Face of Flanders: Michel Tubbax

Tubbax, 58, founded and ran media agency Vizeum in Kraainem, now a division of Aegis Media in London. He then became managing director for employment agency Stepstone, before returning to the media as general manager of Roularta Media, which publishes Knack and Trends, among other properties.

Tubbax studied at the Flemish Economic University College Vlekho, now merged into University College Brussels (HUB), and later at Vlerick Management School. His CV also includes management training at Insead and the Harvard Business School.

“The board arrived at Michel following a thorough selection procedure,” said chair Marc Michils. “We’re convinced he’s the right man to develop this organisation further and to ensure that it fulfils its qualitative goals. In particular, his ability to manage a group of creative people was decisive in making our choice.”

Vlaams-Brusselse Media was set up in March this year, bringing together the non-profits running Brussel Deze Week, tvbrussel and FM Brussel under one roof in order to improve efficiency and extend the media’s reach. The organisation is financed by the Flemish Community and the Flemish Community Commission by means of a multi-year co-operation agreement.

“I’m delighted to be able to lead this organisation as it really gets moving,” Tubbax said. “The idea is to streamline Vlaams-Brusselse Media into a single powerful media organisation, while maintaining the particular qualities of each of the brands.”

The job, he said, would involve keeping an eye on the production as well as the commercial aspects of multimedia publication to be sure that they are “better serving media consumers inside and outside of Brussels with a contemporary media offering.”