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François M. de Visscher
is a pioneer in the field of financial advice to family companies.
A native of Belgium, Mr. de Visscher has been an active advisor
to business owning families for over twenty years, mostly in the
United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.
In 1990, he founded de Visscher & Co., one of the nation's leading
independent financial consulting and investment banking firms for
family and closely-held companies and prior to opening his own firm
he was a partner at Smith Barney, where he founded and ran the Family
Business Group. Grasping the needs of family businesses for growth
and liquidity capital, in 1998, Mr. de Visscher co-founded "Family
Capital Growth Partners", a private equity fund focused on making
minority and majority equity investments in family-owned and closely
held companies.
As a strong contributor to the
field of family business, Mr. de Visscher is a past president of
the Family Firm Institute, current Chairman of the European Family
Office Conference, and a contributor to many publications, including
The Wall Street Journal, LA Times, NY Times and many others. He
is currently a full-time contributing editor of Family Business
Magazine.
Mr. de Visscher is a family director
and fourth generation shareholder of his own family's global enterprise,
N.V. Bekaert S.A. Headquartered in Belgium, Bekaert was founded
by his great grandfather in 1880. Today, the Bekaert Group has sales
of $3.0 Billion in over 120 countries manufacturing and marketing
a wide variety of steel wire and related products. Mr. de Visscher
is also a director of the family's Holding Company, Bekaert A.K.
and the United States subsidiary of the Group, Bekaert North America.
Mr. de Visscher is a director of Epic Brands in the United Kingdom.
Mr. de Visscher is also a Certified Public Accountant and a member
of the American Institution of CPA's. Mr. de Visscher holds a Bachelor
of Economics honors degree from Université Catholique de
Louvain (Belgium) and MBA from Rutgers University.
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