Gérald Frère (born 17 May 1951) is a Belgian businessman, the chairman of

Groupe Bruxelles Lambert Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL), is a Belgian holding company invested in various sectors within companies that can be considered marketleaders and in which it can play an active role as a professional shareholder over the long term. In the last ...

since January 2012, and its former CEO.

Early life

Gérald Frère was born in

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

, Belgium on 17 May 1951. He is the eldest son of

Albert Frère Albert, Baron Frère (4 February 1926 – 3 December 2018) was a Belgian billionaire businessman. Early life Frère grew up as a son of a nail merchant and helped in the business since an early age. His father died when Frère was 17; Frère ha ...

and his first wife, Nelly Poplimont, and they had a son, Gerald.

Career

Frère is the chairman of Loverval Finance,

, Stichting Administratie Kantoor Bierlaire, Domaines Frère-Bougeois, and the vice chairman of Pargesa Holding. Frère is the managing director of Financière de la Sambre, Frère-Bourgeois, and Pargesa Holding. Albert Frère was regent at the

National Bank of Belgium The National Bank of Belgium (NBB; nl, Nationale Bank van België, french: Banque nationale de Belgique, german: Belgische Nationalbank) has been the central bank of Belgium since 1850. The National Bank of Belgium was established with 100% pr ...

, but reached the age limit in 1995. Consequently, he did everything he could to get his son Gérald appointed to the regency, which - despite objections of nepotism - succeeded in 1998. Previously, Gérald Frère was already a censor at the National Bank. In April 2018, it became known that Gérald would be replaced in the regency by his son Cédric, an appointment that was widely criticized. After a year, the mandate of Cédric Frère in the regent council ended, which was not renewed because Minister of Finance

Alexander De Croo Alexander De Croo (born 3 November 1975) is a Belgian politician and businessman who has served as the prime minister of Belgium since October 2020. De Croo was born in Vilvoorde, Flemish Brabant, and studied business engineering at the Vrije ...

(Open VLD) wanted the three vacant mandates to be filled by female regents, so that the party of Frères nomination, the MR, had to look for a female candidate. He is a director of

Power Financial Power Financial Corporation is a Canadian multinational company that was founded in 1984. Power Financial, a wholly owned subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada, is an international management and holding company with interests in financial ...

ERBE Erbe may refer to: People *Bonnie Erbé (born 1954), American journalist and television host *Christine Erbe, German-Australian physicist *Eugen Edmund Eduard Erbe (1847–1908), Baltic German politician, former mayor of Reval (now Tallinn) *Joan E ...

, Fonds Charles-Albert Frère, Haras de la Bierlaire, and Stichting Administratie Kantoor Frère-Bourgeois. In April 2018, he was accused of nepotism for appointing his son Cédric as regent in the

Private life

Frère has two sons, Cédric and William. He lives at

Gerpinnes Gerpinnes (; wa, Djerpene) is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, province of Hainaut, Belgium. On 1 January 2018 the municipality had 12,660 inhabitants. The total area is 47.10 km², giv ...

References

1951 births Living people People from Hainaut (province) Belgian businesspeople {{Belgium-business-bio-stub