ArcelorMittal has announced that Geert Van Poelvoorde, CEO of Europe and member of the Group Management Committee, will retire from his position at the end of July.
Van Poelvoorde joined ArcelorMittal as a project engineer in the hot strip mill in Ghent in 1989, before taking up the role of CEO of Ghent in 2008, and eventually CEO of Europe in 2021.
Van Poelvoorde will take up the role of Chairman of the Board of ArcelorMittal Europe Steel after he departs his current position.
He said: “It has been an extraordinary 37 years in the steel industry. I could not have imagined when I started out in Ghent how fulfilling and rewarding my career would be. The steel industry is never easy, but it is full of great people who care passionately about the material we make and it has been a great privilege to have been CEO of ArcelorMittal’s European segment for the past five years.
“We have done a lot, and I am proud that I leave the segment safer, stronger and having started our transition to lower-carbon steelmaking. I would like to thank Mr Mittal and Aditya for their confidence in me and all the great colleagues I have worked with over the decades.
“There is never a good time to retire, but with the TRQ introduced on 1st July and CBAM in place since the beginning of the year, I feel that the future for European steelmaking is looking brighter.”
Van Poelvoorde also served as the president of the European Steel Association (EUROFER) from 2015 to 2022.
Aditya Mittal, CEO of ArcelorMittal, added: “Geert has been an exceptional leader of ArcelorMittal Europe, and it has been a pleasure to work closely with him for the past 20 years. He has extraordinary energy, drive, technical knowledge and passion and has worked tirelessly to champion the strategic importance of Europe retaining a strong steel industry.
“His legacy is considerable, including the fact that our European business is now facing a brighter future. He has pivoted the business towards a safer, cleaner, more digital future, introducing the dynamic pricing concept and launching our green steel certificates, the first step towards creating value from lower-carbon products and leading markets for green steel.”
