Since 2012 Alex has founded two consulting entities. Patroklos Greece aims at finding overseas investors for mid-size and export oriented companies in Greece. He firmly believes in turning crises into opportunities. In May 2014 he founded Patroklos Belgium, a cross-border consulting company offering services in the fields of international management, entrepreneurial growth, inorganic strategic business development, transition management and last but not least, together with his wife, he assists organizations in creating cross-cultural awareness. In 2016 the European Union accredited him as one of the 10 Belgian coaches of SME's for the Horizon 2020 project.

In May 2014 Alex participated in the acquisition of a Belgian mid-size company in chapter 11. The company ($17 (€15) million turnover and 120 employees) is active in road infrastructure. As business partner, entrepreneur and general manager he turned around the organisation into a growing entity with activities in new adjacent value-added businesses and up-to-date operational processes.

From October 2009 to April 2012 Alex was Vice President Corporate Strategy and Business Development of W.C. Bradley Co. reporting to the President and CEO. In this family owned group manufacturing outdoor leisure consumer products, Alex led corporate international growth initiatives, identifying and realizing key opportunities for the development of new businesses. Being an expert at crafting the requisite strategic vision to achieve international business goals, he developed additional global business potential of $130 (€120) million turnover with an EBITDA return of 10%.

Prior to W.C. Bradley Co., Alex had a 10-year career with the Agfa-Gevaert Group where he held assignments of increasing responsibility including F&A Manager in Colombia combined with a crisis manager role in Chile. Later he became Investor Relations Officer in Belgium. His last assignment was Regional CFO Asia-Pacific based in Shanghai. The regional turnover was $200 million (€180) million. Among many other accomplishments, he initiated the outsourcing of business processes in a shared service center, thus reducing overhead costs by 20% to barely 1% of the turnover. Alex’s achievement, quite unique in China, was featured in the Chinese edition of Information Week after which he was invited as keynote speaker at several business seminars.

Prior to Agfa-Gevaert, Alex had a 9-year career at Sandoz/Clariant where he first served as Financial Controller in Belgium and later as Finance and Administration Manager in Colombia and Venezuela.

Armed with a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in History from his native country Belgium, Alex earned his MBA degree at UNC Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. Currently, he serves on the International Advisory Board of UNC Chapel Hill. He taught a workshop about Latin America at the Antwerp Management School. In addition, he is an active member of Rotary International since 1995.

Alex has been recognized as “the Regional CFO that any Multinational would like to have in its organization because he can dance on the thin line between local and headquarter requirements. But more than balancing on that thin line, Alex gets things done in a complex environment and brings enthusiasm and drive to the organization.”

e-mail: alex@patroklos-be.com