Katelijne Walschaerts will be celebrating her 25th anniversary at H.Essers next month. It’s the perfect opportunity to have her tell us more about what she and her team mean to H.Essers.

Can you explain exactly what your job entails?
Katelijne: “I could talk about that for days, but you probably don’t have that much time. Let’s break it down into four main areas that I—and, by extension, Legal & Insurance—work on. First and foremost, I lead a team of about ten colleagues and coach them. This includes colleagues in Romania and a people manager within the team. Remote coaching and people management support present extra challenges, but also offer opportunities to apply different management techniques.”

“In addition, there is the legal work. This includes drafting and negotiating contracts, providing legal advice to operational and support departments both domestically and abroad, collaborating with external attorneys and notaries, following up on legal proceedings, and monitoring new legislation. An area that is becoming increasingly important is the use of AI tools within Legal & Insurance. Robbe Putseys and Celine Raedts are leading the way in this, but the entire team is involved. Acquisitions are also part of my responsibilities. In this regard, I work closely with external attorneys in the countries involved.”

“A third area is Insurance. Together with Koen De Ryck and Valentina Cioara, we ensure that the company’s risks are adequately insured. This requires continuous monitoring of activities, risks, and insurance coverage. To this end, we collaborate with various international brokers and insurers. In addition, we manage and monitor insurance claims. This is handled by a team of four colleagues led by Robbe Putseys, in close collaboration with Warehousing, Transport, and Finance.”

“Finally, I am also responsible for the corporate governance of the H.Essers companies. Worldwide, this involves nearly fifty entities. Lastly, I serve as secretary to the Board of Directors of H.Essers BV and Hospital Logistics NV.”

What other issues do you deal with?
Katelijne: “In addition to the topics I’ve already mentioned, we also regularly deal with unexpected crisis situations: these range from a fire at our Dry Port site, theft of our goods, damage incidents on trains, … I could go on, but you can already get a sense of how variable these situations can be.”

Why is your work important to H.Essers?
Katelijne: “We try to minimize the financial risks for H.Essers as much as possible. We do this proactively by negotiating strong contracts and securing the right insurance coverage. But we also act reactively by handling claims and disputes as effectively as possible and, where possible, recovering damages from liable parties.”

Who do you work with most often?
Katelijne: “As the corporate department, we work with virtually all departments at H.Essers, both in Belgium and abroad. Externally, we mainly work with clients, insurers, brokers, lawyers, and notaries.”

What are the biggest challenges within Legal & Insurance?
Katelijne: “The biggest challenge is the combination of time pressure and constantly setting the right priorities. We’re a relatively small team that receives requests from across the entire organization. Naturally, everyone considers their own case to be the most important. At the same time, we want to support the business as effectively as possible and provide timely legal advice. Finding that balance remains a daily challenge.”

What gives you the most energy?
Katelijne: “From many things. Of course, from coaching and developing my team, but also from successfully concluding contract negotiations, closing an acquisition deal, achieving a good outcome in a claims case, or winning a dispute. That always makes my lawyer’s killer instinct a little happy.”

What qualities are important for working in Legal & Insurance?
Katelijne: “Analytical skills, flexibility, stress resilience, and the ability to distinguish between main issues and side issues. You have to be able to maintain a broad perspective, even when you’re juggling a lot at once.”

Finally, what else would you like to share?
Katelijne: “Many people think that legal or insurance issues are boring and stuffy, but the opposite is true: my job is incredibly varied and fascinating. The topics my team and I deal with are always connected to our business and to what happens on a daily basis within the organization. That’s what makes it so interesting.”