Daniel Kurgan
Chief Executive Officer
Daniel Kurgan has been appointed CEO of Belgacom International Carrier Services SA/NV on March 2nd 2007 after being COO from July 1st 2006 onwards.
He started his career as Contracts Manager at SABCA (biggest Belgian aerospace company, subsidiary of French Group Dassault), where he negotiated and managed major industrial sales, subcontracting and purchase contracts with customers like Boeing, Airbus, Aerospatiale (EADS), Asian governments, and suppliers like GEC Marconi, Litton...
Daniel joined Belgacom’s Carrier Division at the start of the carrier commercial operations in January 1997, where he held several positions including International Account Manager, Head of International Relations & Sales, Sales Director (domestic and international wholesale) and VP International Wholesale, in charge of Sales & Marketing, Buying & LCR, and Customer Service and Network. In 2005 Daniel was VP Commercial of Belgacom ICS, and contributed to the spin-off of Belgacom’s international carrier business.
Daniel is a graduate from Solvay Business School of the University of Brussels.
Patrick VerdinghFinance Director
Patrick Verdingh started at Belgacom ICS in November 2004 as Finance Director, responsible for Accounting, Controlling, Billing, Collections, Treasury, Procurement, General Services & Business Intelligence.
He started his career at KPMG as financial auditor. After this, he became Assistant Financial Controller at Fortis, an international banking and insurance group. Patrick moved into the telecommunications world when he joined Belgacom Mobile in 1993, where he held several positions including Business Planning Manager and Financial Controller. In 2002 Patrick became Finance Director of the Consumer & Business Division of Belgacom Fixed Line Business Unit.
Patrick received his Bachelor of Science in Finance from Vrije Universiteit Brussels and has an MBA degree from the Post University Center of the University of Leuven. Prior to his academical education, Patrick has worked for 5 years at the Institute of Textile & Confection of Belgium as a financial assistant, responsible for the adminstration and analysis of investment files.
Johan WoutersDirector Engineering and Service Delivery
Johan Wouters is currently heading the Engineering and Service Delivery Department of Belgacom ICS. In this function he drives technology strategy, network deployment, platform management and ensures services are delivered to customers with the highest quality and availability standards.
He has over 20 years of experience in telecom, holding functions at Belgacom in the areas of operations, engineering, corporate investment planning, metropolitan area and mobile networks. Johan joined Belgacom’s carrier division at it’s foundation in 1996, working with a mixed team of the Singapore Telecom, Ameritech and TDC shareholders. Here he held positions as Product Line Manager and Director Operations. He was a key contributor to the spin-off of the company and to the subsequent successful merger with Swisscom Carrier Services.
Johan worked for 3 years as a research assistant in micro electronics for medical applications at the University of Leuven, Belgium, after having graduated as a Civil Engineer in Electronics.
Patrick George
Marketing & Product Management Director
Patrick George is currently heading the Marketing & Product Management organisation within Belgacom ICS after being Director International Transmission Network in charge of Engineering, Operations and Worldwide Field Operations where he deployed the first Pan European Next Generation Optical Backbone.
Prior to Belgacom ICS, Patrick has been Senior Sales & Account Director at Mach, the leading clearing house worldwide and head of the Mobile Market Development at GTS-Ebone responsible for establishing Ebone as a key market player in the mobile data arena. In the late 90s, Patrick held different management positions within the product and marketing departments at Belgacom and WIN.
He began his career as a research engineer for the research and development team of Belgacom after graduating as a Civil Engineer in Computer Science from the University of Liège. He also studied marketing at Insead, Fontainebleau.
Nicholas H. Nikrouyan
Commercial Director
Nicholas Nikrouyan started his career at Belgacom ICS in July 2000 as the Director of Global Traffic Management & Buying, and currently holds the position of EVP, International Carrier Solutions in charge of worldwide commercial activities that include, Sales, Buying, Traffic Management and Pricing.
His career in Europe started with Deloitte & Touche Consulting as Senior Tax and Financial Consultant. Nicholas moved into the telecommunications world when he joined Global One Communications in 1997 as the head of cost control, and later as the International Carrier Relations & Sales Operations manager in their Global HQ office in Brussels, Belgium.
Prior to moving to Belgium, Nicholas spent seven years with Alamo Rent a Car in the US where he held several positions including Operations Manager and Sales Director. He has also worked as an independent consultant in the San Francisco Bay Area for several years.
Nicholas received his Bachelor of Science in Finance from California University in San Francisco and has an MBA degree from Solvay Business School in Brussels, Belgium. He is an Iranian born, American citizen who has been living and working in Europe since 1994.
Jan Joos
IT & Processes Director
As head of the IT department, Jan Joos provides technological vision and leadership in the development and implementation of the company-wide information technology (IT) program. This in order to drive and support both distributed and centralized business operations and achieve more effective and cost beneficial enterprise-wide IT operations. Additionally, as head of the ITP department he makes sure all IT and business projects are driven by excellent program management principles and that all business functions undergo regularly a re-engineering exercise.
Jan started his carreer at Belgacom back in ’99 in the IT department and has an extensive previous consultancy/project leader experience in several other companies.
He graduated as a Master in Information Technology at the Free University Brussels (VUB) and holds also an Executive MBA from the Flanders Business School in Antwerp.
Frédéric Schepens
Strategic Business Development Director
Frédéric Schepens joined Belgacom in 1997 and is now Executive Vice President Strategic Business Development where he oversees the new product development within the Mobile & IP ecosystem. Since 2008 Frédéric has been appointed as judge at the Mobile Innovation Market within the GSMA.
Frédéric held several management roles within Belgacom ICS, of which Director of Mobile & xSP, taking care of all the Mobile & xSP solutions worldwide. Before that Frédéric lived for 5 years in Asia where he founded and managed the companies for Belgacom ICS in the Asia Pacific region. Since the start of the company Frédéric has led a key role in the unprecedented growth of the company, which provides IP, Data & Voice services to Fixed Line Operators, ISP’s and Mobile Operators, to become one of the leading voice carries in the world.
Prior to joining Belgacom, Frédéric was in the core teams of setting up mobile operators in the Netherlands (KPN Mobile) and in Belgium (Mobistar), which gives him a telecom experience of over 14 years.
Frédéric obtained a Bachelor in Business Administration in Antwerp and an MBA in Paris.
Vincent Hardy
Strategy and M&A Director
Vincent joined the Belgacom Group in 1995, where he held several positions including Product Manager, Head of International Product Management and Senior Business Development Manager.
In the latter position, Vincent contributed to the spin-off Belgacom International Carrier Services and to the creation of the joint venture agreement with Swisscom.
Vincent also worked on strategic partnerships with the MTN Group and Omantel. He is currently in charge of defining the strategy of the company and of implementing the consolidation policy through new merger and acquisition projects and through strategic outsourcing partnerships.
Vincent has a Master in Economic Sciences of the University of Namur.