Marc Mortier (9 December 1948 – 3 May 2004) was CEO of

Flanders Expo Flanders Expo is a multi-purpose arena and convention center located in Ghent, Flanders, Belgium. Flanders Expo was founded in 1986 and officially opened in May 1987 with the third edition of Flanders Technology International. It serves as a venu ...

from its foundation in 1986 to 2002. Flanders Expo is the biggest event hall in Flanders, and the second biggest in Belgium (Flanders Expo's indoor surface is 55,000 m²). Mortier later became president of Febelux, the Federation of Exhibitions in Belgium and Luxemburg. Until 2002, many concerts took place in Flanders Expo. Hall 8's capacity is more than 13,000 people. Musicians who have performed at Flanders Expo include

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...

(12 times),

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...

Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...

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Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

Joe Cocker John Robert "Joe" Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014) was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances that featured expressive body movements. Most of his best known singles were recordings of son ...

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, U2,

Nick Kamen Ivor Neville "Nick" Kamen (15 April 1962 – 4 May 2021) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and model. He was best known for "Turn It Up" from 1989, the singles "Each Time You Break My Heart" from 1986 and "I Promised Myself" from 1990, ...

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and

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. Flanders Expo is also the host of Europe's biggest indoor techno party (I love Techno) with more than 60,000 visitors in one day. Mortier was an active member of the board of the soccer team

K.A.A. Gent Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent (, English: ''Royal Athletic Association Ghent''), often simply known as Ghent or by their nickname ' ( en, The Buffalos), is a Belgian sports club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. Their football ...

from 1988 until his death in 2004. After the degradation in 1988, Mortier consulted the Prime Minister of Belgium,

Wilfried Martens Wilfried Achiel Emma Martens (; 19 April 1936 – 9 October 2013) was a Belgian politician who served as prime minister of Belgium from 1979 to 1981 and from 1981 to 1992. A member of the Flemish Christian People's Party, during his premiership ...

, in order to establish an organisation named Foot Invest, to get the team back on track. Marc Mortier gathered at that time more than 50 million

Belgian franc The Belgian franc ( nl, Belgische frank, french: Franc belge, german: Belgischer Franken) was the currency of the Kingdom of Belgium from 1832 until 2002 when the Euro was introduced. It was subdivided into 100 subunits, each known as a in Dutch ...

s (1.25 million euros) in sponsoring in a couple of months and introduced VDK Spaarbank as the main sponsor. Mortier also was a member of the Board of 'Voetbalmagazine' (the Belgian national soccer magazine), '

Flanders Sports Arena The Flanders Sports Arena ( nl, Topsporthal Vlaanderen) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Ghent, Belgium. Opened in 2000, the Flanders Sports Arena can hold up to 5,000 people in sporting events. It was realized through a public-private partne ...

, '

King Baudouin Foundation The King Baudouin Foundation (KBF) ( nl, Koning Boudewijnstichting, KBS; french: Fondation Roi-Baudouin) is an independent, pluralistic foundation based in Brussels (Belgium). It seeks to change society for the better and invests in inspiring proj ...

', 'The International Year Exposition of Flanders', 'The Festival of Flanders', and the

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, profe ...

(who honoured him individually with a Paul Harris Fellow One Star). Mortier died in hospital of a heart attack on 3 May 2004. He was 55, and was survived by his wife, Sylva Van der Stricht, and his three children, Caroline, Frederik and Bernard Mortier.

References

External links

The Worldwide Organization Serving the Exhibition IndustryHet NieuwsbladDe Standaard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mortier, Marc Belgian chief executives 1948 births 2004 deaths