A strong Board of Directors
Our Board of Directors comprises two founders / executive directors: Kristof Vereenooghe and Erik Laurijssen - and two independent non-executive directors.
Kristof Vereenooghe
Kristof Vereenooghe is known as a serial entrepreneur with an emphatic hands-on mentality. Before becoming a co-founder of LUMA, he was CEO and President of Punch Graphix Americas (US), subsidiary of the exchange-listed Punch Graphix. The turnaround and strong growth in the US contributed to the successful IPO on the AIM (London) in May 2005. He began with the Punch group in 2002 first as International Business Manager and then Managing Director of Xeikon Germany. Kristof started his career in 1993 at Arplam and ensured that this family business grew to become the international Arplama Group with branches in Belgium, Germany, Eastern Europe and the US. He has a Technical Engineering degree from the Ecole Polytechnique (France). Kristof is a member of the ELP (London), the Advisory Board of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (Ghent University) and the iGMO Academy of the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School.
Erik Laurijssen
As a multifaceted business executive with an entrepreneurial spirit, Erik Laurijssen has notched up impressive experience within the high-tech software industry. Before becoming a co-founder of LUMA he worked for Xeikon, a pioneer in digital color printing. He headed the Workflow Solutions business unit, responsible for developing Xeikon's revolutionary X-800 digital front-end which achieved €20 million in annual sales. From 1991 to 1999 he occupied a variety of operational and leadership positions at Gnosis, now Progress. In 1995 he was appointed Director R&D. Erik holds a master's degree in engineering sciences - civil engineering (K.U. Leuven, Belgium).
Steven Coppens
As Partner Venture Capital with Gimv, Steven Coppens was actively involved in the launch and development of investments in technology companies in Europe and the US. Here his focus was mainly on investments in Software, with particular attention to SaaS and Open Source. Before he began with Gimv in 2000 he was a consultant for Pricewaterhouse Coopers in Brussels. Steven Coppens is also a board member with L&C, TinubuSquare, Nomadesk, Openbravo and Human Inference, while also having formerly filled this role with Maximiles (IPO, Alternext), Ecophos (trade sale) and Proficient (sold to LivePerson, NSDQ). He gained a master's degree in Applied Economic Sciences at the K.U. Leuven (Belgium) and holds a master's from ESC Montpellier (France).
Mark Israelsen
Mark Israelsen joins the board with over thirty years of experience in the IT industry including president of Salesgenie.com, senior vice president of global professional services at Salesforce.com, and global alliances and global consulting leadership roles as vice president at Oracle. In addition, he has also held international executive roles at PriceWaterHouse Coopers and Electronic Data Systems. Mark Israelsen has served as Chairman of the Asia Pacific Council of American Chambers of Commerce and is a member of the World Economic Forum. He holds a BAA in Accounting from the George Washington University.