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.

Journalist since 1968. Former German Correspondent, Industrial Editor and European Business Editor, The Guardian. Senior adviser CabinetDN 2009-17. Now: editor, Social Europe and sceptical.scot. Graduate of Oxford University (BA) and King's College London (MA); studied at Saarbrücken and Strasbourg Universities; fluent French and German.

Fabienne Zwagemakers is an Account Manager. Since joining Acumen in August 2015, she has been involved in various EU policy fields, including digital policy, healthcare, social, and environmental policy. For a wide range of Acumen’s clients, including DuPont, Mastercard, Novartis, MSD, European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG), the European Council of Optometry and Optics (ECOO), and the International Bromine Council (BSEF).

Fabienne has been responsible for monitoring, stakeholder mapping and stakeholder outreach, EU policy research, drafting content, as well as supporting press relations, social media and event support. She joined the Acumen team after completing traineeships at the European Commission (Radio Spectrum Unit, DG Connect), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Council for At-Risk Academics (CARA). 

She is fluent in Dutch, English, French, Italian and German. She holds a PhD Degree in Political Theory.

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.

Alex is an Account Manager at acumen public affairs. He joined Acumen in 2016, having previously been an intern in late 2015, a trainee and Consultant until 2018.

Since joining Acumen, Alex has worked on a broad range of projects for clients in the healthcare, transport, industrial and agriculture sectors. Alex has particular expertise on antimicrobial resistance, vaccines and Brexit, and also has a flair for creative work within the Acumen team. Alex has been recognised for his work at Acumen, winning the award for the public affairs industry’s Promising Newcomer at the 2017 EuroPAwards.

Outside of his work at Acumen, Alex is also a member of the Executive Committee of the young public affairs professionals organisation ECPA 2.0, and Alex is actively involved pro-EU movements in UK politics. Alex has previously worked at the central office of a major UK political party, including during a General Election, and has a background working on a variety of creative projects.

Alex holds a BSc in Government from the London School of Economics. He is a native English speaker and is proficient in Spanish.

Alexandra is a Consultant at acumen public affairs. She currently provides support for clients with focus on the environment and healthcare. In addition she ensures the good conduct of the office in terms of accounting, human resources, travel organization, external visibility, and there where she can make the team’s job easier. 

She has previously worked as Project Assistant for an association focusing on sustainable resource management for more than a year. She is a native Romanian and speaks fluent English, Italian, and has an intermediate level of 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.

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.