Thierry Willemarck

Thierry Willemarck joined the Royal Touring Club of Belgium (TCB) in 2001. He put a professional team in place which, under his leadership, turned around a situation that was close to collapse. Today the TCB enjoys consistent revenue growth thanks to innovation and diversification. The focus is no longer just on motorists, but on road users in general. Digitalisation is taken seriously as a means to serve members more effectively in their mobility needs. As such, ‘Mobility as a Service’ has become a reality, offering a combination of transportation means.

Lobbying for sustainable mobility in a safe environment is the leitmotiv of TCB. In a small country such as Belgium, the TCB realises the importance of sharing and working together with other organisations from around the world, particularly with Automobile Clubs. That is the reason the TCB is strongly committed to the FIA.

Thierry Willemarck was Vice President of the FIA’s Region I Mobility for eight years under the presidency of Werner Kraus, and succeeded him as Region I President in 2013. In late 2017, he was invited by Jean Todt to join his team as FIA Deputy President for Automobile Mobility and Tourism. He headed the Audit Committee of Region I and later the Audit Committee of the FIA, and as a member of the Statutes Review Commission, he has strived for more transparency and a better governance structure for the FIA.

Before joining TCB, Thierry Willemarck worked for the Continental Oil Company and held several positions in the USA and Sweden. As CEO of the Belgian subsidiary, he was involved in retail, and pushed the company into sponsoring car racing. The team sponsored won the Belgian Touring Car Championship Category 2 with a Honda CRX three times in a row. His first job was with Castrol, and as a young engineer he was involved in research to improve the Castrol RS lubricant used in racing cars.

According to him, the future is full of opportunities, but we must carefully choose the ones that make the most sense for our members and their economic and social environment.

New technologies will make leap-frog progress possible in lesser-developed areas of the world. As a Federation, we have to help this occur. A key focus alongside road safety is sustainable mobility, where car and ride sharing will increasingly occupy the Mobility space, next to public transportation.

Thierry Willemarck is an Industrial Engineer. He has a degree in Business and Administration, a PMD from Harvard Business School, and an MIT diploma in Strategy. He has been married for forty years, has three children, and five grandchildren.