March 10, 2008 - Julien De Wilde has been an independent Director of the Board since April 2006 and has a large international experience, both in managing technical and operational activities of large companies and in managing worldwide sales and service organizations.

Julien De Wilde obtained an engineering degree from the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium). From 1969 onwards he held various managerial positions at Texaco and in 1986 he was appointed member of the European Management Board of Texaco in New York. In 1988 he became head of the research and business development department of Recticel. A year later he became a member of the Executive Committee of Alcatell Bell, where he was responsible for strategy and general services. From 1995 to 1998 Julien De Wilde was CEO of Alcatel Bell and from 1999 to 2002 he was Executive Vice-President and member of the Executive Committee of Alcatel in Paris, responsible for Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, India and Africa. From July 1, 2002 to May 2006, he was CEO of the Bekaert Group.