Team

Daniel Kurgan has been appointed CEO of BICS SA/NV on March 2nd 2007 after being COO from July 1st 2006 onwards.
He started his career as Contracts Manager at SABCA (biggest Belgian aerospace company, subsidiary of French Group Dassault), where he negotiated and managed major industrial sales, subcontracting and purchase contracts with customers like Boeing, Airbus, Aerospatiale (EADS), Asian governments, and suppliers like GEC Marconi, Litton...
Daniel joined Belgacom’s Carrier Division at the start of the carrier's commercial operations in January 1997, where he held several positions including International Account Manager, Head of International Relations & Sales, Sales Director (domestic and international wholesale) and VP International Wholesale, in charge of Sales & Marketing, Buying & LCR, and Customer Service and Network. In 2005 Daniel was VP Commercial of BICS, and contributed to the spin-off of Belgacom’s international carrier business.
Daniel is a graduate from Solvay Business School of the University of Brussels.

Patrick Verdingh started at BICS in November 2004 as Finance Director, responsible for Accounting, Controlling, Billing, Collections, Treasury, Procurement, General Services & Business Intelligence.
He started his career at KPMG as financial auditor. After this, he became Assistant Financial Controller at Fortis, an international banking and insurance group. Patrick moved into the telecommunications world when he joined Belgacom Mobile in 1993, where he held several positions including Business Planning Manager and Financial Controller. In 2002 Patrick became Finance Director of the Consumer & Business Division of Belgacom Fixed Line Business Unit.
Patrick received his Bachelor of Science in Finance from Vrije Universiteit Brussels and has an MBA degree from the Post University Center of the University of Leuven. Prior to his academical education, Patrick has worked for 5 years at the Institute of Textile & Confection of Belgium as a financial assistant, responsible for the administration and analysis of investment files.

Johan Wouters is currently heading the Operations and Customers Services Department of BICS. In this function he ensures services are delivered to customers with the highest quality and availability standards.
He has over 20 years of experience in telecom, holding functions at Belgacom in the areas of operations, engineering, corporate investment planning, metropolitan area and mobile networks. Johan joined Belgacom’s carrier division at it’s foundation in 1996, working with a mixed team of the Singapore Telecom, Ameritech and TDC shareholders. Here he held positions as Product Line Manager and Director Operations. He was a key contributor to the spin-off of the company and to the subsequent successful merger with Swisscom Carrier Services.
Johan worked for 3 years as a research assistant in micro electronics for medical applications at the University of Leuven, Belgium, after having graduated as a Civil Engineer in Electronics.

Nicholas Nikrouyan started his career at BICS in July 2000 as the Director of Global Traffic Management & Buying, and currently holds the position of Chief Commercial Officer, in charge of worldwide commercial activities that include, Sales, Buying, Traffic Management and Pricing.
His career in Europe started with Deloitte & Touche Consulting as Senior Tax and Financial Consultant. Nicholas moved into the telecommunications world when he joined Global One Communications in 1997 as the head of cost control, and later as the International Carrier Relations & Sales Operations manager in their Global HQ office in Brussels, Belgium.  
Prior to moving to Belgium, Nicholas spent seven years with Alamo Rent a Car in the US where he held several positions including Operations Manager and Sales Director. He has also worked as an independent consultant in the San Francisco Bay Area for several years.
Nicholas received his Bachelor of Science in Finance from California University in San Francisco and has an MBA degree from Solvay Business School in Brussels, Belgium. He is an Iranian born, American citizen who has been living and working in Europe since 1994.

As Chief Technology Officer, Pierre-André Rulmont provides technological vision and leadership in the development and implementation of the company-wide information technology program. As innovation is key in the telecom's business, this role also includes a strong innovation responsibility to ensure competitiveness of the network and the operating environment.
Pierre-André started his career at BICS where he held several positions including Director Service Engineering & Operations and Director of Engineering & Innovation, and has built up an extensive experience in the engineering of the international telecom business. Prior to BICS, Pierre-André has been Manager Business Operations at Level 3 Communications and Product Marketing Manager at WorldCom, where he highly contributed to the development of the voice services and turned out to be the driving force in the development of the accompanying IT systems.
He graduated as a Civil Engineer at the University of Liège and holds also a Master of Science in Industrial Robotics from the Cranfield Institute of Technology in the UK.

Frédéric Schepens joined Belgacom in 1997 and is now SVP Mobile Financial Services where he oversees the new product development within the Mobile & IP ecosystem. Since 2008 Frédéric has been appointed as judge at the Mobile Innovation Market within the GSMA.
Frédéric held several management roles within BICS, of which Director of Mobile & xSP, taking care of all the Mobile & xSP solutions worldwide. Before that Frédéric lived for 5 years in Asia where he founded and managed the companies for BICS in the Asia Pacific region. Since the start of the company Frédéric has led a key role in the unprecedented growth of the company, which provides IP, Data & Voice services to Fixed Line Operators, ISP’s and Mobile Operators, to become one of the leading voice carries in the world.
Prior to joining Belgacom, Frédéric was in the core teams of setting up mobile operators in the Netherlands (KPN Mobile) and in Belgium (Mobistar), which gives him a telecom experience of over 14 years.
Frédéric obtained a Bachelor in Business Administration in Antwerp and an MBA in Paris.

Vincent joined the Belgacom Group in 1995, where he held several positions including Product Manager, Head of International Product Management and Senior Business Development Manager.
In the latter position, Vincent contributed to the spin-off BICS and to the creation of the joint venture agreement with Swisscom.
Vincent also worked on strategic partnerships with the MTN Group and Omantel. He is currently in charge of defining the strategy of the company and of implementing the consolidation policy through new merger and acquisition projects and through strategic outsourcing partnerships.
Vincent has a Master in Economic Sciences of the University of Namur.