Senior Advisor

Noel Clehane

Global Head of Public Policy at BDO
Vice-chairman of the Executive Board, EU-ASEAN Business Council

Noel Clehane is the Global Head of Public Policy at the global professional services organisation, BDO, and a chartered accountant with over 35 years’ experience in professional practice and public policy affairs. He coordinates the involvement of the BDO organisation globally, in regulatory and public policy matters, particularly on trade policy. He has had a particular focus on economic, trade and supply chain links between Europe and ASEAN for BDO and is a Vice-Chairman of the Executive Board of the EU-ASEAN Business Council as well as leading its Brussels Working Group. He visits the ASEAN region regularly meeting senior political figures and policymakers and leads engagement for the Council in Brussels with the ten ASEAN Country-Missions to the EU. He also meets regularly with the international trade committee (INTA) and Delegation to South-East Asia (DASE) in the European Parliament as well as with various Directorates in the European Commission, notably DG Trade and DG INTPA as well as the European External Action Service, Southeast Asia Desk.

Based in Brussels, Belgium, he is the designated BDO representative on the UK-ASEAN Business Council and a regular participant in its activities. He is a founding member of ASEANChamEU in Brussels as well as an active member of Asia Society Switzerland, the Belgian Vietnamese Alliance, and of the UK-Vietnam Network, Asia House, The Oriental Club and The Anglo-Thai Society in the UK. He is also a member of The Siam Society in Bangkok and a Senior Adviser to the European Institute of Asian Studies in Brussels. Noel is a Fellow of both Chartered Accountants Ireland and of ICAEW in the UK (where he was a Council Member 2014-2021 and is currently a member of its Technical Strategy Board). He holds other advanced qualifications from The Law Society Ireland, Insead Paris, the Institute of Risk Management, Florida Atlantic University and Zurich University of Applied Sciences. He was Chairman of the European Services Forum from October 2017 until December 2021 and is its representative on the EU-Vietnam Domestic Advisory Group for the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement. He is also a member of the Business at OECD (BIAC) Southeast Asia Contact Group.