Roel is born and raised in Limburg (NL) and attended secondary school in Maaseik (BE) at the Heilig Kruiscollege. Roel studied Hotel Management at Stenden University. After his internship at Eurocongress (now MCI) in Amsterdam in 1999, Roel started to work there as a project manager. In 2003 Roel started to work for Parthen, since 2009 Roel is Partner and co-owner of Parthen Group. In his entire career Roel always volunteered for different organisations and associations.