We are proud to share that our Chief Financial Officer, Xavier Deedene, has been nominated for the prestigious CF’Hope of the Year Award by Trends Tendance Magazine.

This recognition highlights not only Xavier’s financial expertise, but also his strategic leadership and commitment to driving Gantrex’s sustainable growth over the past years. Under his financial stewardship, Gantrex has continued to expand globally while strengthening its operational excellence and long-term vision.

As part of the nomination, Trends Tendance published a portrait feature on Xavier, offering an insightful look into his background, leadership approach, and achievements. We’re honored to have such a dedicated and forward-thinking leader as part of the Gantrex Executive Team.

Read the full portrait by Trends Tendance here under.

It’s almost six years since Xavier Deedene set up shop at Gantrex, the Nivelles-based engineering company specializing in crane rails and overhead cranes, acquired by the Argos fund in 2015. Gantrex produced the rails for the retractable roof of the Roland-Garros center court.

Initially an auditor with Deloitte, then CFO of a Five Group business unit, this French-born financier will arrive in Nivelles in 2019. What attracted me,” he explains. It’s both the similarity of the issues on which I had acquired expertise in the Five group – management of international subsidiaries, management of a financial department of a group made up of SMEs – but also the fact of having all the levers of action in hand”.

He adds that he appreciates the Group’s “agile” structure, where decisions are made quickly and results are immediately visible. “I’m a bit like the CEO’s right-hand man, and we make a lot of decisions together. We see each other every week, and we discuss every subject.”

Xavier Deedene has accompanied the company’s development, from sales of €96 million and Ebitda of €10 million in 2019 to €128 million and €18 million in 2024. And all this while absorbing the shock of covid in the meantime.

Xavier Deedene’s key financial achievements in recent years include credit risk management and payment terms. “We have set up a sort of small grid for analyzing current projects and bids, to avoid signing toxic projects with unsustainable or overly risky payment terms. This has reversed the trend of a group that was struggling to convert its earnings into cash, improving its cash position. Another major project is the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics 365, aimed at standardizing processes in all subsidiaries over the next two to three years, a complex but promising project”, he explains.

For him, a good CFO must be “pragmatic, not dogmatic. If you look at benchmarks without seeing people, it’s pointless,” he says. A CFO must also listen to his team and other departments, so as to understand their expectations and needs. Finance is a support function. The risk is to shut ourselves away in an ivory tower, because we have the figures, we hold the purse strings. But that’s dangerous.”

Source : Trends Tendances Magazine – https://trends.levif.be/entreprises/managers/cfhope-of-the-year-portraits-des-trois-nomines/