Accent, a Belgian specialist in temporary employment and part of House of HR, announced it is appointing Stijn Vandervorst as CEO. He will take over from Anouk Lagae, who held the position since October 2020.

Vandervorst has built broad experience in various roles (including IT, finance, marketing, sales, and general management) across different companies (such as Unilever, McKinsey, Danone, and Adidas) and in multiple countries like Belgium, Tunisia, The Netherlands, Portugal and Japan. Most recently, he was SVP, President and managing director, of Adidas in Japan.

Accent said Vandervorst’s diversity of experiences provides him with the agility needed in this rapidly changing world. His talent for growing businesses and people in challenging conditions equips him with the skills necessary to further assist Accent in its growth.

Vandervorst will assume the role of CEO from 1 March.

"During my years in Japan, I experienced first-hand the impact of the labour shortage on economic growth, partly caused by strong demographic shifts. In Belgium and Europe, we are facing the same massive challenge, albeit with a few years of delay, and this is already evident.”

Under Lagae's leadership, Accent worked diligently on pioneering open-minded hiring and a more inclusive internal recruitment flow, earning them a Trends Impact Award for diversity and inclusion.

“I had the opportunity at Accent to contribute to a unique success story that perfectly combines profit and purpose,” Lagae said. “Over the past years, the professional Accent dreams we formulated at the start, have come true. I am proud of what we have achieved in 3.5 years. Accent is now ready for its next growth phase. For me, the time has come to realize a personal dream, which will unfold in the coming months. I am immensely grateful to the entire Accent team for their tireless dedication, courage, and energy over the years, and I look forward to seeing Accent continue to grow. With Stijn, we have a top talent who can build on this, so I leave the company with peace of mind," said Lagae.

Lagae was recently named on SIA’s 2023 Staffing 100 Europe.