REVIEW OF NEW APPOINTMENTS (FIRST SIX MONTHS 2020)

Source: Politico (Category Influencers)

*Excludes appointments within the EU institutions

26 June 2020

• Former EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Good Lobby founder Alberto Alemanno join the board of trustees of the Friends of Europe think tank. Mogherini’s intention to join was approved by the Commission . They are among the 29 new members, which include former Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, other commissioners, MEPs and more.
• Victor van Hoorn will be the new executive director of sustainable investment association Eurosif from August 28. He is joining from Hume Brophy in Brussels, where he is currently the head of financial services.
• Pauline Bastidon leaves the logistics industry to join spiritsEUROPE in Brussels as director of trade and economic affairs.
• Trade association Cosmetics Europe elected Hervé Toutain (L’Oréal) to take over from Loïc Armand as president, with Charles François Gaudefroy (Unilever) and Ronald Van Welie (NCV) staying on as vice presidents and Isabelle Martin (Estée Lauder) remaining treasurer.
• The Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, an independent organization set up by Facebook, Google and others to combat online extremist content, appointed Nicholas Rasmussen as executive director.
• European Plastics Converters reelected Renato Zelcher (CEO of Crocco SpA) as its president for 2020-2022.

19 June 2020

• DigitalEurope elected Hilary Mine, VP and market unit leader for the Nordics, Baltics and Benelux at Nokia, as its first female president. Julian David, CEO of techUK, was reelected as vice president.
• After eight years, Simos Piperidis has left his role as Cambre’s media and policy communications director to join the European Council’s press office.
• As of June 1, Joanna Dupont-Inglis is the new head of European public affairs for industry association European Bioplastics.
• Barry McKeon joins DigitalEurope as a senior policy manager working on trade and competition, while Raphaëlle Hennekinne joins as his counterpart on the sustainability team. Aida Khalilova has been hired as the organization’s new communications officer.
• Eurosmart, an industry association for manufacturers in the security industry supply chain, has been selected to join the EU’s Stakeholder Cybersecurity Certification Group and will send Stéfane Mouille as a representative.
• Stormy-Annika Mildner will become the new executive director of the Aspen Institute Germany in Berlin as of January 2021, replacing Rüdiger Lentz, who  is now a senior adviser at Rud Pedersen Berlin.

12 June 2020

• Avisa Partners hired Sylvain Fort, the former communication director of Emmanuel Macron, as a senior partner.
• Rüdiger Lentz, the executive director of the Aspen Institute Germany, joins Rud Pedersen Berlin as a senior adviser.
• Transparency International EU announced its new board last week, chaired by Daniel Eriksson, with Geneviève Pons and Monika Ebert as vice chairs. They are joined by Fabian Zuleeg and Alessandro Gianesini.
• The European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations (EFCA) elected Artelia’s CEO Benoît Clocheret as its newest president, succeeding Kevin Rudden, CEO of GARLAND Consulting Engineers.
• Elisabeth Hoffmann left APCO Worldwide in March, joining Danish company VELUX as its EU representative in Brussels.
• Shradha Abt, previously senior specialist in energy and climate policy at the BASF group in Brussels, has been promoted to deputy head of the Brussels office.
• Brussels-born consultancy GPLUS has officially become Portland. It started operating under the London-based political consultancy and strategic comms brand on June 4. GPLUS has offices in Brussels, Berlin and Paris, while Portland has a footprint in the U.K., the Middle East, Africa, the U.S. and Asia.

5 June 2020

• After five years, Paweł Świeboda leaves the Commission’s in-house think tank, the European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC), to join the Human Brain Project ⁩and become founding CEO of EBRAINS.
• After nine years, Shada Islam — a 2017 alumna of POLITICO’s Women Shaping Brussels list is leaving her job as director for Europe and geopolitics at Friends of Europe to work as an independent analyst-adviser covering Europe, Asia, Africa and other geopolitical puzzles.
• Flint Global has hired Stephen Kinsella, former co-leader of Sidley Austin’s global antitrust team, as a specialist partner.
• Klaas Knot, president of De Nederlandsche Bank and vice chair of the Financial Stability Board, has joined the Group of Thirty (G30) — whose members include former President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi.
• Aurélie Bladocha Coelho, the former director for communications and public affairs at the FTTH Council Europe, is the organization’s acting director-general as of June 1, during the interim period before a new DG is appointed.
• Jérémie Gallon, currently managing director of AmCham France, will join international strategic advisory firm McLarty Associates as senior director and take over leadership of the Brussels office in September. Anne Ludwigs will become deputy head of the Brussels office.
• The deputy secretary-general of the European Dairy Association (EDA) and secretary-general of the European Whey Processors Association (EWPA) Bénédicte Masure will retire after 25 years in the industry, handing over the leadership of the EWPA to Alexander Anton, who has been heading the EDA for the past seven years.
• Geysha González has been hired as senior director for programs and strategy at the Center for European Policy Analysis. She previously was the deputy director for policy partnership at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab and is also a Freedom House alum.
• Ben Schroeter moved to the Dutch digital platform Booking.com in Amsterdam as director of global public affairs as of June 1. Schroeter comes from Hering Schuppener Consulting, where he was most recently managing director in Berlin.
• Björn Ulvaeus, of ABBA, has been appointed president of CISAC, the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers.

29 May, 2020

• Hill + Knowlton Strategies this week appointed Philippe Maze-Sencier as its global chair of public affairs, as of June 8. Maze-Sensier leaves McLarty Associates, where he served in leadership positions in the business advisory firm’s Brussels and DC offices.
• Hill + Knowlton Strategies also appointed Kelli Parsons as its global chair of corporate affairs, as of June 15.
• Acumen’s Max von Olenhusen and Nikos Manaras join founders Elaine Cruikshanks and Giles Keane as partners. The firm’s third founding partner Abigail Jones transitions to a new role as head of communications at IFPMA. And former European Parliament adviser Matthew Hogarth will join Acumen as an account manager in June.
• Aura Salla started her new gig as EU lobbyist-in-chief for Facebook on May 18. As a former member of Jean-Claude Juncker’s in-house think tank, she had to get permission from the Commission before starting her new gig. According to Salla, she is not allowed to lobby projects she was personally responsible for in the European Political Strategy Centre, or Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s new personal think tank — called Inspire, Debate, Engage and Accelerate Action (short for I.D.E.A., in case you were wondering why the tortuous name).
• Richard Harrington joined APCO Worldwide as a senior adviser and member of APCO’s International Advisory Council (IAC). Harrington was a former U.K. minister for business and industry.
• Ex-U.K. Labour MP Emma Reynolds joins financial services lobby TheCityUK as head of public affairs, policy and research. She is a former Labour Party spokeswoman for Europe and was on the House of Commons Brexit and health committees.

22 May 2020

• Simone Ceruti will join APCO Worldwide as a senior director in Milan on June 1. Ceruti worked on consumer affairs at consultancy BOLDT.
• Bernt Bieber, the senior vice president of direct sales at Siemens Healthineers, was elected  president of COCIR, the European Coordination Committee of the Radiological, Electromedical and Healthcare IT Industry. Bieber takes over from Jan Kimpen, the chief medical officer at Philips, for a four-year term.
• Zoom Video Communications Inc. has hired Josh Kallmer away from the Information Technology Industry Council to serve as its first lobbyist in Washington. H.R. McMaster joins its board of directors.
• BCW appointed Jan Warp as managing director of digital innovation for its Europe & Africa region. He will be based in Munich, Germany.
• Disney’s head of streaming Kevin Mayer will become TikTok’s CEO and COO of the Chinese app’s parent company ByteDance.
• The French Federation of Telecom has elected Orange’s Secretary-General Nicolas Guérin, who will replace Arthur Dreyfuss from Altice France, as president from June 15.
• Patrick Kammerer is now director of public affairs, communications & sustainability for Coca-Cola in Central and Eastern Europe.

15 May 2020

• Francesca Stevens takes the helm at EUROPEN, the European Organization for Packaging and Environment, as its new managing director as of June 1.
• Paul O’Donnell, chief executive of Ogilvy EMEA, has been voted in as the new president of the European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) for a two-year term.
• Vanessa Chesnot joins the European Container Glass Federation (FEVE) as a product policy manager. She was previously head of the Energy & Environment practice of Grayling Brussels.
• Rauno Heinonen has been appointed as a senior adviser for BOLDT based in Helsinki.
• Daniel Schübel will represent the parallel distributors lobby Affordable Medicines Europe starting next week after three and a half years working at the German Medical Association’s Brussels office.
• Bernt Bieber, the senior vice president of direct sales at Siemens Healthineers, was elected president of COCIR, the European Coordination Committee of the Radiological, Electromedical and Healthcare IT Industry.
• Gerhard Cromme, formerly the chairman of the supervisory boards at German  Siemens and ThyssenKrupp, is joining the board of directors of battery maker Highview Power.

8 May 2020

• Frans Stokman joins Cefic as the new executive director of Petrochemicals Europe, one of its industry sectors.
• William Parker, a senior government affairs adviser in technology and digital issues, joins the strategic communications segment of FTI Consulting as a managing director in the Brussels office. Parker was most recently senior director of government affairs for the EMEA region at Dell Technologies.
• Former Eni energy and climate lead Vincenzo Conforti will join engineering giant ABB as head of government relations and public affairs for the European Union. He succeeds Folker Franz, who has taken the role of leading EU government and institutional relations at ABB’s Power Grids business.
• Gunnar Bender will become TikTok’s new director of public policy in Germany on August 1. Bender comes from Amazon and has also previously worked at Facebook.
• Jasper Nagtegaal has been named managing partner at Dr2 Consultants, succeeding Marlene ten Ham, who will return with her family to the Netherlands.
• Aura Salla has been appointed Facebook’s head of EU affairs in Brussels, starting mid-May, the company said. Salla worked for Jean-Claude Juncker’s in-house think tank, the European Political Strategy Centre, and previously worked for then-Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen.
• Olaf Zapke, the long-standing editor-in-chief and managing director of Thomson Reuters in Germany, will join Hering Schuppener Consulting in Frankfurt as of August.
• Eveline Metzen, who currently runs the American Chamber of Commerce in Germany, will become the head of government affairs and public policy in Germany, Austria and Switzerland at Google starting July 1.
• Alessio Grassi has left his job as director at FTI Consulting, and joined Akamai Technologies as a public policy manager.

27 March 2020

• Flint Europe is growing its Brussels team. Dan Brinkwerth joins as partner and COO Europe, and Padraig Nolan joins as a senior team member in the Brussels office with a particular focus on digital tech and financial services.
• Julien Pontier joins Brussels and Paris-based consultancy Euros / Agency as deputy managing director.
• Luiz de Mello from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has joined the advisory council of the Energy Efficient Mortgages Initiative.
• Hering Schuppener Consulting has hired Thomas von Oehsen as managing director of its capital markets consulting practice in a newly-created role.

20 March 2020

• Dominique Morel will be joining BOLDT as a partner in Zurich as of June. Morel was previous a partner with KPMG Switzerland for 10 years.
• David Storer has joined the European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA) as the director of research, innovation and new mobility as of March 16.
• Monique Meche will oversee Twitter’s public policy, government and philanthropy efforts worldwide. Meche has previously worked for Waymo, Netflix and Amazon.
• Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, DigitalEurope’s director general, has joined EIT Digital’s supervisory board.
• Chris Dobson, former president of Speyside, is now executive partner at public affairs and reputation consultancy Kesarev.
• Sarah Chander has joined European Digital Rights (EDRi) at the Brussels office as the new senior policy adviser.
• Former journalist Simon Taylor is now a senior adviser at Rud Pedersen Public Affairs.
• Claire-Marie Healy joins the Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE) think tank as project manager for digital and mobility.
• Jeremy Galbraith, managing partner at BOLDT, has been named the 2020 Entrepreneur of the Year for Public Relations in Western Europe by European CEO Magazine.

13 March 2020

• Chinese telecom giant Huawei is reshuffling its communication department in the EU office in Brussels. Yingying Li, who led communication as director for Western Europe since 2017, left to take up a role in the Shenzhen headquarters. Her replacement is Kevin Lichenyu, who officially started the role earlier this month.
• Robin Koch is now director of policy communications at Facebook after over seven years at Microsoft, most recently as director of communications, corporate external and legal affairs.
• Richard Sterneberg leaves GPlus Europe, where he was a partner for 11 years, to join global law firm DLA Piper to leads its global government affairs team in Brussels.
• Paul Walton is the newest senior fellow at Friends of Europe, working on the new alliance with Africa and international partnerships.
• Guy Parker has started as senior director in the BCW Brussels sustainability team. With 20 years of experience, he was previously at Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council, and prior to that at the European nuclear energy industry association, DG Enterprise & Industry and AmChamEU.
• Andrei Goldis has been promoted to associate director in APCO Worldwide’s London office. Goldis is currently on a one-year secondment in APCO’s Tokyo office, but continues to work closely on EU matters, connecting Japanese companies to the EU institutions.
• Andrew Canning joins BEUC as a senior communications officer. He was previously press and communications manager at WindEurope.
• Claire-Marie Healy joins the think tank Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE) as a project manager for digital and mobility. She was previously at GSMA.
• Regine Kreitz, the head of communications at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, will join EU climate innovation initiative EIT Climate-KIC as of May 1 as director of marketing and communications and a member of the executive board.

6 March 2020

• Giorgio Botta, previously a policy assistant at the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME), joined the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) as a regulatory policy adviser.
• Hanover’s Alison Woodhouse, Barbara Cooreman and Gary Cleland will lead its new 360° unit, helping clients embed sustainability practices into all aspects of their business strategy.
• Eleftheria Koukkou joined the international corporate affairs and communications team at Ogilvy Social.Lab as an account executive.
• Kolja Gabriel, head of the Brussels liaison office of the Bundesverband deutscher Banken (Association of German Banks), is now responsible for international affairs in addition to European politics as of March 1.

28 February 2020

• BCW CEO Karen Massin will be Google’s new head of government affairs and public policy in Brussels as of May.
• Brett Kobie, formerly the EMEA digital public affairs lead at FleishmanHillard, is the new strategy and creative director at Bump, a creative agency specializing in creating “experiences” such as escape rooms. So far, Kobie is working with clients looking to stand out in the European Green Deal conversation.
• Max Müller, currently a member of the executive board and chief strategy officer at DocMorris N.V., will take over as Bayer’s head of public affairs for Germany and EU as of May 1.
• Stephan Schraff, head of Bayer’s Berlin office for public affairs, will take over as the pharma giant’s head of public affairs and sustainability in Brussels.
• Volker Koch-Achelpöhler, who currently heads Bayer’s EU office for public affairs, will stay in Brussels to manage public affairs and sustainability crop science issues for the EMEA region from April 1.
• Michaël Cloots joined IBM as an external relations professional in Brussels earlier this month, managing the EU policy communications efforts for IBM’s EU team. Cloots was previously at FTI Consulting.
• The Wall Street Journal’s Emre Peker left Brussels (and journalism) to join the Eurasia Group in London as a director in the Europe team.
• Former German MEP Peter Simon is now the representative of the German Savings Banks and Giro Association (DSGV) to the European Union.
• Sabina Ciofu is now head of EU and trade policy at techUK, a trade association of tech companies in the U.K. She was previously with the European Parliament for nine years.
• Facebook’s former sustainability chief Bill Weihl has launched an organization called ClimateVoice to help employees at big companies press their bosses for more aggressive policies to fight climate change.

21 February 2020

• Bart Devos has been named European director of the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA)’s new permanent office in Brussels. Devos previously worked for Samsung Electronics as European manager for sustainability. He’s also been an adviser to the French National Assembly, and an adviser on strategy development and stakeholder engagement to several international organizations.

14 February 2020

• Jenna Luchman has joined RISE as account director, leading the corporate purpose advisory firm’s work on the EU Green Deal. Luchman was previously at Weber Shandwick.
• Christina von Westernhagen recently joined Johnson Controls as director of government relations for Europe. Over the last 20 years in Brussels, von Westernhagen has worked for SC Johnson, Dow Chemical and the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU.
• Robin Manning, a former civil servant at the U.K.’s agriculture department, will take the reins next month of the British Agriculture Bureau (BAB) in Brussels, which represents the interests of four British farmers’ associations in the EU.
• Sarah Lenczner, former account manager at BCW Brussels, has moved to Qualcomm as manager for government affairs.
• Maria Wetterstrand is Miltton Europe’s new managing director as of March 1. Miltton Europe is the Brussels branch of Miltton Group, which is one of the leading consultancy companies in the Nordic region

7 February 2020

• David Simón-Santiñán has left Grayling and is moving on to Uber as head of public policy for southern Europe.
• Vincent de Dorlodot is the new head of Bertelsmann’s Brussels liaison office as of February 1
• Arvind Krishna, IBM’s head of research and development, will replace Ginni Rometty as the tech company’s new CEO in April.
• Senior adviser and co-founder of Cambre Associates Aart van Iterson is leaving the group after nearly 14 years to join Brussels-based communications and graphic design agency Morris & Chapman as managing director and partner. Van Iterson will also step down from his role as managing director at the boutique headhunting firm Rtesian Resources; Ian Burns will take over as managing director.
• Carlien Scheele is the new director of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), taking over from Virginija Langbakk, who led the institute since its inception in 2010.
• Virginia Janssens has been appointed managing director of PlasticsEurope as of March 2020. Janssens has been the managing director of the European Organization for Packaging and the Environment (EUROPEN) since 2012.
• Henrik Henriksson, CEO of Scania, is the newly-elected chairman of the Commercial Vehicle Board of Directors of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA). Henriksson takes over from Gerrit Marx, president for commercial and specialty vehicles at CNH Industrial.
• Guillermo Beltrà, who oversees Access Now’s policy team, will join the Open Society European Policy Institute as EU digital policy lead in March.
• The Costa Group has appointed Rossella Carrara as its vice president for external relations and sustainability.

31 January 2020

• Susan Danger, CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU, has been elected as chair of the AmChams in Europe network.
• Goran Gotev joins The Software Alliance/BSA in Brussels as senior policy manager. Prior to joining BSA, Goran was senior manager of EU government affairs at Symantec in Brussels.
• Andrea Corazza, former senior director at FTI Consulting, started a new professional chapter at Biogen as head of the Brussels liaison office, public policy and government affairs.
• Rosa Balfour, a senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States will become the director of Carnegie Europe as of April.

24 January 2020

• John Frank, currently the vice president of EU government affairs for Microsoft, will relocate from Brussels to establish Microsoft’s new United Nations representation office in New York.
• Tech Ambassador Casper Klynge of Denmark will join Microsoft as the new vice president of European government affairs, based in Brussels
• Former Swedish MEP Cecilia Wikström, is now an adviser to the PR agency Prime, which is part of the global network Weber Shandwick.
• John Duhig has joined the BOLDT team as its newest partner in Brussels.
• Valeria Fagone has been appointed senior director in FTI Consulting’s healthcare team as of this week. Fagone is the former senior director of government affairs (EMEA) at medical device company Medtronic.
• Wai Hoi Tsang and Bogdan Bătrîn also joined FTI recently as senior directors within its corporate reputation team.
• Eurelectric has hired Bruce Douglas as director for business development and communications. Douglas was deputy CEO of SolarPower Europe for the past five years.
• Ogilvy Social.Lab makes three additions to its EU team: Paid social director Agustin Prats, social media strategist François Faggianelli and campaign manager Jonathan Lundberg.
• The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) selected ÖBB CEO Andreas Matthä to be acting chair of its management committee.
• Daniele D’Angelo has joined energy company Eni’s team in its EU representative office. He was previously at Engie’s European affairs department, in charge of public affairs and communication (H/t Parliament Magazine).

17 January 2020

• Bendt Bendtsen, former Danish deputy prime minister and EPP member of the European Parliament until May 2019, has joined the Brussels office of global law firm K&L Gates LLP as a senior policy adviser in its public policy and law practice.
• Grégoire Verdeaux leaves Vodafone Group to become a partner of Hering Schuppener, and lead the firm’s EU corporate affairs team and the Brussels office.
• The world’s largest cruise industry trade association, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), named Julie Green as vice president of strategic communications.
• Jill Warren and Morten Kabell have been appointed as European Cyclists’ Federation’s new co-CEOs.
• Samuel Laurinkari, head of EU affairs at eBay, will head to Helsinki in March to lead the global public policy team at Wolt, a food delivery company mainly active in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.
• Shiraz Dromi, former senior adviser for EU trade policy and agriculture affairs at the Israeli mission to the EU, joined Hume Brophy’s agri-trade advisory team.
• Ioanna Charalampopoulou, a European Commission veteran, joins the public affairs team of COCIR, the European Trade Association representing the medical imaging, radiotherapy, health ICT and electromedical industries.
• Thorsten Muschal, member of the executive committee of Faurecia, officially took over as president of the European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA) as of January 1.
• Peter Kurth is the new president of the Federation of Waste Management and Environmental Services (FEAD) and Valérie Plainemaison becomes secretary-general. Outgoing president Jean-Marc Boursier remains vice president, along with Cesare Spreafico.

10 January 2020

• Jean-Marc Leclerc is now the head of EU affairs at IBM’s government and regulatory affairs office in Brussels. IBM also expanded its team with two new hires: Gerrit Steinfort, who was previously digital adviser at Orgalim, and Amélie Coulet, who was a director at APCO’s Brussels office.
• Viktoria Vajnai is the newest junior partner at Dr2 Consultants.
• Ornella Cosomati has joined the PepsiCo EU public affairs team. Ornella previously worked for BCW in Brussels and for the European Crop Protection Association.
• Bruce Daisley, Twitter’s vice president for Europe, announced on Twitter that he was leaving the company after eight years to take some time off.
• Think tank GLOBSEC is opening an office in Brussels next week, which will be headed by Alexandra Martin.
• BOLDT hired Michael Kambeck as partner to set up and lead its German subsidiary.
• Noam El Mrabet left Interel to become a policy manager at Eurometaux.
• Elisa Cencig left the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) to join the Financial Conduct Authority’s international department as EU withdrawal policy adviser.
• Quentin Deschandelliers is joining the Federation of European Publishers as a legal adviser. He was very active on the copyright reform in the last mandate, as his MEP Marc Joulaud (EPP) was the file’s rapporteur in the culture committee.
• New additions to Rud Pedersen Public Affairs: Ilaria Lojodice joins as a senior consultant from Hume Brophy. Laura Vanderstraeten, from IndustriAll, joins as executive coordinator.
• Chen Lichtenstein, current president and CEO of ADAMA, will be nominated CFO of the newly formed Syngenta Group, a holding company which represents the consolidated agricultural assets of ChemChina and Sinochem.