Burson-Marsteller Brussels

Robert Mack is Chairman of EMEA Public Affairs and a member of the Brussels Management team. Previously, he was the CEO of Burson-Marsteller Brussels from 2007 to 2011 and before Managing Director of the EU government relations division of Burson-Marsteller.
Mack has been active in European public affairs and government relations consultancy for more than 15 years, advising clients on a variety of issues linked to European Union policy and regulation, helping them to understand the impact of EU developments on their business and developing and implementing lobbying strategies to advance their specific business objectives.

Mack has worked with clients in a wide range of sectors including energy, basic industries, security, food and beverage, personal care, alcoholic beverages, healthcare, retailing, and business-to-business sectors.

Karen Massin joined Burson-Marsteller Brussels in August 2000 after having worked in DG External Relations at the European Commission.

Before that, she worked at the United Nations, the UNHCR, UNESCO, the Conflict Prevention Network and the French Foreign Office.

At Burson-Marsteller Brussels, Karen is Chief Operating Officer, her responsibility is to advise the wide variety of clients on EU policy developments such as environment, consumer affairs, energy and IT. She also manages pan-European projects and communication programs towards regulators, industry, NGOs and media.

Karen Massin, born in 1975, is a French national. She holds a post-graduate degree in International Public law from Assas University in Paris and a degree in international economics and trade from the Paris School of Foreign Trade.

A policy, advocacy and communications professional based in Brussels, David Earnshaw has worked on European policy and political communications issues for 20 years, including in the European Parliament for six years (1987-1993) with the former chair of its Committee on Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection (Sir Ken Collins); as head of the Brussels office of SmithKline Beecham for six years (1995-2001) until its merger with Glaxo Wellcome, and as head of the Brussels office of Oxfam International (2001-2002), the world’s leading development and humanitarian relief organisation.

David joined Burson-Marsteller as a Managing Director in June 2002 and was appointed Chairman of Burson-Marsteller Brussels in late 2007.

He has also been the deputy managing director of GPC Market Access (1993-1995), and has spoken and published widely on European Union policy issues, including in the areas of EU institutional affairs, environment policy and trade policy. His co-authored book (with David Judge) The European Parliament, was published in 2003 – and the second edition was published in 2008.

David Earnshaw fought the 1989 European elections as a Labour candidate in the UK, has an MBA from Solvay Business School, Brussels (1993), and is a professor at the College of Europe, Bruges. He is also vice-chair of the Brussels Labour Group; and he founded www.ukipwatch.org in 2004, devoted to monitoring the (in)actions of anti-European MEPs in the 2004-2009 European Parliament. He was an expert health policy advisor to the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, 2005-2007; and a sherpa to the European Commission’s High Level Group on Competitiveness, Environment and Energy (created by Commission Vice President Verheugen in January 2006).

Jim Currie, the former European Commission Director General for Environment, joined Burson-Marsteller Brussels as a Senior Adviser in April 2007.

Jim Currie worked in the European Commission until 2001 in a series of senior roles. He was the Chief de Cabinet of the Commissioner for Competition Policy and Financial Services, Sir Leon Brittan, before serving as the European Commission’s Acting Ambassador in Washington D.C. during the first Clinton Administration. He was subsequently named Director General for Customs and Taxation in Brussels and then, on the eve of the Kyoto Climate Change Talks, became Director General for Environment. He led the Commission’s Team on the Kyoto Climate Talks and launched the European Emissions Trading Scheme.

David joined Burson-Marsteller Brussels as a Senior Advisor in April 2010. Before that, he was Deputy Secretary-General of the European Parliament.

David started his career in the European Parliament in 1975 as an advisor in the office of the Secretary-General and then held a succession of increasingly senior roles, including as an aide to Parliament President Lord Plumb (a British Conservative), as Spokesman for Parliament President Pat Cox (an Irish Liberal) and as Secretary-General of the Socialist Group, the Parliament’s second largest political family.

In 2007, he took up his final post as Deputy Secretary-General and Director-General of the Presidency.

David is a modern languages graduate of Cambridge University and speaks English, French, Spanish, Italian and German.