Brussels, Belgium (April 28th, 2016)  –  Over 90 association and corporate executives gathered at EuroConference 2016 today in Brussels, to discuss best practices for associations. The event, which took place for the 16th time in a row this year, was hosted by the Brussels office of Kellen, the premier  association management company on a global level. EuroConference is the leading annual forum for association discussion in Brussels.

 

“The EuroConference is an excellent opportunity to learn from experts in all aspects of Association Management, to meet with  peers and  exchange  views  on  relevant  topics  for  trade  associations  in  Europe”,  said  Alain  D’haese,  Secretary  General  of  FEA,  the European Aerosol Federation and a regular attendee of the EuroConference.

 

This year’s EuroConference opened with a plenary session on ‘The European Commission’s Circular Economy’. During his opening speech, Hugo Schally, Head of Unit of the Directorate General Environment pointed out the main areas of action and priority sectors of the package.  Mr. Schally’s presentation  was followed by a panel discussion  including  Virginia Janssens, Managing Director of EUROPEN,  the  European  Organization  for  Packaging  &  the  Environment,  Juliette  Jacques,  deputy  Managing  Director  of  Starch Europe, representing the European Bio-Economy Alliance and Carsten Dannöhl, Caterpillar’s EU Government Affairs Manager.

 

The second plenary session dealt with the topic of ‘Strategic Alliances’.  Alfons Westgeest, Kellen’s Managing Director in Brussels presented the white paper Kellen recently developedon the topic and led the discussion following  his speech. Panelists were Jernej Vernik from Eurometaux, Louis Vareille, Global Public Affairs Director of Danone, Adeline Farrelly, FEVE’s Secretary General  (the European Container Glass Federation), Andreas Galanakis from AmCham EU and Adriana Nosewicz from Kellen.

 

The  2016  EuroConference  was  concluded  by  Peter  Rush,  Kellen’s  CEO  and  Chairman  who  shared  his  views  on  the  global association landscape and pointed out what strategic choices can influence success or failure for a EU, global or US association when considering cooperation across continents.

 

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Kellen  provides  association  management,  strategic  advice,  communications,  government  affairs,  benchmarking  studies,  internet services  and  other  professional  advice  to associations  and  corporations  worldwide.  Over  the  last  30  years,  Kellen  Europe  has gathered considerable expertise that enables the company to rapidly anticipate the needs of emerging or existing associations and to provide tailored organizational solutions. For more information, please visit www.kellen.com