My Job
I am Chairman at FIPRA, after having been a Partner and special advisor on transport and mobility. My focus areas are international trade and the future of mobility in Europe covering new policy & legislation supporting the transition to a new mobility ecosystem in Europe, which is more sustainable and smarter; I am also supporting the business practices dealing with Digital policy and the Green Transition.
My Experience
Before joining FIPRA in January 2021, I spent 7 years in the automotive industry as secretary general of ACEA, the European Automotive Industry Association, as Chairman of the European Telecom and Automotive Alliance, EATA and as special envoy road safety for the international automotive industry association OICA.
Before my activities in the automotive sector, I was active in the consumer goods industry, through a wide range of management positions at Procter & Gamble for almost 30 years in both Europe and Asia, leading legal, public affairs and communications. During that time, I was also president of the European Center for Public Affairs.
Besides my role as partner at FIPRA, I am also content director of the Mont Blanc Circle for Public Affairs bringing together global heads of public affairs from the corporate sector to exchange best practices. I am also on the board of the New Mobility Foundation addressing mobility poverty and on the editorial board of the Green Mobility Magazine.
My Proudest Achievements
Public affairs is all about building bridges between policy makers, stakeholders and industry players: one of the best examples I can remember to which I contributed was when I was chairing the Consumer Affairs Committee at UNICE ( now Business Europe) where, despite many internal and external challenges , we succeeded institutionalizing a regular dialogue between consumer organizations and industry at an EU-level, with the support of the European Commission.
Another initiative is the creation of the European Automotive and Telecom Alliance bringing together OEMs and telecom players to constructively engage on the digital mobility agenda with the European Commission.
My Education
- Master of Laws, Gent University, Belgium (1980)
- Master of Laws, Harvard University, USA (1982)
My Languages
Dutch, French, English
My Interests outside work
Arts, Literature, Walking, Cycling
My Favourite Brussels anecdote
When I was leading the European Automotive industry association ACEA, we were trying to get an appointment for the President of the Association with one of the Commissioners (no names to be mentioned here). The evening before the appointment we were told that the meeting would be cancelled because of other last minute priorities of the Commissioner, however once it was understood that our President was already on a plane to be with the Commissioner the next morning, we were told that we exceptionally would get 10-minutes of her precious time and that the rest of the meeting would be handled by her Chef de Cabinet. When we arrived for the meeting the Commissioner met us and spent only 5-minutes with us out of courtesy. The exchange was concluded by a picture between the two personalities, which the Commissioner posted immediately on Twitter to report about the excellent meeting she had had with the automotive industry!