Our Team – Secretariat & Board

Dr Alexander Natz is the Secretary General of the European Confederation of Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs (EUCOPE). From 2008 to 2013, he was also Head of the Brussels Office of Bundesverband der Pharmazeutischen Industrie e.V. (BPI). Before, he worked as a lawyer at Sträter Law Firm in Germany with a special focus on managed entry agreements and licensing of pharmaceuticals. Alexander has also worked in the field of competition law with the European Commission and in the pharmaceutical industry. As a research assistant at Duke University (USA), he has dealt with international pharmaceutical law. His doctorate was supervised by the former judge at the European Court of Justice, Prof. Dr. Ulrich Everling.

Dr Oliver Sude is the Deputy Secretary General and General Counsel of the European Confederation of Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs (EUCOPE). He provides strategic legal advice on all legislative and policy dossiers relevant to the EUCOPE membership.

Oliver is a German-qualified lawyer with more than 20 years’ experience in the field of life sciences. Before joining EUCOPE, he worked with international law firms focusing on EU regulatory affairs, intellectual property, and market access issues.

Victor Maertens is the Government Affairs Director for the European Confederation of Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs (EUCOPE). Victor leads EUCOPE’s policy work in the area of Orphan therapies and Cell and Gene Therapy. Prior to joining EUCOPE, Victor worked for Brussels-based consultancies, providing pharmaceutical companies, trade associations, and NGOs with advocacy, strategy, and communications advice. His experience and interests include ATMPs, antimicrobial resistance, OMP, blood policy, and neglected tropical diseases.

Matias Olsen is the Senior Manager, Public Affairs and Policy for the European Confederation of Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs (EUCOPE). Matias supports EUCOPE on key topics, covering among others, implementation of EU HTA, advanced diagnostics, Real-World Evidence, the Patent Package, Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and relevant market access topics. He coordinates members’ thematic working groups, including the P&R/Market Access Working Group, the Genomics Working Group and the EU HTA Regulation Task Force.

Matias has previously advocated on behalf of European cancer patients and worked in the Norwegian Social Security Administration, with reimbursement of medical devices and coordination of social security within the EU/EEA.

Stefano Romanelli is the Senior Government Affairs Manager of the European Confederation of Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs (EUCOPE). Stefano supports EUCOPE’s policy work on the EU Pharmaceutical Strategy, the EU general pharmaceutical legislation and related dossiers. Prior to joining EUCOPE, Stefano worked for a Brussels-based consultancy, providing advocacy and strategic advice on EU healthcare policies to pharmaceutical companies, trade associations and multi-stakeholder groups. In addition to pharmaceutical legislation, his experiences include rare diseases, non-communicable diseases, supply chains and medicine shortages.

Dr Seán Byrne is Senior Manager, Legal & Regulatory Affairs for the European Confederation of Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs (EUCOPE). Seán represents EUCOPE members at relevant European Medicines Agency and EU institutional fora. He coordinates membership engagement through the Regulatory Working Group and several topic-specific focus groups, as well as in inter-trade association settings. His role involves guiding the development of EUCOPE's positions on all legislative and policy files related to medicines' regulation throughout the product life-cycle. Prior to joining EUCOPE Seán worked in Brussels-based trade associations and consultancies, advising innovative pharmaceutical companies on EU and international legislative and policy files.

Saskia Jansen-Kilian is the Accounting & Office Manager for the European Confederation of Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs (EUCOPE). As Accounting & Office Manager, she covers a wide diversity of member relations tasks as well as office management activities. She is responsible for managing finances, providing administrative support to the team, and assisting EUCOPE´s Secretary General.

Prior to joining EUCOPE, Saskia worked for the Permanent Representation of Germany to the European Union. As part of the office management team of the economic department, Saskia accompanied the German Council Presidency and gained insight into the procedures of the European institutions.

Cécile Etevenot supports EUCOPE on its communications strategy. She oversees EUCOPE's external and internal communication strategies, and supports the organisation in its development and new partnership opportunities.

Prior to joining EUCOPE, Cécile worked in Brussels-based organisations, as well as in the European Parliament, coordinating communication strategies on key EU decision-making processes, as well as managing press relations.

Guilherme Ursini is a Government Affairs Manager at the European Confederation of Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs (EUCOPE). He leads efforts in the Health Crisis Management and Preparedness Steering Group. Guilherme also coordinates work on other topics, including in the Clinical Trials Focus Group, and in EU industrial policies (e.g. EU Life Sciences Strategy). Prior to joining EUCOPE, Guilherme worked as a Manager at a Brussels-based Public Affairs consultancy, providing strategic advice and leading institutional engagement on a range of topics within the EU healthcare sector, i.e., industrial, innovation, and health security policies.

Leander Vranken is a Government Affairs Manager of the European Confederation of Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs (EUCOPE). He leads the Digital Health Working Group focusing on Digital health and other related policy areas such as the European Health Data Space (EHDS) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Leander also coordinates several other topic-specific focus groups such as the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (HERA) Steering Group, Medical Technologies (MT), and Real-World Evidence (RWE) Focus Groups. Prior to joining EUCOPE, Leander worked in policy research at a Brussels based EU affairs consultancy in the EU public health sector and worked at Dutch national and EU public affairs for several NGOs based in the Hague and Brussels.

Stefania Alessi is the Senior Policy Officer of the European Confederation of Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs (EUCOPE). As Senior Policy Officer, Stefania supports EUCOPE’s policy work in the field of Cell and Gene Therapy. She also coordinates the Paediatric Focus Group and supports multi-stakeholder initiatives such as RD Moonshot and Together4RD. Previously, she was the Medical Information Coordinator of the Novavax EU team at Propharma Group NL, a leading global, independent, single-source provider of regulatory, clinical, and compliance services serving pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies.

Before moving to the Netherlands, Stefania worked for five years as a registered nurse in public healthcare settings in the UK and Italy, working in interdisciplinary teams and developing, delivering and explaining care plans to patients and their families in neuro-rehabilitation, post-surgery, and oncology departments.

My Lan Nha Khu serves as a policy officer at the European Confederation of Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs (EUCOPE). She contributes to EUCOPE’s policy initiatives across various dossiers, with a particular emphasis on EU HTA and advanced diagnostics. Prior to joining EUCOPE, My Lan Nha pursued European Studies at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, specialising in International Relations.

Matthias Heck is Senior Advisor for Strategic Alliance Development at the European Confederation of Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs (EUCOPE). He focuses on partnership building and provides strategic guidance on legislative and policy matters.
A German-qualified lawyer with some 20 years of experience in life sciences, Matthias has extensive expertise in market access, including AMNOG negotiations, and policy engagement at national and European levels. He previously held leadership roles in industry associations, including as Head of the Brussels office of the German Pharmaceutical Industry Association and Legal Counsel at EUCOPE. Bringing valuable industry experience, he previously worked for a company in the rare disease space, where he built partnerships and developed a strong network within the rare disease community—further enhancing EUCOPE’s expertise in this field.