Dec 29, 2016: Jacques Vandermeiren is set to join the executive committee of Antwerp Port Authority as chief executive officer and president. Until January 2015, Vandermeiren was CEO and president of the executive committee of the network operator Elia, a listed company, where he held various management positions since joining it in 2001. Vandermeiren will assume the role with effect from January 1, 2017.

Before his stint at Elia, he worked for 11 years as senior advisor for strategy direction with the energy company Electrabel. Vandermeiren has occupied various directorships with among others FEBEG (Federation of Belgian Energy Companies) and the Federation of Belgian Enterprises. He is also co-founder of the Belgian sustainability platform The Shift, as well as co-investor in Qpinch, which generates energy from waste heat, and in Uest, which markets the Zembro personal alarm. Furthermore, Vandermeiren is a director of the Vascobelo Group, an upmarket Belgian coffee brand with Antwerp as its home port.

Vandermeiren graduated as Master of Laws, a qualification which he later supplemented with a master's degree in European Studies, a middle management course with the Vlerick Business School and an Advanced Management Programme with the INSEAD Business School.