Francine Cunningham

Senior Public Affairs Manager, Bird & Bird

Francine Cunningham is Senior Public Affairs Manager at the international law firm Bird & Bird, based in Brussels.  She has 20 years' experience of working in the EU and U.S. regulatory environment, in both the private and public sectors, with a focus on technology, communications and media. Previously, Francine worked at the U.S. Mission to the European Union, where she held the position of Senior Intellectual Property Specialist for the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (April 2016-2018).  Prior to this, she was Executive Director of the European Newspaper Publishers' Association (2010-2015) and worked as Head of Government Affairs & Communications Europe at IFPI, the organisation representing the recording industry worldwide (2000 - 2009).

Francine has a Master of Arts in UK, EU and U.S. Copyright Law from King's College, London, a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism from Dublin City University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature & Philosophy from Queen's University, Belfast. In addition, she spent a year carrying out research at the John Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, on an EU Fulbright Scholarship.