Frans brings extensive international executive experience to VILS, with a career spanning strategy, mergers and acquisitions, business development, human capital, and board advisory. Throughout his career, he has worked with both large corporates and SMEs, across publicly listed, family-owned, and private equity-backed organizations.

His experience is strongly rooted in international B2B environments, with responsibilities across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, including temporary postings in India, China, and the United States. His industry background covers thermoplastics, process engineering, and manufacturing technologies, with a particular focus on the Life Sciences and Nutrition sectors.

At Masco Group, Frans focuses on leading the Group’s Strategy and M&A agenda, one of the key priorities supporting its long-term growth ambitions. In this role, he identifies and executes opportunities that contribute to the Group’s development and long-term value creation.

In parallel, Frans serves as CEO of VILS. This combination allows him to connect the strategic ambitions of Masco Group with the operational reality of its businesses, bringing together a broad Group perspective with hands-on leadership at company level.

“What I value most is helping organizations move forward by bringing clarity to complex challenges and creating alignment between strategy, people, and execution,” Frans says. “At VILS, this means combining our entrepreneurial mindset and industry expertise with the broader strategic opportunities of Masco Group, while maintaining a strong focus on sustainable growth and long-term value creation.”

With a career spanning over 30 years – including 18 in the life science industry – Sven has held diverse roles across his own ventures, start-ups, scale-ups, and more established, publicly listed organizations. With a background in IT, he has always had a passion for designing smart processes, inspiring people to embrace change, and helping organizations evolve and grow. He brings a strong entrepreneurial background – from hands-on experience in sales and marketing, to the implementation of systems, processes, and software, and ultimately building and leading his own Life Sciences company. These experiences enable him to translate strategic vision into scalable operations, tailor-made for a growth-focused environment like VILS.

“What energizes me most about working at VILS is the culture created by our experts,” Sven says. “It’s based on a sharp focus on ‘just the essentials,’ a shared drive to meet deadlines without compromises, and a clear understanding that strong, process-driven design shapes effective facilities. Facility follows process.

“These are the pillars of successful execution and change, and they resonate deeply with how I lead and contribute to this fast-evolving company, alongside a team that shares the same mindset and ambition.”

Geert is a professional building engineer and Project Director for facility design and construction in the pharmaceutical, biotech and food industry. 

He has over 30 years of experience in designing and building multidisciplinary projects. Experience as contractor, engineer, and end-client in all different types of multidisciplinary projects (labs, cleanrooms, datacenters, logistics, automated warehouses, etc.) enables him to define optimal approaches in terms of planning, budget and quality and to execute projects that fully satisfy the client. 

For Geert, smooth collaboration is key to success. “It is very satisfying to execute complex projects with a strong team and reliable partners and do it in a joint team effort with the same goal in mind. This determines the success of the project.”

Kevin is a professional Process Engineer and subject matter expert for VILS on clean utilities and process equipment within the Pharmaceutical and Biotech industry. He was appointed Head of Engineering mid 2024, managing and supporting our team of engineers. 

He has more than 10 years of experience in the pharmaceutical sector in a number of roles. He is currently working in our Engineering office with turnkey contractor solutions but he has also worked for a number of years on the client side. 

“At VILS, engineers focus on the essentials to ensure delivery within the budget and timeline,” Kevin says. “Each engineer is responsible for an assigned package, from the start of basic design through commissioning and final handover. 

“Having each engineer work from start to finish ensures that we can work efficiently, without losing knowledge or design decisions along the way.”

Bert Nys is a seasoned Sales Manager with an extensive technical and project management background in BioPharma CAPEX projects. Having worked close to 15 years on all sides of BioPharma CAPEX projects (from contractor to client and finally in design & build engineering), Bert is your partner to translate your needs into a clear pathway towards the solution. 

Providing solutions that enable fast and reliable treatments to patients is a key driver for Bert in his day-to-day job. Especially in the world of cell and gene therapies, where that one dose can have a life-changing impact on patients. 

“VILS brings together a skilled group of process architects, project managers and engineers who can deliver complete facilities with a design-and-build approach in line with our values: A focus on on-time delivery and an insatiable drive to deliver. 

“We take pride in our zero misses for cGMP licenses for our designed facilities, especially given they have been delivered on extremely challenging timelines and stringent budgets.”

Jolien brings a blend of human-centered expertise and business acumen to her role at VILS. With a Master's degree in Communication Sciences, she built the foundation for a career focused on connecting people with opportunities and organizations with talent.

For 15 years, she specialized in recruitment for technical white-collar roles, where she discovered her passion for engineering and construction. This experience enabled her to develop a comprehensive understanding of both talent acquisition and business strategy, combining recruiting expertise with stakeholder and people management skills.

Since joining VILS in 2021, Jolien has evolved from recruiter to HR Manager, with marketing responsibilities added to her portfolio in 2022. “My approach centers on creating alignment between organizational objectives and individual aspirations, ensuring both the company and its employees can thrive together,” Joliden says. “I think it’s the best way to not only meet operational goals but also nurture a fulfilling environment for our team members."

Michele is an expert on Project Controls working on both small- and large-scale EPC and EPCm projects, with focus on Planning, Cost Controls, Progress reporting and Resources management. 

He has almost 15 years of experience in delivering projects in a wide variety of industries. In addition to working in life sciences, his experience includes work in the oil and gas, the nuclear and chemicals sectors. 

His background as Cost Controller and Planner, and his first-hand experience, from large EPC contractors and international clients to smaller engineering offices, guarantees a flexible and scalable all-around knowledge of project management office (PMO) and project controls issues. 

After many years in large-scale EPC projects in the oil and gas and chemicals industries, he has learned the world of Tier 1 life sciences customers and how to bring project controls experience in a scalable way to smaller and larger pharma realities. 

“My motto is to focus on what brings value, understanding what the Client wants and deliver the best value and result with minimum cost and complexity,” Michele says. “I love working with VILS, since it allows me to serve new customers with the same lean, direct approach that I believe in too! 

“My vision is to bring this VILS project’s execution approach to pharma clients and realities, keeping the “right first time” approach of VILS, while continuing to deliver quality solutions which creates value to our customers.”