After 5 years as an attorney, I decided to take on a position as in house counsel in 2000. My move was motivated by my ambition to work at an international level and to expand my experience beyond the area of Belgian law.

I got headhunted for my first job in the private sector as tax, VAT and statutory manager at a European coordination centre based in Aartselaar for a big international group : APV, part of Invensys group. My main responsibilities included the performance of legal and tax audits of different sites situated in the European Union and the management of a small team of VAT specialists. This experience allowed me to acquire a good understanding of tax and VAT related topics and a basic knowledge of foreign law systems.

After 2 years and a half, I got hired in 2002 as solo in-house counsel for a stock market Belgian multinational company producing PET bottles in Wetteren: Resilux. My main tasks included the set up of the legal department, the management of insurance and risks and the supervision of all legal and statutory matters worldwide in the countries the company is active (Greece, Hungary, USA, Switzerland, Russia and Spain).

Due my employment as legal counsel I got the opportunity to spend almost 2 years in Moscow (Russian Federation) where I also took the role of general manager of the local administrative office based in Moscow managing a team of 7 people.

Thanks to this experience, I gained a very good understanding of the very complex and challenging Russian legal and business environment and I was able to develop my management skills.

Afterwards, I decided to start up my own consulting company, Legal Business Solutions, and worked as a legal interim manager on an independent basis for different companies active in various sectors.