and medieval literature at the University of Antwerp and Chief of the Cabinet for Culture & Tourism in Antwerp

In 2001 he joined the team of Freddy Thielemans, Mayor of the City of Brussels, as Head of Cabinet. In 2006, Philippe Close participated in the municipal elections and was duly elected, becoming Alderman for Staff and Tourism.

Policy Officer European Commission

Rudy Aernoudt is an experienced Professor Corporate Finance and European policy and has an outstanding International and European experience (MIT, OECD, European commission, European Council and European Social and Economic Committee).

Geschäftsführer, raum & kommunikation Vienna / Faculty of Architecture and Planning University of Vienna

Development & Innovation Director BPI Real Estate

Serge Fautré is Chief Executive Officer of AG Real Estate. He joined AG Real Estate in 2012, after ten years as CEO and Managing Director of Cofinimmo…

Country Director Belgium – Atenor Sheelam, 41 years old, has extensive experience in the Belgian market in which she has

Siham Rahmuni, CEO of the Quares group, has an excellent track record in the real estate industry.

CEO  Eaglestone Belgium

Managing Director Bopro

Stéphan SONNEVILLE has been Chief Executive Office of ATENOR since March, 2005. He started his career in 1986 at PWC, first as Auditor and then as Senior Auditor. He began to work for ATENOR in 1990 as Internal Auditor, then as Development Manager  and then became General Manager.

Suzy Denys holds a degree in law (Université Notre Dame de la Paix de Namur and KU Leuven) and postgraduate degrees in property studies (KU Leuven) and business management (Ehsal). She began her career as a lawyer. She then moved to Redevco, and Codabel.

Sven Grooten is Founding partner & general director of B- architecten. B-architecten has been a well-established name in the world of architecture for over 25 years. The design office put itself on the map with renowned designs for the Brussels Beursschouwburg, Muntpunt and De Grote Post in Ostend.

Valérie leads the Development Departement of Whitewood and with her team she is in charge of the different real estate projects that Whitewood is currently realising.

CEO Deepki

Vincent Scourneau is born in 1967. He is, since 2000, the mayor of Braine-l’Alleud, a town of 40.000 inhabitants in the district of Brabant wallon. He is also a Member of the Chamber of Representatives since 2014.

Mayor of Liège Law degree from the University of Liège Member of the Liège Bar City councilor for the City

Yves Lemmens is the CEO of SLRB, the public interest institution responsible for developing and promoting public housing in the Brussels Capital Region. He graduated in Management and Applied economic sciences and started his career in the Federal Public Service Finance in 1979 as economist.