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Mr Patten has been responsible for many Brussels-based and pan-European lobbying and corporate communications campaigns, and over his 20-year career in Brussels has worked for a wide range of corporations, the European Commission, trade associations and the European Express Association where he was Secretary-General from 1994 to 2003. He has specialist PA expertise in the fields of EU consumer, food, transport, environment, financial services and trade policies. Regarding PR, he has specialised experience in dealing with the EU press corps, particularly on competition cases, as well as running pan-European corporate campaigns. He has a particular interest in EU-Japan relations, providing strategic expertise to Japanese corporations and ministries and regularly visits Japan.
Mr. Patten began his career when he joined the European Commission to work for the Strategy Unit of the Director General for Telecommunications, to assess South East Asian countries’ IT capabilities and their impact on the EU. He then joined an international law firm, Oppenheimer, Wolff & Donnelly, to specialise in EU telecom, competition and trade law. Thereafter, Mr. Patten moved to a British public affairs consultancy, IGA Europe, managing their international clients and providing strategic counsel to third country governments. In 1995, he joined Hill and Knowlton where for six years he ran the PA department of the Brussels office where he made a significant contribution to expanding the business to be Brussels’ leading PA agency. In 2002, he was promoted to Vice-President and ran H&K’s PA network in the Europe, Middle East and Africa Region.
In July 2003, Russell joined Grayling Political Strategy (www.grayling.com and part of the Huntsworth Group) as Chief Executive, and continues to be very hands-on with regard to client work.
Mr. Patten has a Degree in Political Sciences and languages from the University of Kent, a Diploma in French politics from the “Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris” and a post-graduate Degree in EU Affairs from the College of Europe in Bruges.