About Filip Coolen
I have never approached business leadership from a single functional perspective.
My career began in financial and strategic environments and evolved into broader executive responsibility, business leadership and the direction of complex transformations. Along the way, I have worked with organisations of very different sizes, ownership structures and operating models.
These experiences have shaped my judgement and the way I lead. I am interested in understanding the substance of a business challenge, making well-founded decisions and working with people to turn those decisions into progress.
Leadership across different contexts.
ParkLane Insight — Business Unit Leader
Full P&L responsibility for a business unit of approximately €20 million in revenue and 150 people, spanning clients, operations and business performance.
SECO Group — Chief Financial Officer
Finance leadership with additional formal HR responsibilities. Worked closely with the CEO on strategic and organisational priorities and broader corporate development.
Proximus — Enterprise Performance & Strategic Transformation
As Business Transformation Director (formally Director Executive Projects), led major enterprise-wide transformation programs at Belgacom/Proximus. Working alongside Oliver Wyman, directed programs focused on operational efficiency, strategic sourcing and value-based management. Financially substantiated and approved initiatives secured approximately €100 million in annual cash-flow improvements at full run-rate, expected over an approximately three-year implementation horizon. Subsequently served as Program Director on the Belgacom side for a strategic simplification program conducted with Bain, holding overall responsibility for program direction and coordinating Bain and internal teams. Together, these teams redefined the product offering and translated strategic choices into IT, network and process requirements. I guided the work so it was anchored in the organisation and contributed to a new retail strategy.
Bekaert — Global Digital Commerce Transformation | PwC Program Director
As PwC program director, led the client relationship, program governance and delivery oversight across four global business units, coordinating with business leaders, IT and technology partner Mindtree.
Clinique Saint-Jean — Hospital Digital Transformation
As Program Director, led preparation, governance, mobilisation and executive and clinical stakeholder alignment for a major hospital transformation in partnership with Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc. The program combined preparation for a shared electronic medical record with broader IT integration; implementation and go-live were not completed during my tenure.
PwC Advisory / P&V Insurance
Directed strategic advisory and transformation engagements, including an organisational capability and maturity assessment translated into an executive roadmap.
How I lead
I have always been interested in understanding how a business really works: what drives its performance, where its constraints lie and how decisions made at the top translate into everyday operations.
That curiosity helps me engage with specialists on their own ground and bring different considerations into a broader business perspective. Sound judgement combines experience with a willingness to question assumptions—including my own.
Relationships matter because decisions rarely succeed through authority or analysis alone. I invest in understanding people and earning their trust, while keeping the business challenge and the decisions it requires firmly in view.
Education & languages
Solvay Business School — Commercial Engineer, cum laude
MIT Sloan — AI Business Strategy
Insights Discovery — Practitioner Accreditation (2019)
Dutch · French · English