Hadrien Valembois – Director, Policy – EMEA
From Mouscron (to save you the Google search: a tiny city right on the border with France), Belgium. Currently living in Brussels.
I studied Law, International Relations, and Philosophy in Belgium and got my first taste of Washington, DC, while completing an LL.M. in International Legal Studies at Georgetown Law Center in 2011-2012 – just a few blocks from the BSA Office. I walked by it for a whole year, completely unaware of its existence.
I began my professional career at Europtimum, a lobbying firm in Brussels, where I spent five years. Fun fact: Europtimum later became one of BSA’s consultants, which meant I had the rare pleasure of asking my former boss to do things for my eyes only… a genuine treat!
After that, I served as a Policy Officer at the International Trademark Association, also US-headquartered and active in the field of intellectual property, for four years before joining BSA in July 2021.
What attracted you to work at BSA?
The fact of being able to bother my former colleague, Matteo, every day in a professional setting. More seriously, I was drawn to the international scope, the focus on lobbying, and the great team I now get to work with. I also value having a healthy work-life balance because you only live twice.
What’s one piece of career advice you are still trying to master?
“Don’t rush into doing things fast – take a breath and some time to look at it again.” In other words, speed doesn’t equal efficiency. This dates back to my very first teacher assessment in primary school (I must have been six), and it continues today in my daily interactions with Thomas, our Brussels office’s director. Who said consistency isn’t a virtue?
(Spoiler alert: I will never master it… sorry, Thomas!)
Favorite book/podcast/long-form article you recommend? What did you learn?
“The Beast in the Jungle” from Henry James. I won’t spoil anything, but it’s a reflection on the need to make choices and actually live your life, rather than just exist and wait for something to happen before taking action. It’s about the choice between living and letting yourself die slowly.
Yes, that sounds vague, but I said I wouldn’t spoil it. Here’s your invite to read it.
How do you unwind after work?
I play football (the sport some mistakenly call “soccer”) three times a week with an Irish expat club in Brussels. With age taking its toll, I find it harder to last the whole two 35-minute halves – not quite the thunderball I once was – but it’s still not hard to enjoy the customary post-game beer(s).
I also read a lot, including fiction (French, Spanish, Latin American, English, and American), as well as politics and philosophy. The late Philip Roth leads the pack for my American authors.
If you could have dinner with any historical figure, who would it be and why?
Probably Al Pacino. To me, he qualifies as “historical” since he’s arguably one of the greatest actors of all time.
I’d want to ask him endless questions and hear behind-the-scenes stories about some of my favorite movie scenes—Heat, Serpico, Carlito’s Way, The Godfather, to name just a few—and, of course, find out why on earth he agreed to star in Gigli and Hunters (the sky falls down on me at the very thought of it).
Tell us one fun fact about you (that might surprise your colleagues).
If you picked up on the references above, you may already have guessed (and this will definitely not surprise my colleagues in EMEA), but I am an ABSOLUTE James Bond fan.
So never – because then you’ll have no time to fly – ask me who my favorite Bond is. They all are, each in their own way. Which way? You’re welcome to ask… but prepare yourself for a monologue that may last an hour—or more—on all six.
