The team
Jérôme Auriac, founder and CEO of Be-linked Business & Community Intelligence
After five years in sales and marketing for the editorial group Wolters Kluwer, Jérôme became the commercial director of Novethic (a resource center for CSR issues and Sustainable Development) in 2001. In 2003, he joined the agency Manifeste as associate director. Specialized in sustainable development and business-NGOs partnerships, he created the website wwo.fr, the first online database with information about NGOs worldwide in order to facilitate public-private partnerships. In 2008, he founded Be-linked, Business & Community Intelligence, a consultancy firm specialized in business and civil society organizations relationship. Jerome teaches in business schools (at HEC: MS Sustainable Development, Business & Poverty Social Business Chair; at ESSEC : General management for Social Economy), business associations on the themes of CSR, NGO networks (Coordination SUD), as well as in educational institutions or foreign research institutes (such as the Natural Capital Institute or the Getulio Vargas Foundation) . President of a development NGO working in Brazil and fluent in Portuguese, he is also a board member of Foundations, NGOs and specialized think tanks such as the Planet Workshops.
Sarah Ertel, Consultant
After three-years studies in French Literature and Political Sciences, Sarah started a master’s degree at Le Celsa, the Paris school for high studies in information and communication. During these years, she also went to New York to study media and marketing. Having graduated in advertising and marketing, Sarah specialized in semeiological research and ethical fashion. This study has been her first step into sustainable development issues.
She then joined the communication agency Enjoy as a strategic planner specialized in CSR and brand positioning. She worked for several clients such as MVE Foundation, Saint-Gobain, Havaianas, Accor and Bressor.
As a project manager, Sarah has been involved several years in the design, the funding and the implementation of a cultural center in Bagbe, Togo. This experience brought her to development issues.
Today at Be-Linked she is specifically in charge of the international issue of ethical fashion and NGO.
Marie Antonelle Joubert, Senior Consultant
Educated as a sociologist, Marie Antonelle has led networks of cooperation, education to development, and international solidarity in Europe, Middle East and Latin America during the last twelve years.
Since university, that she attended in France, Arabic world and America, she studied and then participated in the development of numerous cultural projects, mainly audio-visual, working on and with marginal movements: graffiti groups in New York, which she chose as her sociology specialization subject, favelas’ political and cultural manifestations in Rio, and off-beat videos with the artistic group Kourtrajmé.
Consultant and coordinator for numerous NGOs and organizations, Marie-Antonelle has developed a deep knowledge of civil society issues, from development organizations to international solidarity movements and local communities.
Fluent in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French, she regularly participates to Social Forums as an activist, network coordinator or documentary maker.
During her studies, Krisztina spent time in Toronto (Canada), where she helped an NGO define its business strategy. After obtaining her MBA, Krisztina started as a communication project manager in the Chantelle Group. She then joined Veolia Environnement as a training projects manager (in charge of the training of the Group’s financial, legal and purchasing managers). During three years, she gained an expertise about change management, international implementation of large scale projects, and skills development. As the treasurer of Abaquar-Paris, an NGO acting for poverty reduction through the support of social business projects in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and through her participation in reflection groups on CSR, she shows a real interest in social entrepreneurship, and issues such as “social impact assessment”. Krisztina fluently speaks French, Hungarian, English, Spanish, and German.
Juliette Van Wassenhove, Senior consultant
Trained as a social scientist by some of the top French schools and universities in Humanities (École Normale Supérieure, Sciences Po Paris), Juliette spent six years researching the various roles and aspects of civil society in Southeast Asia, with Malaysia as her main case study, fieldworking in English and Malay .
Juliette has taught History, Political Science and Sociology classes in French and English at various institutions, including University of Auvergne and the Institute of Political Science (Sciences Po) in Paris.
During that period, she also acted as a Coordinator for a Southeast Asia Strategic Watch for the Ministry of Defense, managing international research projects, organizing international meetings and writing briefings on political affairs in the region and Yearly Synthesis Reports.
She has also been an expert panelist, a political analyst and a consultant with various firms and media, both French and international, before joining Be-Linked as a Senior Consultant and Head of Publications.