Putting focus on industry
Thomas Reynaert on how he came to spend most of his working life representing American companies in Europe.
It is almost by chance that Thomas Reynaert, a European to the core, has spent so much of his working life representing north American companies in Brussels. His current post, as vice-president for government affairs Europe for United Technologies Corporation (UTC), follows spells in similar posts for Nortel and Lucent.
He is determined to make the most of it. “There is something particularly interesting about companies that take a genuinely global view. Americans try to see things globally, so there is an educational aspect for me, telling people over there how Europe functions.”
He adds: “I was bitten early by the hi-tech bug, and many of the leading hi-tech manufacturers are based in North America.”
A Belgian by birth, Reynaert has master’s degrees in international relations from Antwerp University, in European political and administrative studies from the College of Europe in Bruges, and in translation studies from the Vlekho business school in Brussels. His early years of employment included a spell at the European Commission, where he helped run the European visitors programme – “a great place for learning about the institutions”, he recalls.
He is married to an American, although his wife, whom he met in Brussels, is of German extraction. He worked for a time for American Express in Brussels, but here again, there was a strong local flavour, as his boss was the vice-president for Europe, Julian Oliver – now secretary-general of Euractiv.com.
Headhunted
About the same time, his penchant for innovation and information technology emerged, as business development manager at the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association. Then he was headhunted by Lucent Technologies to be their director of EU public affairs.
His performance there led to an approach from Nortel, who put him in charge of their government relations and regulatory affairs team in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He says: “I had a direct reporting line to the CEO for Europe, Middle East and Africa, and I learnt to make government affairs more attractive in a company, supporting business development and sales guys in addition to the legislative monitoring that is the standard activity in Brussels or Washington.”
But when UTC asked him to develop its Brussels representation, Reynaert decided – after careful evaluation of what the group wanted – to accept the post. “What attracted me to UTC was the hi-tech diversity and solidity, and its serious approach to government relations in Europe,” he says.
Office expansion
UTC – which owns operations including Otis, Carrier, Pratt & Whitney, and Sikorski – operates in the highly regulated fields of environment, safety, aerospace, and defence. He has expanded
the office and is planning to widen his coverage to national capitals. “Getting it right in Brussels does not mean you are going to get it right everywhere in Europe,” he believes.
He is proud that he has “got UTC on the EU radar”, so that it is now invited to take part in discussions on areas from which it was previously excluded, such as aerospace policy.
He sees innovative manufacturing industry as a potential partner with European politicians – but he believes that industry’s capacity for initiative needs to be matched by a similar sense of European leadership. “I’m hopeful that the Commission will make a difference with its industrial policy,” he says. “We’re anxious to see where these flagships will go. Where there’s rhetoric, it’s up to us to help turn it into action.”