Bart Verhaeghe

Verhaeghe was born into a Brabant family with West Flemish roots. He grew up in Grimbergen, near Brussels, and played soccer at KSC Grimbergen and Hoger Op Merchtem. After secondary school at the Jan van Ruusbroeck College in Laken, he studied law at the Catholic University of Leuven and obtained a Master of Business Administration at Vlerick Business School.

He started his career at KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting organizations. He resigned after nine months to start as an entrepreneur. At industrial building company Verelst, he developed project developer Eurinpro specialising in logistic real estate and of which he became CEO. This company grew substantially and was sold in 2006 to the Australian company Macquarie Goodman for 400 million Euro.

Verhaeghe invests in sports (Club Brugge), real estate (project development and real estate investments), private equity, listed shares and non-profit organisations (Itinera and the Anti-Cancer Fund). These investments are part of the family holding LakeSprings nv. As real estate investment, Verhaeghe bought the Castle of Bever from Count Eric de Villegas de Clercamp in 2004. The castle has been fully renovated and is surrounded by roughly 17 hectares of park area.[4]

In 1992 Verhaeghe took his first steps in real estate when he met building contractor Luc Verelst. He acquired a stake in the industrial building company Verelst, from which Eurinpro later emerged. This company grew into a global player in logistic real estate. Verhaeghe also set up two real estate funds, Siref and Retail Estates. He used these investment companies to list his retail property and semi-industrial property on the stock market. In 2006, Eurinpro was sold to the Australian company Macquarie Goodman for 400 million Euro

Verhaeghe then set up the real estate company Uplace, specialised in developing innovative projects where living, working and relaxing go together. Near Brussels, Uplace develops a new workshop district called BROEKLIN, where training, production, consumption and circularity meet at a very central location in Belgium. The work shop district is designed by Professor and architect Alexander D’Hooghe. Uplace also creates new city districts in Dendermonde and Tielt.[5]

In 2004, at the request of the Flemish government, Verhaeghe developed a feasibility study for schools and football stadiums. Subsequently, he was contacted by the then board of Club Brugge, which developed plans for a new stadium. Verhaeghe additionally developed a strategic vision for the first division. At the request of the board of directors at the time, Verhaeghe implemented the internal changes, became chairman and hired Vincent Mannaert to become CEO of Club Brugge. Mannaert leads the operational operations of Club, supported by a professional management team.

The Board of Directors was also subject to major changes: several entrepreneurs made their entry. At the end of 2012, the trade fund of the non-profit association Club Brugge K.V. was transferred to the limited liability company Club Brugge, to which an amount of 15 million euros was contributed. Verhaeghe became the majority shareholder.[6]

In 2018, Verhaeghe and Linard extended the contract of national coach Roberto Martínez

In 2013, the Pro League delegated Verhaeghe to the Executive Committee of the RBFA. Three years later he took up the position of director and became Vice Chairman. Together with former chairman Gérard Linard, Verhaeghe reorganised the association which made a loss of 8 million Euro in 2016, into a financially healthy federation. Verhaeghe and Linard rolled out a code of ethics for all RBFA employees and partners. The rules of good governance were adopted with a professional management team that was given the keys to manage the operational management of the RBFA.

Verhaeghe was also chairman of the Technical Committee. Together with Mehdi Bayat and Chris Van Puyvelde he appointed Roberto Martínez as national coach. Verhaeghe was head of delegation at the World Cup in Russia where the Red Devils won bronze, the best result ever in the history of Belgian football.

In June 2019, Verhaeghe resigned from the RBFA so that he could focus on Club Brugge and his other professional activities. However, in 2022, the football association included Verhaeghe in the task force to appoint Roberto Martinez's successor as national team coach of the Red Devils. This led to the appointment of Italian-German Domenico Tedesco as the Belgian national team coach since february 2023.

• Zeg niet aan mijn moeder dat ik ondernemer ben...ze denkt dat ik op zoek ben naar een job, 2003. (Don't tell my mother I'm an entrepreneur, she thinks I'm looking for a job)
• Durf! Pleidooi voor meer ambitie en lef, 2019 (Dare! A plea for more ambition and courage)