Tapio Pekelharing

Tapio Pekelharing is an experienced, tech- and business savvy lawyer and business executive with leadership experience.

He started his career in 2000 in the M&A department of Andersen Legal, Arthur Andersen’s law firm followed by a longer period with CMS (2002-2007), one of the biggest law firms worldwide. At CMS he was part of the Corporate/M&A team advising national and international listed, large private companies from various sectors including automotive, media, tech and the financial sector. He also worked a period in the Brussels offices of CMS at the European and Competition law with the Antitrust, Competition & Trade team where he was involved in several landmark cartel cases with the European Commission and the European Court of Justice. Between 2013 and 2016 he joined forces with other experienced lawyers and founded a boutique law firm.

Tapio has been advising startups, scaleups, small and midcap companies as an independent advisor since 2007.

Next to various smaller projects and advisory work for various type of clients across an array of industries, he worked on several interim assignments. He functioned as Senior Corporate Counsel for the innovative renewable energy company, Econcern and as Senior Counsel/Team Leader for the Dutch Competition Authority (ACM). Tapio grew more and more into the role of General Counsel, daily advisor of the C-Suite of various companies and becoming essential in meeting companies short- and longterm objectives and assessing legal and strategic risks. Tapio was General Counsel for global housing and accommodation provider G3 and family entertainment company iP2Entertainment. Both scale ups with a high-paced and deal-driven environment active all over the world. He also was Head of Legal & Business for SteelTrace, a SaaS provider for the oil & gas industry and currently holds a position as the Head of Legal & Compliance of BMW Financial Services Netherlands, an automotive player and financial services company, part of BMW Group.

Next to his legal career, Tapio invested in and co-founded several companies. Noteworthy is Guest Agency, a successful, creative agency working for various global brands. This experience adds to Tapio’s business acumen that his clients believe sets him apart from other lawyers.

Tapio brings an exceptional level of enthusiasm, entrepreneurial spirit, business savvy and nuanced perspective that makes him a trusted and crucial advisor to various clients.