Meet our
team

Born from a passion for B2B communication and a purpose, before this became a marketing word.

We believe that in whatever we do, there is ultimately one question that always sums it up: would we really, honestly, do this ourselves if we were you?

You can benefit from our experience in knowing what works for whom. Make use of our insightful creativity to transform a difficult, boring or abstract topic into something beautiful and comprehensible. We are matter-of-fact enough to understand that what we offer has to be profitable, but passionate enough to know that ROI does not always come in the form of money.

BERT HEYENS

FOUNDER

If marketing was a dish, Bert would serve it as a 7 course meal paired with some sublime wines. Combining the small talk with a huge appetite for great marketing ideas. But we all know the proof of the pudding is in the eating so he doesn’t beat around the bush when it comes to selecting the right ingredients with every new project. Headchef Bert will work to your taste with his team of creatives, he’ll never serve you something he wouldn’t like himself.

KOEN HELSEN

CO-FOUNDER

Koen Helsen knows the ins and outs of the marketing sector like no other. At Barco, he rose to the position of Vice President of Strategic Marketing, and before embarking on the entrepreneurial life, he worked as European Marketing Director at Cegeka. Now he is Managing Partner at Umbau and he helps organizations bring sales and marketing together. In his spare time, Koen enjoys fine dining, watching cycle racing and hiking.

BRUNO VERGAUWEN

SENIOR CREATIVE DIRECTOR

According to those people in the know, Bruno was born with a pencil in his hand. Later in life, the experts at Sint Lucas Antwerp took this particular affliction in hand to help him mould the talent that would enable him to lead a relatively normal life as a graphic designer and art director, working in both B2B and B2C agencies. And so this has continued to be the case for more than 20 years. One could call it a successful operation.

Despite all of this, sport still makes him nervous, the only thing to calm him down is a good comic, oh, and he hates oranges. He can be revived with golden vitamins (available from all good chip shops without prescription), he still believes he’s going to get a final growth spurt, and he comforts himself by understanding that it’s the little things in life that make the difference. Look at the other symptoms of his creative ailments in his instagram.

ANKE DE KORT

SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Recently equipped with a new pair of eyes, her graphic work has never been so sharp when not wearing her glasses. For years, Anke has been making our customers happy – both literally and figuratively – with her precise attitude to work. In fact, your infographics have never looked so good or so animated. And against all the odds, she also became our go-to girl for PowerPoint presentations.

We even have our suspicions that her children have already been initiated into the magical world of icons where they are discovering the power of a well-structured layout. The next generation of graphic designers is ‘good for print’ as it were.

ISABEAU BOES

COMMUNICATION AND MARKETING CONSULTANT

If you’re looking for Isabeau, it’s best to look for the curly-haired girl from the office. This enthusiast takes care of her clients as if they were her own family and gets genuine joy from making others happy. She now has just under 10 years on the books in various marketing and communications agencies and has a profound expertise in innovation, healthcare, and technology projects. Her dreams? To make the world a better place with marketing, three-day weekends, and a world full of mini animals.

CHARLOTTE LEEMAN

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

For many years now, Charlotte has been our greatest strength when it comes to graphic preciseness. And that’s actually quite a surprise when you realise that she moves house almost as often as she changes her hobby. Puzzling, cross stitching, making miniature houses, baking… none of it is easy when surrounded by moving boxes. Fortunately, more than anyone else, she understands that home is where her Netflix is. Want to know which show should be on your to watch list? Well, Charlotte is our very own Rotten Tomatoes. And most of all “she’s a winner” because when you play a board/card game against her, you’ll soon realise that you’re the loser. Although… our art director is quick to admit that he has been letting her win for years! But no matter what, to Charlotte, every design problem is like an escape room to which she knows the way out.

YENTE PAESMANS

CREATIVE ACCOUNT MANAGER

Meet Yente: a true ‘Mecheleir’ and now also ‘Umbauer’ at heart. She’s got that dreamy aura mixed with some serious enthusiasm, always radiating friendliness, empathy, and calmness. With her background as a creative marketeer in an industrial, corporate environment, she knows how to put herself in the client’s shoes and so how to translate their needs. At Umbau, Yente’s not just the link between clients and the studio, she is also the link between Umbau and the outside world, managing all things social.

When it comes to inspiration, Yente’s all about visuals. She’s slightly obsessed with her Pinterest discover page and her own mood boards, thinking they’re the prettiest things in the entire universe. Creativity isn’t just a skill for her; it’s a lifestyle. Yente sees the world like a kaleidoscope of endless possibilities, where every moment has the power to inspire. Trust us, her mind is a buzzing hive, but she’s got it under control.

When she needs a break from all the stimulation or when the cup is full, Yente creates even more cups – on her turntable in the ceramic studio, of course. (Some say she secretly builds an army of cups to cope with her latte addiction.)

DAVY VANDEVINNE

SENIOR MARKETING CONSULTANT

When you meet someone who proudly uses the social media handle “geeky marketeer”, you have an idea of what to expect. And Davy does not disappoint. He often tries to combine his interests in geek & pop culture (fantasy & science fiction, comics, movies, podcasts, popular science, etc.) with his marketing interests & storytelling skills.

The least you can say about Davy is that his interests and choices in life are a bit… eclectic. Next to his geek hobbies he’s also a fanatic supporter of KV Mechelen and the Green Bay Packers. And listens most to 90’s Flemish & Dutch rock music. You didn’t see those ones coming, did you?

And his career is no different. He started as a newspaper journalist, became an editor and editor-in-chief for several ICT magazines and finally ended up in marketing. And there he switched between agencies and the business. If you ask him for an explanation for this parcours, you will always get that same answer: “it was just what interested me most at the time”. But there is one constant though: Davy is all about telling stories that make a difference. So if you have a story to tell, you know who to turn to at Umbau.

ALEX VERSWIJVEL

MOTION/GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Looking at the official description, Alex is just an 80’s kid… although some might even claim that Alex is really a child of the 90’s. Let’s just say that he brings together the best of both decades.

“Too many cartoons while being a badass like Stallone, Schwarzenegger or our very own pride and joy, Van Damme, won’t do you any good at all later on”, said his mother. But little did she know… Just like Jean-Claude Van Damme in “No Retreat, No Surrender”, Alex the designer never tries to give up or take the easy way out.
To the accompaniment of glam metal music, Alex has been diving into Photoshop, Illustrator and adding extra (headbanging) motion in After Effects for 15 years.

Some people don’t think that black is a colour. That’s not a problem for us – Alex prefers not to wear colour, instead introducing colour into the world through fresh graphics.

Back in Black (and coloured sneakers)

let’s work together!

OH YES!

Meet our team