Our team

Michael Hack

Michael Hack was appointed as Secretary General of BSEF in October 2021. He worked before in the FMCG, chemical, finance, health, circular economy, political tech, and start-up sector. He combines the experience as an inhouse lobbyist for 10 years, as the first Director of the European Chemical Regions Network for more than three years and as a partner and cofounder of a public affairs agency and senior consultant for five years.

In his free time Michael likes to travel and enjoys particularly exploring the nature of Northern Europe with his family and their camping van.

Bernadette Desobry

Bernadette is a multi-skilled person with a successful track record in supporting organisations in an international environment.   Entrepreneurial and proactive with good communication skills, she enjoys working in team and always welcomes the opportunity to explore new challenges.

She has a long and diverse experience in the mining industry, mainly in Base and Precious Metals, from sales of finished products to acquisition of custom feed, with worldwide contacts in complex environments.

She is a passionate traveller and will never miss a chance to discover new places or meet new people.   She loves sailing in the Mediterranean and skiing in the Alps but her greatest happiness is in family gathering.

Dr. Klaus Rothenbacher

Klaus Rothenbacher is a chemist with background in toxicology. He has more than 15 years’ experience in the field of brominated compounds and chemicals safety, including 10 years as Science Programme Manager at BSEF and then as Regulatory Affairs Advisor.

Prior to re-joining BSEF in February 2022 Klaus has been the Scientific Manager for the Precious Metals and Rhenium Consortium, mainly dealing with REACH registrations of precious metals.

In his free time (if any) Klaus has taken up brewing his own beer.

Patrick Fox

Patrick Fox is a public and regulatory affairs expert, with over 10 years’ experience, working with EU and international associations.

Having obtained a masters from Smurfit Graduate Business School in Dublin, Patrick moved to within FoodDrinkEurope, working on food policy issues, before joining the global service management consultancy, Kellen, in which he managed two Food Chemical & processing aids trade associations, as Secretary General.

At BSEF, Patrick has been strongly involved with international governmental and industry stakeholders and leads various Product policy related issues and fire safety priorities.

With a strong interest in water sports, Patrick can be found flying to coastal cities in Europe and further afield.

Beatrice Pepe

Beatrice is a young professional who joined BSEF in late August 2022.

She holds a bilingual (English-French) master’s degree in “Globalization and Public Policies” from the Free University of Brussels (ULB), where she retained a special focus on energy and environment.

Prior to joining BSEF, she worked for 3 years for the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) as Policy and Administrative Officer, dealing with climate and energy-related issues and organizing several in-person and online events and conferences.

Beatrice is fluent in English, French and Spanish and her native language is Italian.

In her free time, she enjoys reading books and comics, listening to music, and practising sport.

Harry Du

Harry Du has worked for more than 20 years in the fields of application, promotion and supervision of flame retardants. He has rich experience and unique insights on chemical supervision, especially laws and regulations related to flame retardants.

He has participated in the formulation and promotion of international and domestic flame retardant laws and regulations for many times, and has made great contributions to the protection and sustainable development of brominated flame retardants.

Erin Fan

Erin Fan has rich experience in regulatory management, and has more than 15 years of management experience and teamwork experience. Contributed to the construction of brominated flame retardants and protected the normal development of brominated flame retardants.

Christina Zang

Christina Zang has 10 years’ experience in administration and 5 years of solid experience in Public Relations. Responsible for planning the various activities of BSEF China, currently operating the public account of BSEF China.

Philip Howard

Philip has worked with business and government in East Asia, particularly Japan, for more than 20 years.  He is a former British diplomat, specialising in Asian affairs, and speaks fluent Japanese.

Before co-founding GR Japan, Philip was responsible for the Korea and Japan practice of a leading global strategy intelligence firm, advising multinationals on cross-border M&A, strategy and market entry.

He is a former head of government relations for a leading global pharmaceuticals firm in Japan, and has led many public affairs accounts and successful advocacy campaigns for multinational corporations, including chemical firms, in Japan.

Tomohiko (“Tommy”) Kinoshita

Tommy is a former Member of the House of Representatives.  Before being elected to the House, he worked for Mitsui and Co., Ltd. for 18 years and was stationed in various countries to work on trade.

As a Diet member, he served consecutive terms on the Economy, Trade and Industry Committee in the House of Representatives.  Tommy was also a Director of the House of Representatives Cabinet Affairs Committee and active in several parliamentary leagues, including the Japan-EU Friendship Diet Members’ League, and the Japan-China Friendship Diet Members’ League.

Tommy graduated from Keio University, Faculty of Commerce, and is fluent in English.

Raju Thakrar

During his 20-year career in Japan, Raju worked for some of Japan’s most prestigious companies.  He speaks fluent Japanese.

He utilised his chemistry degree from the University of Sussex in the UK while working at Nature, the world’s leading multidisciplinary science journal, to write about various leading-edge scientific developments.

Raju was a communications manager at Takeda, Japan’s largest pharmaceutical company, as well as Jatco, a Nissan tier-one subsidiary, providing him with in-depth knowledge of both the pharmaceutical and automotive sectors.

Karthik Shankar

Karthik has over 11 years of cross-cultural and cross-functional advisory and implementation experience with Avalon Consulting. Karthik works extensively with leading business groups across India, Middle East and Africa, and has executed a number of engagements for clients in the chemicals, automobiles, agribusiness and technology space.

Karthik is an Engineer and MBA by education. He is passionate about history and loves reading books

Premchand C.

Premchand has over 20 years of advisory experience with Avalon Consulting working with clients across multiple verticals including chemicals, automobiles, construction, agriculture, technology, and engineering.

Premchand brings to the table a proven track record for advisory and implementation in the areas of corporate strategy, advocacy, organization transformation, change management, performance scorecard and transaction support. Besides working extensively with large conglomerate and government clients in India and the Middle East, Prem has also advised various companies on their China and South East Asia strategy.

Premchand is an Engineer and MBA by education. He has previous experience in Supply Chain Operations in the Engineering sector and is a history buff with interests in cinema, philosophy and economics.

Philip Howard

Philip has worked with business and government in East Asia, particularly Japan, for more than 20 years. He is a former British diplomat, specialising in Asian affairs, and speaks fluent Japanese.

Before co-founding GR Japan, Philip was responsible for the Korea and Japan practice of a leading global strategy intelligence firm, advising multinationals on cross-border M&A, strategy and market entry.

He is a former head of government relations for a leading global pharmaceuticals firm in Japan, and has led many public affairs accounts and successful advocacy campaigns for multinational corporations, including chemical firms, in Japan.

Kunhak Lee

Kunhak Lee is a government affairs professional with experience of leading projects related to environmental policies and regulations including circular economy. Before joining GR Korea, he supported research analysis for Korea Studies team of Council on Foreign Relations, Washington D.C, and served as a policy staff to a former senior member of the National Assembly. He also worked as a campaign strategist during general elections and has been involved in presidential elections as a youth committee member.

Kunhak holds a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from Yonsei University, and is fluent in English, Korean and French.

Kyungjoo Lee

Kyungjoo Lee provides professional public policy analysis based on her deep insight and experiences in supporting projects across environment and public health. Before joining GR Korea, she served as a researcher in various policy research center and also a member of the Seoul Metropolitan City’s Future Strategy Meeting Committee.
Kyungjoo holds MPP from the Graduate School of Public Administration at Seoul National University and a LL.B from Tsinghua University and is fluent in Korean, Mandarin Chinese, and English.