Speaker Biographies

Confirmed Speakers

Moderators

Ignacio Garcia Bercero

Director, DG TRADE, European Commission, EU Chief Negotiator, Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership

Ignacio Garcia Bercero is a Director in DG Trade of the European Commission. Since 2012 he has been responsible for overseeing EC activities in the fields of Neighbouring Countries, US and Canada as well as being the Chief Negotiator for the EU- India FTA. He coordinated the work of the EU-US High Level Working Group on Growth and Jobs, which recommended the launch of TTIP negotiations.

Working at the European Commission since 1987, from 2005 until 2011 he worked in the areas of Sustainable Development, Bilateral Trade Relations (South Asia, South East Asia, Korea, EuroMed and the Middle East). He was also the Chief Negotiator for the EU-Korea and EU-India Free Trade Agreements. Before that, he worked in the areas of WTO Dispute Settlement, and Trade Barriers Regulation .In the period leading to the launch of the DDA negotiations, he was working on overall coordination of WTO Policy and was Chief Negotiator on Trade and Competition. During the Uruguay Round, he followed, inter alia, negotiations on Safeguards, GATT Articles, Functioning of the GATT and Trade and Environment. He has also been posted in the EU Delegation to the United Nations in New York.

He has written several papers and publications on the subjects of Trade Laws, GATT and WTO System, Safeguard Measures, Trade and Competition, DSU Reform and Dispute Settlement in European FTAs.

Mr Garcia Bercero has a Law Degree from the Law Faculty of Universidad Complutense, Madrid and a Master of Laws Degree ( with Distinction) from University College , London.

Christian Ehler MEP

Chair, Delegation for Relations with the United States, European Parliament

Dr Christian Ehler is a Member of the European Parliament (EP) since 2004.

The parliamentarian was born on 17/08/1963 in Munich.
He served with the NATO’s AMF (Allied Mobile Forces).
He holds a degree in journalism and economics from the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich (1991) as well as a PhD of political science on the topic of U.S. trade policy (1993).
From 1989 to 1990 he studied national economy at the American University Washington D.C., and worked as scientific assistant in the finance committee of the U.S. Congress.

In his office as MEP he is a member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, the Subcommittee on Security and Defence and a substitute member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Furthermore he is the Chairman of the Transatlantic Dialogue.

Vital Moreira MEP

Chair, Committee on International Trade, European Parliament

- Doctor of legal and political sciences (University of Coimbra). Master's degree in law (University of Coimbra).

- Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law, University of Coimbra.

- Member of the Council of the European Master's Degree in Human Rights and Democratisation (Venice), organised by a consortium of European universities. Chair of the Centre for Public Law and Regulation Studies (CEDIPRE) and Vice-Chair of the Jus Gentium Conimbrigae

- Judge at the Constitutional Court (1983-1989).

- Contributes weekly columns for the Público daily newspaper. One of the authors of the Causa Nossa blog

- Member of the Constituent Assembly (1975-1976). Member of the Assembly of the Republic (1976-1982). Member of the Assembly of the Republic (1996-1997).

Linda Corugedo Steneburg

Director, Co-operation, DG Connect, European Commission

Linda Corugedo Steneberg, Director, DG Communications networks, Content and Technologies.

Born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden. Has mostly lived abroad since late twenties.

Studied at the Stockholm School of Economics where she also chaired the Students Association during her last year.

Joined the Swedish Foreign Service and served abroad in Bangkok, Brussels, Madrid and Geneva. Specialised in EU matters, politics of South East Asia and trade negotiations.

Joined the Commission in 1996 and worked as Head of representation in Stockholm, Head of Unit for three different Units in DG COMM, Director of Resources in DG ECFIN. Joined DG CONNECT (ex. DG INFSO) on 1 April 2011 as Director for General Affairs and since 1st July 2012 as Director for Cooperation.

Married with two children born 1982 and 1985.

Interests are literature, music, family and friends, big and small cats, new trends in general.

Crin Antonescu

President of the Romanian Senate, Leader of the, Romanian National Liberal Party (PNL)

Crin Antonescu was elected President of the Romanian Senate on 3rd July 2012. He is the candidate of the ruling Social Liberal Union (Liberal and Socialist parties) coalition for the 2014 Presidential elections. If elected he will be the first post-Ceausescu President never to have been a member of the Communist Party. Between July-August 2012 he served as Acting President of Romania during the suspension of President Băsescu.

Crin is respected by the Romanian public for his clear views and untainted career. This was underlined by his strong personal vote as Liberal candidate in the 2009 Presidential elections when he garnered 20% of the vote. He is therefore a front-runner for the forthcoming election.

Anontescu is an ardent pro-European and Atlanticist who believes that European nations and the USA are stronger acting together to drive economic growth and raise living standards. He believes that Romania, as the EU’s 7th largest state, should be regarded as an asset for the EU and that his country should play a full part in deciding the Union's future direction.

During the Ceausescu dictatorship Crin chose not to participate in politics. After the fall of Communism he answered his civic calling and has over a twenty year career tirelessly campaigned to raise the living standards of Romanians through the modernisation of the economy and higher standards in public life.

Peter Vicary-Smith

Chief Executive, Which? and President, BEUC

Since 2004 Peter has been Chief Executive of Which?, Europe's largest consumer organisation. It is a non-governmental-organisation (NGO) funded in a very unusual way - it receives no funding from either government or the general public. All its income comes from commercial activities in line with its charitable status. Before joining Which? Peter spent eight years with Cancer Research UK, six years as Director of Fundraising and then two years as Commercial Director, and he was previously Head of Appeals at Oxfam. He also worked in the commercial sector with McKinsey, Mars Confectionery and Procter and Gamble. He is currently President of BEUC, the organisation representing consumers across Europe and a trustee of Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Dara Corrigan

Director, Europe Office, United States Food and Drug Administration

Dara Corrigan heads the FDA’s Europe Office, located in Brussels. Ms. Corrigan serves as the FDA’s chief representative to the European Union (EU), working directly with the European Commission, European Medicines Agency and European Food Safety Agency. She also serves as liaison to FDA counterpart agencies in the 28 EU member States and in European countries outside the EU. In addition, Ms. Corrigan serves as FDA’s link to the U.S. diplomatic community based in Europe. Prior to moving to Brussels, Ms. Corrigan was the FDA’s Associate Commissioner for Regulatory Affairs. In that position, she directed a staff of 4,000 employees across the United States and had responsibility for import safety, inspections, laboratory testing and enforcement policy for all FDA-regulated products.

Jean-Marc Trarieux

Head of Unit, The Americas, DG AGRI, European Commission , European Commission

Mr. Jean-Marc Trarieux is the Head of the European Commission's Unit in charge of bilateral agriculture relations with the Americas.

He was appointed Head of Unit in the Directorate-General of Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission in September 2012, in the Unit then responsible for relations with industrialised countries and the OECD. Prior to that, Mr. Trarieux was Deputy Head of DG AGRI's WTO Unit for five years, following postings at the European Commission's Delegations in Washington, D.C. as EU agricultural counsellor, and in Warsaw, Poland as Head of the Agriculture and Regional Development Section from 2000. Prior to that, Mr. Trarieux worked in the Baltic States on EU PHARE projects assisting the ministries of agriculture in Latvia and Estonia in their EU accession preparation, and in The Hague, Netherlands in the agricultural section of the French Embassy.

Mr. Trarieux has a postgraduate degree in agricultural economics from the University of Montpellier, France, and an agronomist engineer diploma from the Montpellier-based Agricultural College.

Klaus Berend

Head of Unit F.1 - REACH, DG Enterprise and Industry, European Commission

Dr. Klaus Berend joined the European Commission in 1994 and is currently Head of Unit in the European Commission’s Directorate-General Enterprise & Industry, responsible for the implementation of the EU Regulation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), which sets out the overall framework for regulating chemicals in the EU.

Before, he was Head of Unit in DG Enterprise & Industry, responsible for EU legislation on the Classification, Labelling and Packaging of substances and mixtures (CLP), Good Laboratory Practices (GLP), detergents, fertilisers, drug precursors, explosives and pyrotechnic articles. The unit also dealt with the sustainability and competitiveness of the chemicals industry in the European Union.

Previously, he was Deputy Head of Unit in the Commission’s Directorate General for Environment, Unit Biotechnology & Pesticides, where he co-ordinated the work concerning biocides, plant protection products and the Community’s participation in the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent (PIC).

He studied chemistry at the universities of Heidelberg, Freiburg, and Stanford, and obtained a PhD in polymer chemistry from the University of Freiburg (Germany).

Philippe Jean

Head of Unit, Sustainable Mobility and Automotive Industry, DG Enterprise & Industry, European Commission

Philippe Jean was born in 1956 and joined the European Commission in 1983. He has worked in a number of areas, such as trade negotiations, steel policy, functioning of the internal market. From 1999 to 2002, he was Deputy Head of Cabinet of the Enterprise Commissioner, Mr E. Liikanen, where he was responsible for industrial files, including those relating to the automotive sector.

In January 2008, he took up his present position as Head of the Automotive Industry Unit of the Commission’s Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General.

He looks after aspects of automotive industry competitiveness and is responsible for the legislative framework for type-approval of vehicles.

He graduated in law and economics at the University of Paris and is an alumni from the “Institut d’Etudes Poliques” of Paris.

Paul Adamson

Senior European Policy Advisor, Covington & Burling and Editor-in-Chief, E!Sharp

Paul Adamson is the editor-in-chief and founding publisher of E!Sharp, an on-line magazine on Europe and Europe’s place in the world. He is also Senior European Policy Advisor at Covington and Burling.

He is a member of Rand Europe’s Council of Advisors and is on the advisory board of the polling/think tank YouGov-Cambridge, the Washington European Society and the American Security Project. He is also a member of the advisory group of British Influence, a new organization promoting the UK's role in the European Union and chairs the Trans-Atlantic Business Council working group on communications and public outreach.

He is a trustee of the Citizenship Foundation, a patron of the University Association of Contemporary European Studies (UACES) and a member of the UK Academy of Social Sciences.

Earlier in his career he founded the consulting firm Adamson Associates, which was sold to WeberShandwick and the "think-do tank" The Centre, which was sold to Edelman.

In 2012 he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) ”for services to promoting understanding of the European Union”.

Karim Lesina

Vice President, International External Affairs, EU, Caribbean, Central and Latin America, Trans-Atlantic Relations, AT&T

Karim Antonio Lesina is the Vice President of AT&T, covering International External Affairs for the European Union, Caribbean, Central and Latin America Regions and in charge of the Trans-Atlantic Relations. In this role he leads AT&T's advocacy in those regions. AT&T is a premier global communications company, providing wholesale services and mobile roaming services to over 220 countries and territories, and providing business enterprise services to countries representing over 99 percent of the world’s economy.

In addition to developing and implementing market access strategies to enable AT&T’s global expansion to satisfy customer needs, other responsibilities for Mr. Lesina include ensuring compliance with international telecom regulations, and advocacy on a wide range policy matters related to the stable growth, innovation and investment by the information and communications technology sector.

Mr. Lesina is based in AT&T’s Brussels (Belgium) office. He is an active member in several industry and community organizations, including current service as: Chair of the Presidency Group and of the Digital Economy Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU. He is a Board Member of the European Internet Foundation. He also represents AT&T in different assocations such as ETNO, EABC, GSMA, ECTA, TPN, etc.

Prior to joining AT&T, Mr. Lesina held senior positions with another leading US-headquartered ICT company (Intel Corporation), and a number of leading public affairs agencies in Brussels. Born in Dakar (Senegal) Mr. Lesina is an Italian-Tunisian national and has a Master Degree in Economics of development at the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium.

Thomas Boué

Director, Government Affairs, EMEA, BSA | The Software Alliance

Thomas Boué oversees the BSA | The Software Alliance’s public policy activities in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. He advises BSA members on public policy and legal developments and advocates the views of the ICT sector with both European and national policy makers. He leads on security and privacy issues as well as broader efforts to improve levels of intellectual property protection and to promote open markets, fair competition, and technology innovation in new areas such as cloud computing.

Prior to joining BSA, Boué served as a consultant in Weber Shandwick where he advised clients on a wide range of technology and ICT-related policy issues and represented them before the EU institutions and industry coalitions. In this role, he also served as policy and regulatory adviser for both EU and US telecom operators. Prior to that Boué worked for the EU office of the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry where he was responsible for the lobbying activities towards the EU Institutions in the areas of trade, education, and labor, as well as for the organization and running of seminars on EU affairs for SMEs and business professionals.

Boué holds a Masters of Business Administration from the Europa-Insitut (Saarbrücken, Germany), a Certificate of Integrated Legal Studies (trilateral and trilingual Master’s degree in French, English, German and European Law, from the Universities of Warwick (UK), Saarland (Germany) and Lille II (France) as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Law from the University of Lille II, France. He is based in BSA’s Brussels office.

Tod Cohen

Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Global Government Relations, eBay Inc.

Tod Cohen serves as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Global Government Relations for eBay Inc.

Since 2000, Mr. Cohen has been responsible for global public policy for eBay, adding PayPal when it was acquired in 2002. Beginning in 2006, he took on responsibility for eBay’s regulatory work, as well as law enforcement affairs and global investigations. His team of over 100 employees includes lawyers, lobbyists, external affairs specialists, and investigators in more than 20 cities around the world. He opened eBay’s first government relations’ office in March 2000 in Washington DC and now leads his group from eBay’s corporate headquarters in San Jose.
Prior to joining eBay, Mr. Cohen was Vice President and Counsel of New Media for the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Before that, Mr. Cohen served as European Vice President and Legal Counsel for the Business Software Alliance in London. He also spent six years as an associate with the Washington law firm, Covington & Burling.

Mr. Cohen formerly served as a member of the U.S. Department of Commerce/U.S. Trade Representative’s Industry Trade Advisory Committee for Information and Communications Technologies, Services, and Electronic Commerce. He also served as Vice Chairman of the Free Trade Agreement of the America’s Joint Experts’ Committee on Electronic Commerce.

Mr. Cohen received his B.A. from the University of Utah in 1985, and his J.D. with Highest Honors from the George Washington University Law School in 1992. Before law school, Mr. Cohen worked as a Congressional aide for four years.

Sébastien Goux

Policy Officer, Unit D5 Medicinal Products – Authorisations, EMA, DG SANCO, European Commission

Sébastien Goux joined the Commission in 2005 and is currently policy officer in Unit D5 (Medicinal Products – Authorisations, EMA) in DG Health and Consumers, European Commission. He is responsible for the international aspects of medicinal products covering bilateral dialogues as well as multilateral frameworks, in particular the International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) as ICH coordinator for the European Commission and the International Pharmaceutical Regulators Forum (IPRF).

Prior joining the Commission, he worked for the Belgian Ministry of Health where he was contributing to the implementation of the Novel Food legislation and to the coordination of official controls on GMOs and food contaminants.

He graduated as Engineer in Chemistry and Agriculture and holds a PhD in Agricultural Sciences (Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium).

Elena Bryan

Senior Trade Representative, USEU/USTR

Biography to appear here shortly.

Pekka Pesonen

Secretary General, Copa-Cogeca

Mr. Pekka PESONEN is Secretary General of COPA-COGECA, an agricultural lobby representing 77 national farm organizations in Europe. He has previously been working for the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry as state secretary. In addition, Mr. Pesonen has professional experience in EU lobbying and in Finnish food industry. He is an agricultural economist and he has a family of wife and three young children.

Petros Sourmelis

Head of Unit Market Access, Industry, Energy and Raw Materials, DG Trade, European Commission

Petros Sourmelis took up his new duties as Head of the Market Access Unit in May 2009. As of 2012, his responsibilities were extended to energy, raw materials and industry related matters. In the period 2005-2009, Petros Sourmelis was the Head of the DG Trade Unit in charge of international negotiations in the area of trade in services and investment. In this capacity, he was directly involved in the GATS negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda, in WTO accession negotiations as well as in bilateral and regional negotiations conducted by the EU. From 2001 until 2004, Petros Sourmelis was the Head of the trade section of the EU's Delegation in Washington. In previous postings, he was responsible as Deputy Head of Unit for WTO dispute settlement matters and for the implementation of the Trade Barriers Regulation. Petros is Greek. He has post-graduate (DEA) degrees in international public law and international private law from the University of Paris-I. He joined the European Commission services in 1989.

Eva Grut-Aandahl

Senior Director International Public Affairs, Pfizer

Eva Grut-Aandahl is Senior Director International Public Affairs and Head of Pfizer’s EU Representation Office/European Government Affairs.

She comes with 22 years of experience from the pharmaceutical industry, covering roles in different geographic regions within public affairs, government affairs, brand public affairs, and commercial support. She is a member of Pfizer’s International Public Affairs Leadership team and provides support to Pfizer’s Executive Leadership team.

Eva Joined Pfizer in 1991. She is a lawyer by training, specialized in European law, IP and trade law. She obtained a Masters Degree in Law from the University of Copenhagen and a Post-Graduate Degree in European Law from Université Libre de Bruxelles. She also holds qualifications from INSEAD in Leadership.

Following private law practice in Denmark, she joined Pfizer’s European Brussels office in 1991. In 1993, she became Public Affairs Director for Africa, Middle East and Southern Asia region, supporting the Area President and the Region. In 1998 she transferred back to Europe and in roles of increasing responsibility worked on policy and brand issues for the European Region.

In March 2009, Eva became Head of the EU Representation Office.

Eva is also an active member of Pfizer’s European Women’s Opportunity Council, tasked with developing leadership programs for Pfizer‘s female top talent in Europe and generally ensuring greater diversity in Pfizer’s work force.

Denis Redonnet

Head of Unit, Trade Strategy, DG Trade, European Commission

Denis Redonnet heads the Strategy division in the Directorate General for Trade in the European Commission, after heading up its WTO division.

Before that, he served as Deputy chief of staff to EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and advisor to EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy.

He is a career European Commission official, having held positions in the monetary, international economic affairs and internal market directorate generals of the EU Executive. He is an economist by training, and started his career as a corporate banker for a French bank in the city of London.

Sylvain Lhôte

Vice President Government Affairs, Alcoa Europe

Sylvain Lhôte leads Alcoa governmental Affairs across Europe and supervises EU affairs for the aluminium group with a focus on energy, industry and sustainability policies.

Prior to joining Alcoa, Sylvain directed EU and Sustainability affairs for Borealis, in the base chemicals and plastics industry and previously chaired Fleishman-Hillard Public Affairs practice group in Europe while heading FH’s environment team in Brussels. Sylvain started his career in parliamentary cabinets at the European Parliament, the French National Assembly and with the President of ADEME – the French environment agency.

Sylvain studied political sciences, international law and business administration in Strasbourg and Paris and post-graduated in European Administration at the college of Europe in Bruges.

Lena Perenius

Executive Director - International Chemicals Management, Cefic

Lena Perenius is Executive Director for the International Chemicals Management since January 2012, prior to which she was Executive Director for Programme Product Stewardship from November 2007 until December 2011. Lena joined Cefic in 2002 as Director REACH Implementation.

A Swedish national, Lena Perenius has a degree in chemistry (biochemistry/microbiology) from the Stockholm University. She has more than 25 years of work experience with industry, national authorities, the European Commission and trade associations.

In Sweden she worked 8 years for the pharmaceutical industry and 11 years for Authorities, mainly for the Chemicals Inspectorate.

She joined the Commission, DG Industry, in 1996 with responsibility for harmonisation of chemicals legislation, notably restrictions on the marketing and use of dangerous substances.

Erik Bergelin

Trade & Economics Director, ACEA

Erik Bergelin is currently Director of Trade & Economics at ACEA, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association in Brussels, which represents the interests of the European Automobile Manufaturers.

Previously, he has worked in a number of roles in Europe at Renault. He received his Bachelor of Law from the University of Stockholm, and achieved a D.E.S.S de droit du Commerce Extérieur from Université Panthéon, Sorbonne. Mr Bergelin was born in France and is a French and Swedish national. He is also fluent in English.

Cynthia Guven

Senior Agricultural Attaché, USEU Foreign Agricultural Service

Cynthia Iglesias Guven has been the Senior Agricultural Attaché and Deputy to the Minister Counselor for Agriculture at the United States Mission to the European Union since April 2011. Prior to her appointment in Brussels, she served as the Deputy in the Agricultural Sections of the U.S. Embassies in Cairo, Egypt and Ankara, Turkey. Ms. Guven held positions in USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service’s International Trade Policy Division and its Grain and Feed Division in Washington D.C. before being posted overseas. Before joining the Foreign Agricultural Service, USDA, Ms. Guven worked as a Researcher in the Economics Section of the Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington DC. Ms. Guven earned a Master’s degree in Political Science from Ohio State University.

Sietske De Groot

Senior Advisor EU and International Affairs, Federation of Small Businesses, Member of European Small Business Alliance (ESBA)

Sietske is the FSB’s lead on EU affairs in Brussels and Westminster since 2009. She specialises in the European (digital) single market and export. She has previously worked in Brussels, the Netherlands and the UK as a European Affairs specialist covering issues ranging from aviation to local and regional government. Sietske has MAs in French and Political Science from the University of Amsterdam/Sorbonne, and the Free University of Amsterdam respectively. She recently started a degree in ICTs.

Nicholas Hodac

Governmental Programs Executive, IBM

Nicholas Hodac is Governmental Programs Executive for IBM Europe. In his role for IBM Europe, Mr. Hodac is the European lead for Trade Policy and is also responsible for Governmental Affairs with the Belgian Governments.

Prior to joining IBM Europe, Mr. Hodac worked for Ford of Europe as Head of the Brussels EU Affairs Office. In his role for Ford, Mr. Hodac was responsible for all relations with the European Institutions. In addition, Mr. Hodac also had lead responsibility for Trade, Industrial Policy, Vehicle Safety and Environment.

Before joining Ford, Mr. Hodac worked for General Motors Europe (GME) as Manager EU Affairs in its Governmental Affairs office located in Brussels, Belgium. In his role for GME, Mr. Hodac was responsible for Environment, Energy and Vehicle Safety. During his time at GME, Mr. Hodac has also worked in General Motors’ Governmental Affairs office in Washington D.C., USA.

Before joining GME, Mr. Hodac worked in the European Parliament as an assistant advisor to the EPP-ED Group in the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) Committee. He was responsible for writing reports on the state of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection in Central Eastern Europe, and providing advice on legislative dossiers going through the IMCO Committee.

Mr. Hodac holds a Masters in European Foreign Policy from the Institute of European Studies at the University of Brussels, Belgium. Prior to that he graduated from the University of New York in Prague, Czech Republic, with a Bachelor in European and International Economics; and from the University of Brussels, Belgium, with a Bachelor in Law.

Andrea Renda

Senior Research Fellow, Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)

Dr. Andrea Renda is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), where he started and currently manages the Regulatory Policy Unit and the CEPS Digital Forum. He is Professor of Economic Analysis of Law, Antitrust and EU policymaking at LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome, as well as Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute. Andrea sits in the Scientific Board of the International Telecommunications Society and of the European Communications Policy research (EuroCPR), as well as in the Editorial Board of "Telecommunications Policy". He is the author of several publications and expert reports in the field of telecommunications and Internet policy.

Maria Patrin

Director, Grayling

Maria is a Director in the public affairs practice of Grayling Belgium, where she is the head of the healthcare and pharmaceuticals practice. As such, she runs a number of public relations, advocacy and lobbying campaigns-

Throughout her career, Maria has gained extensive expertise in EU healthcare public policies. At Grayling, she is responsible for managing the PA activities of a number of healthcare clients from A to Z, ranging from events management to strategic advice, from stakeholder engagement to lobbying.

Before joining Grayling, Maria has worked as a consultant and a policy officer for the Italian industry, coordinating lobbying strategies on industrial policies and advising on outreach programmes. She started her career in the institutions, working for the European Parliament.

She holds a Master Degree in European Political and Administrative Studies, obtained at the College of Europe in Bruges. An Italian national, Maria also fluently speaks French, English and German.

Victoria Breck

Director, Grayling

Victoria, an American national, is a Director in the Grayling Brussels EU Public Affairs Department, where she manages the Grayling Food and Consumer Goods Practice.

Working for a range of clients in the field of nutrition, health, food safety, and consumer protection, she assists her clients in developing advocacy campaigns to mitigate potential barriers stemming from EU legislation and supports them in the development of thought-leadership and outreach programmes.

Prior to working at Grayling, Victoria worked in the Public Affairs department of the American Embassy in Bratislava Slovakia, and taught English in Prague, Czech Republic. In addition to her native English, she speaks fluent Slovak and is proficient in Italian and French.

Talander Jansen

Director, Grayling

Talander is a Director in Grayling’s public affairs department and head of the Transport practice group. In addition he is familiar with EU energy and environment policies.

Talander has seen the impact of EU policies on a variety of transport modes having worked for clients in the road transport sector (a car manufacturer, a coach operator and a goods and logistics association), in the air sector (an EU airport and airlines) and in the rail sector (an international rail company).

Prior to joining Grayling, Talander worked in in the French diplomacy and as a marketing assistant in Spain. He holds a Master degree in European politics and Administration from the College of Europe. Bilingual Dutch and French, Talander also speaks English, Spanish and German.

Denis Bonvillain

Director, Grayling

Denis Bonvillain is a Director in the public affairs practice of Grayling where he is running the energy practice. As such, his expertise lies in the Energy and environment sector, where he acquired extensive experience working for different industry players.

As such, Denis is the Policy Director of two European trade associations in the field of air-conditioning and refrigeration (EPEE - the European Partnership for Energy and the Environment; and EVIA – the European Ventilation Industry Association) in which he was involved in several working groups (Strategy, F-gas, Communications and residential ventilation).

Denis has also cooperated with different stakeholders like NGOs and consumer groups, giving him a broad overview of the issues at stake in energy dossiers.

Prior to joining Grayling, Denis worked for the Brussels office of the French PA and PR consultancy Euro RSCG C&O. He is fluent in French and English.

Elisabeth Roderburg

TTIP Adviser, BritishAmerican Business

Elisabeth Roderburg is currently a TTIP Adviser with BritishAmericanBusiness in London, and is serving in a Secretariat role for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on EU-US Trade & Investment. She has previously worked for the US Chamber of Commerce in Brussels and as a consultant for the OECD in Paris. She has a broad trade policy background from both the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Shipping and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs where her last position was as the Director General for Trade Policy and European Affairs.