Advisory Board

Hans Martens, CEO, European Policy Center: Hans Martens is Chief Executive of The European Policy Centre, a Brussels-based think tank set up to promote European integration.
Born in Denmark, Hans Martens studied Political Science at Aarhus University and went on to become Associate Professor in international political and economic relations. In 1979 he joined the Danish Savings Bank Association as Editor-in-Chief and Head of Information. From 1982-1985 he was Head of the International Department of a Danish trade union, the Salaried Employees Federation, where he took charge of the organisation’s international relations, including with the OECD and the ILO. In 1985 Hans Martens joined the Copenhagen Handelsbank initially in charge of the Economic Department and later as Head of the International Private Banking Department. There he was responsible for economic analysis and forecasting and for developing the bank’s investment and capital market products. Since 1989 he has been running Martens International Consulting, specialising in international consultancy and customised training (including in EU affairs) for a number of major companies.
Eric Vaes, Vice President Public Affairs, InBev: Eric Vaes was until January 2006 Vice President Corporate Public Affairs for InBev, the world’s largest brewer.
Before joining Inbev in October 2002, he was managing director of Edelman Belgium, a leading US public relations and public affairs consultancy. He also spent 10 years with General Electric, where he held country management, business development and public affairs positions in Europe. Eric Vaes is a committed European who has been closely involved in EU Enlargement and Competitiveness fora (i.e. European Round Table of Industrialists) as well as in ASEM (Asia-Europe Forum).
Eric Vaes set up in February 2006 a new consultancy called “Best Practice Corporate Affairs”. He was Senior Vice President Corporate Affairs at ABB (Asea Brown Boveri) reporting to Percy Barnevik CEO and then Chairman Investor AB (Wallenberg Group) for whom he worked during 7 years, including as his Associate in the European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT).
Arnaldo Abruzzini, Secretary General, Eurochambres: Arnaldo Abruzzini is Secretary General of EUROCHAMBRES. The Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry represents 46 national associations of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, a European network of 2000 regional and local Chambers with over 19 million member enterprises employing 120 million people in Europe.
Arnaldo represents EUROCHAMBRES in most of the committee and public conferences where the representatives of the business communities are asked to deliver their positions. Especially active at regional dimension, he developed several tools and instrument to raise the understanding of the competition between territories in attracting inward investments. As last example EUROCHAMBRES signed an agreement with MIGA – World Bank – to promote opportunities of investments around the globe. A national of Italy, he has worked in EUROCHAMBRES since the date of his election as Secretary General in 1999.
Prior to joining EUROCHAMBRES in 1999, he worked as Managing Director of several companies active in the strategic development, marketing, communication and business advices. He’s a graduate of the Rome University “La Sapienza”.
Javier Echarri, Secretary General, EVCA: Javier Echarri, born in 1964, is currently the Secretary General of EVCA, the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association. The EVCA globally promotes and facilitates European venture capital and private equity. Javier joined EVCA in the beginning of 1999. Before that he was working for BBVA Benelux as the Institutional Banking Director in charge of EU institutions. Also, Javier was the Secretary General of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce for the Benelux for over 3 years. Previously he has held positions at the Spanish Machine Tools Industry Association and at the Grupo Mondragon.
Jørn Phigalt, CEO, ITM Europe: Jørn Phigalt - the founder of ITM Europe - is an international management and trade specialist with focus on PartnerShips for business and government in relation to the ICT sector and the global market. He is the architect behind the EU Commissions Strategy and Methodology for developing International PartnerShips, and has as a key-advisor in the EU’s Business Cooperation Network been active in the creation of many successful and long-lasting PartnerShips across the world. In his capacity as Chairman for the TransAtlantic Small Business Initiative - TASBI, he has been active in promoting trade and business understanding in the TransAtlantic Dialogue and to create PartnerShips in Research and Development, Technological Transfer and Government-to-Business relations.
Daniel Schaubacher, EBBF: Daniel Schaubacher is a management consultant who presently serves as representative to the European institutions of the European Bahá’ì Business Forum - a business ethics professional network specializing in CSR and values-driven leadership in 50 countries. His career has encompassed marketing, economist analysis and trade promotion positions at Nestlé, Lémania/Omega Watch now Swatch group, Bobst Machinery, and the US Department of Commerce. A native of Switzerland, he is the President of People to People Belgium ASBL (international recipient of PTP Outstanding Leadership Award), and a member of the Executive Board of the Brussels-EU chapter of the Club of Rome.
Philippe de Buck, General Secretary, BUSINESSEUROPE: Philippe de Buck van Overstraeten is Secretary General of the Confederation of European Business (BUSINESSEUROPE). BUSINESSEUROPE brings together 39 industry and employer organisations from 33 countries. BUSINESSEUROPE actively promotes and represents the interests of more than 20 million small, medium and large companies at EU level. Before joining BUSINESSEUROPE Mr de Buck spent 30 years with Agoria, the Belgian federation for technology industries, ultimately as chief executive officer. Mr de Buck studied law in Leuven (Belgium) where he earned a doctorate in law. He continued his postgraduate studies at the ‘Ecole Supérieure de Sciences Fiscales’ (ICHEC) in Brussels and he was an Eisenhower fellow (1986). He is involved as a member of the Board of Directors in ING Belgium SA/NV and BASF Antwerpen NV. Besides his duties at BUSINESSEUROPE and his involvement in the business community he is actively engaged in cultural life which he emphasises with his commitment to the Brussels Philharmonic Society as a Member of its Board of Directors.
Steven Price, EIIL: Steven Price is a graduate of the Engineering, Manufacture and Management course at Manchester University, one of the first of the UK’s attempts to establish a Masters degree course to provide for future Captain’s of Industry. He began his career as a Maintenance Manager for ICI on Teeside in 1987. He progressed through a variety of manufacturing and business improvement roles before becoming a Project Manager with ICI Engineering in 1993. In this role he spent four years helping to establish new business ventures in the Far East. This included managing manufacturing plant design and construction projects, working in Malaysia, Singapore and Shanghai, PRC. He moved to NL in 1997 to develop the Manufacturing IT project portfolio for Unichema, part of the ICI group, and moved to Brussels in 1998 as European Regional IT Manager for ICI Specialties. He has been a Director of Price Coventry Consulting Limited since March 2001, and provides services as an independent project manager and project management ‘coach’. He also works in association with collaborative working specialists McCourts, helping client’s project teams develop the necessary personal and inter-personal skills to work together more effectively. His particular interest is in improving the effectiveness of partnering in the project environment. He is a Member of the Association for Project Management and Vice Chairman of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Benelux Branch.

Current members of the Advisory Board

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