After earning a bachelor degree in advertising at Institut Saint-Luc in Brussels and undergoing special marketing strategy training at Institut Saint-Louis, André joined Lielens in 1982 as account executive. At the time, founder Jacques Lielens was the CEO of a 10-year-old growing Belgian communication agency with a staff of 25. André moved steadily up the ladder to account manager, account director, client service director, general manager and now CEO. Under his leadership along with partners, Hugues Moreau, CFO, and Pierre Lepeer, digital strategist, the agency has continued to grow, and now has 45 employees.
André believes his rise to the top at a privately owned agency was unusual for someone not a family member, but serendipity was on his side. At the time André interviewed for the job, the marketing manager of one of the agency’s largest clients had a last name of Dussaussois. Although André’s last name is spelled slightly differently, he believes one thing in his favor was that everyone within the agency, including founder Jacques Lielens, thought he was related to their client’s marketing manager. In truth, the marketing manager and André didn’t even know each other, but he never let on.
The years have only strengthened André’s passion for advertising, sales promotion, creativity along with his family, mountain hiking, sailing and his much loved 1965 Ford Mustang.
