People: Joren Knockaert new CEO of Deceuninck North America

FERNLEY, Nev. — Deceuninck North America recently named Joren Knockaert as the company’s new president and CEO, effective Aug. 1.

Knockaert succeeds Filip Geeraert, who announced his retirement this spring; Geeraert will now serve as chairman of the Deceuninck North America Board of Directors.

Deceuninck operates a 150,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Fernley as part of its properties.

Knockaert comes to Deceuninck from Mohawk Industries, the world’s largest flooring company, where as VP of Operations he ran Mohawk-IVC’s North American operations in sheet vinyl and luxury vinyl flooring.

Among other duties, Knockaert also guided the start-up of a $200 million state-of-the-art facility to produce next-generation LVT product.

“Joren is an outstanding organizational leader with a keen eye for new product development and nurturing talent,” Francis Van Eeckhout, CEO of Deceuninck Group, the Belgian-based parent company of Deceuninck North America, said in a June 30 statement. “We are excited to have him step in to orchestrate our continued growth at Deceuninck North America.”

“The fenestration industry is well-primed for innovation in products and processes," Knockaert added in a statement. “I believe Deceuninck North America is ideally positioned to advance innovation, design and reliability for each of our fabricators across the continent.”

Knockaert holds an Industrial Engineering degree in Electro-Mechanics from KHBO and a Civil Engineering degree in Manufacturing & Management from KU Leuven.