Christian Leysen (born 1954) is a Belgian businessman, and Chairman of the International Advisory board of

Antwerp Management School The Antwerp Management School () is the University of Antwerp's autonomous business school. It is located in the historical center of the city of Antwerp. The school offers eight full-time master programs and more than sixty short or long-term ex ...

, who developed several Belgian ventures to large international companies.

Biography

Born in

Wilrijk Wilrijk (; former, original spelling: ''Wilrijck'') is a district of the municipality and city of Antwerp in the Belgian province of Antwerp. Wilrijk had been a separate municipality before January 1, 1983; the enlarged municipality of Antwerp wa ...

as son of André Leysen, Leysen obtained a Commercial engineer - Master's degree in Law at the

Vrije Universiteit Brussel The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Dutch language, Dutch, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated VUB) is a Dutch- and English-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has four campuses: Brussels Humanities, Science and Engine ...

in 1976. There he was president of the fraternity "Solvay" in 1974–1975. Leysen started his career in 1976 with Arthur Andersen & Co, the international audit and consulting company. In 1981 he joined GB Inno BM, the largest Belgian retail group, where he was in charge of the Maxi division's logistics and organisation. In 1984 he founded the information technology service provider Xylos. In 1989 he took over daily management of Ahlers, an

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

-based shipping company, and made it a logistical and maritime service provider. In 1994, he brought Ahlers back into private ownership through a buy-out operation of Stinnes AG (Mülheim) and became chairman of the board. He is President of the AXE-group (comprising Ahlers, Xylos and AXE Investments). Beside its activities in transportation and information technology, the AXE-group is also active as an investor via AXE Investments. Leysen is a member of the board of Agidens (formerly Egemin) and member of the Supervisory board of K&H Bank (Hungary). He was Chairman of the

(formerly called UAMS) from 2004 till 2016. Today he is chairman of the International Advisory Board. He is a founding member and was the first chairman of ADM (a cluster of about 100 IT related companies) and of the Belgian Enterprise Network for Social Cohesion (renamed ''Business & Society'' and subsequently 'The Shift'). Christian Leysen is married to Brigitte Guillaume and together they have four children: Caroline, Nathalie, Patrick and Denis. His brother Thomas Leysen was CEO of Umicore until 2008.

Political

In 2000, Christian Leysen, a member of the

Open Vld The Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (, , Open Vld) is a Flemish liberal political party in Belgium. The party has been described as centre-right and has smaller factions within the party that have conservative liberal and social liberal ...

was elected in the

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

. Urban planning is his main interest. He was also active in the debate of the and the Oosterweel Link.

Selected publications

* C. Leysen, Antwerpen, ''Onvoltooide Stad. Ontwikkeling tussen droom en daad'', Lannoo 2003 * C. Leysen (Ed.), ''Stadslucht maakt vrij'', VUBPRESS, Brussel, 2005 * C. Leysen: ''Kiezen voor Antwerpen'', Van Halewyck, 2006 * C. Leysen and O. Boehme, ''100 years Ahlers in Antwerp - A family business in a world port'', UPA 2009

References

External links

Christian Leysen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leysen, Christian 1954 births 20th-century Belgian businesspeople 21st-century Belgian businesspeople Flemish academics Flemish businesspeople Living people Members of the 55th Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats politicians People from Wilrijk Vrije Universiteit Brussel alumni