Vanessa Rey
Stato del Cantone Ticino
I have, for some years now, been very interested in the international, European, and business relations and politics. That is how I have decided to direct my studies and experiences towards an international activity.
My international background has oriented my interests and studies. That is why, in parallel of my French Business Law Master, I decided to take a first major in European Business Law, especially competition law, in get a wider perspective. My growing interest in these European legal fields oriented my next choice towards a deeper understanding of the European institutions and principles. One of the professors being American, I have seized this opening to write my paper (mémoire) on “The transatlantic regulation differences in competition law”. This year’s main focus however being agriculture and the Common Agricultural Policy, I chose to align my transatlantic interests with this specific topic in choosing my PhD subject.
These two directions have been very important in my following career choices. I indeed have a broad range of experience in the international legal sectors starting with Hoffmann-La Roche. Where my first in-house experience allowed me to use my gained knowledge on a practical field and offered another conflict resolution aspect, the second one provided, on the one side, a chance to use my European Law knowledge and, on the other, an insight of the public-private partnerships and negotiations.
I have successfully obtained my law PhD in November 2005, and have attended the French bar exam school to become a lawyer. This school’s program has allowed us a personal project period of six months that I have spent in Rome in the legal department of the Food and Agriculture Organization as well as another six months to spend in a French law practice. The first one not only allowed me to gather a better understanding of the United Nations’ institutions and system but, overall, gave me the opportunity to take advantage of my legal biotechnologies’ comprehension to analyze the World Trade Organization’s decision. The period in legal practices enabled me to drive different legal projects and work on some legal issues to be solved in court.
My job hunting gave me the chance to experience the private GMO understanding and management within Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont company. The different studies realized combined my private and public experiences and improved my political lobbying and negotiation awareness. My two last in-house positions made me aware of my fast growing interest for public-private partnerships and government and public affairs.
Through these different internships and experiences I appreciated the responsibilities, independence and trust I was given while working. To earn the freedom of a good team player, I took the initiative and proved my persuasion and influence abilities by exposing my ideas and determination soon after understanding the underlying principles of the organization. I am therefore looking forward to share my urge and will to develop further capacities.
My experiences and ability to thrive in high pressure situations, as well as my ability to adapt to change and different cultures, allow me to think to be an excellent candidate for a position within an international organization such as yours. Reliable, energetic, hard working, flexible and adaptable, with a positive approach to varied workload, and multitask with the ability to prioritize, very curious and success driven, I trust it is time for me to take on new responsibilities.
I am looking forward to have the opportunity to combine my abilities and experiences, with my will to develop my government and public affairs knowledge on a daily basis within a forward looking and environment friendly organization. My resume is enclosed and I would be pleased to provide references and examples of my work.
Sincerely,
Vanessa REY
42 contacts- REACH Regulation issues analysis and management
- European market access management
Communication, Legal and Government Affairs assistant (temporary position), Pioneer Hi-Bred, the DuPont agriculture company
2008 - 2008- Management of internal communications on GMOs and political events
- Participated in the design and creation of the company’s action and defense strategies regarding its national and European legal cases
- As the personal assistant of the Government and Public Affairs Manager:
o Contributed to decision making on government affairs issues and public relations strategy
o Undertook multiple studies including:
Assessment of the relationship between Biofuels and food prices
Assessment of the United Nations public–private partnerships.
2008 - 2008Pharma packaging regulatory affairs:
• Manage raw material suppliers to ensure that regulatory certificates, technical and safety data are up to date
• Update the Components and Raw Materials Pharma Database to maintain updated Customer Files
2007 - 2007Managed the legal aspects of the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) project:
- EU Staff Regulations: analyzed the European staff regulations and their principles to draft the necessary job offers for the new European agency taking into account the private sector’s efficiency needs
- Processes and Governance Issues Management: managed the hiring and agency set-up schedule project.
I gave up this function in order to prepare for the Bar exams.
Legal Volunteer, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) - Law and Development department
2006 - 2006- Wrote an article entitled “The implications of the World Trade Organisation decision on Biotechnologies on the developing country’s agriculture” in order to provide FAO staff with a fresh view on this issue. (This article led to another entitled, “A coherent regulatory framework in developing countries - a top priority for their access to green biotechnology with less economic implications”, that is to be published in AfriLex, an African legal review oriented towards a collaboration between academics and experts of the law interested by the African laws).
- Reviewed and proposed modifications to the West African Economic & Monetary Union (UEMOA) community sanitary and phytosanitary standards to bring them in line with international standards.
- Analyzed the UEMOA countries’ practices related to Non Ligneous Forest Products and proposed possible shared standards – this was the first step in a long term project aimed at establishing a regional trade monitoring institution.
My various modification and standard proposals have been studied and used further on in the program development.
Maximum UN volunteering period.
2004 - 2005- Coordinated a work group to optimize contract governance clauses in order to further reduce conflict opportunities and improve their resolution process
- Assessed contract governance clauses and established recommendations to improve such clauses in future contracts
- Researched and prepared a chronology of Roche’s licensing deals and an overview of partnership performance to track the departments’ historical deal performance, identifying deal making trends, and enhancing competitive intelligence
- Ensured compliance with European High Technology Transfers regulations by reviewing and correcting relevant agreements
- Prepared contract summaries for R&D personnel which were used to brief staff on the nature of agreements and their roles and responsibilities in partnerships.
I gave up this position to prepare and finalize my PhD defense.