board of directors
bart sap
Board Director
Chief Executive Officer at Umicore
Bart Sap was appointed Chief Executive Officer in May 2024, after serving as Executive Vice-President Catalysis from 2021 to 2024 and Senior Vice-President for Cobalt & Specialty Materials and Supply from 2020 to 2021. He joined Umicore in 2004 as controller for Cobalt & Specialty Materials and occupied several management functions in Korea and Belgium covering finance, supply and refining of battery raw materials, business development and operations. Bart holds a Master’s Degree in Commercial Science from Vlekho in Brussels, Belgium, with majors in Accountancy and Taxation.
Jörg Teichmann
Board Director
Chief Purchasing Officer at Volkswagen Group Components and PowerCo SE
Jörg Teichmann was appointed Chief Procurement Officer Group Components since 2021 and he is responsible for, among other things, raw material purchasing, supplier management and value engineering. He joined Volkswagen AG as Head of Value Engineering in 2016. Jörg was born in 1971 in Neustadt an der Orla in Thuringia. After completing his business administration studies, he first worked for the automotive supplier Butzleper, then in various management positions in procurement and supplier management at ZF Friedrichshafen AG. In 2009 he moved to the BMW Group as Head of Cost Engineering.
Wannes Peferoen
Board Director
Chief Financial Officer at Umicore
Wannes was appointed Chief Financial Officer in October 2022. He joined Umicore in 2005 and accumulated over 10 years’ experience as a controller of several business units, building up a strong expertise in financial controlling including strategic planning, introducing new systems and managing financial risk. Subsequently Wannes held positions in general management in Belgium and France, and served as Senior Vice President for Electro-Optic Materials. Prior to Umicore, Wannes worked for PriceWaterhouseCoopers in audit & advisory. Wannes holds a Master’s degree in Business Engineering from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and an MBA from the Vlerick Business School.
Board of management
Thomas JANSSEUNE
Chief Executive Officer at IONWAY
Thomas Jansseune has taken the helm as IONWAY’s first Chief Executive Officer, on 1 July 2023, following 22 years at Belgian circular materials group Umicore. In his last role at Umicore, Thomas led Umicore’s New Business Incubation and its great variety of topics, such as venture capital, solid state batteries, decarbonization, battery recycling and hydrogen electrolysis. Prior to the NBI, he was in charge of Corporate Development, and, building on his earlier international M&A experience, involved in the significant realignment of Umicore’s business portfolio at the time through divestments and acquisitions.
Thomas’s earlier roles at Umicore also included marketing and sales, with oversees postings in Taiwan and in Canada where he was managing director of Umicore’s Precious metals refining plant. Thomas Jansseune holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering and has a postgraduate in business administration and finance at the Catholic University of Leuven (KULeuven) in Belgium.
achim holzer
Chief Financial Officer at IONWAY
Achim Holzer was appointed Chief Financial Officer of IONWAY in August 2023. Between 2021-2023, he was the Head of Value Engineering & Central Functions Procurement at Volkswagen Group. He also held positions in value engineering from 2014 to 2019 at Audi AG, in Cost Engineering between 2009 to 2014 and Controlling between 1999 to 2008 at BMW Group. Achim holds a Mechanical Engineering Degree from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) as well as a Doctorate in manufacturing management from the University of Passau.