Johan Deconinck, Chairman of the Board and CTO

Johan Deconinck (°1952) graduated as an electromechanical engineer from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in 1976.   Johan received a Ph.D. degree in applied sciences in 1985 with ”Current distributions and electrode shape changes in electrochemical systems: a boundary element approach” for which he was honoured with greatest distinction.   Johan is currently professor at the VUB and leads the “Computational Electrochemistry Group” of the department of Electrical Engineering.   Due to his profound expertise in electrical engineering he has worked as an independent industrial consultant in electrical engineering and juridical expert at the Trade Court in Brussels for several years, while teaching at the VUB. Between 1991 and 2003 Johan was co-coordinator of the VUB Post-Graduate Program in “Safety Engineering”.   Johan has numerous research and industrial experiences in electrochemical and electrical engineering. On top of this, he also co-managed several privately held companies. Johan founded Elsyca in 1997 and is still active in Elsyca as chairman of the Board as well as Chief Technology Officer.   In 2004, Johan was honoured as "Doctor Honoris Causa" at the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Frank Gielen, Technology Transfer Officer BI³ Fund; Professor at the University of Ghent

Frank Gielen received a Master degree in Telecommunication System Engineering from the Royal Military Academy in Brussels (1985) and has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB, 1993).   From 1993 untill 2002, he held a number of technical and management positions in the software industry. He started as a software architect and technical manager with AT&T Bell Labs in the USA and was also Director of Software Technology at Alcatel. In 1998 he joined Tellium, a US based startup company in optical network technology, as the VP of Software Engineering. He returned to Europe in 2001 as the Managing Director for Tellium EMEA.   In 2002 he joined BI³, the start capital fund of the VUB. He represents BI³ in the board of Elsyca.

Wim Beazar, Independent Boardmember

After finishing his studies of Industrial Engineer at the KAHO in Gent, Wim Beazar worked 2 years for a Belgian software-house.   In 1985, he started his own business, together with his brother Guido. The company, named Compex, grew substantially during 16 years. Compex received several awards such as the Quality Award (1992), Enterprise of the Year (1998) and the Kraft Foods North America Supplier Excellence Award in 1999. In 1997, Compex successfully raised 2.5 million euro venture capital to support the further international expansion of Compex. Early 2000, Compex was a 11 million euro company with 120 people spread over 4 locations in Belgium, Holland, Germany and the USA.   In 2001, Guido and Wim sold their company to Siemens, a worldwide leader in industrial software and automation.   After a two year transfer period, Wim decided to leave the Siemens organisation.   Since 2003, Wim’s goal is to promote and support entrepreneurship in different ways. Mid 2003 he started a small investment fund to take stakes mainly in technology-based companies as a business angel.   Further more, Wim invests time and effort as chairman of "De Ent cvba", a business starter centre for South East Flanders for entrepreneurs who want to hire people from the underprivileged segment. He is also a member of "Corporate Funding Programme", an organisation which brings Belgian companies and NGO’s together in order to start a north-south dialogue and to raise funds for economical development programs in underdeveloped countries.   Wim is also board member of the Chamber of Commerce of East-Flanders (VOKA Kamer van Koophandel Oost-Vlaanderen) en of the VOKA-VEV organisation (VOKA Vlaams Economisch Verbond).

Luc Wanten, CEO

Luc Wanten (°1965, Belgium) studied Industrial Psychology at the University of Leuven (KUL, Belgium) and obtained an MBA at the Vlerick Leuven School of Management (Belgium) in 1990.   In 1988, he started his career at Raychem in Belgium and joined Agfa (Mortsel, Belgium) in 1991, where he assumed various positions in marketing and international sales. From 1997 till 2000, he headed the Medical Division in Benelux. In 2000, he was appointed as General Manager of the Informatics business unit of Agfa Healthcare for Europe, Africa and Middle-East. In 2002, he became Vice-President of Language & Computing, a medical informatics company in Belgium.   In 2003, he joined Elsyca as CEO. Within Elsyca, Luc is responsible for the organisation’s strategic direction and the implementation of Elsyca’s international growth scenario.

Leslie Bortels, Software Development Manager

Leslie Bortels (°1968, Belgium) received the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB, Belgium) in 1992.   Leslie joined the Electrotechnics Department from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 1992 and received a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering in 1996.   His previous scientific work is related to the development of simulation software for cathodic protection and electro deposition processes. He is a NACE level 2 certified cathodic protection technician and technical reviewer of international journals such as J. of Electrochemical Society, Electrochemica Acta, J. of Electroanalytical Chemistry, J. of Applied Chemistry and Corrosion.   He is one of the co-founders of Elsyca and is responsible for the software development department of Elsyca.