Jan Coene

Who is Jan Coene?

Jan Hugo Isidoor Coene, born in 1957, is a Belgian businessman.

He joined Brown, Boveri & Cie Workshops in Brussels as a young trainee. In a few years, he rose within the company and soon reached a management position. During these years he negotiated several acquisitions and mergers. In 1988, BBC merged with ASEA, to become ABB Asea Brown Boveri.

In 2001 he left ABB and became the CEO & Chairman of Picanol, a world-wide leader in textile machinery and related services.

In 2003, he became Chairman of Belgacom, the Belgian national telephone company which he led to an IPO, working closely with its owner, the Belgian Government.

In 2004, the press revealed the level of his incomes from Picanol. These incomes were judged greatly excessive by the press, considering the usual Belgian remunerations for the functions of upper management. The lack of transparency was also pointed out, in particular by company's minority shareholders. Facing growing criticism, Jan Coene was forced to resign from both Picanol and Belgacom in October 2004. He accepted to reimburse ten million euros to Picanol but kept 12 million.