André Leysen (11 June 1927 – 11 July 2015) was a Belgian businessman. In 1951, he married Anne Ahlers, daughter of a shipping family from

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, Germany. Together they have four children: Bettina,

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

, and Sabina.

Career

Main career

From 1952 until 1976 he worked for the

shipping company A shipping line or shipping company is a company whose line of business is ownership and operation of ships. Shipping companies provide a method of distinguishing ships by different kinds of cargo: # Bulk cargo is a type of special cargo that is ...

Ahlers N.V.,

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

(family estate). Since 1974 he is a member of the supervisory board of the

Agfa-Gevaert Agfa-Gevaert N.V. (Agfa) is a Belgian-German multinational corporation that develops, manufactures, and distributes analogue and digital imaging products, software, and systems. It has three divisions: * Agfa Graphics, which offers integrated pre ...

group, (Belgium). From 1978 until 1984 he was a member and chairman of the executive committee of the Agfa Gevaert group, and since 1984 he is chairman of the

supervisory board In corporate governance, a governance board also known as council of delegates are chosen by the stockholders of a company to promote their interests through the governance of the company and to hire and fire the board of directors. In civil s ...

. In 1976, he was one of the co-founders of the VUM, which took over the newspapers of the Standaard group after its bankruptcy. He led the VUM until 1978, when his son

took over. From 1990 until 1994 he was a member of the presidency in the board of directors of the

Treuhandanstalt The ("Trust agency"), colloquially referred to as , was an agency established by the government of the German Democratic Republic to reprivatise/privatise East German enterprises, Volkseigene Betriebe (VEBs), prior to German reunification. Cre ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Former positions

* Director of Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) (1988 to 1997) * Vice-Chairman of BMW AG (1997 to 1998) * Member of Advisory Board of

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...

AG (1988 to 1999) * Vice-Chairman of Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (1983 to 1999) * Director of

Hapag-Lloyd Hapag-Lloyd AG is a German international shipping and container transportation company. Hapag-Lloyd was formed in 1970 through a merger of Hamburg-American Line (HAPAG) and North German Lloyd. History The company was formed on September 1, 1 ...

AG (1981 to 1999) * Director of

Bayer Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of busi ...

AG (until 2002)

Current positions

* Director of

Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...

AG * Member of the Supervisory Board of E.on AG * Director of

Schenker AG Schenker AG is a German logistics company and a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, the German railway company. Within DB Logistics, the logistics branch of Deutsche Bahn, Schenker is responsible for land, sea, and air transport and contract logistics. R ...

Bibliography

* A. Leysen, Krisissen zijn uitdagingen, Lannoo, 1984 * A. Leysen, Achter de spiegel, Terugblik op de oorlogsjaren, Lannoo, 1995 * A. Leysen, Zwerver tussen twee werelden, Reflecties van een maatschappelijk bewogen ondernemer, 2002, Lannoo

Sources

* Jan Bohets, ''Met weloverwogen lichtzinnigheid'', Lannoo (biography). * Luc Rosenzweig, En Belgique, une mémoire collective divisée, Le Monde, 14 March 1998 (http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-641295,36-658136@51-658124,0.html) 1927 births 2015 deaths Flemish businesspeople Belgian newspaper publishers (people) {{Belgium-business-bio-stub