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Mr. François Davenne is the Director General of UIC since June 2019. He graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications d’Evry in 1988 and from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) in 1999. Throughout his career, he has consistently promoted interdisciplinarity as a key factor for success. Having gained experience in international satellite telecommunications, he initially held various roles in the housing sector, making use of his strong financial and legal skills. He was involved in policy and regulation of the sector and managed key operational programmes, most notably for the city of Paris.

After three years with the French Ministry of Transport, working on railway safety and regulation, with an emphasis on European regulations, he was elected in 2012 as Secretary General of OTIF, the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail. From early 2013 to the end of 2018, he promoted interdisciplinarity and partnership building in order to expand and develop the uniform regulations for international carriage by rail.

• Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement/Member of the European Commission, 2019-present
• Permanent Representative of Hungary, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary, 2015-2019
• Deputy Permanent Representative of Hungary, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary, 2011-2015
• Head of Unit responsible for Industrial Property Rights, European Commission, Directorate-General Internal Market and Services, 2008-2011
• Head of the European Union Law Department, Ministry of Justice, Hungary, 2006-2008
• Head of the Legal Service, Permanent Representation of the Republic of Hungary to the European Union, 2003-2006
• Legal counsellor, Mission of the Republic of Hungary to the European Union, 2001-2003
• Head of cabinet, Head of the Legal Unit, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cabinet of the Deputy Head of the State Secretary for Integration, 1998-2001
• Desk officer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department for EC Harmonization, State Secretary for Integration, 1996-1998
• Desk officer, Ministry for Industry and Trade, Office for European Affairs, Department for EC Coordination and Harmonization, 1996
• Trainee, Ministry for Industry and Trade, Office for European Affairs, 1995
• Bar examination, 2005
• Law degree at University of Szeged, Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, 1996
• Master of European Legal Studies, Aalborg University, Denmark, 1994

Michael Thomadakis is the Strategy & Development Chief Officer of DESFA. Formerly, he was the Vice Chairman and Member of the Board of RAE from 2005 to 2015, member of the BoR of ACER, the CEER General Assembly, the Board of MEDREG, the Board of Appeal of ACER and Chairman of the Investment Group of the Energy Charter. He has extensive experience in the development of the gas regulatory framework of the Greek gas market, and deeply involved in corresponding developments in South East Europe, especially in the regulatory framework for several gas infrastructure projects related to the Southern Gas Corridor. Started his carrier in DEPA, were he worked as the contractual administrator of the Gas Procurement contracts from Russia (pipeline) and Algeria (LNG), the LNG transportation contracts, the development of underground gas storage, the derivation of transportation tariffs and on the establishment of the Gas Distribution Companies in Greece. He is a Mechanical Engineer of NTU Athens with a PhD from the same University. He is the author of more than 40 scientific papers and reports and invited lecturer in many events of the energy industry worldwide.

Christina Papaconstantinou is Deputy Governor of the Bank of Greece. Before her appointment in 2021, Ms Papaconstantinou was the Chair of the Board of Directors of PQH Single Special Liquidation S.A. From 2012 to 2014, she served as Secretary General of the Ministry of Finance and as Secretary General of Fiscal Policy at the General Accounting Office of the Hellenic Republic. In that capacity, she participated in the negotiations in the context of the economic adjustment programmes for Greece. She has represented Greece in various international fora and she was a member of the Greek teams that negotiated the 2012 PSI, monitored the EFSF loan agreement and coordinated the implementation of the economic adjustment programmes for Greece. She has also worked as an external consultant on matters of state aid, fiscal management, EU company and competition law and as expert in IMF missions. She is a graduate from the Law School of the University of Athens and holds a master’s degree (LLM) in European Community Law from the University of London.

Erik Holmgren is the Economic Counselor at U.S. Embassy in Athens.  Erik serves as the Ambassador’s principal advisor on economic issues and manages a team of seven U.S. staff and two locally employed staff.  Prior to arriving in Greece in July 2021, Erik served as the Energy, Environment, Science, and Technology Counselor in Mexico City.

Erik has served as Deputy Political Counselor in Moscow, Political and Economic Chief in Podgorica, as NATO Desk officer in the State Department as well as in Kyiv and Lima.

Erik has a J.D. from George Washington University and a B.S./B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville in civil engineering.  Erik is originally from Madison Wisconsin; he is married and father of three children.

Ambassador Jakhelln has served with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1993. She is a generalist by experience and personality, having covered a wide range of topics and arenas during her diplomatic career.

In her previous position with the Ministry, she served as Director General of the Services Department, heading contingency planning and safety, consular and immigration affairs as well as overseeing internal services (ICT/digitalization/information management, facilities, and procurement).

She has an extensive experience in strategic crisis management, as well as in change management and reform.

Ambassador Jakhelln has previously had postings in Switzerland and in the United States (DCM, Washington DC).

Ambassador Jakhelln is a Cand.Philol. form the University of Oslo with a major in Comparative Literature. She has studied Political Philosophy and Political Science (Cand.mag.) and has a master module in Project Management from the Norwegian Business School (BI).

Ambassador Jakhelln is married to Leif Kjøita and has three grown children.

He is Professor of Administrative Law at the Law School of the University of Athens, Attorney at Law at the High Court and the Council of State of Greece, former President of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal and former Caretaker Alternate Minister for Foreign Affairs (2015) and Former Caretaker Minister of Interior, Greece (in 2007and 2009). He is also an Honorary Fellow at Wolfson College of the University of Cambridge and Doctor Honoris Causa at the NSPSPA in Bucharest, Romania, the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon in Portugal, at the Titu Majorescu Univeristy in Bucharest, Romania, the State University of Mariupol in Ukraine, and the USPEE in Chisinau, Moldavia. He is Vice-President at the Appeals Board of the European Space Agency, Member of the Appeals Board of  EUMETSAT, Member of the Appeals Board of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. He is Judge at the Administrative Tribunal of EBRD and holds the Chair of the Joint of the Appeals Board at IFAD in the UN. He is former Vice-President of the Organization of Intellectual Property, former Judge at the Supreme Court of Greece, former Arthur Goodhart Professor at the Faculty of Law, Cambridge University, former Yorke Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Faculty of Law in Cambridge University.

He was born in Lefkas (Greece) and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Athens with a degree in Law. He holds a PhD in Law from the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas and a PhD in History from the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne and a degree (Diplôme) of the École Pratique des Hautes Etudes-IVème Section, Histoire et Philologie.

He speaks fluently English, French, German, Italian and Greek and is the author of many publications in the area of public law.

He was awarded with the distinction of Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur of the French Republic, the distinction of Cavaliere dell’Ordine di Merito of the Italian Republic, the La Croix d’Officier de l’Ordre du Merite de Hongrie and  was honored as Grande-Oficial da Ordem do Infante D. Henrique from the Portuguese Republic

Mr. Yu Zenggang is the Executive Chairman of Piraeus Port Authority S.A. He started his career in August 1984, and served as the Chief Representative of the Japan Representative Office of Shanghai Shipping Bureau, Director and General Manager of Shanghai Haixing Shipping (Japan) Co. Ltd., Deputy General Manager, General Manager of the Development Division of China Shipping (Group) Company, Executive Vice President of China Shipping (North America) Holding Co., Ltd., President of China Shipping (Europe) Holding GmbH, General Manager of the President Office of China Shipping (Group) Company, Director of BOD Office and General Office, Executive Vice President and BOD Secretary of China Shipping (Group) Company, Executive Vice President and Member of China COSCO SHIPPING Corporation Limited. He has over 30 years’ working experience in shipping industry, and has abundant expertise in corporate management, corporate governance, overseas industry development, international operation, and listed company management. He has taken his current position since June, 2019. Mr. Yu Zenggang graduated from Wuhan University of Technology with a Bachelor’s Degree of engineering science in 1984 and obtained the Master’s Degree in 2012 from CEIBS (China Europe International Business School).