Our Leadership

Coming from an entrepreneurial family background Xavier has a lot of leadership experience.

He started his early career in the family business Ardo, where he stayed for more than 10 years. Today Ardo is the European leader in the production of frozen vegetables and fruits. Eager to start his own business he left the family business, while retaining his position on the board. Having gained extensive knowledge in temperature-controlled logistics he founded Stockhabo (now Constellation Belgium & France) in 2001 with his wife, ready for a new challenge. Xavier successfully grew the business to be the biggest in Belgium, and has been continually investing in new capacity in order to stay up with the customer demands. In 2023 Xavier moved to the role of Chairman to focus on strategic matters across the group, handing the day-to-day management of Stockhabo over to Geert Liefhooghe.

Xavier sits on the board of GCCA Europe.

As CEO, Carlos provides strategic leadership and oversees all aspects of the company.

Carlos brings 30 years of experience in the supply chain and temperature-controlled logistics sector. Prior to joining Constellation, Carlos served as Co-Founder and CEO of AGRO Merchants Group and Board member of the IARW. Previous positions also include global functional responsibility at Americold and Syncreon (automotive and high-tech logistics).

Carlos holds an MSc in Transport and Logistics from the School of Engineering & Technology Management, Liverpool JM University and served as Merchant Marine Officer and Navy Officer (Spanish Armed Forces).”

Henry joined Constellation in 2020, bringing with him more than 15 years of global transport and logistics experience.

Prior to Constellation Henry worked for the global consulting firm AlixPartners, where he led numerous high-impact value creation programs for major coldchain operators and food producers across Europe and North America.

He has also worked for the AP Moller-Maersk Group, where he managed capital-intensive transport infrastructure programs in roles based in the UK, South Africa, and the UAE.  Henry holds a BA from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Columbia Business School in New York.

Roy has over 30 years of experience in the cold storage sector. At the age of 18, he began his career at Eurofrigo as a reach truck driver. After a period of 6 years, during which he gained experience in all aspects of the role of a cold storage worker, he transitioned to Frigologix. Here, he became the director and took responsibility for two cold storage facilities.

In 2015, he had the opportunity to become a co-owner of Van Soest Coldstores. Over the following period, the organization expanded from a single cold storage facility to three locations in the Netherlands and Belgium. At the end of 2019, the cold storage facilities were sold to Lineage, where Roy worked in the role of Business Development Manager Benelux.

In 2022, Roy made the move to Constellation Cold and started as the General Manager of two cold storage facilities in Belgium. In September 2023, he assumed the role of Managing Director for the Dutch cold storage facilities.

Formerly Managing Director Ireland for Americold, Thomas brings 25 years of industry experience. He has a strong track record in the Irish market and a deep practical knowledge of warehouse operations and the cold storage business. Starting his career as a general warehouse operative, Thomas went on to hold multiple management roles over the past 25 years.

Formerly Managing Director of DFDS Belgium, Geert is an industry veteran with over 25 years of logistics experience. Having worked his way up the DFDS organisation, in his prior role he successfully led a €100M turnover business with 140 employees.

Geert joined Constellation in 2023, taking over the day-to-day management of the Stockhabo business from Xavier Haspeslagh as he moved to the role of Chairman.

Espen is one of the founders of what was known as the Glacio group (now Constellation Nordics) and has 19 years of leadership experience from the logistics industry.

Espen joined the industry in 2002 when he took on the role as General Manager at K&S Termotransport AS. A transport company owned by his family. Prior to the role as GM in K&S Termotransport AS, Espen held the position as CFO in Ajourit, at the time Norways leading company for online education. Prior to this Espen worked as business controller in Merkantildata, a company at the time among Scandinavia’s leading IT companies and listed on the Norwegian Stock Exchange. Espen started his carrere in Merkantildata ASA as a management trainee.

Espen has a Master in Business and Economics from BI Norwegian Business School and has served as Officer in the Norwegian Army.

Anthony has over 30 years’ experience in the storage and distribution sector, having started working in the family business after leaving school at age fifteen.

Anthony founded HSH Cold Stores, now Constellation UK, in 2003, with the ambition to succeed and develop a reputation for providing the best service in the cold storage and transport industry.  Starting with a rented five thousand pallet warehouse, Constellation UK now has capacity for over 130,000 pallets of food storage across four locations in the UK.

Anthony is constantly looking at ways to expand and develop whilst always looking at environmental considerations and makes use of solar energy across all sites.

Anthony also has a number of other interests ranging from property development and internet companies to encouraging and supporting new start-ups.  He is heavily IT influenced and is a Microsoft certified professional engineer.