Katelijne Leemans is Chief Financial Officer of the Belgian Market Unit at SAP. In this role, she has ultimate responsibility for the financial health and contract compliance of the Belgian portfolio, with direct involvement in deal structuring, customer-related financial issues, and the development of financial policy.

As CFO at SAP, Katelijne holds a unique position: she is both an end user and a privileged observer of how SAP integrates AI into its own finance processes. This combination of operational responsibility and direct involvement in AI-driven finance innovation forms the basis of her contribution to this panel.

Alistair is CFO of Lucanet and has spent more than 15 years leading finance at software companies, including as Group CFO of Dotdigital. Based in London, he likes to test AI on his own team first, and has learned that building a tool with AI is the easy part; owning what it produces is where the real work starts.

Patrick Van Gaelen is Head of Product Core at Lucanet. He is a hands-on finance professional with almost 30 years of experience, including roles at Ernst & Young, Capco and USG People. He has also spent more than 15 years implementing Lucanet and building its services in Belgium. Patrick has workedacross back-office reorganization, business planning and control, M&A and post-merger integration. He combines a strategic view with a practical, tactical approach, and his goal is to help companies improve their financial reporting, consolidation, planning and forecasting. He holds degrees in Accounting & Finance and Taxation.

Dave Heleu is founder and General Manager of Cubewise Belgium and Netherlands, an IBM Platinum Partner specialised in IBM Planning Analytics (TM1). He started his career in finance, working his way up from accountant to financial manager at a listed company. He then joined KPMG’s CFO advisory team, where he moved into Corporate Performance Management and built reporting and planning solutions for companies such as Heineken and Chiquita. In 2009 he founded Cubewise Belgium, and has since helped launch Cubewise in four more countries. IBM named him an IBM Champion in 2025 and 2026. Today, Dave focuses on bringing AI into finance on a trusted planning foundation, helping finance teams turn complexity into better decisions and escape Excel hell for good.

Alexander Dehaene brings extensive international finance experience and a pragmatic, business-focused approach to the CFO role. He is currently CFO of Drylock Technologies, a fast-growing international manufacturer of innovative personal hygiene products, with a strong focus on innovation and operational excellence. Before that, he held CFO roles at DESOTEC and BMT Group, and senior finance roles at Jan De Nul Group in Argentina, Singapore and Luxembourg. At Drylock Technologies, Alexander and his teams are responsible for Finance, IT, HR and Legal and they are closely involved in the company’s international growth, investment decisions and transformation agenda.

Ser Cappelle is co-founder and CEO of Peaky, an AI-native financial planning platform helping finance teams anticipate change before it impacts their numbers.

With over 15 years of experience in finance, including senior leadership roles at Match Group (Tinder) and as a fractional CFO for growing businesses, Ser has experienced firsthand the limitations of traditional financial planning.

Today, he's on a mission to transform finance from reactive reporting into proactive decision-making, using AI to help businesses stay ahead of change.

Ann-Jo Jacobs is the founder and CEO of AI Nation. AI Nation help organisations make AI part of their daily work. Her approach is pragmatic and no-nonsense: no hype, only applications that hold up in practice and deliver measurable results.

AI Nation works on three levers: individual behaviour, processes and AI agents. AI Nation helps professionals free up 1 to 2 hours a day, guides organisations in embedding AI into their processes, and supports companies taking the step towards AI agents.

For finance leaders, she delivered "Smarter finance with AI" for the management teams of Pride Capital Partners' portfolio companies, together with CFOrent. She has also spoken at WorkSmarter (main stage, 650 attendees) and Private Capital Belgium.

Sebastiaan Vannieuwenhuyse, responsible for Silverfin for Business, is helping finance teams turn financial data into actionable insights. With more than twelve years of experience in B2B sales, he combines a strong understanding of business needs with a practical view on technology. His focus is on helping finance professionals work more efficiently and create more room for analysis, advice and better-informed decisions.