LUXEMBOURG: ArcelorMittal announced today that Geert Van Poelvoorde, CEO of ArcelorMittal Europe and member of the Group Management Committee, will retire from his executive role at the end of July. He will transition to Chairman of the Board of ArcelorMittal Europe Steel, maintaining a connection to the company he has served for nearly four decades.
Van Poelvoorde’s journey with the steel giant began in 1989 as a project engineer at the hot strip mill in Ghent, Belgium. His technical acumen and natural leadership abilities propelled him through the ranks, first to Bremen, Germany in 1995, where he took on operations and engineering responsibilities, and then back to Ghent as Chief Operating Officer. By 2008, he had risen to CEO of ArcelorMittal Ghent.
Over the subsequent years, Van Poelvoorde held multiple CEO positions within the group, including CEO Business Division North, CEO Flat Carbon Europe, and ultimately CEO of ArcelorMittal Europe from 2021. He also served as President of Eurofer, the European Steel Association, for seven years from 2015 to 2022.
Aditya Mittal, CEO of ArcelorMittal, praised Van Poelvoorde’s extraordinary leadership: “Geert has been an exceptional leader of ArcelorMittal Europe, and it has been a pleasure to work closely with him for the past twenty years. He has extraordinary energy, drive, technical knowledge and passion and has worked tirelessly to champion the strategic importance of Europe retaining a strong steel industry.”
Mittal highlighted Van Poelvoorde’s significant legacy, noting that he has pivoted the European business toward a safer, cleaner, more digital future. “He introduced the dynamic pricing concept and launched our green steel certificates, the first step towards creating value from lower carbon products and lead markets for green steel,” Mittal added.
Reflecting on his career, Van Poelvoorde described it as “an extraordinary 37 years in the steel industry.” He expressed pride in leaving the European segment “safer, stronger” and having initiated the transition to lower-carbon steelmaking.
“I could not have imagined when I started out in Ghent how fulfilling and rewarding my career would be,” Van Poelvoorde said. “The steel industry is never easy, but it is full of great people who care passionately about the material we make.”
While acknowledging that “there is never a good time to retire,” Van Poelvoorde pointed to recent regulatory developments as positive signs for the industry’s future. “With the TRQ introduced on 1st July and CBAM in place since the beginning of the year, I feel that the future for European steelmaking is looking brighter.”
Van Poelvoorde will continue to represent the company at Eurofer in his new chairman role, ensuring his decades of industry expertise remain available to the organization.
About ArcelorMittal
ArcelorMittal is one of the world’s leading integrated steel and mining companies, operating in 60 countries with primary steelmaking operations in 14 countries. As the largest steel producer in Europe and a major player in the Americas, the company also maintains a growing presence in Asia through its joint venture AM/NS India.
In 2025, ArcelorMittal generated revenues of $61.4 billion, producing 55.6 million metric tonnes of crude steel and 48.8 million tonnes of iron ore. The company serves diverse customers across automotive, engineering, construction, and machinery industries.
The company is listed on the New York (MT), Amsterdam (MT), Paris (MT), Luxembourg (MT), and Spanish stock exchanges (Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, and Valencia under MTS).
