Our Team

The EHF's Secretariat is run by a small and dynamic team of three staff members with different experience and backgrounds.

• Hervé Parmentier – Executive Director

  herve.parmentier@laicite.net / +32 2 627 68 31

  Hervé graduated in political science and international law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and pursued a career in politics.

  He held several positions at the Emile Vandervelde Institute, a research center of the Belgian Socialist Party and headed several ministerial cabinets including that of the Belgian Prime Minister between 2011 and 2014.

  He sees secularism as a requirement for democracy, an essential condition to guarantee the exercise of rights and freedoms and to achieve equality and solidarity between citizens.

• Julie Pernet – Policy

  julie.pernet@laicite.net / +32 2 627 68 24

  Julie works to develop EHF policies and advocacy in the fields of women’s rights, freedom of religion and belief, rule of law, stem cells research and LGBTI rights. She also works as liaison officer for EHF member organisations.

  Julie holds a double Master degree in political sciences from Sciences Po Aix (France) and in European Affairs from the Institute of European Studies – ULB (Belgium).

  Julie is also lecturer at the Institute for Higher Social Communication Studies (IHECS) and Board Member of the Brussels Rainbowhouse.

• Marc Soignet – Communication and Advocacy

  marc.soignet@laicite.net / +32 2 627 68 30

  Marc takes care of the EHF’s work on democracy, the rule of law and shrinking civic space. He represents the EHF in many cross-NGO platforms and manages our communications, web presence, social media and media coverage.

  Marc holds an MSc in Telecommunications Engineering and an MA from the College of Europe in Natolin. Before joining the humanist movement, he worked as a Policy Manager at DIGITALEUROPE and a Consultant at Platte Consult GmbH/Sprl.