Halle, Belgium, 2016-May-16 — /EPR Retail News/ — On 30 June 2016, Jean-Pierre Roelands will end his active career at Colruyt Group. In his position of commercial director he helped shape the “Lowest Prices” concept which has become Colruyt’s signature since. In the past years Jean-Pierre was the Store Concepts Director and one of the moving spirits behind Colruyt Group’s newest store format, CRU.
Jean‑Pierre Roelands will leave the company where he worked for more than 40 years at the end of June. “Part of me will always remain connected with Colruyt Group and vice versa. I have had great times here, I met very capable people and gained unforgettable experiences. I feel that I have done what I had to do and that the next generation has to take the reins. I am completely ready for the next phase in my life”, Jean-Pierre Roelands says.
Colruyt Group COO Frans Colruyt adds: “Jean-Pierre has been our commercial director for more than 20 years and one of the company’s famous faces and contacts: in the company and outside. He was a key figure in the ‘Lowest Prices’ concept, and helped make Colruyt become what it is today. And for that, we are very grateful to him of course.”
Coach at CRU
In the past years, Jean-Pierre was Colruyt Group’s Store Concept Director. In this role he helped develop and launch the new concept of CRU that will shortly open a second establishment in Wijnegem. “I had the opportunity to step into the fine part of coach and to use my many years’ experience to help people elaborate innovative concepts for the group. A very rewarding job”, Roelands concludes.
In the next few weeks, Jean-Pierre will hand over his position to Jo Spiegeleer, CRU’s new division manager. Frans Colruyt: “Jo’s broad executive experience at Colruyt and OKay since 1995, his passion for simplicity and food, and his talents to think like the customer and to inspire teams make him the ideal man to succeed Jean-Pierre.”
Biography
Jean-Pierre Roelands (°1955) started to work in 1973 as a salesman in a Colruyt store. Earlier, as a student, he already had regular holiday jobs at Colruyt. After his military service, he became the manager of a store in Brussels, where he could fully display his commercial feeling. He soon became a regional manager in Flanders to rise to the position of sales director for Wallonia in 1987, at the age of 32. Three years later, in 1990, Jean-Pierre Roelands became the commercial director for Colruyt in Belgium.
Jo Spiegeleer started to work at Colruyt in 1995 as a sales employee. Later on, he became store manager and non-food promoter. In 2007, he made the switch to OKay as a regional manager. In 2011 and 2012, Jo was temporarily made free to develop the OKay Compact concept in Elsene, and afterwards he became OKay’s division manager.
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