Speakers
MEP Jerzy Buzek – EPP, Poland, European Parliament
Member of the ITRE Committee, he was President of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2012. Between 1997 and 2001, he was the Prime Minister of Poland and a member of the Polish parliament. During his time as the Prime Minister of Poland, Poland joined Nato.
In the years 1971 and 1972, he researched at the University of Cambridge in Great Britain.
Buzek attended the grammar school in Chorzów and got his Matura there. After successful exams, he went to the Technical University of Silesia, where he studied chemistry and got a diploma in 1963. Buzek got Doctorates honoris causa from the University of Dortmund, the University of Seoul, the University of Isparta and also from the Technical Universities of Opole and Silesia.
During his studies and time spent in research, Buzek wrote about 200 patents and other papers.
Petr Binhack – Energy Attaché, Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the EU, Presidency of the Council
Petr Binhack is energy attaché at the Czech Permanent Representation to the EU, he held this position already between 2014 and 2019. Before joining the Czech Presidency team last year he was posted as a seconded national expert to the European Commission. Between 2011 and 2014 he worked in the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic where he was responsible for coordination of the EU energy, climate and environmental policies.
Petr Binhack holds a Ph.D. in International relations from the Charles University in Prague. In his lectures, research and publications he was focusing on internal energy market and external energy relations, mostly on post-Soviet area and the Middle East.
Boyana Achovski – Secretary General at GIE
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.
Piotr Kuś – General Director at ENTSOG
Before joining ENTSOG in January 2022 as ENTSOG General Director, Piotr Kuś held the position of Deputy Director in the Development Division at GAZ-SYSTEM S.A., since January 2017. His main areas of responsibilities included international cooperation, institutional relations, cooperation with EU institutions and international trade organisations.
Between 2019 and 2021, Piotr was GIE Board Member acting as a sponsor of the CH4 Area. Since 2016, Piotr was a member of the GTE Executive Committee to supervise activities of future sustainable solutions in the natural gas infrastructure. Prior to that, between 2008 and 2016, Piotr was Director of the Brussels Office of GAZ-SYSTEM, in charge of managing the company’s EU affairs.
Before joining GAZ-SYSTEM in 2008, he was employed by the Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiG S.A.) and was seconded to its Representative Office in Brussels.
Piotr Kuś graduated from Warsaw School of Economics.
James Watson – Secretary General at Eurogas
Dr Watson is the Secretary General of Eurogas, a role he has held since January 2019. Eurogas is the association representing the European gas wholesale, retail and distribution sectors.
Prior to taking the helm at Eurogas, Dr Watson was the Chief Executive Officer of SolarPower Europe, the European solar industry association. Before joining SolarPower Europe, Dr Watson worked as the Director of Public Affairs for Weber Shandwick, specialising in energy and trade policy. Before coming to Brussels, Dr Watson worked for the Commonwealth Secretariat on a European Commission project on trade and sustainable development based in Ethiopia. Earlier in his career James worked for various UK government bodies in London and worked as a lecturer in Environmental Law at the University of Manchester.
He holds a Ph.D in International Trade and Environmental Law from the University of Leeds, and is currently a Visiting Professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
Flavia Sollazzo – Senior Director, EU Energy
Transition at Environmental Defense Fund Europe
Flavia leads the EU Energy Transition agenda, shaping the Environmental Defense Fund’s EU engagement to secure full energy transition and associated emission reductions at both EU and member state levels. She leads the methane campaign and works on growing the Environmental Defense Fund Europe’s work on other energy transition opportunities, such as the EU hydrogen agenda.
Flavia’s experience spans from leading teams to conducting negotiations at the EU and UN level and managing portfolios of partnerships in development and transition countries, including in China, Africa and the Middle East. Her expertise spans across the European energy, environment and climate agenda and she has a deep understanding of how to effectively join forces with the multiple actors in the EU co-legislative process (i.e. European Commission, European Parliament and EU countries).
She has worked for the Italian government on a range of EU- and international environment and climate dossiers in Rome and Brussels. In the latter role, she led the international work of the environment and climate team at Italy’s permanent representation to the EU. After leaving the Italian government, she led the office of a Member of the European Parliament, the environment cluster of a consultancy providing strategic advice about the impacts of EU policies, working with experts from academia, business and the public sector and drove the sustainability agenda of a Tech-Trade Association shaped around the efficient use of resources.
Flavia’s mother tongues are German and Italian. She is also fluent in English, Spanish and French.
Luis Ignacio Parada – Board member at GIE
Luis Ignacio Parada is EU Energy Policy & Regulation Director at Enagás, the main gas transmission, LNG and gas storage operator in Spain. He has 25 years of experience in the energy sector, where he has specialised in energy economics, gas and hydrogen sector regulation and energy policy.
Before joining Enagás, Luis started his career in 1998 at Gas Natural, and worked in NERA Economic Consulting from 2001 to 2004.
Since May 2023 he serves as Board member in ENTSOG, in GIE (Gas Infrastructure Europe) and as Executive Committee in GLE (Gas LNG Europe). He is also engaged as Board member in EASEE-gas since March 2019, and was a member of the Executive Committee of GTE (Gas Transmission Europe) from December 2020 to May 2023.
Luis Ignacio holds an Executive MBA from IESE Business School and a MSc. in Applied Economics. He graduated in Economics at Universidad de Salamanca (Spain).
Renato Winkler – Senior Director, Business Development at Picarro
Dr. Renato Winkler holds the position of the Senior Director of Business Development at Picarro Europe. In this role, he has supported gas distributors in implementing the Picarro solutions for methane emissions quantifications and leading the path towards net zero.
Dr. Winkler is also involved in further developing Picarro’s products for the natural gas industry, providing methods and solutions to respond to new methane regulations and emissions reporting standards, such as OGMP 2.0
He obtained his of Master of Science in physics from the university of Berne, and a PhD in climate physics from the university of Versailles.
Ralph Bahke – Hydrogen Area Sponsor at GIE
Ralph Bahke, born 1964, studied Information Technology at the Technical University of Dresden. He joined VNG – Verbundnetz Gas AG in 1994 and became responsible for the planning of automation technology. In 2001 he changed to the Gas Transportation Department where he held various senior management positions.
Between January 2006 and November 2008, Bahke worked in senior management posts of the Network Marketing Department in the newly established transmission system operator ONTRAS. Since November 2008 he has been one of the two ONTRAS managing directors, responsible for the division controlling and development.
From December 2009 to December 2015 Bahke was board member of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG).
In 2011 Bahke was appointed member of the Energy Advisory Board of the German Free State of Saxony. Since December 2012 Bahke was Chairman of the board of “Vereinigung der Fernleitungsnetzbetreiber Gas e.V.”, the association of German Transmission System Operators for Gas. He gave up this position in 2020 and joined GIE (Gas Infrastructure Europe) board in January 2021.
Nevin Alija – Head of EU Affairs at Floene
A lawyer by trade, Nevin is currently Vice-Chair of the Distribution Committee at Eurogas and EU Affairs Manager at Floene Energias S.A. (Floene) , the leading gas distribution group in Portugal . She is also one of the co-founders and member of the Implementation Team of Women in Energy – Mulheres na Energia Portugal, and a member of the UNDP External Advisory Group for Energy Governance. Due to her active contributions to the energy sector, both from industry and academia, she was invited in June 2023 by the European Commission to be one of the 30 European Young Energy Ambassadors, also as sole representative of Portugal. Since March 2023, Nevin has been a member of the World Energy Council’s Global Future Energy Leaders Programme and since 2021 a member of the Future Energy Leaders Portugal. She also co-founded and worked as a researcher at Nova Law Green Lab, where she was taught and contributed to the creation of several programmes on renewable energies
Anne-Sophie Corbeau – GRIDTech 2023 Moderator & Global Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy
Anne-Sophie Corbeau is a Global Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Her research focuses on hydrogen and natural gas. Anne-Sophie has over 20 years of experience in the energy industry and is a recognized expert on natural gas. She is the author of many publications focusing on gas, LNG markets, Asia, China, India and Africa, including the book “LNG markets in transition: the great reconfiguration” (Oxford, 2016). She is also a member of the Gastech governing body.
Prior to joining the Center, Mrs. Corbeau was a senior Leader and head of gas analysis at BP, where she was responsible for advising the Leadership Team on gas market developments and long term pricing assumptions. As part of the Economic and Energy Insights team, she was leading the Energy Outlook’s analysis on gas, industry, nuclear and hydrogen. She also served as a member of BP France’s Comex (board). Before joining BP, she was a Research Fellow at KAPSARC (King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center) in Riyadh where she set up and expanded the natural gas program. She also worked for the International Energy Agency (IEA) where she was responsible for managing the research on global gas markets, and for IHS CERA.