The retirement of Roger Maes can be compared with a milestone in the history of Ardo in Belgium. He worked nearly 40 years for the company and from the early beginning with the ECD. “Roger has always been a long-standing and very popular companion”, says Ioannis Tsouloukidis, representative of the ECD. Within Ardo, his tasks were always linked to the worldwide commercial development. He settled-up relationships with customers, looked for potential customers and guided a worldwide commercial team. All Belgian colleagues had the opportunity to prepare a message for Roger’s retirement.  The words that came back quite often to stereotype Roger were ‘honest, respectful, positive mindset, entrepreneur, coach, energetic, passion for Ardo, motivator, team builder, 100% client oriented’.

Heidi Goovaerts is the successor of Roger Maes and will work more closely with the ECD. Let's get to know her in the following interview!

Which tasks are you going to have within Ardo?
As Group Sales Director FoodService for Ardo, I coordinate all activities in the FoodService market segment with regards to customer satisfaction, market and product development. Together with Ardo’s local sales teams, I develop the customer strategy for customers in a specific market.
 
Which experiences do you have in the (international) foodservice market?
I’ve been working for Ardo for almost 20 years in the roles of Marketing, Communication & Product Development.  As Ardo is a strong B2B driven organisation, I’ve always been in very close contact with the Ardo Foodservice colleagues as well as with the clients.

What are you expecting of working with the ECD?
To continue working on all the work that has been set up by Roger Maes before and to further develop the business with all partners within the ECD organisation.