Kadri SIMSON is an Estonian politician from the Centre Party. She is serving as a European Commissioner for Energy in the Von der Leyen Commission since 1 December 2019.
She was previously the Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure in Jüri Ratas’ first cabinet from 2016 to 2019. During the Estonian Presidency in the Council of the EU, Simson chaired both energy ministers and transport ministers meetings in TTE Council and ministers of economy format in EU Competitiveness Council.
From 2007–2016 Kadri Simson was a member of the 11th, 12th, and 13th Riigikogu and in 2019 she was also elected to the 14th Riigikogu. She holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from University College London.
Cristian-Silviu BUŞOI is a Member of the European Parliament and Chair of the Industry, Research and Energy Committee. He is also Member of the Delegation for Southeast Asia, as well as substitute Member of the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) and the Delegation for the Arab Peninsula.
Mr. Busoi graduated Medicine from Carol Davila University in Bucharest, Law from Titu Maiorescu University in Bucharest, and Diplomacy from the Romanian Diplomatic Institute in Bucharest. His political career started in 1996 when, as a student, he became member of the National Liberal Party. Eight years later, he entered the Romanian Parliament and, in 2013, became President of the Romanian National Health Insurance House. Since 2007, he has been elected to the European Parliament for three consecutive terms.
Didier HOLLEAUX is Executive Vice President of ENGIE and President of Eurogas.
After graduating as an Engineer (Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Nationale des Mines de Paris), Didier HOLLEAUX started to work as an Engineer in the car-manufacturing and in the oil industry. He then made a career in the French Civil Service which led him to the position of head of the departmental staff (“Directeur de Cabinet”) of the Energy Minister (1992-1993).
Didier HOLLEAUX joined Gaz de France (merged in GDF SUEZ in 2008 and renamed as ENGIE in 2015), in 1993.
Since then, he held different managing positions in the transmission, distribution, and LNG businesses of the company. He also founded and managed the North Sea Exploration and Production (1997-2000) and managed the worldwide Exploration and Production of the group (2007-2015).
Since 1st of July 2015, he is Executive Vice President of ENGIE.
He is currently in charge of special projects particularly in the field of renewable gases and external representation.
Didier HOLLEAUX has been elected President of Eurogas in June 2021.
Yuriy VITRENKO has been the CEO of Naftogaz of Ukraine, the largest Ukrainian energy and state-owned company.
Prior to that, he held different positions in the company: Executive Director (2018-2020), Chief Operating Officer (2018), Chief Commercial Officer (2016-2018), and Managing Director for International Business (2015-2016), where he successfully focused on a turnaround of the company, driving market reforms and European integration of Ukraine’s gas sector, gas transit and the world’s largest commercial arbitration against Gazprom.
In 2020-2021, Mr. Vitrenko served as an Acting Minister of Energy of Ukraine.
Beyond his career in the energy sector of Ukraine, Mr. Vitrenko had experience in global financial markets as a founder of the investment company AYA Capital (2010-2016) and employment in Amstar Europe (2008-2010), a part of US-based private equity fund management company Amstar; Merrill Lynch (2005-2006), and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC (1998-2002).
Mr. Vitrenko holds MBA from INSEAD (France, Singapore).
Paula PINHO has been appointed as a Director for Just Transition, Consumers, Energy Efficiency and Innovation in the Directorate-General for Energy (ENER) in April 2021. Ms Pinho, a Portuguese national and lawyer by training, draws on her extensive knowledge of various EU policies and in particular EU energy policy, as well as on her leadership, management and negotiation skills towards her commitment to Europe’s clean and just energy transition. Since 2015, she has been Head of Unit in DG ENER, and acting Director between 2019 and 2020, in charge of energy strategy and coordination of energy policy in the context of the Green Deal and Recovery. She has been monitoring the implementation of the Energy Union and the ‘Clean Energy for all Europeans’ legislative package. From 2008 until 2015, she was a member of various Cabinets and notably of the one in charge of energy from 2010 until 2014. Prior to that, she worked in the Directorates-General for Trade and for Internal Market. She joined the Commission in 2000.
Joaquim NUNES DE ALMEIDA is director in charge of “Mobility and energy intensive industries” at the European Commission in the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) since March 2021. This includes “Green and Circular Economy” as well as the Circular Plastics Alliance.
Before that, he was director in charge of single market policy (since 2016).
Joaquim started his career at the European Commission in 1995 and has extensive experience in policies related to the internal market and home affairs (police cooperation, terrorism, law enforcement, asylum and immigration).
He studied law and worked as a lawyer at the Bar of Lisbon, Portugal, from 1989 to 1994, dealing mainly with anti-trust law as well as commercial and civil law.
Annika KROON is head of the Maritime Transport and Logistics Unit in the Directorate General for Mobility and Transport in the European Commission. The unit deals with sustainable maritime policies, maritime markets and international maritime agreements, but also with digital and sustainable intermodal freight transport and logistics. In her earlier assignments in the European Commission, she has dealt with rail market liberalisation and coordinated the work of the European Network of rail infrastructure managers ‘PRIME’. Before joining the European Commission in 2008, she has worked as a financial and business analyst in banking and telecommunications. Annika is an economist with Master’s degrees in Cybernetics in Economy and International Finance.
Kari HIETANEN (LL.M.) is Executive Vice President, Corporate Relations and Legal Affairs in Wärtsilä Corporation since 2012. Wärtsilä is a global leader in innovative technologies and lifecycle solutions for the marine and energy market, emphasising innovation in sustainable technology and services to help customers continuously improve their environmental and economic performance.
Kari is also Vice President in European Engine Power Plants Association, EUGINE, and member of the Industrial Forum of the European Commission.
Christine CABAU WOEHREL started her career in the maritime transport in 1987 when she joined CMA-CGM, now the 3rd largest shipping line and major logistic Operator. From Line Manager to Member of the Executive Committee, her career in CMACGM leads her to the management of several group of lines: Asia-Mediterranean and AsiaMiddle East.
When in 2011, Christine Cabau WOEHREL quits the CMA-CGM group, it is still as an expert of shipping matters that she starts a brief experience in the consulting business.
In 2012 she is appointed, by ministerial decree, Chief Executive Officer of the Port of Dunkirk. Two years later, she is appointed at the head of the first French port, Marseille Fos.
As from March 2019 she joined back the CMA CM Group, next to Rodolphe Saadé, as Executive Vice President Assets Group & Operations. She is in charge of Vessels fleet, Terminals & Energy departments as well as Operations.
Renaud BATIER has been working for Cerame-Unie, the European Ceramic Industry Association, since 2007, first as Senior Adviser and since 2008 as Director General. In 2002, he joined the Association of European Producers of Steel for Packaging (APEAL) as the EU Public Affairs Manager. Prior to this, he completed an internship at the European Commission in DG Trade (Anti-dumping) and worked in the field of Competition law with British law firm Hammond’s. He graduated in Law from the law faculty of Poitiers in France in 1997 and specialised in European Union Business Law at the Amsterdam Law School in 1997-1998. In addition to his role at Cerame-Unie, he is Secretary General of the World Ceramic Tiles Forum, Vice-Chair of industry alliance AEGIS Europe and member of the Boards of Construction Products Europe and A.SPIRE (Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency).
Aurélie BEAUVAIS is Managing Director at Euroheat & Power (EHP), the international network for district energy, promoting sustainable heating and cooling in Europe and beyond. As Managing Director, she brings over a decade of experience in political strategy, advocacy and EU energy & climate policies. She previously held the position of Deputy CEO and Policy Director of SolarPower Europe from 2017 to 2021. She also headed the European Affairs department of the French Union of Electricity from 2012 to 2017.
Boyana ACHOVSKI is the Secretary-General of Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), a role she has held since September 2016. GIE is the European association of gas transmission, gas storage, and LNG regasification terminal operators. Boyana led the Analysis and International Operations Division in Bulgartransgaz, later joining GIE in 2012 as the first secondment of the Bulgarian gas infrastructure operator to the European association. She chaired the GasNaturally Steering Committee twice in 2017 and 2019. Boyana started her European affairs career in the European Parliament in Brussels. She has graduated in International Economic Affairs, specialised in International Finance, and holds a Master’s degree in Finance and in Management of International Associations from the Solvay Brussels School. Boyana has also obtained a certificate in Women’s Leadership from the University of Oxford and is involved in initiatives related to career development, women empowerment, and gender equality in the energy sector.
Dr. Klaus PETERS qualified as Doctor of Engineering in 1993 and as state doctorate (Habilitation) in 1998, started his industrial career with thyssenkrupp Steel Europe (tkSE). His senior experiences include production, sales, quality and R&D both on national and international level.
From 2011, Dr. Peters joined several working groups and committees of the European Steel Technology Platform (ESTEP) and was in charge of international research projects and European funding of tkSE. He became in July 2015 Secretary General of ESTEP.
Amongst others, he is member of the Steel Advisory Group (SAG) of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS). He is also the Executive Director of the Horizon Europe Clean Steel Partnership.
Monique GOYENS. As Director General of BEUC, Monique represents 46 national consumer associations in 32 European countries, acting as a strong consumer voice in Brussels, ensuring that consumer interests are given weight in the development of policies.
Monique is a member of the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance and of the Euro Retail Payments Board. She is a member of the European Commission’s Consumer Policy Advisory Group, High-Level Roundtable on the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, and Structured Dialogue on Security of Medicines Supply. Monique is Co-Chair of the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) a network of EU and US
consumer organisations.
Judith KIRTON-DARLING is the elected Deputy General Secretary of industriAll European Trade Union since July 2020. Prior to this appointment, she was a British Member of the European Parliament from May 2014-January 2020 and has previously held the elected position of ETUC Confederal Secretary.
Judith built her European trade union experience both in the European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF) and European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers Federation (EMCEF), where she worked as policy adviser.
Catherine LEBOUL-PROUST is Chief Strategy Officer of GRDF and a member of the executive committee of the company. She oversees institutional relations, strategic studies, CSR, data policy as well as international development and R&D governance.
She has over 20 years of experience in the industrial and energy sector where she held various positions in the fields of institutional relations, corporate social responsibility, change and organisational management. Prior to GRDF in 2016, she was the former executive secretary of LYDEC, a subsidiary of SUEZ based in Casablanca (Morocco), in charge of the animation of social governance, the corporate project, the internal audit and the development departments.
She holds a master’s degree in law from University of Lyon III, and is graduated from Sciences Po.
Felicia MESTER is Director of Public Affairs at Hydrogen Europe. After studies focused on economics, finance and international relations Felicia Mester went on to specialise in regulation and energy. After working for the non-banking financial regulator of Moldova on the MD-EU Association Agenda, she joined the energy sector via her position with the Global Solar Council where she worked on renewable energy policy files and communication strategy. Following this, she joined Eurogas where she regularly represented the European gas sector at high level conferences and expert panels on the EU internal gas market regulation, taxation and hydrogen technologies.
Felicia Mester joined Hydrogen Europe in February 2021 responsible for carbon market reform, hydrogen regulatory framework and infrastructure development as well as renewable energy policy files. She assumed the role of Director of Public Affairs continuing to focus on policy position making and engaging with the European Institutions. She is leading HE’s advocacy outreach at a time when hydrogen is front and centre to the EU’s decarbonisation agenda and energy sector’s transformation.
Paolo BASSO is the Policy Director of the European Heating Industry, the association bringing together leading manufacturers of efficient and renewable-based heating systems. EHI members cover 90% of the European market for all heating solutions from boilers to heat pumps, from solar thermal systems to micro-cogeneration, from radiators to underfloor heating, as well as hybrids and digital solutions.
Born in Italy, Paolo has been working on energy and environmental policies for several years in Brussels. He previously held positions at the Permanent Representation of Italy to the European Union, the European Commission and at SolarPower Europe, the photovoltaics’ association.
Paolo holds a university degree in political science from the University of Padova, Italy, and a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Bristol (UK).
Jakob EMBACHER is responsible for Utilities and European Works Councils at EPSU. In his role he focuses on strengthening workers’ rights as well as contributing to European trade union responses to address challenges ahead and promote climate justice. Prior to that, he has been working for the Austrian Trade Union Confederation ÖGB. He graduated from SciencesPo Paris with a MA in Public Policy.
Sophie GRENADE is Policy Advisor for industriAll European Trade Union. Her main areas of focus are raw materials and circular economy. She is also in charge of European Sectoral Social Dialogue Committees in Gas, Electricity, Extractive Industries and Pulp and Paper sector. She has more than 10 years of trade union work at national, European and international level. Before joining industriAll Europe, she was advisor on European affairs within the Belgian Trade Union Confederation FGTB. Sophie holds a Research Master’s degree in Political Sociology from EHESS (Paris, France) and a masters’ degree in Sociology (University of Liège, Belgium). She worked during 6 years at the Faculty of Social Sciences in the University of Liège as research and teaching assistant and was guest lecturer during several years.
Bronagh O’HAGAN joined Eurogas in March 2021 as Communications Director. She is responsible for the association’s communications across media and digital platforms, and serves as one of the spokespersons. She has been active in the EU energy sphere 2015 having worked as a public affairs consultant on energy issues ranging from major gas infrastructure projects to public private partnerships for innovative decarbonisation solutions. Bronagh has also worked as a Parliamentary Assistant in the European Parliament where she focused on the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee.
A native of county Derry Ireland, Bronagh holds an MSc in Sustainable Rural Development and Project Management from Queen’s University in Belfast.
Rahiq ULLAH is the Team Manager of AeroDelft. AeroDelft is an interdisciplinary student team with a mission to prove and promote liquid hydrogen as an alternative to conventional fuels in aviation. To realise this mission, two liquid hydrogen powered aircraft are being designed and manufactured.
As Team Manager, he leads the board of AeroDelft, is in charge of upholding its mission and vision as well as representing AeroDelft in official functions. He just finished his Bachelor in Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology, and will be continuing his master’s next year. Just like with many other team members within the team, his work is driven by his persistence, passion and enthusiasm for the project in the pursuit of sustainable aviation in cleaner skies.
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