Team

Friso Coppes

Partner at Bureau Brussels

Friso is our expert on managing relationships with the EU institutions and stakeholders. His career in European Public Affairs stretches well into its second decade. Prior to the creation of Bureau Brussels, Friso was VP Corporate Affairs for Royal Ahold in Brussels. During his work in Brussels, from 1994 on, he refined his value-chain approach to driving the issues. This goes hand in hand with improving the professional image of the company and its executives. The leitmotiv of Friso’s career can best be described as issue-driven liaison management contributing to the ‘licence to operate’ of the organisation.

Rinus van Schendelen

Partner at Bureau Brussels

Rinus is a partner at Bureau Brussels. Thereby, he is also a professor in political science at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. He is specialised in European public affairs and has published over 200 articles and 30 books on this topic. His most recent book concerning public affairs is named ‘the Art of Lobbying in the EU’. As a visiting professor, Rinus lectures at universities in the US, China, the Middle East and Europe. Rinus is also experienced in training organisation, companies and governments on public affairs. Amongst others, Rinus has advised Glaxo, 3M, Philips, Shell, Siemens and ministries of China, Finland, Hungary, Oman and the Netherlands.

Astrid Smeets

Managing Consultant

Astrid has joined Bureau Brussels in September 2018, working with clients in fields such as environment, mobility and health. As a Managing Consultant since September 2019, she also responsible for the internal management and she assists our trainees in their work and self-development.

Prior to that, she gained experience in EU affairs through traineeships at the European Parliament, the Permanent Representation of Belgium to the OSCE in Vienna and by working on the #DiscoverEU campaign. She holds a Master’s degree in European Studies from KU Leuven.

Johanna Huuho

Junior Account Executive at Bureau Brussels

Johanna joined Bureau Brussels in September 2019, and works with clients in fields such as payments, digital infrastructure, and health.

Prior to this, she gained first-hand experience in EU policy-making through a traineeship at the European Economic and Social Committee, where she was involved with various policy fields. Johanna holds a Master’s degree in European Studies from KU Leuven, and has a great interest in a wide range of different policy fields.

Nataša Hemon

Junior Account Executive at Bureau Brussels

Nataša joined Bureau Brussels in February 2020, and works on topics such as digitalisation, energy and environment. She holds two Masters’degrees in European Studies and Public Affairs from Maastricht University and the College of Europe.

She gained experience as a Schuman trainee at the European Parliament, working on EU enlargement in the Western Balkans, and has been a trainee at the Bosnian Embassy in Budapest. Previously, Nataša has also worked as a project research assistant at the University of Zürich. In addition to her native Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian, she speaks fluent English and intermediate French and Czech.

Alexander Navračič

Junior Account Executive at Bureau Brussels

Before joining Bureau Brussels, Alexander studied International and European Law at the University of Groningen. After finishing his studies in Groningen, he pursued a specialised LLM at the University of Amsterdam, which focused on European Competition Law and Regulation.

Aside from his academic activities, he pursued various internships, both in private and public sector. Alexander is very passionate about EU, sustainability, geopolitics as well as business innovation.

Valerio Moneta

Trainee at Bureau Brussels

Valerio holds a master’s degree in European Studies from Roma Tre University and a bachelor’s degree in Foreign Languages at Sapienza University. As a part of his studies, he spent a semester abroad at Leiden University. Valerio joined Bureau Brussels in February 2020 and he is interested in digital and energy-related policy areas.

Previously he worked as a research analyst for corporate governance advisory firms in Ireland and the Netherlands. Native Italian speaker, he is fluent in English and Dutch and has a basic knowledge of German.

Adélaïde d'Oultremont

Trainee at Bureau Brussels

Adélaïde joined Bureau Brussels in February 2020. Prior to that she gained experience in EU policy-making and project funding through a traineeship in an SME in Barcelona where she developed her business skills and strategical thinking.

She obtained a Master’s degree in comparative History in Economics and Societal Challenges from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and a Postgraduate’s degree in European Policy Affairs and Project Management from the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL). In addition to her native French, Adélaïde speaks fluently English and Spanish. She has a keen interest in transport, sustainable development and energy policies