Jan Longeval

Jan Longeval is a Belgian asset-management veteran with more than 30 years of experience in institutional investing. He built his career at Bank Degroof (later Degroof Petercam), where he rose to become CEO of Degroof Securities and subsequently Head of Institutional Asset Management, joining the group Executive Committee and the Board of Directors of Bank Degroof. He was, for a period, effectively the bank's most senior investment figure before departing in 2017.

After leaving Degroof Petercam in 2017, Longeval founded Kounselor Consulting BV, an independent advisory practice through which he counsels institutional investors, companies, and pension funds on finance and investing. He sits on the board of directors, the audit committee, and chairs the investment committee of Synatom (an ENGIE Group entity managing the provisions for Belgium's nuclear dismantling — described as one of Belgium's largest non-financial investors, with assets on the order of €14 billion). He has also served on financial/investment committees for major Belgian pension funds and for Immotheker Finotheker, and has been active in PensioPlus (the Belgian federation of pension institutions), where he has led work on sustainable investing.

Longeval is an Adjunct Professor of Finance at Vlerick Business School, teaching Advanced Asset & Portfolio Management, and is a Certified Financial Analyst affiliated with ABAF/BVFA (the Belgian financial analysts' association, part of EFFAS Benelux). His academic background includes a Master in Economics (Vlekho, Brussels), a Master in Real Estate (Solvay Business School), and a Corporate Finance certificate from BVFA/ABAF.

He is also a widely-read financial author and commentator in Belgium. His books include *God dobbelt niet op de beurs / Dieu ne joue pas aux dés avec la Bourse* (2019), *Heavy Metal* (2020, on gold investing), and *Bitcoin of SHTcoin\** (a critical examination of Bitcoin's ideology, technology, and economics). He writes and speaks regularly on markets, inflation, ESG, AI in asset management, and crypto.

• Operates as an institutional-investment advisor and portfolio-management expert, not a classic startup angel — his "investing" is through advisory mandates, investment committees, and asset-allocation work rather than early-stage equity checks.
• Deep focus on asset allocation, portfolio construction, and risk across public markets; teaches "Advanced Asset & Portfolio Management" at Vlerick.
• Strong emphasis on ESG, sustainable and impact investing — he chaired PensioPlus's sustainable-investment working group and is positioned as an expert in the field.
• Applies behavioural and neuro-finance lenses; his writing repeatedly stresses that "investing is hard work" (*beleggen is hard werken*) and warns against hype and dogma.
• On crypto, he is a self-described skeptic who has become "milder" — his stated approach is "no hype, no dogma, but a clear, critical and understandable story."