Noël Pille graduated as a Mechanical Engineer from the University of Ghent, Belgium in 1975. He then joined the dredging department of Jan De Nul N.V. Since 1992 he has been Manager of the offshore works department of their International Dredging Division. This department is involved with trenching and backfilling works for the installation of offshore pipelines, rock dumping and ballasting of offshore structures, shore approach dredging and landfalls, and other offshore industry works.