People

Elaine Cruikshanks has over 27 years of agency experience with Hill & Knowlton (H&K) and now with Acumen. She grew H&K’s Brussels office from 1994-2010 to the largest in the PA/PR arena, and in addition had the role of global public affairs director. Assignments have ranged across various sectors with a focus on public affairs and communications, healthcare, food, consumer, trade, ICT, environmental issues and energy. Her background is public affairs (having worked for the UK Foreign Office). Elaine has worked with a range of blue chip companies as well as trade associations, ad hoc coalitions, governments, NGOs and international institutions. Over the years, she has run Brussels, EU- wide and international campaigns for a range of clients. Past and current clients include: AstraZeneca, ABPI, NICE, Baxter, Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health, Boots, Bristol Myers Squibb, Coca-Cola, Daikin, Debswana/DeBeers, European Breakfast Cereal Association (CEEREAL), European Liver Patients Association (ELPA) European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry Associations (EFPIA), European Natural Soya Association (ENSA), European Partnership for Energy and the Environment (EPEE), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Global Fund, government of Turkey, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg’s, Lundbeck, LEO Pharma, Merck, Sharpe & Dohme (MSD), Mitsubishi, Novartis, Procter & Gamble (P&G), Roche, Rosneft, Stop TB, Syngenta and  Wrigley’s.

Giles Keane has fifteen years’ experience in EU public affairs consultancy. Prior to joining acumen public affairs as a founding partner, he was a Director at Hill & Knowlton in Brussels. His first role in Brussels was as a trainee in the External Relations Director General of the European Commission. Giles’ strength lies in his ability to combine traditional public affairs with other communications disciplines to provide integrated communications counsel to his clients. He has worked across numerous sectors and policy areas including food & agriculture, environment & energy, healthcare and international trade.

Current and recent clients of Giles since the creation of Acumen include Cargill Europe, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, Heineken, LEO Pharma, PlasticsEurope, Procter & Gamble and Syngenta. Previous clients of relevance include the British Poultry Council and US national renderers association for whom he monitored and advised on EU veterinary legislation, the European Sugar Manufacturers Association, Kellogg’s, and the European Whey Producers Association. Giles is an Irish national and in addition to his native English, he speaks fluent French and Spanish, as well as conversational Italian.

Agnès is an Account Director. She has over 6 years’ experience in EU public affairs and communication.

Prior to joining Acumen in August 2017, Agnès worked at gplus europe, where she’s been involved in a wide range of EU policy areas, including transport, energy and environment, European single market and its digital counterpart (DSM) as well as agriculture, fisheries and industrial policy. During her career, she managed pan-European campaigns, developed and implemented communication strategies and was always keen to develop strong client relations and tailored services. Over the years, she advised large multinationals, trade associations, NGOs and SMEs.

Her first role in Brussels was as a trainee in the European Commission’ Secretariat General overseeing the quality of Impact Assessments. She also had the opportunity to work on EU policy evaluation for the Sec. Gen.

Agnès is a French national. She holds a Master’s degree in “EU politics and government” from the London School of Economics (LSE, London) and a Master’s degree in “Public Administration” from Sciences Po (Institut d’Etudes Politiques, Rennes). In addition to her native French, Agnès speaks fluent English and Italian, as well as conversational German.

Nikos is an Account Director working with the company’s healthcare clients. He has 9 years’ combined experience in public policy, EU public affairs, communications and academia.

Having an in-depth knowledge of health policy, specialising, among others, in areas such as IP, pricing and access, vaccines, HTA, AMR and disease awareness, he has advised the company’s healthcare clients on public affairs issues and has led assignments on strategy development, in-depth policy analysis, media relations and communication, stakeholder engagement and outreach.

Prior to joining acumen, Nikos worked for the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV), where he set up and ran the EU Affairs and Media department. He has also worked in academia as a researcher and lecturer on negotiation techniques and policy coordination. He has also worked as an election campaign manager in Greece and as external consultant specialising on EU social policy issues for another consultancy.

Former and current clients at Acumen include Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, MSD, Roche, LEO Pharma, Eli Lilly & Company, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) and the European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG).

Nikos is also the Vice Chair of the Food, Health and Consumers Task Force of the British Chamber of Commerce (EU & Belgium).

He is a native Greek speaker, is fluent in English and an intermediate level French speaker.

Ana-Maria works on public affairs and communications for clients in the fields of public and global health.  She is involved in policy research and analysis, strategy development and advocacy, but also communication activities such as drafting press releases and blogs, or developing social media strategies for clients around policy milestones or disease awareness campaigns.

Prior to joining acumen, Ana-Maria worked for FleishmanHillard Paris, as well as with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania and the European Institute of Romania, where she helped national experts provide input to the Romanian Government on several key European policy areas. Ana-Maria holds a Master’s degree in European Affairs from Sciences Po Paris, and is fluent in Romanian, French, English, Greek and has a basic understanding of Spanish and Italian.

Maëlle Quintart is the acumen public affairs office manager. She has over 15 years administrative experience in the EU, Trade Association and Consultancy world. Prior to joining acumen public affairs as Office Manager in 2011, Maëlle was New Business and Marketing coordinator at Hill & Knowlton Brussels, where she had started as personal assistant to Elaine Cruikshanks. At Acumen, Maëlle is in charge of the day-to-day running of the office (accounting, HR, travel organisation, website, suppliers, translations…) and provides client support where her skills are needed. Maëlle is a native French speaker and holds a translation degree in English and Spanish.

Erik joined Acumen as an Account Manager in August 2018 with nine years European public policy experience. Prior to joining Acumen, Erik worked for the international trade body of amusement parks. Before that, he has worked as a consultant for over five years advising clients on all aspects of working and influencing the EU. Besides expertise in EU policy concerning counter-terrorism, security, consumer issues and EU’s external relations. 

He founded a non-profit event platform uniting the Slovak and Czech EU professionals in Brussels and managed events for several NGOs, political campaigns and causes. Besides his native Slovak, Czech and Hungarian, Erik speaks English and Norwegian.

Brendan Moran is an Account Manager in the healthcare team with over five years of experience in EU affairs. Prior to joining acumen public affairs, Brendan was a Senior Policy Adviser to the CEO at the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU, where he advised the Board and senior leadership on implementing public affairs and communication strategies and was responsible for briefing the CEO on European and international affairs. Before this, Brendan worked in the healthcare team at a Brussels-based public affairs consultancy and in the EU affairs office of a multinational pharmaceutical company. Brendan holds an MA in European Political and Administrative Studies from the College of Europe and a BA in European Studies from King’s College London. Brendan is a British national, and speaks fluent French.

Iveta Kazlauskaite is a Consultant at Acumen. Iveta was previously a trainee at the company, and prior to that she completed a Blue Book traineeship at the European Commission, where she worked in the Cabinet of Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis for Health and Food Safety.

Iveta holds a Master’s Degree in Development Policy from KDI School in Public Policy and Management, in addition she holds MA in European Studies from KU Leuven and BA in International Relations from Lancaster University. Iveta is a native Lithuanian speaker, fluent in English and proficient in Russian.

Laura Pascual is a Consultant at Acumen. Previously, Laura worked as a Consultant at a Public Affairs company in Madrid, Spain, where she provided support for clients of the pharmaceutical, digital and food sectors. She has also experience in strategic communications consultancy.

Laura holds a BA in International Relations and a BA in Translation and Interpreting by the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas. She is a native Spanish and Catalan speaker, fluent in English and German and has a basic knowledge of French.

Prior to joining Acumen in October 2018, Giorgos developed the outreach of a Washington-based NGO establishing its presence in US Congress, got an insider’s view on EU policymaking during his work at the European Commission, and helped to shape the advocacy strategy of a large multinational company on innovation. His policy experience includes working with trade associations, diplomatic missions, and NGOs in Europe and the United States. At Acumen, he supports clients on mobility, innovation and circular economy.

Giorgos has a Master’s in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies, graduating at the top of his class with a Fulbright Fellowship. He speaks English, French, Greek, and Russian.

Denise is a Trainee Consultant. Prior to joining Acumen, she gained consulting experience working on projects focused on transport, social affairs and employment policy. She now provides support for clients with focus on similar policy areas.

She holds a BA in European Studies as well as a MA in European Public Affairs from Maastricht University, the Netherlands. Denise is a native Dutch speaker, fluent in English and has an intermediate level of German and French. 

Camilla is a Trainee consultant working mainly with global health clients, to build on her institutional and communication experience. Prior to becoming a member of the team in Acumen, Camilla worked at UNFPA’s regional office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, focusing on reproductive health and rights, gathering technical national best practices from across the whole region. She has worked on research and communication projects (media relations, social media and events) for the Danish Embassy in Nepal, Danish Ministry of Environment and Food, and various NGOs including Alzheimer’s Association.

Camilla holds a BA in Market and Management Anthropology and a MA in Global Development from University of Copenhagen. Camilla is a native Danish speaker, fluent in English and intermediate in German.

Scott joined acumen in February 2019 as a trainee consultant working on EU health policy and a range of other client portfolios. Prior to joining acumen, Scott spent time working on European affairs at the Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA) where he focused on insurance, digital policy and the impact of Brexit upon British and EU27 businesses.

Scott holds a BA in Politics from Newcastle University and an MSc in EU Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Originally from Northern Ireland, Scott is a native English speaker who holds both British and Irish citizenship.