MARC VAN PEEL

President of Antwerp Port Authority, Port Alderman, Vice-Mayor of the City of Antwerp

Marc Van Peel has been president of the Antwerp Port Authority since 2007. His involvement however goes way back as co-founder of the Port as a municipal authority. He was one of those who pleaded in favour of extensive financial and management independence for the ports. After a short period as a history teacher, Marc Van Peel became the general secretary of the Flemish Boy Scouts and worked as staff member at the educational department of ACV, the largest Belgian trade union. His social and political involvement took him to Parliament. For more than 20 years he represented the Christian Democratic Party as MP. He was floor leader in the Lower House and chairman of the party between 1996 and 1999. After the local elections in 2001, he became Vice-Mayor for public management, decentralisation and personnel management of the City of Antwerp, and accepted a new term in 2007 as Vice-Mayor for the Port of Antwerp. He is also chairman of PAI (Port of Antwerp International) and APEC (the Antwerp Port Training Centre). Marc Van Peel was born in Wilrijk, Antwerp, in 1949. He is married and has four children and eight grandchildren.