[citation needed] He started his professional career in 1967 as a researcher at the Institut économique agricole in Brussels, where he would stay until 1972 and again from 1976 until 1978.
From 1979 until 1980, he was a member of the Cabinet of Belgian Agriculture Minister Albert Lavens.
In 1989, he was a member of the Cabinet of the European Commissioner Ray Mac Sharry.
[citation needed] In 1989 he became a member of the executive committee of the Belgian Boerenbond and he became its vice-president on 1 June 1992 until 31 October 1995.
Noël Devisch is also Director of KBC Insurance and a former regent of the National Bank of Belgium.