Please find attached the press release.
Summary:
The Board of Directors of NV Bekaert SA is proud to announce it has nominated Ms Mei Ye as independent Director of the Board. The nomination of Ms Ye will be subject to approval by the General Meeting of Shareholders on 14 May 2014. Ms Ye's extensive international and China business experience is expected to deliver substantial benefit to the decision making processes of the Board.
Ms Mei Ye is an external advisor to McKinsey & Company and an independent Director of the Board of Shenyin & Wanguo Securities Company. Ms Ye worked for 10 years with McKinsey & Company (2003-2013) as a senior expert and consultant in financial services, policy recommendations and corporate governance. Prior to McKinsey, Mei Ye was corporate strategy manager and lead analyst at E*TRADE Financial, a US-based online financial services company (1999-2003). She also worked as a research analyst for Gartner Group (1997-1999), with Social Policy Research Associates (1995-1997), and at the Office of President of the University of North Carolina System in the US (1992-1994).
Mei Ye is a council member of Future China Society, member of the course review board for the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, and an active member of Chinese and international business and philanthropy forums.
Mei Ye has a Master in Public Administration (MPA) in international economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, US, and a BA in law from Fudan University in Shanghai, China. She is a US citizen, lives in Shanghai and is married with two children.
Other changes in the composition of the Board of Directors of Bekaert:
After the General Meeting of 14 May 2014, Baron Buysse will retire after 14 years in the chair of the company's Board. Bert De Graeve, CEO of Bekaert since 2006, will become Chairman of the Board in succession of Baron Buysse. Matthew Taylor, CEO designate since September 2013, will assume the position of CEO of Bekaert. His nomination as a member of the Board of Directors will be subject to approval by the Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Sir Anthony Galsworthy, who has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2004, will retire from the Board, in line with the age limit as stipulated in the company's Statutes. The leadership changes and nominations follow a thorough succession planning process which aims at ensuring continuity of direction at the level of the Board and of the Executive Management.