Bernard Gustin is the new CEO of Lineas

Lineas the largest private rail freight operator in Europe announces structural changes to its Board of Directors to strengthen the leadership of the group in order to accelerate the transformation plan and improve its performance. The Lineas General Assembly reinforces its Board of Directors and appoints Bernard Gustin as a new independent director, who has been elected Executive Chairman by the Board of Directors.

After a difficult 2020 and 2021 due to a combination of the Corona pandemic, the heavily distorted supply chains, the July flooding, as well as the important infrastructure problems in Europe, Lineas will further accelerate its transformation plan to restore its financial results to pre-Corona levels. At the same time, Lineas will continue investing in further digitalization initiatives to improve operational performance and customer experience.

In the context of these multiple challenges, and to accelerate the transformation process, Lineas’ Board of Directors decided to make some structural changes to the leadership of the group. Bernard Gustin is appointed as an independent director and becomes Executive Chairman of Lineas. Bernard Gustin is a highly experienced and widely recognized executive with an extensive track record at Chairman and CEO-levels in industrial transformations. His network in Belgium and Europe will be important to federate industry and other stakeholders around a concrete modal shift. He will keep his other mandates as a chair or board member.

Gilles Mougenot, as representative of Lineas’ majority shareholder, will take on the responsibility of Vice-chairman of the Board as well as Chairman of the Nomination Committee. “We are happy to welcome Bernard as new Executive Chairman and to benefit from his extensive experience as well as his great expertise in mobility”.

The Board of Directors wants to thank Geert Pauwels for his contribution as CEO of the Company over the last 12 years. Geert successfully restructured the heavily loss-making SNCB division and then transformed it to become Europe’s largest private rail freight company with a clear purpose for modal shift.

With these important changes, Lineas will take on the necessary steps to set the group on the right track for a promising future. Private rail freight operators are a key element in reaching Europe’s ambitions to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

 

Source: Lineas press releases