Board of directors

Remco is Chief Executive Officer of BME Group – based in Amsterdam.

Remco has extensive experience working across the value chain. Between 2007 and 2012, Remco was CEO/ Managing Director of Central Europe for Knauf Insulation. In 2012 he took up the role as Divisional President at Tarkett, the multi-national flooring business.

In 2017, Remco joined CRH Europe Distribution (now BME) as Managing Director and has led BME as CEO since it became an independent business in 2019.

Mark is Chief Financial Officer of BME Group – based in Amsterdam.

Mark has extensive experience in finance, delivering value in large-scale international companies. Mark’s career in finance spans 25 years, first at Royal Philips and then at Borealis, where he was Group CFO since 2014.

Mark has been CFO of BME Group since June 2023.

Jean-Jacques Lafont is the chairperson of the Supervisory Board and has been a member of the Supervisory Board since 31 October 2019. Mr. Lafont is an experienced CEO and public company board member with a background in buy-and-build and international leadership of automotive, and building materials distribution companies.

He is currently the executive chairperson of Alliance Automotive Holding. From 1990 until 2019, Mr. Lafont was the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Alliance Automotive Group, a leading distributor of passenger and commercial vehicle parts to the independent automotive aftermarket in Europe with sales of over EUR 2.5 billion, 12,000 employees and over 2,150 points of sale in five countries.

Throughout his career, he has led Alliance Automotive Group from being a small distributor in the West of France via an extensive buy-and-build strategy to becoming a one of Europe’s leading auto parts distributors. He has also served as director of subsidiaries of the Alliance Automotive Group and still serves as a director of Alliance Automotive Holding Limited, Alliance Automotive Investment Limited, Alliance Automotive Procurement Limited and GroupAuto International SAS.

Natacha Jamar has been a member of the Supervisory Board since 31 October 2019.

She currently also serves on the board of directors of Huws Gray, a builders merchants chain based in the United Kingdom. Ms. Jamar is a Managing Director in the Private Equity Group of The Blackstone Group and is based in London, United Kingdom. Since joining The Blackstone Group, Ms. Jamar has been involved in the execution of the group’s investments in ICS, Pulse, the group of the Versace fashion brand, Ideal Shopping Direct Ltd., Armacell International S.A., Merlin Entertainments Inc., the Company and Huws Gray.

Before joining the London office in 2009, Ms. Jamar was a Summer Analyst in the New York office of The Blackstone Group. Ms. Jamar graduated cum laude from Princeton University with a bachelor of arts in Economics and Certificates in Spanish and Finance.

Jürgen Pinker has been a member of the Supervisory Board since 31 October 2019.

He currently also serves on the board of directors of Cerdia Produktions GmbH, Schenck Process GmbH, Stow Group, Desotec N.V. and Huws Gray. Mr. Pinker is a Senior Managing Director in the Private Equity Group of The Blackstone Group and is based in London, United Kingdom. He focuses primarily on the Industrials, Chemicals and Building Materials sectors and leads the group’s investment activities in the energy & natural resources sector in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In addition, Mr. Pinker oversees the group’s activities in the German speaking regions.

Since joining The Blackstone Group in 2011, he has been involved in the execution of the investments of The Blackstone Group in Intertrust N.V., ATC Group, the Elian group, Scout24 AG, Armacell International S.A., Cerdia, Schenck Process, Stow Group, the Company, Desotec, Huws Gray and Array Technologies Inc.

Before joining The Blackstone Group, Mr. Pinker worked as a Director at Strategic Value Partners focusing on European distressed situations. Before that, he was an Associate Director at The Carlyle Group where he was involved in leading and executing investments in various sectors.

Mr. Pinker is a Trustee and Member of the Finance Committee of FareShare, a charity network aimed at relieving food poverty and reducing food waste. He received a master’s degree in economics and business from WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management in Germany.

Lionel Yves Assant has been a member of the Supervisory Board since 31 October 2019. Mr. Assant is the European Head of Private Equity for The Blackstone Group and is based in London, United Kingdom.

He is also a member of the Investment Committee for the Tactical Opportunities and Blackstone Growth Equity (BXG) funds. Mr. Assant serves as a director of Cerdia Produktions GmbH, Clarion Events Ltd., Schenck Process GmbH, CIRSA group, the National Exhibition Centre Group, the Company and Bourne Leisure Holdings Ltd. He served on the boards of Gerresheimer AG, the Klöckner Pentaplast group, MIVISA, the United Biscuits group, Alliance Automotive Group, the Tangerine Group, Intertrust N.V. and Armacell International S.A. Since joining The Blackstone Group in 2003, Mr. Assant has been involved in various European investments and investment opportunities.

Before joining The Blackstone Group, Mr. Assant was an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs, where he worked for seven years in the Mergers & Acquisitions, Asset Management and Private Equity divisions. He is also involved with Impetus, a charitable foundation which provides resources to improve the lives of children and young people living in poverty. Mr. Assant graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique with a master’s degree in Economics.

Marianne Culver has been a member of the Supervisory Board since November 2021.

Ms. Culver also is a non-executive director of Travis Perkins plc., a listed FTSE 250 United Kingdom based distributor of building materials. She served as a non-executive board member of Rexel SA, the British Quality Foundation and the Electronic Distribution Show Corporation. In the past, she has held senior management positions in various organizations worldwide, amongst others in Europe, Australia, China, India, Russia, Singapore, South Africa and the US, with RS Components, a subsidiary of Electrocomponents plc., TNT UK/Ireland Ltd., Premier Farnell plc. and Macro Marketing Ltd.

Ms. Culver has extensive expertise in P&L and transformational leadership in the global electronics distribution and transport & logistics sectors. She holds a master of arts from St. Andrews University and a post graduate teaching diploma from Moray House, Edinburgh (with distinction).

Jad El Ajaltouni has been a member of the Supervisory Board since 13 March 2024.

He currently also serves on the board of directors of Desotec and on the advisory board of Huws Gray, a builders merchants chain based in the United Kingdom. Mr. El Ajaltouni is a Principal in the Private Equity Group of Blackstone and is based in London, United Kingdom. Since joining Blackstone in 2015, he has focused on investments in the Energy Transition and Building Materials sectors and has been involved with Blackstone’s investments in Desotec, Huws Gray, Building Materials Europe, and Siccar Point Energy.

Before joining Blackstone, Mr. El Ajaltouni worked in the M&A and Restructuring groups at Lazard in New York. Mr. El Ajaltouni graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University with a bachelor of arts in Economics and secondary field in Mathematics.