Claudio Murri & Dr Lukas Pfister Join FH Brussels as Senior Tech & Healthcare Advisers

FleishmanHillard is delighted to announce that Mr Claudio Murri and Dr Lukas Pfister have joined the firm as senior advisers to our technology and healthcare practices. Given the accelerating EU agendas in both of these sectors, increasing clients demands and opportunities for growth, we are excited to build upon existing expertise with these high caliber professionals.

These senior profiles will work alongside our existing team of senior advisors which include Chris Davies, formerly the coordinator of the ALDE  in the Environment Committee in the European Parliament, Jean-Arnold Vinois, former Director at DG Energy, and Günter Verheugen, formerly Vice President and Commissioner for Enterprise and previously for Enlargement.

Biographies

Claudio Murri is a globally minded business leader, with over 30 years of experience in Public Policy and Government Affairs. Throughout his career he has advised companies such as Time Warner, Oracle, Electronic Data Systems and the IBM Corporation on how to best manage the impact of regulation and public policies on the achievement of their business objectives, and he held various positions in Corporate Communications and Government Affairs in Italy, Japan, and Belgium.

 In 2013, he moved to Hong Kong and founded a new Public Affairs firm advising clients in Europe and Asia and working with administrations, political institutions and industry organizations across the Asia Pacific region. He also worked as an advisor on policy developments in Asia for the European Internet Forum (www.eifonline.org). 

A passionate networker, Claudio has founded, presided over or served as board member in some of the most influential opinion setting business bodies in the European Union. Among them, from 2004 to 2007, Claudio was Chairman of the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU (www.amchameu.eu), the key organization representing the views of companies of American parentage committed to Europe. He was also frequently called to comment on business and policy issues by a number of authoritative media outlets.

Born and raised in Italy, Claudio has lived and traveled extensively across Europe, North America and Asia. After graduating from the University of Rome, he was granted a “Government of Canada Award” scholarship, which allowed him to earn his Master’s degree from York University, in Toronto.

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Dr. Lukas Pfister worked for Merck & Co., Inc., U.S.A., for over twenty-five years, in various government affairs units, mainly in Europe and in the Emerging Markets. His focus has been on relevant aspects in EU policies and multiple national health care systems towards improving patient access to innovative therapies, increased disease awareness, prevention and management.  

In the run-up to the 2004/2007 EU enlargements in Central & Eastern Europe and with respect to Turkey, Dr. Pfister was intimately engaged with industry efforts to harmonize existing standards with those of the European Union in the areas of intellectual property, public pricing and reimbursement mechanism and regulatory.

From 2006-2009, as head of the unit government affairs, market access and communication of the MSD affiliate in Germany, Dr. Pfister was involved both externally, in national health care reforms projects as well as internally, in restructuring the external affairs organization to optimally meet the emerging challenges. Subsequently, his focus was on several pan-European initiatives and, in cooperation with various stakeholder groups, to find and establish new ways of addressing major pandemics, including hepatitis, diabetes and others.

As of 2015, Dr. Pfister engaged in developing strategic initiatives in the Emerging Markets, particularly in the Middle East and in Asia. His engagements with key drivers and communicators in health care spans from EU institutions, national governments and legislatures as well as international organizations to patient representatives, academia and media in furtherance of suitable public policies.  

Dr. Pfister is an attorney by education. He graduated from the University of Zurich, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences and holds an M.C.J. degree from New York University, Faculty of Law. In 1987, he was admitted to the bar in Switzerland, and in 1995, in the State of New York, USA.