Maroš Šefcovic
Executive Vice President
European Commission
Maroš Šefcovic currently serves as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations, and Foresight. This follows his previous terms as Vice President of the Commission for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight (2019-2023), the Energy Union (2014-2019), Interinstitutional Relations and Administration (2009-2014), and as EU Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture, and Youth (2009-2010).
He is also responsible for EU relations with Western non-EU countries, notably Andorra, Iceland, Monaco, Norway, Lichtenstein, San Marino, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. He initiated and leads the European Battery Alliance to help create an innovative, sustainable, and globally competitive battery sector in the EU. To strengthen energy security, he leads the work of the EU Energy Platform for joint gas purchasing.
Overall, European affairs have been at the center of the Executive Vice President’s career for more than two decades. During 2004 and 2009, he served as Permanent Representative of Slovakia to the European Union, steering the country’s integration in the EU and particularly instrumental to its entry to the single-currency Euro area and the free-travel Schengen area. As a diplomat by profession, he served between 1992 and 2004 in Zimbabwe and Canada, and as Ambassador of Slovakia to Israel.
Barbara Thierart
President of Battery Systems
Northvolt
Barbara Thierart is President of Battery Systems at Northvolt, European producer of high energy battery cells and systems with the highest sustainability ambitions. Prior to joining Northvolt in 2021, Barbara spent 20 years working in the automotive industry for companies including Nissan and Renault. Professionally, she started as an engineer, and during her career has held several strategic and leadership roles within engineering, products, programmes and business.
She has a degree in mechanical engineering from École des Hautes Études d’Ingénieur in Lille, France and studied commercial business and international marketing at Saginaw Valley State University in the United States
Henrik Stiesdal
Founder and CTO
Stiesdal
Henrik Stiesdal is one of the pioneers of the modern wind industry and is credited with the development of the "Danish Concept" for modern wind turbines in the 1970s. He went on to lead innovation in Vestas, from 1987 Bonus Energy, later Siemens Wind power. In 1991, he pioneered the world’s first offshore wind farm.
After a 35-year career in wind power, he founded Stiesdal A/S in 2016, aiming to address climate change through the development of new technologies within floating offshore wind, industrial electrolyzers, and carbon-negative fuels.
Kurt Vandenberghe
Director General
DG CLIMA
Kurt was appointed Director General of DG CLIMA on January 2023. Until then, he was the EU Green Deal and Health advisor to President Ursula von der Leyen since December 2019.
He had joined the cabinet of the President coming from DG Research and Innovation where he was Director for Policy & Programming since February 2016 and Acting Director for Research & Innovation Outreach since June 2019. Before that, he was Director for 'Climate action and resource efficiency' at DG Research and Innovation since July 2013.
He served in the Cabinet of Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin (1999-2004) and as Head of the Cabinet of Janez Potočnik, Commissioner for Research and Innovation (2004-2009) and subsequently for Environment (from 2010).
Kurt joined the European Commission in 1996 as coordinator of the Commission’s Intermodal Transport Task Force and of the Transport Research Programme.
Before entering the Commission, Kurt worked for 4 years as a manager at Ernst & Young Association Management, where he set up, managed and represented international trade associations.
Kerstin Jorna
Director-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
DG GROW
Kerstin Jorna is a German national and a civil servant at the European Commission where she has held various positions, amongst others as Head of Cabinet of several Commissioners and different Director posts.
Mrs. Jorna is the Director-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. Before, Mrs. Jorna was Deputy Director-General for Economic and Financial Affairs. Mrs. Jorna also held positions on the Board of the European Investment Bank, the European Investment Fund as well as the European Innovation Council Fund.
François Paquet
Impact Director
Renewable Hydrogen Coalition
As Impact Director, François Paquet leads the Renewable Hydrogen Coalition and its advocacy outreach, with the support of the Coalition members, to scale renewable hydrogen in Europe.
François, a Belgian, has twelve years of experience in EU Public Affairs, industry interest representation and EU association management in Brussels. His fields of expertise include energy, climate change, resource efficiency and circular economy.
François holds an MA degree in Business from the Louvain School of Management (Belgium) and an Executive MA degree in Public Affairs and Advocacy (European Institute for Advanced Studies in Lobbying/Strasbourg University).
Vaitea Cowan
Co-founder
Enapter
Vaitea Cowan is one of the cofounders of electrolyser manufacturer, Enapter, working on making green hydrogen affordable for all with their AEM technology. Created at the end of 2017, the three cofounders grew the team to 240 by 2024. Today, she is Enapter’s VP Marketing and Communication and is based in Berlin. Vaitea is on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Energy 2020. She supported Enapter in winning the inaugural Earthshot Prize “Fix Our Climate” launched by Prince William and The Royal Foundation in 2021. She also gave a Ted Talk titled "How green hydrogen could end the fossil fuel era". Vaitea has a background in business with 6 years of experience in green hydrogen.
Paloma Aba Garrote
Director
CINEA
Paloma Aba Garrote is the Director of the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), in charge of managing around 65 billion euros funding for the period 2021-2027 under several European Union programmes supporting the European Green Deal. She joined the European Commission 20 years ago and held various management positions in different Commission services, including on the management of innovation related EU funding programmes.
Roman Doubrava
Head of the Innovation Fund Unit
CINEA
Roman Doubrava graduated from the University of Economics in Bratislava. He worked as a consultant and director of the Energy Centre Bratislava, active in the field of sustainable energy. He was also actively involved both in Slovak and EU energy policy development as member of a number of advisory committees. In 2008 he joined the European Commission, where he worked at DG ENER in the fields of energy efficiency policy and finance, and as a Deputy Head of Unit in DG CLIMA responsible for low-carbon finance for innovation. In July 2021 he became a Head of Unit responsible for the implementation of the Innovation Fund at the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) of the European Commission.
Sven Lindström
Co-founder and Executive Vice-President
Midsummer
Innovation Fund project: DAWN
Sven Lindström is one of the founders of Midsummer and has been the CEO from 2004-2024, now in the role as Vice-President (VP), working with everything from the initial solar cell process to obtaining venture capital for the company. Before starting Midsummer, Sven worked at M2 Engineering, a company within the CD/DVD industry, as President of the US-subsidiary. Today, Sven is also a part of the steering committee for the 50MW Italy factory. Sven holds a M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering & Management from Linköping University.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Thiemann
Senior Vice President for Energy Transition Technologies
Siemens Energy
Prof. Dr. Thomas Thiemann has a professional background in energy technology. He joined Siemens in 2001 and worked in various technical management positions, thereof 10 years heading a global R&D organisation.
In April 2020, he became the Senior Vice President for Energy Transition Technologies in Siemens Energy. In this role, he helps to shape the Siemens Energy decarbonisation portfolio to the future. In parallel, he is deeply engaged in specific technology and economical related matters, such as wind turbine technologies and PV.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Thiemann holds multiple patents and frequently contributes to advocate in energy system relevant questions.
Jesper Juul da Silva Francisco
Chief of Staff to the CEO of Power-to-X
Topsoe
Innovation Fund project: TopSOEC
Jesper is the Chief of Staff to the CEO of Power-to-X (PtX) at Topsoe. In this role, he manages the CEO's priorities, stakeholders, operations, and strategic projects. Topsoe’s PtX solutions play a crucial role in the transition to a sustainable and decarbonised energy system enabling the production of carbon-neutral fuels and chemicals.
Before joining Topsoe, Jesper worked in corporate strategy in GN Store Nord. He started his career in investment banking in Morgan Stanley followed by a period in management consulting in Bain & Co.
Jesper holds an MBA from INSEAD and a Bachelor of Science in International Business from Copenhagen Business School.
Andreas Forfang
Vice President Sustainability & ESG
Vianode
Andreas is responsible for all matters related to sustainability in Vianode. In addition, he was leading Vianode's applications to the EU Innovation Fund and is involved in public affairs.
Since he joined Vianode in 2019, Andreas has held various roles in Vianode. His background is in finance and business development and he has previously worked for Elkem and BDO.
He holds a MSc Finance from Queen Mary University of London from 2013.
Alexandre Paquot
Director of Innovation for Low Carbon, Resilient Economy
DG CLIMA
Alexandre Paquot currently leads the Innovation for Low Carbon, Resilient Economy directorate in DG CLIMA at the European Commission, in charge of the development and deployment of innovative climate-friendly, innovative and resilient solutions fit for the transition to a climate-neutral economy by 2050. It contributes to activities relating to the development and deployment of keys with a low, zero or net-negative impact on the climate, in particular relating to energy production and use, industrial, digital and food system technologies, including emission removals from land.
Jacek Truszczynski
Deputy Head of Unit
DG GROW
Jacek Truszczynski is deputy Head of Unit ‘Net-zero Industry and Sustainable Products’ within the European Commission’s Directorate General for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. He has held various positions within the Commission for the past 15 years, mainly focused on energy policy and investment-support. Priori to joining the Commission, he has worked in the consulting, advising industry association on EU energy policy matters.
Ruben Devogelaer
Senior Investment Officer
European Investment Bank
Ruben is a senior investment officer in the growth capital team of EIB, covering Cleantech across the EU. He’s trained as a business engineer at KU Leuven, Belgium. Before joining the Cleantech growth capital team of EIB in 2023, he was covering project finance markets for 15 years in a variety of roles, including as an advisor, industrial sponsor, institutional investor and most recently including 7 years at the EIB in the Western European project finance team. His investment experience includes onshore and offshore renewables, infrastructure, utilities and cleantech manufacturing.
Tim van Pelt
Global Lead Batteries & Charging
ING
Tim has over 15 years of experience in the energy transition space. He is currently responsible for ING’s activities in the battery value chain and EV charging. He has led transactions in offshore and onshore wind, and battery storage assets in Europe.
Katrien De Marez
Deputy Head of Unit in State Aid
DG COMPETITION
Katrien works as a Deputy Head of Unit in State aid within DG Competition. Since 2015, she has been dealing with policy development and assessment of large investment projects in the field of regional aid and with State aid related to big infrastructure projects. Before joining the Commission, Katrien worked for 15 years in the private sector as a project/program manager and as location consultant providing location advisory services to large multinationals. Katrien studied applied economics at the University of Leuven (Belgium) where she also graduated.
Friedrich von Schönfeld
Policy Advisor
Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action
After his legal training, he worked at McKinsey & Company before moving to the Federal Ministry of Finance in 2020 and the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection in 2022. Before his work on the CCfD scheme, he was responsible i.a. for the energy cost containment program in the energy crisis and the emergency legislation as well as various support schemes in the Corona crisis.
