Last month, on 1 October to be exact, longstanding TCR executive Tom Bellekens formally took up the role of CEO at the company
Bellekens replaced Marc Delvaux at the head of TCR’s leadership, the latter having stepped down and become chairman of TCR International. Bellekens, previously chief operating officer, then took up the hot seat at the head of the company as CEO.
Bellekens’ appointment as CEO was by no means a hasty decision; in fact, his promotion had been planned, and he had known about his coming elevation, for no less than two years. “We wanted a very smooth transition to guarantee continuity of leadership for TCR employees and to guarantee a continued high level of service to customers,” Bellekens explained to Airside International when he spoke to the magazine a week before he formally took up his new role.
“A change in leadership can be tricky, so it was vital to plan and prepare for the change carefully,” he added.
Bellekens has been with TCR for 16 years and has in that time accumulated plenty of knowledge and experience not only of the company and how it works, but also of its customers and their needs. He joined the firm in the role of business controller and in that position built up his familiarity with TCR’s financial and operational dynamics.
Bellekens’ next job within TCR took him to Spain to set up the company’s initial presence in the country. He set up TCR Spain from scratch, from a point of “no office and no customers”, he recalls. Yet, today, Spain is one of TCR’s strongest regions. Moreover it was “a great experience” for him, he believes.
Leaving Spain in 2009 to return to Brussels, Bellekens took up the post of business development director, where he dealt with both product portfolio development and close communication with customers – ground handlers, airlines and airports.
Then, about five years ago, he took on the role of chief operating officer (COO), where he led the day-to-day global operations of the business, with all TCR country managers reporting directly to him. (They will continue to do so under the new corporate structure, according to which the post of COO is not being maintained; its responsibilities are passing to Bellekens as CEO as well as to other senior managers.)
Global leadership
The change in the top man at TCR is not expected to lead to revolutionary change in the business, Bellekens confirmed, although of course he has many priorities for the future.
The main aim is for TCR to be a “truly global, leading GSE service provider”, he promises. While it can probably already boast of this position in Europe, Bellekens said, his ambition is to extend that status beyond Europe to the world at large.
As perhaps might be suggested from the fact that over the last couple of years TCR has established new businesses in Malaysia, the US and Australia, the Asia-Pacific region, North America and the Middle East are all markets high on Bellekens’ priority list.
And, more generally, he believes that – as a market leader – TCR has a responsibility to drive the future, to invest in new concepts and new services that will appeal to existing and potential new customers. With that in mind, Bellekens intends to invest in three particular areas of the business:
Customer-centricity. Customer focus has long been a hallmark of TCR, he said, part of the corporate mindset, but it will have even more focus in the future. “We want to predict what the market will want tomorrow and further in the future, not just be clear on what it wants today.”
Innovation. Bellekens intends to invest in future concepts and new service models that will meet changing customer desires. For example, he wants to make the rental concept “more flexible”, and make GSE-related data that is available to TCR more transparent to customers.
Staff. There is a distinct lack of skilled technicians (mechanics, electricians, etc) in the GSE business, Bellekens considers, so TCR will continue to invest in highly skilled employees able to deal with all aspects of GSE maintenance and repair.
Benchmarks
So, how will Bellekens measure success? He has four criteria again which, he said, he will be able to measure himself against in five or so years time. Those yardsticks are:
That TCR will become the “worldwide reference in GSE service provision”, not just in Europe, but on a global scale.
That within five years or so TCR will have doubled from its current size. Given the exponential rate of growth that TCR has achieved over the nearly decade and a half that Bellekens has been with the company, that may not be as far-fetched as it sounds. In fact, “We are ambitious, but we are realistic” in terms of growth targets, he said. That doubling of size might most readily be measured in terms of revenue, but would of course also entail growth in other aspects of the business, such as staffing. There will be yet further development in Europe, but the majority of the growth may come from other regions and, while organic growth might make up the bulk of the expansion, Bellekens certainly does not rule out any advantageous mergers or acquisitions.
Keeping TCR’s corporate values alive and well. “The company culture is strong but we don’t want to dilute it through overly rapid growth,” Bellekens said, emphasising the importance of maintaining strong values across four areas highlighted by the TCR corporate culture: staff having passion about what TCR does; having integrity; accountability; and being open-minded.
Satisfied customers. “We are in a long-term business, and we must invest in long-term, successful client relationships,” Bellekens concluded.
