Eddy Van Gelder has been chair of VUB’s board of directors for 18 years. On 22 September 2020, he will officially pass the torch on to Karsten De Clerck. “They have been the best years of my life,” says Van Gelder of his long mandate. An interview with a man whose affability and discreet actions have been praised by all – not least by the three rectors with whom he has closely worked.

“It came out of the blue,” says Van Gelder of the moment he was asked to become chair of the board of directors. The person doing the asking was Ben Van Camp. He had been VUB rector for about a year and was facing some difficult challenges. “It was the time of the introduction of the financing decree, the BAMA structure, the compulsory association building and quality assurance,” recalls Van Gelder. “Ben was looking for a chair who would support him one hundred per cent in that. Something which he didn’t have with the current chair, Rik Van Aerschot.”

At the time, Van Gelder didn’t have a function within VUB. However, he had previously been a member of the board for six years and had sat on the Services Commission.

Van Camp himself said that the decision to appoint Van Gelder was something of a moment of inspiration. “It happened at a party we were both attending. When I saw him, I immediately realised this is the man I need.” The reasons were obvious. “Eddy had good links with ULB, who I was seeking to get closer to. He was a Brusselaar and so bilingual, and he had already been a member of the board of directors. But above all: he was general director of the Brussels Regional Investment Society (GIMB) and so familiar with innovation. I’d made that a priority of my rectorship.”

Mediating with humour

But perhaps the most important reason is articulated by Van Gelder himself: “I’ve never been much of a quarreller.” This characteristic made him the ideal bridging figure, able to bring differing parties closer together. That he could do this with the necessary humour is proved by the famous words with which, according to Paul De Knop, he defused the sometimes fierce discussions among the board: “Colleagues, I see we have a consensus, so I propose we move on to the next item on the agenda.”

Van Gelder will have needed that sense of humour – or at least sense of perspective – many times. VUB has after all been through difficult moments during his time as chair. The outcome hasn’t always been satisfactory. Van Gelder looks back with regret, for example, to the scrapping of VUB’s dentistry programme. “That was during the affair about rationalisation measures under the rectorship of Ben Van Camp. It was a sad turn of events, especially when you know that we still have a wonderful dental clinic. Now students from Ghent go there.”

From the same period comes the anecdote about André Oosterlinck, then rector of KU Leuven. “Oosterlinck came up to me at a VUB reception and patted me on the back. It must be difficult being chair of such a small university, he said.” Van Gelder is happy to laugh about it. “I have a lot of respect for what Oosterlinck has accomplished, you know.”

Professionalisation and branding

Another intense process was that of the professionalisation implemented by Paul De Knop. “Paul De Knop’s nickname was Paul The Builder. And under his rectorship the campus in Etterbeek was indeed thoroughly redesigned. But I was most impressed by the professionalisation he introduced. He made the faculties more responsible for their own dealings. Together we also reduced the board of directors from forty-eight members to ten, four of whom are independent.”

Something else that stays with Van Gelder is the changes to VUB’s branding. The first, under Van Camp, was a difficult experience. “Not everyone was convinced by the proposal. Some said the VUB typeface looked like runes. It took a year to get it through. When it was finally over, Van Camp and I celebrated in a typical VUB way, with a drink. That’s when we came up with the slogan ‘redelijk eigenzinnig’.”

Van Gelder has no problem with the fact that the branding changed again under De Knop. Not that it was plain sailing. “There were protests from the students,” he says. “They said they weren’t sufficiently involved. And they were right, I have to admit.”

Since then, he has worked closely with the current rector, Caroline Pauwels, over the past four years. His soulmate, he calls her. “I’m not just saying that,” he says. “We think along the same lines, on a different level to purely operational. Caroline has always said she wants to work more towards the outside world, to give VUB more prominence. I think she has achieved that. She has given VUB a face, made it sexy. And the openness to Brussels that she has accomplished warms my Brussels heart. Just like the rapprochement with ULB, although to be fair that was begun under Ben Van Camp.”

Ideal succession of rectors

And that completes the circle of the three rectors under whom he has been chair of the board. What’s remarkable is that when they each took office, he didn’t know any of them well. “They are three personalities and three periods that perfectly fit together,” he says. “The succession could not have been better. If it had been in another order, nothing would have worked, I think. I have been behind them and their teams one hundred per cent. In these eighteen years they have given VUB a deserved cachet, I believe.” 

It’s a great complement from a chair who originally planned to leave his role after Van Camp’s rectorship ended. A question of good governance, Van Gelder thought. But he let himself be talked into staying by Van Camp, who wanted to see him stay “in the context of continuity”. The same happened at the end of De Knop’s tenure. Pauwels added a new argument: she wanted Van Gelder to experience the celebratory 50/185 anniversary year of VUB/ULB as chair. 

But now the time has come, Van Gelder believes. At the beginning of Pauwels’ second mandate as rector, he is passing the torch on to Karsten De Clerck. The change is happening at his own suggestion, which was unanimously accepted by the university council a year ago.

Ensuring a smooth handover is the chair’s responsibility, he says. “It prevents any accidents, as they say in Brussels.” He is also stepping down from the board. “The last thing I want is to play the role of mother-in-law to my successor. I am convinced that Karsten will be an outstanding chair. He has been a member of the board for four years and is closely involved in our fellowships. Plus, as managing director of [consultancy] Egon Zehnder, he has an extensive network in the world of business, which is not to be sniffed at.”

Farewell to a loved one

That doesn’t mean he isn’t sad about his departure. “The feeling is totally different to when I retired from the GIMB. That didn’t affect me much, to be honest. But now it’s as if I’m saying goodbye to a loved one. I have spent the best years of my life at VUB. I am very grateful for all the people I’ve met here, not least ‘my’ three rectors.”

Happily, Van Gelder is not leaving entirely. He will be standing by to support De Clerck, should he need advice. When he began his own mandate, he asked for the same support from his predecessor, Van Aerschot. “But he was a little unhappy because of what he saw as my unexpected election, so politely declined. Which doesn’t take away the fact that that his photo still sits on my desk,” he says with a laugh.

He is also working on another couple of projects with Caroline Pauwels. He doesn’t want to reveal much about them, except that it involves interpreting the word ‘more’ in the expression that studying at VUB is much more than just studying. “When this slogan was launched, I don’t remember. But I asked Caroline how we would make this concrete. Because what is that, more than just studying? Is it drinking more pints?” He found inspiration himself in the book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, by Yuval Noah Harari. “Harari – the recipient of one of our latest honorary doctorates – writes that young people must learn to use all the information, all the technology that comes their way, rather than turning them into specialists. I have written an extensive text about this, with a couple of ideas in that direction. I think VUB can play a great role in this. Anyway, we will see.”

 

Perhaps he and Caroline Pauwels will brew a project from it during or after a meeting of be.Brusseleir, an association that aims to broaden interest in language heritage and language evolution in Brussels. Both are involved in its management. Van Gelder is also involved in the Kaaitheater and the Magritte Museum in Jette. Sitting still is clearly not going to happen any time soon. But VUB is closest to his heart. He recently noticed that during his mandate he actually devoted more than fifty per cent of his time to networking activities. “With this corona situation, I suddenly only had to refuel the car once a month. Before that, it was at least five times,” he says.

Something tells us that this will be changing again before long.

BIO EDDY VAN GELDER

Eddy Van Gelder became chair of the VUB board of directors on 1 January 2003. He succeeded Rik Van Aerschot, who had been chair since 1990. Van Gelder graduated in 1973 with a degree in economic science and worked for Brouwerij Haelterman, the Instituut voor Kadervorming of the PVV (now Open VLD) and then as director of the party’s study department. In 1984 he became general director of the Brussels Regional Investment Society (GIMB), from where he retired in 2017. Van Gelder will be succeeded as chair of the board of directors by Karsten De Clerck. 

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