Frans Colruyt steps back

Belgium’s biggest supermarket chain Colruyt will have a new COO early next year as Frans Colruyt has announced that he will step down from that role on 1 February 2019. However, he will remain a member of the board of directors. The new COO will be current CFO Marc Hofman, who in his turn will be succeeded by Stefaan Vandamme.

Key role

Frans Colruyt was instrumental in making his family’s company the market leader in Belgium: he started as a job analyst in sales 29 years ago and worked in various production, technical, logistics and purchasing departments. In 1997 he became member of the board of directors, a role that he will retain in 2019, and he has been COO retail since 2012 – after managing the successful takeover of the Belgian Spar branch since 2005. However, he recently expressed his wish to reduce his day-to-day operational involvement.

The almost former CFO looks back with satisfaction: “I have experienced six fantastic years and I am proud of what we have achieved together.” CEO Jef Colruyt adds: “Frans has played a key role in the development of our group and I would like to thank him for that. I know that Frans, in his role as director, will continue to make a significant contribution to our company in the future.”

Marc Hofman, CFO of the group since April 2013, will succeed Frans Colruyt as COO Retail. Stefaan Vandamme, who joined Colruyt Group in June 2016 after stepping down as CFO of the listed company Van de Velde, will be the new CFO as from 1 February 2019.