Born in Sint-Niklaas, Vael received his MA in applied economics in 1989 from the University of Antwerp, and another MA in information management in 1990 from the University of Hasselt, and a master-doctorandus degree in applied economics and ICT in 1991 from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
In 2010 Vael was appointed chief audit executive at Smals.,[1] and also deputy member of the Flemish privacy commission.
[2] In 2012 Vael was appointed as member of the Permanent Stakeholder Group of ENISA.
[3] In 2012 Vael was elected international vice-president and became a member of the board of ISACA[4] where he was responsible for knowledge management.
The same year he was also elected Fellow van het Hogeheuvelcollege (2012), University of Leuven[5] Vael has authored and co-authored numerous publications in his fields of interests.