Washington (September 18) — McLarty Associates, the international strategic advisory firm led by Thomas F. “Mack” McLarty, III, John D. Negroponte, and Nelson W. Cunningham, announces the opening of its Brussels office. This will be McLarty Associates’ third office after Washington and Beijing, with people in nineteen countries globally.

Responding to the challenges created by Brexit, international trade tensions, thickened borders, and the changing needs of clients, McLarty Associates is amplifying its presence in critical nodes of global influence such as Brussels.

Led by Managing Director Philippe Maze-Sencier, an experienced Brussels player, our McLarty Europe office will reinforce service to its clients on EU matters and throughout Europe. It will also help European companies to access McLarty’s global platform to help them address challenges and seize opportunities outside the continent, from the US and Latin America to Asia and beyond.

Mr. Maze-Sencier brings over 20 years of experience working with governments in Europe, Africa, and North America, with a special focus on EU institutions and transatlantic issues.

Before joining McLarty Associates in 2015, Mr. Maze-Sencier served as the managing director of the Brussels and Paris offices of a major international public affairs firm, and helped guide global matters from its Washington office. Previously, he worked at EADS (now Airbus Group), where he was responsible for working with French and European authorities on EU-level cooperative defense programs and for managing relationships with French government leaders.

Mr. Maze-Sencier has led strategic communications campaigns supporting market entry strategies, mergers and acquisitions, reputation management, and CEO positioning, as well as offensive and defensive outreach campaigns. He has also worked with EU and national government agencies to advance mergers in the aerospace, agricultural, energy, defense, and pharmaceutical sectors.

Mr. Maze-Sencier will join Ambassador Jean De Ruyt, our Board of Counselors member, in Brussels. Ambassador De Ruyt was Belgium’s Permanent Representative to the EU, the UN, and NATO and served as Ambassador to Italy, Albania, and Poland, and is a seasoned EU strategist.

McLarty’s transatlantic Europe team includes:

• Ambassador Richard Burt, former US Ambassador to Germany and Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs who leads our Europe & Eurasia practice
• Philippe Maze-Sencier, Managing Director, McLarty Europe
• Ambassador Lee Feinstein, former US Ambassador to Poland and Senior Advisor to Secretary Hillary Clinton
• Frances G. Burwell, who led the Atlantic Council’s EU initiatives for the past decade
• William Drozdiak, a former Washington Post journalist and founder of the German Marshall Fund’s Brussels office
• Claire Kaiser, our Director for Strategic Initiatives who is a scholar of eastern Europe and Eurasia
• Ambassador Jean De Ruyt, based in Brussels, previously Belgium’s Permanent Representative to the EU, the UN, and NATO and Ambassador to Italy, Albania, and Poland

For questions about McLarty Europe, please contact Philippe Maze-Sencier at pmazesencier@maglobal.com