Luc Verbist – CIO of De Persgroep
As graduated civil engineer construction, Luc Verbist started his career as underwriter of technical insurances at Mercator in Antwerp. There he built up a vast experience in legal and contractual matters and sharpened his negotiation skills. After 5 years he moved to the publishing industry, the VUM group (now Corelio). He had the responsibility of information manager in the commercial department and managed all ICT projects for that department. He later on moved to the ICT department of VUM where he became responsible for all ICT projects on company level.
After 10 years in the publishing industry, Mr. Verbist changed from industry sector and started working at IBM as CIO and as Operations Manager of the capital markets division in Belgium. Within a year, De Persgroep headhunted him away to take his current position as CIO, a position which Luc holds for 15 years now. As CIO, he is heading an ICT staff of 225 and has an operational responsibility for supporting the Belgian and Dutch activities. He is closely involved in the merger and acquisition strategy of De Persgroep and is leading the ICT integration of newly acquired businesses.