Steven Van Belleghem is internationally recognised as one of the leading thinkers on customer experience. Through six bestselling books, widely followed social media channels and high-impact keynote presentations, he helps organisations rethink how they build lasting customer relationships. His ideas have inspired global brands including Disney, Mastercard, Mercedes-Benz, Booking.com, Heineken and Salesforce. His latest book, A Diamond in the Rough, was named by Forbes as the number one must-read business book of 2024.

Steven advocates a pragmatic but forward-looking approach: combining common sense with emerging technologies, strengthening human empathy, playing the long game and embedding social responsibility at the heart of strategy. He draws inspiration from visiting innovative companies worldwide and is co-founder of Nexxworks, an agency that organises global inspiration tours for executives seeking to elevate their customer experience. He is also an investor in customer experience-focused companies such as Hello Customer and IO Digital.

Alongside his entrepreneurial work, Steven is a part-time marketing professor at Vlerick Business School and a guest lecturer at London Business School. He lives in rural Belgium, balancing digital innovation with a deep appreciation for the analogue world.

Thierry Geerts is CEO of Beci, the Brussels Chamber of Commerce.

A graduate in Commercial Engineering from Solvay VUB and born in Ixelles, he previously served as Country Director of Google Belgium from 2011 until 2024. Before that, he spent 15 years at VUM (now Mediahuis) and, in the 1990s, was Managing Director of the industrial laundry Euroblan in Schaerbeek and later in Molenbeek.

He has written two books on the impact of the digital revolution and AI on people and society: Digitalis, How to reinvent the world and Homo Digitalis, how digitalisation is making us more human, which have sold a total of 50,000 copies. He is also co-founder of the Be Central digital campus in Brussels and the Wintercircus project in Ghent.

Henry is the author of The Future Normal and Trend-Driven Innovation; he has delivered 200+ keynotes and strategy workshops in 30+ countries – from the SXSW main stage (twice!) to global boardrooms. His latest project is VisuAIse Futures, a ‘multiplayer’ AI-powered creative experience; he is a guest lecturer at HEC business school in Paris, and was Managing Director of TrendWatching for a decade.

Henry is also an award-winning social entrepreneur, having cofounded the urban regeneration nonprofit 3Space, which was commended in Fast Company's World Changing Ideas.

Fun fact: Henry was once featured in GQ's Most Connected Men in Britain list.

Gregory, originating from France, has over 30 years of experience working for Lyreco. He has been posted in Canada, France and Singapore, taking on a variety of roles that have given him deep insight into key areas of the business, including strategic planning, market innovation, operational efficiency, mergers and acquisitions, and the technology landscape. Providing a great place for all Lyreco employees, offering them not only a job but a career, and committing to delight customers by pioneering new solutions for them, have always motivated Gregory and are at the heart of the Lyreco strategy that he is driving.

Marion Devine is Principal Researcher at The Conference Board’s Human Capital Center, Europe. Marion joined TCB nearly 10 years ago and is the author of over 70 research reports and eight business books which cover a wide span of strategic human capital trends and challenges. Four of her books were for The Economist, looking at the themes of business purpose and mission; talent management; mergers and acquisitions; and leading through uncertainty.

Marion started her career as a journalist and business writer, writing regularly for the Times and Sunday Times and other leading international management magazines. Marion joined Ashridge Hult and after starting her family, remained working with AH for some 20 years as a Senior Research Fellow. Marion has a Bachelors Honours degree and a Masters degree in Anglo-American studies from University College London.

Laurence Denat is a senior executive with over 25 years of international leadership experience in growth strategy, digital transformation, and marketing across global FMCG, tech, and retail industries. She has built a career spanning iconic companies such as Google, YouTube, The Coca-Cola Company, Danone, Cadbury Schweppes, and most recently as a board member and advisor in the foodtech and healthtech sectors.

Before joining Lyreco, Laurence spent eight years at Google, where she served as Managing Director for Southern Europe, leading across multiple verticals, and later spearheaded YouTube’s business operations in EMEA, accelerating revenue growth and customer digitalization. Earlier in her career, she held several senior global and region marketing roles at The Coca-Cola Company, where she led brand and business strategies for Coca-Cola Sparkling portfolio, Sprite, Schweppes, Juices and for Still beverages across Europe, the USA, Latam and APAC. She also drove innovation agenda globally. Prior to this, she gained leadership experience at Danone and Cadbury Schweppes, building growth strategies and relaunching iconic brands.

Laurence joined Lyreco in March 2025. In her role as Chief Growth Officer, she leads omnichannel sales strategy and operations, e-commerce infrastructure, marketing, customer experience, and AI-driven business transformation, driving the Group’s future growth agenda.

In addition to her corporate career, Laurence has been active as a board member and advisor for companies and startups such as Mondarella, Gosh! Food, and DiaDeep, supporting their international scale-up strategies. She is also a jury member for AI leadership programs at École Polytechnique Executive Education, reflecting her passion for the transformative impact of technology.

Outside of work, Laurence is committed to mentoring future leaders coming from diverse backgrounds and supporting women founders. In her spare time, you will find her spending time with family and friends, practicing sports and finding inspiration in her two passions, reading and traveling.

Vincent Ginis works at the intersection of mathematics, physics, and data - exploring how complex systems behave, how information flows, and what that means for the way we make decisions in an AI-driven world. Based at VUB's BUTO department and affiliated with Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, his research spans data analytics, information theory, and complex systems.

Beyond the lab, Vincent has spent years asking harder questions about how knowledge gets structured, interpreted, and communicated - and what happens when algorithmic feedback loops start shaping the systems we depend on. As former Co-President of the Young Academy of Belgium and the VUB Rector's Academic Commissioner for AI and Data, he brings both scientific rigour and genuine curiosity about how institutions adapt to the age of AI.

René is an innovation strategist and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in innovation process design, innovation management, and leadership. He worked with organizations in Europe, Asia, and the Americas to implement future proven processes and is an adjunct lecturer for trend-based innovation at HWZ Zurich, WU Vienna and the Executive Academy.

Ai Ni Chong is a sustainability leader at Lyreco Group, responsible for advancing the company’s environmental and social impact strategy. She brings extensive experience in product development and procurement, embedding sustainability into core business operations with a strong focus on circular economy and value chain transformation. Her approach combines strategic vision with hands-on implementation, enabling organizations to deliver credible and scalable impact.

Alain Heureux is a Brussels-based serial entrepreneur, business angel and innovation educator who has founded more than 40 companies across his career. He co-founded The Egg Brussels in 2007 - one of the city's first incubators - and went on to establish the Virtuology Academy, a business school focused on disruptive innovation and digital skills. At BECI - Brussels' chamber of commerce - he leads MeDoFly, an acceleration programme designed to help ambitious startups and scaleups grow, combining inspirational scaleup nights with hands-on expert support and multi-year mentorship. He has helped dozens of companies navigate the scaling challenge and is a prominent connector within the Brussels entrepreneurial ecosystem. Beyond Brussels, he serves as a senior lecturer at Gdańsk University of Technology in Poland, teaching innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship, and advises the European Commission on digital transformation and digital skills. He describes himself as a hacker, connector and pioneer - a fair summary of someone who has spent three decades building ecosystems rather than just companies.

Blaine Bevis is the Consumer Business Group EMEA Sustainability Leader at 3M, driving the region’s sustainability agenda with a strong focus on packaging innovation, circularity and regulatory readiness. As a commercial-to-sustainability bridge, he leads the sustainable packaging roadmap in Europe, including the CBG Sustainable Packaging Minimum Standard, and partners with portfolio and R&D teams to advance design-for-recycling, circularity, plastics elimination and credible claims grounded in shopper insights—across brands including Post-it®, Scotch® and ScotchBlue™. With 30+ years at 3M spanning commercial and innovation leadership, he brings deep knowledge of 3M and the Consumer business to translate customer policies into scalable solutions and anticipate evolving expectations—strengthening customer relationships and satisfaction, driving growth, and delivering positive environmental impact.