Benelux business council Abu Dhabi

Barbara Farahnick-Mathonet

Chairwoman

Barbara Farahnick-Mathonet is the founder and president of The Art Circle Abu Dhabi, a group of women aiming at developing the Art Community. She is also an ambassador for Abu Dhabi Art Fair. Before that she worked for more than 20 years for Chanel France where she was a regional Sales Manager, responsible for the distribution of Chanel cosmetics covering the North of France regions. Previously, she worked for Estee Lauder as a Sales Manager for 3 years. She lived many years in Belgium, France, Luxembourg and now in the UAE for seven years. 

Joe Harrison

Vice Chairman & Director of Social Media

Joe Harrison is Shell’s joint venture asset manager in Abu Dhabi, and a director for the ADNOC Gas Processing joint venture. He is accountable for governance and influence for Shell, together with support for ADNOC and the Emirate’s objectives. His experience in Shell includes secondment to the Basrah Gas company in Iraq, management of Shell Gabon’s front end and discipline engineering teams, technical and project consultancy from Shell Global Solutions in Malaysia, and process engineering in the NAM, The Netherlands. Joe is British, and a chemical engineer from Cambridge University. He enjoys spending time in the desert, and private flying in Ras Al Khaimah. Married to Hermione, a banking and finance lawyer.

Emmanuelle Entringer

Vice Chairwoman & Embassy Liaison, Luxembourg

Emmanuelle Entringer is a Counsel at Arendt & Medernach and the head of their Dubai office. Arendt & Medernach are the largest law firm in Luxembourg and their Dubai office advises clients in the GCC and India on Luxembourg legal matters. Emmanuelle is a Luxembourg national and holds a post-graduate diploma in Commercial Law from Paris I University. She has been working in the UAE for over 12 years and prior to that worked in Luxembourg for various banks and asset managers. Emmanuelle founded the Middle East Working Group of the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry. For the last year she served as a board member of the BBC and was in charge of the relations with the Luxembourg embassy.

Thomas Chery

Director of Events

Thomas Chery has over 20 years of international banking experience acquired in Brussels, London and Abu Dhabi. He has been on the Board of the Benelux Business Council since May 2016. Thomas started his professional career in the Corporate & Investment Banking division of Deutsche Bank in Brussels before moving to London in early 2004 where he worked for RBS and managed corporate relationships in the Benelux region. In late 2008, Thomas moved to the UAE with RBS. In August 2014, Thomas joined FAB (First Abu Dhabi Bank) to head Corporate & Investment Banking in Abu Dhabi and is now Managing Director & Head of Global Subsidiaries for Abu Dhabi in the Corporate & Investment Banking division of FAB. Over the years, Thomas has amassed a wealth of knowledge in international banking & financing matters as well as the energy sector. He has an extensive network of business & social connections in Abu Dhabi where he has lived & worked since November 2008. Thomas holds a Master’s degree in Business Management from ICHEC in Brussels. He is married to Florence and they have 3 Children.

Laurent van Helden

Treasurer

Laurent van Helden has 15 years of experience in the international oil and gas sector. He is general manager for the Frames Group office in the UAE, a position he has held since 2009. Frames Group is a Dutch company that designs and manufactures oil and gas processing equipment for the upstream oil and gas industries. Laurent van Helden has lived most of his life outside of the Netherlands with long stints in Australia and India before moving to the UAE. Laurent holds a bachelor degree in engineering from the University of Sydney. He is married to Mirjam, who is co-owner of The Room Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi’s Fitness and Lifestyle club.

Jan Kamphuisen

Embassy Liaison, The Netherlands

Jan Kamphuisen is the Head of the UAE Office at Albright Stonebridge Group, part of Dentons Global Advisors. In his role he supports commercial and not-for-profit organisations in their engagement with governments. As a board member of the Benelux Business Council, he liaises with the Netherlands Embassy in Abu Dhabi in support of events and initiatives that further business relationships between the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates.                  Jan previously worked at a global risk consultancy firm, where he headed up the political risk consulting practice for the MENA region. He also worked as a corporate lawyer in Cairo and Dubai. Jan started his career at the European Space Agency, where he focused on the Agency’s technology transfer and business incubator programs.

Robin Vermaat

Director of Business Development & Director of Membership and Sponsorship

Robin Vermaat has over 18 years’ experience in Freight Forwarding in the Middle East and Europe.

Over the years, he has been responsible for Supply Chain, Sales Management, B2B Sales, Marketing & Strategic Implementation.

Robin has worked in Iraq for 2 years and is in the UAE for 10 years where he built a wide network of business connections allowing him to create strong ties and business relationships with internal and external stakeholders.

He holds a bachelor degree in Commercial Marketing & Communications from the Netherlands. He is the General Manager for a logistics company since 2017. Robin is married to Lana, a lawyer and Regional Integrity Officer and has a son.

Mare Visser

Event and Office Manager

Mare Visser has worked for five years at the Marketing & Communication Department at Amsterdam University College (AUC), the liberal arts & science college of the University of Amsterdam and the Free University of Amsterdam. She also worked as a digital marketing & social media specialist for different agencies in Amsterdam and Abu Dhabi. Since December 2019, Mare is working as the Event & Office Manager for the BeNeLux Business Council where she handles everything ranging from events, PR, administration to members and sponsor management.