Joël Toussaint
Senior Advisor for Defence, Security and Space
Joël is Senior Advisor for Defence, Security and Space at Schuman Associates. He supports defence primes, dual-use companies, and innovative disruptors in accessing EU defence funding and defining strong commercial strategies to succeed in European and transatlantic markets.
Joël brings more than 30 years of experience across the IT, defence, security, and space sectors, with deep expertise in working with public sector customers across the EU and NATO. His background combines strategic advisory, coaching, sales leadership, and business development, with a particular focus on sovereign and mission-critical environments.
Joël advises clients on navigating complex public sector ecosystems, procurement frameworks, and funding opportunities, while helping them position advanced technologies such as AI, hybrid sovereign cloud, high-performance computing, cybersecurity, edge computing, and secure networks. He is particularly experienced in bridging the needs of industry, public institutions, and end users across defence, border management, law enforcement, and space.
Alongside his role at Schuman Associates, Joël has served since 2023 as a Defence Industry Coach for the European Commission’s EU Defence Innovation Scheme (EUDIS) initiative, supporting start-ups and scale-ups in refining their business strategies and entering the defence market. His recent coaching assignments have included companies in Belgium, Greece, and France working on aerospace, AI, IoT, drones, GenAI, and space cybersecurity applications.
Before joining Schuman Associates, Joël spent over three decades at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, where he held a range of international leadership roles focused on European institutions, NATO, defence, and space. During this time, he led major commercial initiatives in sovereign cloud, AI platforms, advanced networks, and high-performance computing, and worked with organisations including the European Commission, the Council of the EU, the European Parliament, eu-LISA, ESA, EUSPA, and NATO.
Joël holds a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Communications from the École Française des Attachés de Presse(EFAP International) in Belgium and a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). He also holds an active EU/NATO Secret personal clearance, valid until 2027.
Joël is Belgian, and speaks French, Dutch, Italian and English.
