NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rudi DeCeuster, Business Wire's senior director of European business development, died Sunday at his home in Kontich, Belgium.
DeCeuster enjoyed a distinguished career in the news, government affairs, and public relations industries prior to joining Business Wire in July 1999, becoming the company's first European hire.
He was the architect of Business Wire's European distribution network, negotiating many of Business Wire's privileged news agency agreements, including Agence France-Presse. DeCeuster was instrumental in opening up the major channels of communications in many key markets, convincing reluctant news agencies to carry press releases over their networks. As a result of his efforts, Business Wire today maintains the world's largest news distribution network -- and companies and other news sources are able to seamlessly get their message out to audiences worldwide.
DeCeuster also worked closely with the governing institutions of the European Union and leading securities regulators, sharing his expertise and insights with EU officials as they were formulating the Transparency Obligations Directive, which took effect in January 2007. The TOD harmonized pan-European disclosure standards across all 27 Member States.
Prior to joining Business Wire, DeCeuster served as the Secretary-General of the European Alliance of Press Agencies, a consortium of 30 national news agencies during his tenure. He was also the former general manager and chief executive officer of Agence Belga, the Belgian natonal news agency.
A former board member of the World Association of Newspapers, DeCeuster also was a founding member of the European Pressphoto Agency. Earlier in his career, DeCeuster was an executive with Esso (Exxon).
"Business Wire was extremely privileged to have Rudi as part of our Business Wire family," said Cathy Baron Tamraz, the company's chief executive officer. "A consummate professional, he was instrumental in our European expansion over the past 12 years, where he opened many doors for us and always provided wise counsel. Beyond that, he was a true gentleman and dear friend to me and so many others at Business Wire. He will be greatly missed. Our hearts go out to his wife, Aline and son, Eric."
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Business Wire, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure. Public relations and investor relations professionals rely on Business Wire for both broad-based and targeted market reach. A recognized disclosure service in the United States, Canada and a dozen European countries, Business Wire handles document formatting and regulatory filing into EDGAR, SEDAR and other systems. Professional communicators from public and private companies, government agencies, advocacy groups and more rely on Business Wire for both broad-based and targeted reach -- with IR services for public companies and PR services that include Public Policy, LatinoWire and Corporate Social Responsibility. Business Wire provides online newsroom hosting and integration services as well as search engine optimization, mobile distribution and detailed measurement on every press release. Its patented NX delivery platform provides simultaneous full-text posting of Business Wire content to news systems and websites in virtually any country or language. With 31 bureaus worldwide, Business Wire offers local service and global reach.
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