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This is David. I believe in Mattel & the potential of us.
Let me take you on a sailing trip to bring you my personal story. We will sail from my date of birth to my arrival in the Mattel harbor. I assure you, it will be a great journey.
Why do I want to take you in a boat?
Sailing is one of my passions, but more important is that it will make you understand who you have in front of you and why I can be an added value to the growth of the company.
I was born in a small town in the north of Belgium in 1977, as the youngest out of 4. My home base was a warm nest with strong values & respect for each other.
Since 10 years, Im married with my fantastic wife Chantal and Im so proud of my 3 lovely daughters Césarie, Margaux & Victoria.
My family is really important to me. My parents have always been great examples:
My mother as the captain of the family: organizing the wellbeing of all of us, showing a great solidarity in the society and being a very hospitable person.
My father as the wise and pragmatic engineer, exploring different experiences within an important multinational, discovering the world by collaborating with people from all over the world and building a successful career ending in a corporate function.
These triggers were determent for a few of my characteristics.
I always felt best when I could take the lead in situations with friends, in the scouts, @school or in the sport club. Leading, giving direction and steering the ship are giving me greater satisfaction than standing aside. I feel myself most comfortable in the captains role.
Im also passionate to do things in the most efficient way. I get triggered to reshape processes that are inefficient. I learned through different experiences to maximize outcome with restricted resources. Pragmatic thinking is in my nature.
Since I was young, I had the chance to get in touch with different cultures and discover different parts of the world. I met/discussed with colleagues from my father from all over the world, I participated in exchange programs, I got the chance to travel inside and outside Europe. I experienced fast that the world didnt stop in my backyard. Im still excited to discover new horizons and learn from new experiences.
To make sure my ship got managed in the best way, Ive chosen an interesting study path.
In college I studied classical education (Latin) in combination with science. This was for me a discovering phase and it gave me orientation to make further choices in the future. The 2 main learnings after college:
-I developed a great interest for history and a broad interest for the actuality in the world -My professional interests wouldnt be in science but in economics & marketing
After graduating from college, I chose to go to the University of Gent to make my dream come through and study a master in business administration (option marketing). These studies gave me a large spectrum of knowledge on subjects as economics, math, accounting, languages, management and marketing. I got more and more triggered to the marketing part of the education: how to accelerate sales and understanding the mix of activities around this spectrum.
To have an experience abroad, I subscribed for the Erasmus program and followed 6 months of classes @ the University of Clermont-Ferrand during my first Master class. Great experience, I integrated well in a new habitat and that I got excited of a new experience outside my home base.
After my studies I was more than ready to get a first professional experience. Where could I better feel and live the sales of consumer goods then in food retail?
So I started my career @ a big Cora Hypermarket in Brussels as a department manager food. A great job that gave me a lot of satisfaction : I could experience with the 4 marketing Ps, I had a first experience as a people manager (a team of 10 people), I got in contact with big food companies as Kraft, Danone, Unilever, I got room to take initiative and optimize my turnover and operating margin. I learned a lot and understood the working of the fast moving consumer business. The daily excitement of getting to the numbers will never go away. Also the passion for strong brands got deep insight of me. My biggest realizations were double digit growth numbers above target, margin improvement trough inventory control and product mix management and a category management project in the sweets with great results. 3 Key learnings for me after my first job: growing self confidence in a business environment through success in what I was doing; A very good understanding of what service orientation means, being surrounded by customers helps a lot; and last getting experience in conflict management, I got confronted with different situations where I needed to get solutions for conflicts between collaborators, I learned progressively to keep objectivity, to look for win-win situations and to dare to address the conflict.
Through my network of business contacts, I got a job offer to discover the other side of the business. I started in the Numico group (now Danone) as a key account manager for the top 3 customers (Carrefour/Delhaize/Colruytgroup). The big learnings for me : negotiation with central buyers, understand the working of a fast moving consumer good company, terms management, marketing/customer marketing mix management, brand building and sales management. My biggest realizations were establishing solid business relations, generating growth, introducing new skus and gaining market share. Key learnings after this experience: emotional self-awareness, during my first negotiations with central buyers, I could live the implication of own emotions. I learned to control them and to use them to get to my objectives. Showing empathy through listening, I experienced this with the sales force and I learned how much valuable information I was able to catch. And last about teamwork, when I started I was so eager to develop my plans, that I forgot to solicit others for input. This is definitely not the best approach and I learned to share and move forward together.
2006 was the year my ship entered the Mattel harbor. A new world was opening for me. Entering in an American multinational with strong brands and operating in the magical toy business really excited me. I started in the Belgian office as the key account manager hyper markets and field manager. During 3 years, I managed to grow the business with double digit figures. Key to successful was collaboration with cross functional teams and good MSAP planning to come to joint business plans with the customers. I also managed to re boost the field team and make them work in a more professional way. After 3 years, I got promoted to sales and office lead. I got the opportunity to work on different missions: integration in a new cluster (Neur), hiring, training and coaching of 4 new key accounts with successful results, sharing, creating vision and implementing strategies. Once the team got on full speed, we managed to improve execution @ retail, we got better in planning and forecasting and worked aligned as an organization on key priorities.
With the EU 2.0 implementation, I applied for the job as channel manager Sales force in France. 1 year ago, I integrated the French business and Im leading a great team of 30 sales people. Different challenges came on my path: leading the team after a restructuring phase, engage senior collaborators, define strategies and align with key stakeholders. A lot of work has already been done. I managed to assure continuity in the work, deliver results in target and to bring alignment in the group. More is yet to come with focus on tools (CRM program), new priorities of work organization, talent development, expert program and exploration of new business initiatives.
I also managed to create synergies and scale with the Belgian salesforce. The Belgian team integrated into the French team, they are managed now by an experienced regional French manager who can bring a lot of new insights for the sales people. They join the French national field sales meetings, creating scale and saving time & money for the Belgian organization.
On a personal level, the relocating to France has been also a very enriching experience. We integrated fast in our new community; my kids adapted well to the French language and they made new friends. We enjoy the cultural change and we enjoy the Paris region in the weekend.
So far @ Mattel, key laernings for myself were development through self-assessment, analyzing were you are and defining areas to develop; secondly to understand even better the power of networking and last to grow in the organization and to understand the organization and work accordingly.
After 12 years in FMCG and 8 years in the company, I can rely on my expertise to generate growth and help to develop the business. I created a network internally and externally that help to deliver the objectives. I got respected by colleagues and key partners. In the short term, I want to continue to deliver and finish successfully the initiatives taken in the salesforce. Next step for me would be moving into a sales director role or moving to a management function in a department other than sales. I want to further broaden my horizons and enlarge my scope on the business. A special project assignment would also something that can trigger me. I have the drive, I dare to take initiative and I like to make things moving forward. Im still eager to learn and develop myself. Growing in responsibility and taking more actively part in giving direction to the company on a more corporate level is a clear ambition for me. In the long term I see myself as a country manager. Im also open for a new move to another country/market if the opportunity would be presented, in combination with an interesting job offer.
18-06-2014 om 07:17
geschreven door maertend 
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