OUR BOARD MEMBERS
Fund+ relies on the experience, vision and leadership of its Board MembersLuc Debruyne
Luc Debruyne is former President of Global Vaccines GSK and a business leader with more than 30 years experience in the life sciences industry. Debruyne is former Chair of the board at Bavarian Nordic, currently Board member of the Institutional Advisory Board of VIB Life Science Institute, Independent Board Member of CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations), Advisory Board Member of Greenlight Biosciences, Board Member of ‘The Global Listening Project’ and Professor of Practice at KU Leuven (Faculty of Medicine, Biomedical Sciences Group ). Luc Debruyne holds a Master in Physical Education and Kinesiology from KU Leuven, Belgium. He attended a Sustainability Leadership Programme at the Institute for Sustainability Leadership at the University of Cambridge.
Mark Waer
Honorary Chairman
Mark Waer holds a MD degree (1976 ) and a PhD degree in Immunology (1985 ) from the KU Leuven. After a postdoc period at Stanford University and a training in internal medicine/nephrology at the Leuven University hospital he became staffmember at the division of nephrology/renal transplantation and in 1992 professor of Nephrology of KULeuven. In 2000 he became medical director of the KU Leuven University hospital, in 2005 vicerector for the biomedical sciences and in 2009 rector of the KU Leuven. Presently, Mark Waer is honorary rector of KU Leuven and until a few years ago chairman of the board of the University Hospitals of KU Leuven. Mark Waer has a long standing experience in the field of clinical immunology and development of immunosuppressive drugs in the context of the spin-off company 4AZA from which he was a cofounder or in formal collaboration with major pharmaceutical companies such as Hoechst AG and UCB.
Chris Buyse
Board Member
Chris Buyse was CFO at ThromboGenics NV from September 2006 until June 2014. He has 30 years of experience in international company finance and in running and establishing best financial practice. He was previously CFO of the Belgian biotechnology company CropDesign, where he coordinated its acquisition by BASF in early 2007. Before this, he was Finance Director of WorldCom/MCI Belux, and was CFO and interim CEO of Keyware Technologies, In addition, he held several financial positions at Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux and Unilever. He is currently serving as an independent Board Member of a few companies, mostly active in life sciences such as Hyloris and Inventiva Pharma SA.
Désiré Collen
Honorary Chairman / Board Observer
Désiré Collen holds a M.D. degree (1968) and Ph.D. degree in Chemistry (1974) from KULeuven. His team initially developed t-PA, still the most effective drug for thrombolytic therapy of acute myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke. He has received several scientific awards including the Francqui Prize (1984) and the Health Prize of the Interbrew-Baillet Latour Fund (2006, jointly with P. Carmeliet). He was the Founder and until December 2013 Chairman of the Board of ThromboGenics NV, where his team developed Jetrea for the treatment of vitreo-macular traction.
François Fontaine
Board Member
François Fontaine joined the Board of Directors of Fund+ in December 2016. He has a law degree from ULB (Université Libre de Bruxelles) and a degree in fiscal sciences from the Brussels Management School (ICHEC). He is Fund Manager at SFPI-FPMI (the Federal Holding and Investment Company), one of the main investors of Fund+. He is also Board Member in a few biotech funds and companies such as Epics, Santero, Neuvasq and Bioxodes.
Urbain Vandeurzen
Board Member
Urbain Baron Vandeurzen was in 1980 co-Founder and until January 2013 Chairman and CEO of LMS International, a high-tech company. He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of GIMV from June 2011 until March 2016. From 1996 to 2003 he was already Board Member at GIMV. Since 2012 he is Director and Chairman of the fundraising campaign ‘Opening the Future’ from KU Leuven and also founder -chairman of Flanders Make, a flemish strategic research centre for the manufacturing industry. He is Honorary Chairman of VOKA-VEV, the Flemish employers organization and he was as Chairman of VOKA-VEV very much involved in defining the transformation programme ‘Vlaanderen in Actie’. In 2017, he launched and became Chairman of an evergreen private equity investment fund, Smile Invest, with EUR 350 mio capital for investments in ambitious innovative growth companies with a focus on the high tech industries and the healthcare sector, excluding life sciences. Smile Invest realized so far a 3X MM on its investments. In 2025 he launched and became Chairman of Smile Sail, an Evergreen Private Equity fund, with EUR 275 mio capital to support ambitious entrepreneurs and management teams in growing into B2B Software & AI Leaders (‘Sail’). The two Smile funds combined will invest approximatively EUR 1 billion in high growth European technology and software companies in the next 5 years.
Kenneth Bonheure
Board Member
Kenneth Bonheure has extensive experience working with leading companies to pursue strategic growth and support key transactions. As Senior Partner at McKinsey and Senior Advisor at Fund+, Kenneth advises leaders across industries on mergers and other organization shaping transactions and leads strategy development and largescale transformations in the pharmaceutical, medical-device, and healthcare sectors. Kenneth has an MBA (INSEAD) and a Master of Science (UGent).