Thierry Geerts

Country Director – Google Belgium and Luxembourg

4:30 PM

Bio:

Since 2011, Thierry Geerts has been heading Google in Belgium and
Luxembourg, the company that has become much more than just a search
engine. He graduated from the VUB as a Solvay Business Engineer and soon
became general manager of an industrial laundry company. With the advent
of the internet in the mid-1990s, he reoriented himself towards the media
industry and held various management positions at VUM (now Mediahuis),
publisher of newspapers such as De Standaard and Het Nieuwsblad.
His book Digitalis (2018), in which he describes the possibilities of the digital
world, has meanwhile sold more than 25,000 copies. In 2021 he published his
new book, Homo Digitalis, about the impact of the digital revolution on
people and society.

ABOUT THE PRESENTATION

Title: The web as we know it is at risk.

Description:

People are more concerned than ever about their privacy online; regulators across the world are demanding a more private internet and some critics are calling for a ban on (targeted) ads completely.

The future of the web depends on what the marketing ecosystem is willing to do.

We must earn people’s trust – building responsible, private advertising, to secure a future for the ad-supported web that is safer for people;

stronger for businesses and successful for publishers.