Sprekers

Frank Maene

Frank is a managing partner at seed & early stage venture capital fund, Volta Ventures. Previously he was a managing partner at the Hummingbird Ventures and Big Bang Ventures funds, since inception in 2000.

He currently serves on the board of directors of Amplidata, Argus Labs, Awingu, Ciceksepeti, Digitouch, Engagor and Racktivity. He was the chairman of DataCenterTechnologies (acquired by Symantec) and Q-layer (acquired by Sun Microsystems) and a director on the board of Avinity (acquired by ActiveVideo Networks).

Prior, Frank led ExpertEyes in Silicon Valley, where he helped US software companies expand into Europe; spun off a team of developers from a system integrator; created, led, and -eighteen months later- sold the Benelux distributor of Gentia Software; was a sales manager for Comshare Belgium/Luxembourg, and started his career as a consultant with the Cap Gemini Group.

Frank holds Master's degrees in Applied Economics and Accountancy from the University of Gent, Belgium.

Jurgen Heyman

Jurgen Heyman is Corporate Vice President of Sales Performance International and Managing Director for Sales Performance International Europe. Jurgen Heyman runs an operation that is represented in 50 countries.  He joined SPI for the first time in 1991 in order to establish its European Operations. He has worked with major SPI customers that deployed the Solution Selling® methodology in their European operations. That’s where Jurgen built up his expertise in Sales Process Methodology and Sales Transformation. He has engaged with organizations such as EDS, IBM, Hyperion Solutions …

In a second phase of his career Jurgen Heyman has initiated several business in the technology arena. One has been publically traded and has been acquired by one of the leading technology vendors afterwards. He was also engaged in running large technology services organizations with international operations.

Jurgen Heyman has rejoined Sales Performance International as Corporate Vice President and is expanding the organization structurally in the EMEA region and is a shareholder and member of Sales Performance International’s Executive Board.

Jurgen Heyman has interesting experiences in how organizations drive change in their sales teams. He can address the demystification of sales functions and address how sales is evolving into a science rather than an art. His wide experience with Sales Performance International’s global customers bring interesting insights on how Sales Transformations happen (or not if a company does not have the courage to drive change throughout their teams). He is a thought leader on Sales 2.0 and how social media is driving the sales functions to be completely different.

Jurgen holds a master in engineering and a master in innovation and entrepreneurship. He is guest lecturer at business schools and is invited to coach start-ups.

Manu Luyten

Coach et réalisateur de théâtre. Au sein de Movimento dell'Arte, je mêle mon expérience d’entrepreneur à celle de réalisateur de théâtre. Je suis passionné par les projets dans lesquels les gens occupent une place centrale et qui sont axés sur l’apprentissage, le développement personnel et la communication.

J’ai confiance en la capacité créatrice des gens et suis convaincu qu’une approche centrée sur la personne favorise un développement à la fois social et professionnel.

Martine Ballegeer et Chris Van Roey

Martine Ballegeer est cofondatrice du bureau de conseils en communication PitchPoint. Elle compte plus de 20 ans d’expérience en communication, marketing, gestion de l’offre et sourcing chez Mobistar et Apple Computer. 

Chris Van Roey est CEO d’UBA, l’Union belge des Annonceurs. Il a 30 ans d’expérience en management chez Mobistar, Apple Computer et le groupe Colruyt. Il a été élu Master Marketeer et Advertising Personality of the Year. 

Patrick De Groote

Patrick De Groote began his career in 1971 in the Energy and later in the Steel Industry sectors. He held senior management positions or was member of the Board  in several private and listed companies since 1978. In particular, he served as the CEO  of Zenitel Group (former SAIT-RadioHolland), as CEO of Koramic Industries, as CEO of Vitalo Group and as Vice President of ABB Service Worldwide. As member of the Board he served in more than 30 companies of different size, in various sectors,  private or listed.  Today he is Board member in  number of companies like Campine (listed on Euronext) and Legio International.