For several years now, Nicolas Hollanders has been advising (large) companies and families in the fields of shareholder strategy, governance, executive transition & succession planning, family talent, philanthropy, and overall effectiveness and alignment.

Next to his consulting activities, he is serving today as the Chairman of a family holding structure controlling a large international industrial group; he is also Member of a Family Council governing the affairs of nearly 350 descendants.

He was until 2014 a member of the Executive Committee of Delhaize Group, a public company employing over 150.000 people and operating food supermarkets across 9 countries in North-America, Europe and Asia. As Head of Human Resources, IT and Sustainability, he developed global group functions and managed several transformation programs. He led functional teams of 600+ associates in HR and 500+ associates in IT, spread over the Corporate Support Centre in Brussels and the different local operating companies.

Between 1995 and 2007, Nicolas worked with Egon Zehnder International, a leading executive search and board consulting firm. A partner and shareholder for over 7 years, he successively led the European and later Global Life Sciences Practice of the firm, working internationally on executive and board searches, management appraisals and non-executive board reviews. Under his tenure, the Practice morphed from a mere opportunistic knowledge-sharing forum to an integrated execution team with global reach.

Between 1989 and 1995, he was with Maroquinerie Delvaux as General Manager and later Managing Director. This family owned company was founded in 1829, and manufactures and commercializes luxury leather goods and accessories in Europe, Japan and the USA. Part of a 3-man executive board together with two controlling shareholders of the 2d and 3rd generation, he was responsible for commercial, finance, HR, IP, strategy & business development. He worked on the complete reengineering of the corporate & financial structure of the group as well as the restructuring of the shareholding among the two generations and development of a management model enabling smooth transition.

Finally, in his earlier days, Nicolas was an attorney with a prominent corporate law firm in Brussels, as well as a part time assistant professor in corporate law at the University of Leuven. He holds two graduate degrees in law and a post-graduate degree in economics

He works indifferently in English, French and Dutch.