Afke Schaart

Afke Schaart is the Senior Vice President of International and Institutional Affairs at Eutelsat Group, based in Paris. In this role, she leads the company’s policy and international affairs, shaping strategic engagement on key global and European space and telecommunications issues.

Before joining Eutelsat, Afke was SVP Corporate Communications and Chief Global impact at Huawei HQ, based in Shenzhen, China, where she drove global public affairs and policy initiatives. Prior to that, she served as the Regional Lead for Europe, Russia, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) at the GSMA, overseeing public policy advocacy, strategic engagement, and key industry programs such as Digital Identity, IoT, 5G, Spectrum, and Regulatory Modernization.Afke also served as Vice-Chair of the Alliance of European Telecoms and Automotive (EATA), promoting the deployment of Connected and Automated Driving in Europe.

Earlier in her career, she led Microsoft’s EU Institutional Relations Team in Brussels, managing the company’s engagement with the EU Institutions, the Council of Europe, the OECD, and the World Economic Forum (WEF). She was also responsible for Microsoft’s Citizenship Programs, including BizSpark and YouthSpark.

Before moving into the tech and telecommunications industry, Afke was a Member of Parliament in the Netherlands for the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), where she focused on Economic Affairs, Innovation, Technology, and ICT.

She began her career at Royal KPN, leading the company’s policy and government relations.