Conferences

Francis Heitz

Francis Heitz has a commercial and marketing background. After a first experience in Switzerland on behalf of a main French brewer, he joined the hop growers cooperative Cophoudal in 2005. Coming from a family of active hop growers, he quickly integrated to take charge of export development. and monitoring the quality of Alsatian hops. After the merger with Comptoir Agricole in 2010, he contributes to the revival of Alsatian hops on the North American, Japanese and European markets, as well as the release and expansion of new French hop varieties.

Stef Debeuf

Stef Debeuf begon in 2016 aan zijn loopbaan bij de Algemene Administratie Douane & Accijnzen. Voordien was hij actief als expediteur in de haven van Antwerpen. Stef geeft momenteel leiding aan het team vergunningen van de regio Antwerpen. Hij is hierdoor verantwoordelijk voor het behandelen en afleveren van allerhande accijns- en douaneaanvragen en vergunningen, aan bedrijven gevestigd in en rond de Antwerpse haven.

Alain De Laet

Alain De Laet is the CEO Brewery Huyghe and the grandmaster of ‘The Knighthood of the Brewers’ Paddle’ (Belgian brewers’ Guild).

Karl Dingemans

Karl Dingemans Studied Biochemistry with specialisation brewing and malting. Is working in the company since 1996. Started as a maltster in the production and quality for more than ten years and afterwards he took over the tasks of his father. Mainly focuses on barley purchasing, sales and customer relations.

Sven Dekleermaeker

Frederik Picard

Luc De Raedemaeker

Krishan Maudgal

After obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Commercial Economics and a Master's degree in Business Sciences, Krishan continued his education by following the International Executive MBA program at the Louvain School of Management.
During his twenty-year career, Krishan has held various management positions at Alken Maes and the Affligem brewery. As a true entrepreneur, he has also worked as a consultant for the brewing industry since 2011. Furthermore he is also responsible for the Beer Experience project in the Brussels Stock Exchange in collaboration with Belgian Brewers.
Since February 2021, he holds the position of director of vzw Belgian Brewers. For Krishan, beer is more than a profession, it is a passion.

Gino Baart

Gino Baart (1973) is a brewing professional with strong expertise in cell physiology, metabolism and industrial biotechnology, has a background in Food, Nutrition & Biotechnology (PhD), Bioprocess Engineering (MSc) and Chemical Engineering (BSc) and loves fermentation. With more than 20 years of experience in academic, technical and managerial roles at research institutes and universities, he is now working as Sales Manager - Northern Europe for Fermentis to support brewers, distillers, cider- and winemakers. Gino is an active home brewer and organizes VESTROCK, one of the best independent music, arts & science festivals of the low countries.

Olivier De Brauwer

Olivier De Brauwere is the co-founder and co-owner of Brussels Beer Project, a new collaborative brewery built in the center of Brussels. He decided with his teammate Sébastien Morvan to shake the traditional Belgian beer market by disrupting the way to create and fund beers.

Clo Willaerts

Clo Willaerts is a Belgian keynote speaker, author and digital strategy consultant. She has over 20 years of experience in digital business, digital marketing and digital culture. Het most recent publication is “Video Marketing like a PRO,” the handbook for anyone who wants to take advantage of the video marketing gold rush.

Sam Nagels

Sam Nagels: I acquired my taste for beer as a student bartender. After my training as a zythologist, I ended up at the De Koninck brewery, where I helped to build the i visitor centre. I expanded my knowledge of brewing. In the shadow of butcher's shop De Laet, Jitsk Chocolates and Kaasaffineurs Van Tricht, I have deepened my knowledge of the art of food pairing. At the moment, I work at Brouwland as an advisor for hobby brewers and small breweries.