My Story
1963 — Soumoy
I was born in Soumoy, one of the six villages of Cerfontaine, in the province of Namur, Wallonia. Less than two hundred inhabitants. The winter photographs in the gallery are real: the red helmet, the sled, the determination.
1971–1978 — The lakes
The Lacs de l'Eau d'Heure were built while I was at school, less than one kilometre from my home. Five lakes, about 1,800 hectares, 86 million cubic metres of water, and a pumped-storage power station inside the Plate-Taille dam. For the boy next door, it was a decade-long lesson in engineering.
Family — Tonton Andre and the museum
My late uncle Tonton Andre created the Musée de Cerfontaine (ASBL, 1973), a museum of rural life and local history. He believed that a village which forgets its past loses its future. In the class photograph from the 1960s I am the small boy at the bottom right, sitting on my eldest brother's lap.
The career
Electronics engineer: sensors, measurement, test instruments, display technology. The work carried me across the world. In 1997, Taipei became a second home. Since 1998, Microchip duties in Phoenix have taken me back to the Grand Canyon, again and again. The full professional record is onLinkedIn, where it remains up to date.
Toptronic®
I founded Toptronic® to build instruments my way: robust, honest, durable. The promise is in the slogan: Adding SMTR to Humans — Sensing, Measuring, Testing, Reporting.
Today
Family, photographs, an old van I refuse to replace — a 2004 Nissan Elgrand, my boardroom on wheels, with a 3.5-litre V6 and every gadget kept up to date — and this website, so that anyone who types my name or my company's name finds the real me.
Born in Soumoy, one of the six villages of Cerfontaine, Wallonia.
The red-helmet winter: sledding through the village.
Construction of the Lacs de l’Eau d’Heure begins next door.
Tonton Andre creates the Musée de Cerfontaine (ASBL).
The five lakes are completed. The decision is made: engineer.
Toptronic® is founded.
Taipei becomes a second home.
The first of many Grand Canyon visits, during Microchip duties in Phoenix.
Do It Now.