Board of directors
A civil engineer (ULB - 1980) and Cepac postgraduate from the Solvay Business School (1986), he began an international career with CFE, first as a site manager in Saudi Arabia (1980-1985), then as a design manager in China, Zaire and Egypt. Returning to Belgium in 1988, he moved into property development with Codic, then Galliford and finally Bernheim-Comofi (then a listed subsidiary of GBL), where he was a member of the Management Committee, responsible for international development (Budapest, Prague, Berlin). He currently manages various family property projects and investments in Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. From 1999 to 2021, supported by his team, as CEO he developed the regulated real estate company Befimmo, positioning it, with almost €3 billion in assets, as a leading Belgian player specialising in offices. Befimmo was listed on Euronext Brussels at the time, and was included in the BEL 20 index from 2009 to 2016.
Vincent Bribosia has an MA in Law (Université de Liège) and a master’s degree in management from CEPAC (ULB). He has al-so followed executive education programs at the London School of Economics and Harvard Business School. He joined TEX-AF from the Suez-Société Générale de Belgique group where he held various positions, including chief of staff of the CEO, Gérard Mestrallet. He was secretary and member of the Management Board of Société Générale de Belgique and a director of numerous companies, including Finoutremer S.A., Chanic SA as well as several unlisted companies. He was also on the staff of the minister for employment (1983-86). In 2000 Vincent Bribosia acquired Suez-Société Générale de Belgique group’s stake in Chanic and is now its chairman. She is also a director and general treasurer of AMADE, the World Association of Children’s Friends, in Monaco.
Charlotte Croonenberghs holds a Master's degree in Law (KULeuven) and a Master's degree in International Business obtained with great distinction from ESCP Europe (Paris & London). She began her career in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector, where she acquired solid experience. In particular, she held the position of Marketing Director and was a member of the Management Committee of her division at L'Oréal. She is currently President North America of Baobab Collection.
Gérald Croonenberghs has a dual background, as a flight captain for airlines in Indonesia, Belgium and Dubai, and a degree in business and finance from Hult International Business School and the London School of Economics. He is now in charge of developing TEXAF's digital business, Silikin Village. His international career has given him a multicultural outlook and an in-depth understanding of the importance of communication and teamwork, which he puts to good use in TEXAF's growth.
William Croonenberghs holds a Master's degree in Management from IE Business School after successfully completing his bachelor's degree in management engineering at the University of Antwerp. He began his career as a consultant with CBRE, where he worked in commercial property for 2.5 years. He then joined Belgian property developer ION, where he worked for two years as a Business Development Consultant in charge of acquiring new residential and commercial property opportunities in Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. In addition to his practical knowledge, he is a graduate of the KU Leuven in the "Postgraduaat Vastgoedkunde/Postgraduate in Real Estate Studies" programme, covering the various facets of real estate. He is currently working in the real estate sector.
After graduating in business engineering at Solvay Brussels School (ULB), Christophe Evers began his career at Umicore. In 1989 he joined Cobepa, where he became CFO and joined the executive committee. In 2001 he joined the executive committee at bpost, with responsibility for Business development, real estate and all non Mail and Retail activities. From 2004 to 2010 he was a partner at Drakestar Partners, an investment bank specialized in technology. Christophe Evers is a professor of finance and strategy at the Solvay Brussels School and author of several publications.
Master in Business Engineering (Summa Cum Laude) from Solvay Brussels School (ULB). As a consultant at McKinsey and Roland Berger, he provided services to several industrial companies on major strategic, operational and technological issues. He then became an advisor to two Belgian ministers (including the current Prime Minister), led the Belgian policy on digitalisation, artificial intelligence and digital skills, founded AI4Belgium and led the Data Against Corona working group. He is currently working at Waterland, an independent private equity firm, which focuses on growing Belgian SMEs. He also accompanied Texaf in setting up its digital campus in Kinshasa and in developing its technology investment strategy. He contributed to the development of UNICEF's largest four-year programme ($500 million) in Lebanon and was selected as one of Belgium's "40 under 40".
A graduate of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes Commerciales in Brussels, he has a long experience in textiles in Africa. He was first seconded to Kinshasa by the British group Tootal Textiles as financial manager of CPA Zaire and, in 1994, he worked in the Cha group, for which he set up a distribution channel for textile products throughout Africa; he held various posts as financial and general manager and sat on the board of several group companies. He was the last general manager of Congotex and is currently executive director of United Nigerian Textiles, the largest group of textile factories in Nigeria.
Eline Pardaens holds a Master's degree in Commercial Engineering (ICHEC), majoring in finance, obtained with Great Distinction. She began her career with the Texaf Group as Finance Director of subsidiaries in the DRC. She then became CFO of Korongo Airlines, a Congolese aviation partnership between Brussels Airlines, George Forrest International and other Congolese investors. After 3 years in the aviation sector, she continued, for 6 years, in the Forrest International Group where she was respectively management controller based in Lubumbashi and financial director of A.E.M.I. (industrial division) in Kinshasa. Since 2018, she has been working for Connexafrica, one of the leaders in multimodal logistics based in the DRC and Zambia, as well as a representative of the Hapag-Lloyd shipping line. In 2024, the Connexafrica Group acquired Comexas, a company based in Belgium, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. Since then, she has been in charge of the Group's finances and financial support for related companies.
A business engineering graduate of Solvay (1983) and IFRS-certified from UCL (2005), Pascale Tytgat is statutory auditor (1990). She is founding managing partner of BST Réviseurs d’Entreprises (1991). She has sat on the qualification examination jury of the Institute of Statutory Auditors of Belgium since 2006 and was a member of its Quality Control Commission for 20 years (1995-2016). She has also accomplished many financial expertise assignments in Belgium and France.
Nathalie Ulrich obtained a Master's degree in Germanic Philology (KULeuven) and in Pedagogy (UCLouvain) as well as a diploma in SME Management (Solvay). She has gained extensive experience in Human Resources at local and international level (Befimmo, Proximus, Millicom), notably as Director of Human Resources and Communication at HeidelbergCement and as a member of the Board of CBR SA, some of its subsidiaries and pension funds. In parallel, she contributed to the creation of start-ups active in the IT and commercial field. She is also involved in philanthropic activities as a board member of SOCIALware (Techsoup) Benelux.
A civil engineer who graduated from the Faculty of Applied Sciences at Université libre de Bruxelles (ICME 88), Jean-Philippe Waterschoot began his career at the TEXAF group in Lubumbashi in 1989. He held various operational posts at the UTEXAFRICA textile factory, and was its managing director up to the time when the textile branch merged with Congotex. He is director of the National Business Federation of Congo, director and permanent representative of the CBL-ACP Chamber of Commerce, vice-president of the Belgo-Congolese CCBCL Chamber of Commerce, director of several non-profit and business associations in DRC and Advisor in Economic Diplomacy with the Belgian Embassy in Kinshasa. He is an Officer of the Order of Leopold.