DALLAS, March 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, YPO, the premier leadership organization of chief executives in the world, announced the election of Pascal Gerken to YPO’s highest elected office, the 2018-2019 chairman of the YPO Board of Directors. Gerken, the 67th member to hold this office, will succeed current YPO Chairman J. Randall Waterfield and begin his term on 1 July 2018.

A member of the YPO Brussels and YPO Yangon Chapters, Gerken is CEO of Gerken Group, a leading company in carbon and graphite technology. The 275-employee company was founded by his grandfather in 1936 and is now part of Wabtec Corporation since 2016.

He is also Co-Founder of GRAGER SA, a real estate group with assets in Berlin, Germany, and Brussels, Belgium, as well as Founder of Coral Green Myanmar, a hospitality company dedicated to building sustainable resorts in emerging markets.

“Pascal is truly a global citizen who exemplifies our YPO ideals,” Waterfield said. “He leads from the heart and will be a passionate ambassador of our more than 25,000 members.”

Gerken attended the Institut Supérieur Européen du Tourisme in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. He then joined the academy of cavalry military officer in Bourg-Leopold in the Belgian province of Limburg and spent two years as a Lieutenant in the 1^st Regiment of Lanciers before he was called back into the family business.

“For the past 12 years, YPO has been such an integral and essential part of my leadership journey,” Gerken said. “I am so honored to be selected for this prestigious position and eager to help support YPO and its mission of creating Better Leaders through Lifelong Learning and Idea Exchange.”

The YPO chairman is elected by member peers on the board. Gerken continues the legacy of YPO’s founder and first president, Ray Hickok, who set the standard for peer leadership. Today, more than 30 past chairmen are actively engaged with the organization.

Gerken is an elected director of the YPO Board and currently is the chair of the YPO Membership Council and a member of the Chapters and Regions Committee and the Strategy Committee. He joined YPO in 2006 and has served in multiple roles across the organization, including the regional chair of Europe, chair of the Doing Business Globally Network and chapter chair of YPO Brussels.

In addition, Gerken actively has championed and supported the expansion of YPO throughout the world, founding the YPO Myanmar, YPO Alcatraz and YPO Euro Star Chapters.

ABOUT YPO
The premier leadership organization of chief executives in the world.

YPO is the global platform for chief executives to engage, learn and grow. YPO members harness the knowledge, influence and trust of the world’s most influential and innovative business leaders to inspire business, personal, family and community impact.

Today, YPO empowers more than 25,000 members in more than 130 countries, diversified among industries and types of businesses. Altogether, YPO member-run companies employ more than 16 million people and generate USD6 trillion in annual revenues.

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