Thomas Leysen

Thomas Leysen (born 1960) is a Belgian entrepreneur who graduated from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven with a degree in law.

[1] Leysen spent a large part of his career at Umicore (formerly Union Minière), which was transformed under his leadership from a metals producer to a materials technology group with leading positions in battery materials, automotive catalysts and precious metals recycling.

[2] Leysen is also the chairman and a large shareholder of Mediahuis, a media company and leading publisher of newspapers in Belgium, The Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg and Germany (De Standaard, De Telegraaf, NRC Handelsblad, Irish Independent, among other publications).

He has long been committed to the promotion of sustainability development, and was the founding chair of The Shift, a coalition of businesses and non-governmental organisations in Belgium.

Since March 2001, he is also Chairman of dsm-firmenich, a Swiss-Dutch health, nutrition and beauty group, listed on the Euronext Amsterdam.