- Jan Coene
Jan Hugo Isidoor Coene, born in 1957, is a Belgian businessman.
He joined
Brown, Boveri & Cie (BBC) Workshops in Brussels as a young trainee. In a few short years, he rose within the company and soon reached a management position. During these years he negotiated several acquisitions and mergers. In 1988, BBC merged withASEA , to becomeABB Asea Brown Boveri .In 2001 he left ABB and became the CEO & Chairman of Picanol, a world-wide leader in textile machinery and related services.
In 2003, he became Chairman of
Belgacom , the Belgian national telephone company which he led to an IPO, working closely with its owner, the Belgian Government.In 2004, the press revealed the level of his incomes from PicanolSource: [http://old.rtbf.be/rtbf_2000/bin/view_something.cgi?type=article&id=0168529_article&menu=default&pub=RTBF.PORTAIL%2FPORTAIL.FR.la_taille.SP.SOCI RTBF.be's article (in french)] ] . These incomes were judged greatly excessive by the press, considering the usual Belgian remunerations for the functions of upper management. The lack of transparency was also pointed out, in particular by company's minority shareholders [Source: [http://www.deminor.com/articles.do?id=3591 Deminor's article (in french)] ] . Facing growing criticism, Jan Coene was forced to resign from both Picanol and
Belgacom in October 2004Source: [http://cours.funoc.be/essentiel/article/article.php?idart=215&id_result=Pierre-Henry%20Thomas L'Essentiel's article] ] .The affair became a political issue in Belgium and a bill was introduced in Parliament (the "Picanol law") to force big companies to publish the remuneration of their upper management personnel.
Other Jan Coene's professional activities include: Director and Board Member of various companies: Domo, Committee Koning Boudenwijnsticthing, Flanders, Federation of Flemish Enterprises, co-founder of BBE (Belgian Business for Europe), member of the World Economic Forum (since 2002), Chairman of Siveco Group SA, a company providing
CMMS products worldwide.Jan Coene is married with 2 children.
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