Johan Beerlandt

Company: Besix Group
Position:Chief executive officer

Biography: John Beerlandt has been the chief executive of Brussels-headquartered Besix Group since 2001.

The group has been present in the UAE construction market since 1967. He joined the firm in 1974 as a junior engineer in Belgium, moving to the UAE in 1975 to take charge of a number of different projects in the region. In 1978, he relocated to Iraq to work as deputy project manager at the Alkaim Fertiliser Complex.

In 1981, Beerlandt took up the position of managing director of the Besix local subsidiary Six International in Cameroon, Africa. He returned to the Middle East in 1988 to become managing director of Six Construct in the UAE, working on a number of major projects, including power and desalination plants in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and Dubai airport.

In 1993, Beerlandt rejoined Besix as deputy general manager. He became general manager in 1994 and, in 1998, stepped up to the position of managing director.

Contact: (+32) 2 402 6211
Company website: www.besix.com