Aimé Van Hecke, 46, has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Sanoma Magazines Belgium. Van Hecke will start in his position on January 1, 2007.

Van Hecke has been previously working e.g. as a publisher of the second largest newspaper in Belgium Het Nieuwsblad/De Gentenaar. He has also worked for public service broadcaster VRT as Director, General Television among others.

– Sanoma Magazines is an important media company in this country, with a wide portfolio of strong magazine brands. In this new position, I will take advantage of my experience in the media industry to further strengthen Sanoma Magazine's leading position in the magazine business and to expand its business to other media platforms, states Van Hecke.

– We are very pleased to welcome Aimé van Hecke as the new CEO of Sanoma Magazines Belgium. Aimé is recognized as one of the key players of the transformation process at VRT. Both his extensive experience in the media industry and his ability to bring people together are of great importance for the future development of our company, says Eija Ailasmaa, CEO of Sanoma Magazines.

Sanoma Magazines Belgium is part of Sanoma Magazines, the magazine publishing division of the SanomaWSOY Group.