Alain Van de Poel is the owner of Cocoonpoel SRL, a distributor of bathroom supplies and fixtures. He established the company in 2005. His previous experience includes management positions in banking, publishing, and human resources. He also ran a consultancy focused on management programs within the European Commission.
Van de Poel holds a degree in commercial management and marketing from Institut Supérieur de Commerce Saint-Louis in Brussels. He completed management courses and earned a certificate in manager coaching at the Institut Catholique des Hautes Études Commerciales (ICHEC) in Brussels. During the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020, Van de Poel resumed law school studies. He is a former member of the general assembly of Collège Saint-Michel, a Jesuit secondary school in Etterbeek, and a member of the Export Commission of the Brussels Chamber of Commerce.
In 1992, Van de Poel chartered the club where he is still a member. He is proud of club projects that include hosting Christmas dinner for elderly people who are alone and raising more than 100,000 euros in less than 48 hours to help purchase respirators for a Brussels hospital during the COVID pandemic.
Van de Poel has chaired district membership and Rotary Foundation committees and has been active in regional Rotary groups, serving as director of the Coordination Center for French-speaking Governors and as honorary chair of Rotary BeLux Services, the publisher of Rotary Contact, Rotary’s official regional magazine in Belgium and Luxembourg. He also served as a Council on Legislation representative and co-chair of the Rotary Leadership Institute in Europe.
As a reserve officer in the Belgian armed forces, Van de Poel helped teach recruits how to read and write, an act that taught him the power of humility. “If everyone were more humble, the world would be much better,” Van de Poel says. “Just because I am an RI director does not mean I know Rotary better than anyone else, so I must always learn from the members of Rotary.”
Van de Poel says he is passionate about three things in Rotary: regional adaptability, Rotary’s core values, and The Four-Way Test, which was always on display in his offices.
For years, he was active as a scout leader in Belgium’s scouting association. He enjoys golf, Alpine skiing, reading philosophy and history books, and listening to classical music.
A recipient of the Regional Service Award for a Polio-Free World and The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service, he supports the Foundation as a Paul Harris Fellow.