Rudy joined the Raytheon Technologies (RTX) Government Relations team in Brussels on April 3, 2020. He is responsible for communicating the positions and concerns of RTX in matters of defense, security and space to policy and decision makers in Europe and at NATO. He also monitors and advises the business units of RTX on European and NATO policy decisions and business opportunities.
Between 2010 and 2020, prior to the merger between United Technologies (UTC)’ aerospace businesses and the Raytheon company, Rudy served as UTC’s Director for Government Relations EMEA & NATO in Brussels. In that position, he communicated the positions and concerns of UTC in matters of defense, security, and space to decision makers in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and NATO. He also monitored and advised UTC’s business units (Pratt & Whitney, Collins Aerospace and Carrier Fire & Security) on European, Middle Eastern, African and NATO policy decisions and business opportunities.
Prior to joining UTC in 2010, Rudy served as an Officer in the Belgian Air Force. During his military career, Rudy dealt mainly with operational and acquisition logistics. He lived and worked twice in the USA (as F-16 Liaison Officer at Hill Air Force Base in Utah (1990-1994), and as Defense Cooperation Attaché and Director Belgian Military Supply Office (for FMS DCS Purchases) in Washington, DC (2005-2009). From 2005 to 2009, Rudy was the Head of the Belgian Delegation to the Defense MOU Attachés Group (DMAG) and founding member/first Chairman of the Foreign Procurement Group (FPG)’s Foreign Commercial Procurement Working Group (FCPWG) in Washington DC. From 2000 to 2010, Rudy also provided legal advice to Belgian military leadership on HR- and acquisition-related matters. In 2010, Rudy retired from the Belgian Air Force in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
Rudy is a 1984 graduate of the Belgian Royal Military Academy, where he obtained a master’s degree in Military and Aeronautical Sciences. In 2000, Rudy obtained a master after master’s degree in Public and Military Administration and earned both the Belgian Chief of Defense’s and the Belgian Joint Forces Staff College Alumni Association’s Prizes as best student. Rudy is also an alumnus of the 2011 European Session for Armament Officials (SERA) course in Paris and of the 2012 UTC Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) course at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. Rudy holds the Meritorious Service Medal for meritorious non-combat service to the U.S. Rudy successfully completed several other courses in Belgium and abroad, including the NATO Logistics Course (NATO Logistics School – Hamburg – Germany), the Security Assistance Management Foreign Purchaser Course (Defense Institute for Security Assistance Management (DISAM) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base – Ohio), the Logistical Support of United Nations Peacekeeping Operations Course (UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) – Dag Hammarskjöld Centre – New York) and the Basics of U.S. Commercial Contracting Course (Federal Publications Seminars – Washington DC).
From 2010 through 2017, Rudy served as the Deputy Head of the Belgian Delegation to the NATO Industrial Advisory Group (NIAG). Since January 2020, Rudy chairs the NIAG. He’s also a member of the Economic, Legal and Trade (ELT) Commission within the European Aerospace and Defence Industries Association (ASD). From November 2015 through January 2022, Rudy served as Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU’s Security, Defence and Space Committee (AmCham EU SDC). In 2018, Rudy was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS); since October 2018, Rudy is a member of the RAeS Learned Society Board (LSB).
Rudy co-chaired two NIAG studies on Transatlantic Defense Technological and Industrial Cooperation (TADIC) and is author or co-author of several position papers and articles on total quality management, performance measurement and the U.S. export control regime. Rudy is a visiting lecturer in “NATO and EU Defense Acquisition Policies” at the Belgian Royal Higher Institute for Defence (RHID), the Institut des hautes études de défense nationale (IHEDN) in Paris and the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in California (U.S.). He’s also a regular contributor to the Global Industrial Cooperation Association (GICA) conferences.
