Jan Callewaert (1956 – 1 February 2022) was a Belgian businessman. He was the general manager of

Option N.V. Option is a publicly quoted technology company, headquartered in Leuven, Belgium. Option specializes in the design, development, production and commercialization of broadband wireless technology devices. Option has been awarded Ernst & Young's � ...

In 2005, he was voted manager of the year in Belgium. He also was the chairman of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club

Oud-Heverlee Leuven Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian football club from the city of Leuven. It was created in 2002 from the merger of three clubs, '' F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee'', whose registration number it inherited, '' ...

Life and career

Callewaert was born in

Wielsbeke Wielsbeke () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Ooigem, Sint-Baafs-Vijve and Wielsbeke proper. On January 1, 2018, Wielsbeke had a total population of 9,584. The total area i ...

in 1956. He obtained a Master in commercial sciences and a bachelor in

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

at the

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven KU Leuven (or Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. It conducts teaching, research, and services in computer science, engineering, natural sciences, theology, humanities, medicine, l ...

. From 1980 to 1982, he was assistant at the VLEKHO in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. He later became a system engineer, and then product manager at

Bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

until 1984 when he joined

Ericsson (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informat ...

telecommunication. In 1986, he founded Option International, and started the production of modems for laptops. He received the Manager of the year award in 2005. Callewaert died on 1 February 2022, at the age of 65.Option-stichter en technologiepionier Jan Callewaert overleden

Bibliography

* Jan Callewaert, ''Van de hemel naar de hel en weer terug'' (E: From heaven to hell and back again), Lannoo.

References

Sources

Lunchcauserie met Jan Callewaert, Option

1956 births 2022 deaths Belgian businesspeople Belgian chief executives Oud-Heverlee Leuven People from West Flanders {{Belgium-bio-stub