Francisco Mingorance

For over 25 years Francisco advises international firms and governments agencies on European and International policy and regulatory matters. In 1999 he participated in the development of the European Commission policy on the WTO TRIPs and access to patented pharmaceuticals in Africa. Francisco moved back to private sector and developed the representation of the Business Software Alliance (BSA) in Brussels where and managed European regulatory affairs for leading international tech corporations for over 10 years.

As founding partner of Europa Insights, Francisco supports several organizations bringing together leading European corporations, SMEs and research institutions, such as IP Europe (coalition for R&D and IP-intensive European-driven innovators) and CISPE (Cloud Infrastructure Providers). He also advocates for the next European budget (“InvestEU”) to include financing mechanisms to finance the intellectual property of R&D-intensive European start-ups. The goal being to make these enterprises more competitive and attractive for growth investors, without diluting entrepreneurs. (Press release here)

Dual Swiss and Spanish citizen, Francisco is a lawyer with an engineering background. He holds masters of the University of Geneva (Law) and of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL, Technology Management, materials and fuel cells department).

Lieve Fransen

Lieve is former Director, Europe 2020 Social Policies DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion at the European Commission and current senior policy advisor for Royal Philips Health, Plusvalue, Tiburg University, Bozar and European Policy Centre. She’s also been a Public Health Advisor to the Ministry of Health, Mozambique, Kenya, Rwanda and Cape Verde Islands, Task Manager of a research programme on pregnant women and new-borns in Rwanda, and Director of a research programme on sexual and reproductive health in Kenya and in the Tropical Institute in Antwerpen, Belgium. Lieve is a medical doctor and holds a PhD. Her expertise spans health and development, pensions, social protection, gender, employment and social innovation.

Javier Arias

Javier has more than 35 years of experience in the financial sector. Prior to his former position of BBVA’s Group Head of European Affairs and Representative to the EU, he has served as Senior Director of Corporate Development, Director of BBVA’s Strategic Alliances, Director of Investment Policy, Risks & Financial Controller of the Private Banking Division of BBVA Spain, Regional Head of International Financial Institutions, Head of Wholesale Banking and Treasury of GESBANQUE and Head of BBVA Belgium, among other managing positions within the Group BBVA, BBV and Banco Vizcaya. Besides, he has also participated   in the Boards, management committees and policy bodies chairing relevant working groups of relevant European financial associations and fora, such as the EFR, AFME, IBC, ECGI, TABD, ELEC, EPFSF, Ad –Hoc Council. He holds a Executive  Master in Business Administration by Insead (EMBA), a Post Graduate degree in International Commerce (Solvay University)  and a Master’s degree in Economics.

Damir Filipovic

Damir started his career in 1998 in public sector, in the Ministry of Communication in Croatia. From 2000, he was leading regulatory and wholesale business departments in Croatian telco operators. In 2008, he joined Telekom Austria in Brussels, covering spectrum, environment and m-commerce and providing support to South-East Europe operations. In 2010 Damir became Director of Public Affairs in DIGITALEUROPE. In January 2012, he joined the Samsung EU Affairs where he became Head of public policy. In January 2016, he re-joined DIGITALEUROPE as Director for Digital Economy. In October 2017, Damir joined Europa Insights as Director. He speaks Croatian, English, German, Romanian and French.

Simone Casadei Pastorino

Simone is a public affairs and communications specialist, with experience in both private and public sector. Prior to joining Europa Insights, Simone worked as policy advisor to a Member of the European Parliament where he focused on Internal Market and Consumer Protection and on Legal Affairs matters with particular interest in digital policies. Before this, he worked for GS1, the global standards organization, as public policy and PR manager. Simone has an entrepreneurial mindset acquired throughout the years as co-founder of Penrose CDB, a communication agency with offices in Bucharest and Brussels.

Simone holds an MSc in Political Science and European Union from the University of Amsterdam. He is fluent in Italian and English, with knowledge of Spanish, French, Romanian and Polish.

Simona Romeo

Simona is a highly experienced cross-sector communications specialist with notable expertise in EU public affairs, business intelligence and advertising. She has a decade’s experience advising clients, supporting senior leadership teams, delivering high-quality communications to different stakeholders including internal teams, managing client accounts, improving relationships and developing successful partnerships. With international experience in the Middle East, Africa and South America, Simona is fluent in Italian and English, and has a working knowledge of Spanish and French. Prior to Europa Insights she worked for international politics and policy media company POLITICO Europe      

Laura Lischinski

Laura is a policy and communication specialist. She started her career at the European Union Intellectual Property Office in Alicante in the Public Awareness Team of the Observatory, where she focused on grants, and communication activities. Before she joined Europa Insights, she worked at the European Patent Office in Munich in the External Communication Department. Laura worked in media relations and assisted in the preparations for the European Inventor Award. 

She holds a Master’s degree in European and International politics from the University of Innsbruck.

In addition to her native German she speaks fluent English and has a good knowledge of French.

Stephen Fenerty

Stephen specialises in content, communications, thought leadership and engagement. With a background in tech and communications, he helps organizations to formulate key messages and deliver persuasive content across multiple channels for external and internal audiences. Often working with senior leaders and through periods of transition, Stephen’s expertise spans thought leadership, campaigns, web, events, social media, writing training and coaching. Client work includes QinetiQ, Consultus (The Energy Brokers), Brown Thomas/Arnotts (Selfridges), DLA Piper, BP Lubricants (Castrol), SAS, Symantec and Vodafone. He graduated from the University of Manchester.

Rory Douglas Home

Rory is a media and communications specialist with fourteen years’ experience working on the front-line of EU regulatory, corporate and special situations campaigns. He believes in communicating with conviction and delivering research led campaigns that integrate online and offline disciplines to activate coalitions of advocates.

He has successfully applied this approach to deliver positive outcomes for clients with targets ranging from changing regulatory frameworks, to merger and competition decisions, corporate reputation, industry positioning, internal change management and funding or revenue growth.

He has worked with clients ranging from businesses in the telecommunications, healthcare, financial services, chemicals and biotechnology sectors, to cultural organisations, NGOs and governments.

Rory established the independent media consultancy Hekla Communications in 2016. Prior to founding Hekla, he held senior positions in the Brussels team of a global strategic communications agency, delivering successful campaigns for clients in a variety of sectors.

He also spent two years as head of communications at the Commonwealth Partnership for Technology Management, with responsibility for communications around high-level political summits in Malaysia, Zambia, Uganda and Tanzania.

Rory holds an MSc in Business and Management and graduated from the FTI Consulting International Leadership Academy in 2014. He holds both a UK and Irish passport.

Arnaud Jourdan

Arnaud is in charge of the visual department of Europa Insights. He pilots a team of creative designers to give shape and execute the campaign concepts. He holds a BA in Visual Communication and a MA in 3D animation – which offers him a large spectrum of production techniques. He is the Art director of Old-Continent communication agency since its creation in 2013.

He worked on hundreds of projects, conceiving multiple visual identities (EEB, COHESIFY, EPRC), 360 campaigns (House of European History, Seas at Risk, Flight for Survival) and videos. Arnaud will handle the Art direction of all communication tools, defining its visual impact, the project’s creative mood and supervising the production.

Marijana Butkovic Brcina

Marijana is responsible for organizing the administrative activities that facilitate the smooth running of the Europa Insights office. She has an extensive working experience in Office Management, Human Resources, and Accounting in both the private and public sectors at the EU level. Before joining the Europa Insights team, she also worked on various EU projects where she was responsible for Administrative and Financial Project Management in the fields of European integration, Economic Development and Sports. Marijana holds an MA in business informatics and economics. In addition to her native Croatian, she speaks fluent English and has a good knowledge of Italian.