Thomas Leysen, born 1960, is a Belgian entrepreneur. He obtained a Master’s degree in Law from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

From 2000 until 2008 he was CEO of Umicore, which was transformed under his leadership from a metals producer to a materials technology group with a focus on clean technologies and leading global positions in rechargeable battery materials, automative catalysts and precious metals recycling.

In 2008, he became Umicore’s Chairman of the Board.

Since 2021 he is Chairman of dsm-firmenich (a Swiss-Dutch listed Health, Nutrition and Beauty Group).

Thomas Leysen is also Chairman of Mediahuis, (a publisher of leading newsbrands in Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg and Ireland).

From 2011 till 2020 he was Chairman of KBC Group, a banking and insurance group with activities mainly in Belgium, Central Europe and Ireland. From 2016 till 2021 he was Chairman of the King Baudouin Foundation. Until 2022 he was also Chairman of the Belgian Corporate Governance Commission.

Between 2008 and 2011, he was Chairman of the Federation of Entreprises in Belgium (VBO-FEB). Thomas Leysen has long been committed to the promotion of sustainable development, and as such was the founding Chairman (2015-2018) of The Shift, a coalition of enterprises and non-governmental organisations in Belgium. He was also a member of the Global Advisory Board of Toyota until 2018.

He is married with four children.