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Anca-Andreea Călugăru, Partner

Schuman Associates

anca.calugaru@schumanassociates.com

My Job

As a Partner at Schuman Associates, I focus on shaping the company’s long-term growth, expanding our client base, deepening our partnerships, and strengthening our presence across Europe. I work with organisations that want to position themselves strategically in the EU funding landscape, helping them think beyond individual projects towards building lasting competitive advantage through public funding.

My Experience

I joined Schuman Associates 15 years ago, in 2011, as a European Affairs & Funding Consultant. Over the years I built and led our Country Public Funding Practice, coordinating our multi-country team of experts across the EU-27, before becoming Business Director and, since 2025, Partner. My client work spans multinationals in healthcare, digital, energy, and industry, helping them navigate a wide range of EU and national funding instruments across CEE and Western Europe. Earlier in my career, I worked as an EU funding consultant and interned at the Representation of the European Commission in Bucharest.

My Proudest Achievements

Building a practice that has helped some of Europe’s and US technology leading champions turn EU and public funding into a genuine strategic asset, not just a source of project finance, but a lever for growth, innovation, and market positioning across 27 Member States. And building, alongside that, a team of people across Europe who share a common purpose: empowering organisations and individuals to make the most of what the EU has to offer. After all these years, I am still probably the biggest fan of EU funding you will find out there.

My Education

  • MA in Management and Business Communication from the National School of Political and Administrative Studies, Bucharest
  • BA in European Studies and International Relations from Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
  • Erasmus Exchange in EU Studies from KU Leuven, Belgium

My Languages

Romanian, English, French and Spanish.

My Interests outside work

Whenever I have a free moment, you’ll find me with a novel in hand. Fiction is my way of switching off completely. I also volunteer with NGOs active in the healthcare space, particularly in patient navigation. Not everything needs a strategy; some things you do simply because they feel right.

My Favourite Brussels anecdote

After years of negotiations with EU institutions, with clients, with partners across 27 Member States, there’s one rule this city never lets you forget: “Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”. It sounds frustrating at first. Eventually, you realise it’s actually what keeps everyone at the table.

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