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.

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.