Johan Desmet

Nippon Gases BNF

A native of the city of Antwerp, Belgium, Johan received a master in Industrial Chemical and Bio-engineering from the Catholic University of Louvain.
Desmet joined Nippon Gases (previously Praxair) in 1991 as applications engineer for the Benelux market.
Over the next 15 years, Desmet held increasingly responsible positions in sales, business development and onsite business management in the Benelux.
In 2007, Johan moved with his family to Oslo, Norway, to become Director BD for YaraPraxair, the newly formed joint-venture between Yara and Praxair in Scandinavia.
Back in Belgium in 2009, Johan became BD Director for bulk & onsite in the Benelux and since 2013 Business Director Onsite within Nippon Gases’ Germany-Benelux region and member of the Germany Benelux management team. Since 2017, Johan is serving as Business Director for all business units in the new formed region of Benelux and France : Onsite, Bulk, CO2, Package Gases, Specialty and Semiconductor Specialty Gases, reporting to the Managing Director of BNF and leading a team of 8 Sales- Business- Pricing- and Customer Relations Managers and their respective teams.
Johan is also director of the legal entities Nippon Gases Belgium NV, Nippon Gases Netherlands BV and Nitraco NV (j/v between Nippon Gases and Pipelink). Johan is representing Nippon Gases in the Strategic Committee of essenscia vlaanderen, part of the Belgian federation of Chemistry and is serving since 3 years as vice-chairman.