Recently, we (Gijs Kriger, Jens Jacob, Gilian Verschooten, Stephan Verhelst and myself) got the opportunity to meet up with Mr. Frank Donck in the context of meeting a Board member of Vlerick Business School. Frank Donck is a Masters in Financial Management alumnus from Vlerick and currently is managing director of the private equity firm 3d investors. Mr. Donck is member of various Boards of listed companies (Atenor, Barco, Elia, Luxempart and KBC) and non-listed firms. He is also vice-chairman of Vlerick Business School and a member of Belgium’s Corporate Governance Commission. Quite a list, and since we had only one hour with him, we couldn’t wait to start asking our questions.

We met up with Mr. Frank Donck in the context of meeting a Board member of Vlerick Business School.

We kicked off the evening by introducing ourselves and asking what the usual route into Private Equity (PE) is, by either doing PE internships first or by gaining experience in investment banking or consulting. Mr. Donck answered that he has seen multiple different routes into PE (direct, as an analyst, through investment banks or through functions at larger corporates) but that it is important, when making those choices, to be passionate about what you do and not force yourself in a certain track or industry (life is too short to do unpleasant things deliberately).

You have to accept that not everything will be perfect

When we asked Mr. Donck about how he manages to handle high expectations and pressure in combination with a family, he told us that it is of the utmost importance that your family life is in balance, that you have lots of help and that there is give and take. You have to accept that not everything will be perfect. Or as the French say: le mieux est parfois l’ennemi du bien.  It is extremely difficult to manage crises in your professional and personal life at the same time.

It is very important to accept that your career will have ups and downs.

Mr. Donck also told us that failure and success are sometimes not far away from each other. He gave us an example of the time when he was chairman in the Board of Telenet. In 2002, the company was in financial distress and on the verge of bankruptcy. Three years later in 2005, the company went public and it was perceived as a success story. This shows how stories about success can quickly be seen as fairy tales, but it’s sometimes worth adding some nuance.  In this respect, it is very important to accept that your career will have ups and downs.  You just have to keep going in the understanding that this will happen. You don’t get to hear the stories that turn out badly nor what risks have been taken to achieve success.

Our hour was over in no time and we quickly took a picture at the end of our talk to remember this moment. We are grateful for this opportunity and we would like to thank all Vlerick staff involved for making this happen. We would also like to thank Mr. Donck for making some time for us and sharing his insights and wisdom with us.

Boardroom Series with Mr. Frank Donck

Written by Karel De Potter (current Masters in Financial Management student)