Richard de Haas has been appointed CEO for DPD Belux (Belgium and Luxembourg), to succeed Silvio Mestdagh who is retiring.
De Haas will assume this position from 1 June 1, 2022, and will report to Eric Dietz, CEO of DPD Netherlands and head of the Benelux cluster. In de Haas’s previous role as managing director of sales at Fedex Benelux, he was responsible for implementing a successful transformation in growth and the integration of the FedEx and TNT sales teams within Benelux. Before this, de Haas held various commercial board positions at CleanLease and TNT, where he strengthened market leadership through a range of services of the commercial organization.
At DPD Belux, de Haas will focus on international growth, innovation and the transformation that today’s market demands. With the opening of the new international hub in Vilvoorde in Belgium, DPD Belux intends to strengthen its position as a market leader in international e-commerce.
Mestdagh has been at the helm of DPD Belux since November 2015 and announced earlier in 2022 that he would be retiring. Mestdagh will leave at the end of the year, after a transition period to support de Haas in his first months as CEO. Over the last six years, Mestdagh developed the pan-European major accounts, improving service performance and strengthening the network with the Vilvoorde hub project.
De Haas said, “I look forward, together with the team, to building further on a future of sustainable growth and development. The opportunities are huge in the Belgian and Luxembourg market, in an increasingly international parcel delivery market. We believe it is important to be a good, responsible employer, so alongside the partner of choice, the employer of choice will also be an important focus in our strategy.”
Mestdagh, said, “I look back with satisfaction on the past six years, full of changes, innovation spirit, customer’s success stories, thanks to solid teamwork. Consequently, it is with confidence that I am passing on the torch to Richard. The Covid-19 crisis put our world under severe strain, but the pandemic has also accelerated the growth of e-commerce. Our assets in the B2C segment gave us the means to seize opportunities in the market. Our operational network is expanding with new hubs and depots, this growing footprint allows us to move forward with ambition and serenity.”