The executive chair is seconded/supported by corporate members and co-Chairs if requested. The main responsibility is to represent the views of the Executive Board with EU institutions and senior policy makers.

Mogens devoted his career to European and international public policy issues. Deputy Director General, and subsequently Director General for DG Trade in the European Commission (1998 to 2005) he was the European Commission’s negotiator in the GATT Uruguay Round for services, intellectual property / TRIPS. From 2005 to 2008 he was Director General for Environment. Subsequently he acted as special adviser and personal representative of Jean-Louis Borloo, Minister of State for Environment, Energy and Transport, Paris. Danish national, he studied and worked in the UK, France, Switzerland, the United States and Belgium. M.A. (Economics), University of Cambridge; M.B.A., INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France.

The main responsibility of the SME chair is to represent the views of SMEs in the Executive Board and to relay them to EU institutions stakeholders.

Rubén Bonet is co-founder, President and CEO of Fractus, a European technology company specialized in the global wireless and telecom industries, named in 2005 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum.

Rubén has an MSc in Telecommunications Engineering and an MBA at IESE Business School. Earlier in his career he was strategy consultant at Arthur Andersen. Ruben summary of accomplishments are the spin-off of Fractus from an R&D university, the funding with €20 million of venture capital, the international expansion across US and Asia, strategic partnerships with large industrial corporations, a later-stage MBO and the negotiation of patent technology licensing agreements.

Rubén has been recently appointed Entrepreneur-in-Residence at IESE and SMEs Chair in IP Europe, representing European SMEs.

The Executive Secretary coordinates and supports all IP Europe activities.

Francisco advises international firms and governments agencies on EU policy and regulatory affairs. After working for the EU Commission on TRIPs-related matters and access to pharmaceuticals in Africa, Francisco opened the Business Software Alliance (BSA) representation in Brussels in 2000 where he managed public affairs for US Tech companies for over 10 years. In 2011 Francisco joined the partnership of an independent public affairs consultancy and since 2013 he manages with Europa Insights, a firm specialized in IP, trade and technology matters. Swiss and Spanish, Francisco is a lawyer with an engineering background. University of Geneva and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne.

For any media enquiries or for arranging a meeting with one of our spokespeople, please contact ipeurope`{`at`}`aspectconsulting.eu

Hassan has more than 20 years of experience in the technology sector. Up to mid-2009, he was VP of Sales & Marketing for Thomson Content Security, formerly Nextamp, a start-up company that was acquired by Thomson mid-2005. Before developing the Nextamp business, Hassan has held several senior positions within the Thales organization. He has a degree in electrical engineering from Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA) and holds an MBA from Rennes School of Business and Open University in the UK.

Patrick HOFKENS - Ericsson

Patrick joined Ericsson in November 2013 as IPR Policy Director. He works in the intellectual property and licensing unit of Ericsson and focuses primarily on FRAND related topics and IPR policies of standardization organizations. He previously worked for Option, a company active in the telecom sector focused on the design and development of products and services for the M2M market. As Corporate Secretary and Chief Development Officer his responsibility extended to the product and technology roadmap of the company. He also overlooked the legal function and licensing activities of the company. Patrick also acted as chairman of the Board of directors of M4S, a spin off from IMEC, active in the development of reconfigurable RF transceivers, in 2010 acquired by Huawei. Prior to Option, Patrick worked in private practice as Counsel at Loyens & Loeff. He has a master degree in law from the University of Leuven and a master degree in corporate law from the University of Brussels.