29.09.2022 NewsCorporate

Interview with Stéphanie Noël, CEO of Victor Buck Services

 

Stéphanie Noël, Victor Buck Services, and the Post Group

Stéphanie Noël took over as CEO of Victor Buck Services in December 2021. In a recent interview with Post Luxembourg, she talks about the company and her ambitions for 2022-2023. She outlines what makes VBS unique and the collaborations with the Post Group. Watch her interview below.

4 questions to Stéphanie Noël

HOW DO YOU DEFINE YOURSELF?
I am a mother of 2 children, Athina and Ilias. My daily routine is to manage school, soccer, dance, the fairly classic role of a mom. My family, in the broadest sense, is a very close-knit group, and extremely loyal friends. Family and friendship are important values to me. I am a real social animal. I only get my energy from people, and I believe that you constantly learn and grow from others. I also come from a family of women, all of whom were very independent and have managed businesses. A lineage of women who manage almost everything, which I think has rubbed off on me. If you had to sum up who I am in one word, I think « ball of energy » fits me well. I’m often told that I’m energising, it’s really a leitmotif.

TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND.
I have a really atypical background. I am not a specialist in anything. I have worked in finance for 17 years, but I am not a lawyer or an accountant. I have worked in IT but I’m not a computer scientist. One thing is for sure, though: I can understand organisations quite quickly and unite people around clear and ambitious objectives. I understand the needs of customers and I know how to translate that into an organisation. What is the contribution of each individual in a chain to contribute to something bigger? That’s where I come in. I’m interested in the business, I’m not going to understand the micro detail but rather the flows, the added value.

WHAT DID YOU STUDY?
When I was 18, I enrolled in veterinary school – I had dreamed of being a veterinarian since I was little – but I quickly stopped because I hated physics, which was the main subject. When I was looking to switch studies, I realised that I didn’t go to university to find a job. Instead, university is here to open up to the world. So I went to college to study philosophy, media, information and communication. These studies allowed me to learn to decipher information. I have kept this critical eye on the messages I receive to this day: Who is it from? Why at this particular time? Why is it written like that? I use this critical analysis on a daily basis.

WHAT PROFESIONAL VALUES BEST DESCRIBE YOU?
Two very important drivers for me are transmission and the collective. My work is a bit like my life as a mother. I tell myself that I have to pass on something that will work without me, and the only way to do this is to have organisations that can grow and reinvent themselves quickly. Besides that, I tell myself that it is impossible to accomplish anything great without a collective, so I strongly believe in the notion of collective at all levels of an organisation. I have always believed that we win together and lose together. I need to give people enough space, to be able to evaluate them objectively in order to allow an organisation to grow. The same goes for customers. And I make it a point to have working relationships that are based on honesty and trust. If we exchange in an honest, open and correct way, there is little chance that our paths will diverge drastically.

Key dates of her career

2001

Hired by Kneip as Client Service Representative.

2005

Promoted to Team Manager.

It was really the first nice thing that happened to me, after my daughter of course. I was happy to be able to manage the team I came from, even if it wasn’t easy, while keeping the customer contact that has always been my driver.

2014

Joined Kneip’s Management Committee.

At 36, I was obviously the youngest! And the only one who came from within. I wanted to bring back a certain level of information and realism about what was really going on in the company, to make strategic decisions in an informed way. I was the voice of the customer and the employees, the voice of the field.

2018

COO at e-Proseed.

I completely changed my field, I ended up in an IT company. I didn’t know anything about it, but there was incredible international exposure. During 2019, I was out of Europe. One of our biggest clients was in the Middle East. It was an extremely challenging client, which was very rewarding. Culturally and humanly, it was one of my best years.

2021

CEO at Victor Buck Services.

VBS is one of the company names that has cropped up a lot in my career, especially at Kneip. The history of the company, its values and its business, all speak to me. Here I see my role as that of a lever, capitalising on existing strengths and opening up new areas of application. I want to equip VBS for the future, to give it the means to adapt quickly and efficiently to the challenges of today and above all of tomorrow.