Harold Boël
| Harold Boël | |
|---|---|
| Born | Harold Yves Henri Boël 27 August 1964 New York, United States |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Education | Institut Saint-Boniface, Elsene; United World College of the Atlantic; Brown University; École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne |
| Occupation | Businessman, company director |
| Employer | Sofina |
| Title | Chief executive officer |
| Known for | Chief executive officer of Sofina since 2008 |
Harold Yves Henri Boël (born 27 August 1964 in New York) is a Belgian businessman and company director. He has been chief executive officer of Sofina, the family-controlled Belgian investment company, since 2008.
Boël belongs to the Boël family, an industrial and financial dynasty from Belgium. Alongside his role at Sofina, he holds board positions at several other companies and serves as chairman of United World Colleges Belgium.
Early life and education
Boël was born in New York on 27 August 1964, the son of jonkheer Mickey Boël (born 1936) and Annick du Roy de Blicquy (born 1939). He is a grandson of the industrialist René Boël and a cousin of Pol-Gustave Boël, who was a director and chairman of the board of both Sofina and the chemicals group Solvay, and of Yves Boël and Nicolas Boël, the latter chairman of the board of Solvay and a director of Sofina.
He attended the Institut Saint-Boniface in Elsene before studying at the United World College of the Atlantic in Wales from 1980 to 1982. He went on to study chemistry at Brown University in the United States, graduating in 1986, and completed an engineering degree at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland in 1989.
In 1992 Boël married Clotilde de Peñaranda de Franchimont, who later became first lady-in-waiting to Queen Mathilde of Belgium. They have two daughters.
Career
1994 to 1997: Usines Gustave Boël
Boël began his career at the family company Usines Gustave Boël, where he worked from 1994 to 1997. In 1997 the Boël family sold part of the company to the Dutch group Hoogovens, which later became Corus IJmuiden.
1997 to 2008: industrial and metals companies
Following the sale, Boël continued to work within the business that became Corus IJmuiden from 1997 to 2005. He then worked for Laura Metaal Eygelshoven from 2005 to 2007, and for BMF Participation from 2007 to 2008.
Since 2008: chief executive of Sofina
Boël has been chief executive officer of Sofina, the family-controlled and publicly listed Belgian investment company, since 2008. Sofina is part of the Bel 20 index and holds investments across sectors including consumer goods, B2B services, banking and insurance, telecommunications, energy and food distribution.
Other directorships and roles
Since 2012 Boël has served as a director of the French biotechnology company bioMérieux, and since 2014 as a director of the Chicago-based research company Mérieux NutriSciences. Since 2014 he has also been chairman of United World Colleges Belgium. Since 2019 he has served as a director of Cognita Schools, a global private school group. He is also a member of the Commission Corporate Governance.
Assessment
Boël's career combines a period of direct operational work in the family's metals business, at Usines Gustave Boël and its successor under Hoogovens and Corus, with two shorter stints at other industrial firms before he moved into investment management. Since 2008 he has led Sofina through a period in which the company has continued to expand its portfolio into consumer goods, technology and private equity holdings across multiple countries, according to the company. His subsequent appointments to the boards of bioMérieux, Mérieux NutriSciences and Cognita Schools, along with the chairmanship of United World Colleges Belgium, reflect an established position within Belgian corporate and educational governance circles. The available record on Boël is limited largely to these positions and family background; it offers little independent detail on his individual decisions at Sofina or assessment of his performance beyond his continued tenure in the role.