After graduating at Wageningen Agricultural University in 1984, Hans Mattaar joined Rhône-Poulenc Agro, in the position of Regulatory Affairs Expert for the Netherlands. From this position he moved on to the European Regulatory Team in 1992 as a coordinator for European regulatory affairs. During his career he expanded his area of interest from science to law, and from there it was a small step to the politics. He held the position of European Public & Governmental Affairs (PGA) Manager and Regulatory Strategy Manager for the last 7 years of his corporate career, while RPA merged with AgrEvo into Aventis CropScience, and then became part of Bayer CropScience. In January 2008 he left Bayer to pursue a career as Senior Advisor with Pappas & Associates, Attorneys at Law, in Brussels. In his current role he provides strategic and regulatory advice to businesses who operate in a regulated environment, both on operational and on organisational issues. In parallel to that he holds the position of Technical Director for ECCA, the European Association for the post-patent agrochemical industry, since June 2012, and for AgroCare, the Global Association for the post-patent industry since September 2016.