Welcome to the Young Professionals Initiative! The Berne Union's 'YP Initiative' was launched in 2019 to increase the role of young professionals in the work of the association by providing a platform which both promotes engagement and increases the value of our output for young, junior and rising professionals in the export credit and investment insurance industry. We have an annual calendar full of activities for the YP's to get get involved in and a dynamic group of 150 Young Professionals from across the Berne Union Membership for everyone to expand their network, share their experiences and learn from one another. This group is designed for the individual, not for the company, therefore as many YP's from one company can join!

The initiative is self-directed by a group of 'Core Group Members' who are responsible for setting objectives and overseeing implementation. You can find more information on the Core Group Members, below.

For those interested in joining the Young Professionals please download this New Member Form, complete it and send to Nicole Cherry at the Berne Union Secretariat - ncherry@berneunion.org



HOT TOPICS


The BU Pulse

The 3rd edition of the BU Pulse can be downloaded HERE. If you would like to contribute to the next edition please contact Giulia, g.riccio@sace.it

YP's - Who's Who??

To become more familiar with who's who, and to initiate your own networking, you can download the full list of 161 Young Professionals HERE

Hangout with us! 

If you would like to join us online for this months quarterly Virtual Hangout to meet, connect and share with all YP's, please register your attendance HERE


PROJECTS


THE GLOSSARY LINK
The Young Professionals compiled a glossary of terms relating to trade / export finance and export credit and political risk insurance. The definitions are collected from a variety of original sources (which are all linked for reference). Where multiple sources exist for a given definiendum, all sources are included. Where there is no suitable source we have provided an original definition. GLOSSARY
KNOWLEDGE LIBRARY
The Young Professionals will soon be invited to volunteer their efforts towards assisting the BU Secretariat mind map and redesign the new Berne Union Website, to make the information more accessible, like a library!
For those of you who have a creative mind and find pleasure in organising, you can volunteer your involvement in this project by emailing Nicole at the secretariat.  


2023 ACTIVITY CALENDAR

The YP Core Group has arranged a jam packed agenda for 2023. As you can see from the calendar here we have an activity almost every month of the year! We would love your involvement in any of these activities so in advance of each, the Core Group will reach out to you all via email to see how you may like to get involved.

Technical webinars are technical / educational webinars promoting hot topics, industry insights, and alternative ways of working

BU Pulse is a newsletter communication to the YP community via email to promote, inform and educate the community on upcoming events, new members, and different ways of working as well as new BU updates / organisation features and top tips!

Hangouts are exactly as they sound, they are fun informal catch ups on zoom to continue flexing that networking muscle between the YP Community, building connections and sharing thoughts of industry hot topics!

YP Annual Forum is our annual in-person meeting. It lasts 2 days and is hosted by a BU member with the objective to inform, educate, network, and provide industry / organisational best practices.


MEMBERS OF THE YP CORE GROUP


Laura De Bresser ATRADIUS DSB

Laura De Bresser

Project Manager Innovation, ATRADIUS

Laura joined the Dutch Export Credit Agency called Atradius Dutch State Business in 2021. She is a project manager and is also responsible for setting up and managing the internal project management office (PMO). In her role she works closely with colleagues from various teams as well as the Dutch state. The type or projects she is involved in can range from developing new products, new policies, improving internal processes and so on.

Laura holds an MSc in Environmental Economics and Climate Change from the London School of Economics. She has always strived to combine financial, environmental and social impact in her career choices. After starting off as a financial analyst at various impact investment companies, she made a career switch to project management which she felt was a much more natural fit to her personality and skills.

Giulia Riccio - SACE

Giulia Riccio

Associate, International Relations Department, SACE

Giulia joined the International Relations at SACE in 2017. From 2017 to 2020 she has been part of the team of the Secretary General of the International Working Group on Export Credits (IWG). More recently, she has been focusing on sustainability and climate-related practices of ECAs. She is also involved in SACE’s projects related to trainings to other ECAs or financial institutions. More in general she assists the IR team in the various activities related to participation to meetings, exchanges of information with other ECAs, benchmarking exercises, etc.

Before joining SACE, Giulia has worked for two years in Sofia, assisting Italian companies in their internationalization projects in Bulgaria. Previously, she has conducted some working experiences in public institutions, i.e. at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a liaison officer during the Italian Presidency of the Council of the EU, and at the European Commission as a trainee of the Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship. Giulia holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and a Master’s Degree in International Relations, from the LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome.

Moritz Brandenburger - EULER HERMES

Moritz Brendenburger

Advisor International Cooperation / Company Lawyer, EULER HERMES

Moritz joined Euler Hermes’ department for International Cooperation in February 2022. After completing is B.A. in Law and Politics at the university of Münster, Moritz joined the Berlin office of the UN World Food Programme and Geneva-based International Trade Centre (ITC) for periods of six months each. Based in Cologne, he then went on to complete his legal studies and bar exam with a work placement, among others, at a Brussels based law firm specializing in EU and WTO trade law. Before joining Euler Hermes, Moritz worked for one year as a lawyer in international customs law in Hamburg.

Karolina Stenberg - EKN

Karolina Stenberg

Underwriter, Automotive, Mining and Construction  EKN

Karolina joined the Swedish Export Credit Agency 2020 after her graduation. She is working as an underwriter for large corporates in the team for Automotive, Mining and Construction. In her role she works closely with the exporting companies, conducting credit risk assessments on various transactions in emerging markets.

Karolina holds a MSc in Advanced Economics and Finance from Copenhagen Business School, during her master she spent one semester at Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. She has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Lund University where she spent one semester at University of Melbourne. Previous student jobs have been within the sustainable finance space including reporting of a newly launched impact fund as well as ESG-ratings.

Emily Kate Gray - Berne Union Secretariat

EK Gray

MLT Committee Manager, BERNE UNION SECRETARIAT

EK is the new Manager responsible for our Medium and Long Term Committee, supporting the dialogue between public and private BU members active in MLT cross-border credit and investment insurance. Previously, she worked at BU Member Export Development Canada (EDC).

In her tenure at EDC, she worked within various business functions, specifically within the Technology Group, Corporate Secretariat and the International and ECA Relations team. In this capacity she built relationships with ECAs and managed EDC commitments with the Berne Union. She supported EDC business teams via OECD consultations and ECA intel to drive strategic priorities.

EK has a passion for trade and business and a strong entrepreneurial spirit, honed from past startup ventures. She holds a Bachelor of International Business (BIB. 2019) from Carleton University and is a Certified International Trade Professional (CITP®|FIBP®).

Nicole Cherry - Berne Union Secretariat

Nicole Cherry

Young Professionals Initiative Manager & BU Event Logistics Manager, BERNE UNION SECRETARIAT

Nicole joined the Secretariat in July 2016 and is responsible for all meeting and office logistics. In this role she works closely with Berne Union member hosts and external suppliers, coordinating preparation for General and Specialist Meetings across the world. She also manages office operations, finance and accounts and is the first port of call for all member support and assistance. Nicole has lead the Young Professionals Initiative since December 2020.

Nicole has a degree from Roehampton University and has spent six years working in Tanzania on various charity and non for-profit projects as well as gaining corporate experience working as the assistant to the CEO of East Africa’s largest company.