The Council of EuRA 2009 - 2010

Helmut Berg EuRA President

Helmut Berg, born in March 1945, lives and works in Frankfurt/Main, Germany. Most of his business life has been spent working for German companies owned by US corporations. He is an expert in marketing and franchising for service oriented products.

Helmut has been in the relocation industry since 1987 when he started as General Manager for PHH Homequity in Germany. In 1990 he founded RSB Deutschland, a leading relocation provider in Germany. He is one of the promoters of the relocation industry in Germany and has strongly supported the formation of EuRA. Prior to that Helmut was a member of the ARP and still is.

Helmut has been in relocation for 17 years and feels that serving EuRA will help him to give something back. Helmut believes he has the skills to drive EuRA forward and increase its success as the mouthpiece for the European Industry. Helmut’s extensive experience in international relocation along with his experience in marketing will be an asset to the council.

As well as being the President, Helmut is also the PR Liaison for EuRA.  You can contact Helmut at helmut.berg@eura-relocation.com

Kathryn Andrews EuRA Vice President

Kathryn Andrews of ABC Relocation, joined the EuRA Council as representative for the Benelux region in 2006. Kathryn has a great deal of experience in domestic and international relocation, having been Managing Director of Andrews Blakeway Consult for over 8 years.

The company is based in Belgium but has offices also in the UK.

As well as being the Vice President, Kathryn is also the Membership Liaison for EuRA.

Sabine Baerlocher (Central Region)

Sabine Baerlocher is the owner and CEO of Active Relocation, Switzerland, based in Geneva.  Sabine studied law at Geneva University and after graduating in 1993, spent time working in the US.  On returning to Switzerland, she continued her professional career managing the real estate and expansion department of a branch company from the second largest Swiss retailer (Simeco Management, Coop Group).  In 2000 she was invited to join the Board of that company and subsequently bought Active Relocation.   

In 2008 Sabine was appointed by the Swiss government as a member of the Forum SME, an expert commission representing the interests of small and medium enterprises.  Sabine is a past president president of the boards of TIRA, The International Relocation Associates, and of SARA, the Swiss Association for Relocation Agents.  She has achieved her CERP3 designation, one of only 14 relocation professionals globally. 

Jon Harman (Eastern Region)

I joined Move One Relocations in the summer of 2005 as a consultant conducting home searches in Budapest.  Within a few months, I was presented with the opportunity take on the coordination of destination services for all Move One locations.  

Since that time, we have seen our two person coordination team (my colleague, Kasia Pinska handles the immigration side) expand to 15 and counting, and I have taken on the responsibilities of Group Operations Manager.  I have not been in this business for long, but supporting our local offices and our clients during this exciting growth phase has been a tremendous education in our challenging and rewarding industry.  I was introduced to EuRA at the 2006 convention in Budapest and I have truly enjoyed the sense of community fostered by EuRA via their conferences and other activities.  I welcome the opportunity to represent Eastern Europe as we work to support and promote EuRA Members and the industry as whole.

Åse Löfgren Gunsten (Northern Region)

Åse was voted onto the EuRA Council in 2006 as representative for the Northern Region. Being a member of EuRA and participating in the various trainings and events, meeting other managers, participating in the networking EuRA provides has been very positive and helped develop the company into what it is today. Åse’s main interest has been in the area of training and education. Today she heads the training committee of EuRA and is the EuRA representative at EARP (European Academy of Relocation Professionals). 

Åse is the owner and CEO of Nordic Relocation Group. She is born in Norway and grew up in the Philippines.  She holds a Swedish degree in Nursing from the Red Cross School of Nursing and also a degree from the Stockholm University in Human Resource Management. Åse has been in the relocation industry since 1993. Today Nordic Relocation Group has their own offices in the three major cities of Sweden; Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö. In April 2008 Nordic Relocation, as the first relocation company in Sweden  to receive the EuRA Quality Seal, a quality certification offering our clients  guaranteed high standard of inbound as well as outbound relocation services.

Christine Martin (Southern Region)

Born in Paris, of dual Spanish-French nationality, Christine studied law at the University of Barcelona and is fluent in French, Spanish, English, and Swedish as well as having working knowledge of Catalan. She lived and studied in Stockholm, Sweden for three years.

Over the years she founded and managed two textile companies selling finished garments to the United States, France, and Scandinavia. Then, together with her late husband John Barclay, an American businessman started a service company called Olympic Advisors S.L. (OASL) in 1988 for the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games which she is now managing full time.

Olympic Advisors has since established itself in the market as a leading DSP company in Spain, has been an active member of EuRA for over ten years and plans on playing an important role in the relocation industry for many years to come.

Patrick Oman (Northern Region)

Patrick is a veteran of the relocation industry. Prior to his involvement with IrishRelo, which itself was one of the pioneers in Ireland having been established in 1994, Patrick served on the board of OMNI the Overseas Moving Network International and was President of that organisation from 2000 to 2002.

He became managing director of IrishRelo in 2002 and has been fully engaged in relocation since. Patrick joined ERC in 1996 and EURA prior to their Dublin conference, when IrishRelo was Gold Sponsor. He has been invited onto various industry committees and is currently on the editorial advisory panel of “Mobility”.

As a strong supporter of the EARP and EURA Quality Seal Initiatives, Patrick is a CERP Level 2 and IrishRelo is among the first to achieve the Quality Seal accreditation.

Isabel Reis (Southern Region)

Isabel Reis, Triplicado’s Senior Partner and Manager started life as a third culture kid in Angola. Isabel finished her higher education in Translation and Portuguese Language and Culture, at Lisbon University. She also studied at the French Institute and British Council, achieving full qualifications for teaching Portuguese to relocatees to Portugal.

In 1987 Isabel began teaching expatriates Portuguese Language and Culture, at the same time as working with a government sponsored relocation initiative.

In 1992, she became Lead Teacher in the AUTOEUROPA Ford / Volkswagen project to 200 families moving to Portugal. This involved taking over all teaching and translation activities, employing around 30 teachers, consultants, technical translators and interpreters.

To facilitate these activities and to meet the strong demand for relocation services, Isabel formed Triplicado Relocation. In 2000 Triplicado took-over Portugal Relocation, their main competitor and have since became the accredited Portuguese representative for the largest international relocation companies as well as direct clients.

Sylvie Schmit Verbrugghen (Benelux)

Sylvie Schmit-Verbrugghen is the founder and Managing Director of European Relocation Services S.A. in Luxembourg. Sylvie is a Belgian national, married to a Luxembourger and has lived in the Grand Duchy for 24 years. She is a Languages and Economics graduate and worked in the relocation industry for more than 15 years before setting up her own company in 2004. The company has been awarded the coveted Quality Seal and is proud to be a member of TIRA, HROne, Worldwide ERC, European Management Assistants and AMCHAM. ERS is also proud to have been awarded “Best Ex-Pat Services” by HROne for 2007, 2008 and 2009.She is on the board of directors of AMCHAM, an international voluntary organization of business and professional persons committed to fostering business relations between the United States and Luxembourg. Sylvie is also a regular contributor to successive editions of “Living in Luxembourg”, a book published by the American Women’s Club of Luxembourg. With the introduction of the new European Union immigration legislation in October 2008 Sylvie worked closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Immigration Service in studying the implications for third-country nationals and helped to iron out many of the problems associated with its initial implementation. She subsequently presented a seminar aimed at HR managers in January 2009 entitled “Novelties in the New Immigration Law”.In 2008 Sylvie was a juror on the panel of the “Creative Young Entrepreneur Luxembourg” competition.In her spare time she is an active member of Zonta International, a global organization of executives and professionals working together to advance the status of women worldwide through service and advocacy.Sylvie aims to use her experience and expertise to promote EuRA and the relocation industry worldwide, to foster better understanding and cooperation between HR managers and the industry, and to share best practice within EuRA, as well as strengthening the relationships between the member countries and helping them with any challenges they may face.