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Jürgen Priesters started his career in 1989 in an environmental engineering company, U.T.G. GmbH. During his tenure, he served as a project engineer and was responsible for the layout and approval of the process planning of the first light packaging waste sorting plant. Additionally, he was accountable for an MSW sorting R&D project in an existing plant.

In 1992, Mr. Priesters transferred to the parent company Trienekens GmbH, at that time the biggest waste management company and waste treatment technology leader in Germany. His responsibilities included plant optimization, planning and new plant design for a broad range of applications. In 2002/2003, he led a team that was entirely accountable for organizing and implementing the first large-scale experiments with MSW sorting.

Several patents are credited to Mr. Priesters and his team. These comprise of those for RDF production, packaging waste sorting plants and MSW sorting plants.

He started with TITECH GmbH, today known as TOMRA Sorting Recycling, in 2005, where he currently is Business Development Director. Together with his team, he is responsible for the establishment and growth of new and existing MSW treatment facilities worldwide, new segments and new applications.

Dr. Prasek currently holds a position of a Director of Operations at the Environment and Sustainability Department in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.  He is responsible for co-coordinating environmental and social due-diligence and monitoring of various Bank’s investment operations.

Dr. Prasek joined the Bank in 1992 and has been responsible for the environmental and social appraisal and risk management of Bank operations in a variety of sectors. Before joining the Bank he was an Advisor for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit).

Dr. Prasek holds a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the Warsaw University of Technology, and from 1987 to 1991 was Assistant Professor at that university’s Institute of Environmental Engineering.  Dr. Prasek has published numerous articles in the fields of solid waste management, environmental management, environmental aspects of project financing and is a member of many professional organizations.

Michael Philippou was born in Athens, Greece in 1959. He received his Diploma in Electrical Engineering in 1982 from the University of Patras and his Master’s degree in 1986, from Clarkson University, Potsdam, New York U.S.A.

During 1986-2001 he worked for Public Power Corporation of Greece (PPC SA) in several positions of responsibility, main of which are: Chief Dispatcher at the National Energy Control Center, Design Engineer, one of the Project Managers of the modern National Energy Control Center in Kryoneri, Attica, and Support Engineer of National Energy Control Center information systems for Production Units Automatic Control (Automatic Generation Control-AGC).

His professional involvement with LAGIE SA began in 2001 (HTSO SA at that time) being in several high ranking positions with duties relative to Electricity Market, Cross-border Trading, Renewable Energy Sources, Guarantees of Origin & Energy Mix, Cogeneration and Regulatory Affairs, whilst in 2004 he was appointed Director of the Day Ahead Scheduling Operations Department.

Following the spin-off of the HTSO, he remained at LAGIE S.A. and immediately assumed the duties of Executive Director of Power Exchange Department.

As from the 8th of March 2016 he is the President & CEO of LAGIE S.A.

His professional experience and expertise extends to the areas of:

• Economic Dispatch, Unit Commitment and Electricity Costing,
• Ancillary Services Engineering and Market Practices,
• Automatic Generation Control –AGC (Controller design and tuning),
• Real Time Generation (Data Base Modelling, Tuning and Maintenance),
• Architecture and Design of Energy Control Center Information Systems,
• Electricity Market – Cross Border Trading & Regulatory Practices.

His scientific expertise involves more than 30 publications in journals, roundtables and International Conferences.

He has served as Surveyor in European research projects:

• Esprit Project No 29172 / AMEBICA / EUROPEAN COMMISSION, DG XIII, December 1998 – June 2001, and
• Esprit Project No 27449 / ΙNTELEC / ΕUROPEAN COMMISSION, DG XIII, September 1999 – May 2000,

as well as technical manager of PPC in the European research project:

• Esprit Project No/22967 VENN/EUROPEAN COMMISSION, DG XIII, January 1997-January 2000

He has served as regular member in the Market Committee of European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E), from its foundation until January 2012.

He is member of the Technical Chamber of Greece, member of the Hellenic Association of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, regular member of the Greek National Committee of CIGRE and is included in Arbitrators List of the Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE). Also, he is member of General Assembly of Europex – Association of European Energy Exchanges.

Maria-Ekaterini Papachristopoulou-Tzitzikosta, widow of Georgios Tzitzikostas, former Minister of Macedonia and Thrace, is since 2004 President of the Hellenic National Commission for UNESCO and since 1994 President of the UNESCO Center for Women and Peace in the Balkan Countries. The latter was inaugurated by the former Director General of UNESCO, Mr Federico Mayor, following its approval of the 27^th Session of the General Conference of UNESCO.

Furthermore, Ms Tzitzikosta is the Founder and President of the Association of the Societies of Inter-Balkan Women’s Cooperation (AIWS) President of the Society of Greek Women Entrepreneurs and of the Association of Rural Women of Macedonia and Thrace. Additionally, she is Secretary General of the Meditterenean Women’s Forum, Vice President of the Lilian Voudouri Foundation, as well as Member of the Board of Directors of the European Women’s Lobby, ELEPAP, Fulbright Foundation, Hellenic Red Cross, Girls’ Guide Association and Friends Society of Basil & Marina Theoharakis Foundation.

Over the course of her career in the public and private sector Ms Tzitzikosta has organized and participated in a number of International Conferences and Meetings, has been invited as guest speaker at High Level Panels and has cooperated with International Organizations, among which, UNESCO, the United Nations, UN Commission on the Status of Women, ECOSOC, FAO, World Organization of Health, World Bank, Council of Europe as well as the EBI. Her main field of action centers on gender equality, respect of cultural diversity, peace building and human rights focusing mostly in the geographical area of the Balkans and the Black Sea.

Ms Tzitzikosta holds a Masters Degree in “Management and Public Relations” as a Fulbright Scholar (1973, Case Western Reserve, Cleveland University) and a BA in “Economics and Business” (1971, Athens University of Economics and Business). Additionally, she has been awarded the Interpreter-Translator Degree (1969, French Institute in Athens). She speaks Greek, English and French.

She has received many honorary distinctions, among which, from the Government of Bulgaria and Romania, the Prefecture of Thessaloniki, the Friends Society of the Library of Alexandria, the University of Macedonia, the Vafopouleio Foundation of Thessaloniki, the Hellenic Athletics Federation (SEGAS), Xynis, Leonis and Geitonas School.

Furthermore, she has been selected by UNESCO, among women from all over the world, as one of the 60 female personalities who contributed catalytically to the promotion of peace. The 6o honored women were included in the volume entitled “Constructing the foundations of Peace – 60 Women” into the framework of the celebration of 60 years since the establishment of the International Organization.

Sotirios Nikas is the President of the BoD and CEO of the Hellenic Gas Transmission System Operator (DESFA). He has graduated from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with a BSc in Geomatics Engineering (Dipl. Eng.) and has a demonstrated working experience of over 25 years in the oil and gas industry worldwide.

Since 2012, and until recently, he acted as Project Manager in EPC projects at UniversalPegasus International, specializing in pipelines and oil & gas associated facilities for major companies (Interpipeline, Plains Midstream, Gibsons Energy, etc) in Calgary (Alberta), Canada.

From 1989 until 2012, he has been working as Project Manager in DEPA (Public Gas Corporation) and DESFA for the design and construction of the National Natural Gas Transmission System, while he also has a great experience working as a freelance professional in the fields of Civil and Geomatics Engineering.

Mr. Nikas is both a member of the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE) and the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA).

His mother tongue is Greek; he is fluent in English and speaks, also, German.

Celia Moore is Director of Corporate Citizenship, IBM Europe Middle East & Africa. She joined IBM in 1995 to implement a new global strategy for corporate citizenship and manages the portfolio of programmes that apply IBM’s technologies and skills to solve critical social and economic challenges across more than 30 countries.  The major focus is education, skills, and healthcare as well as support to the development agenda across Africa.  IBM introduced the P-TECH school model to meet the growth in “New Collar Jobs” that need intermediate level technical qualifications – less than a bachelor’s degree, and with strong employability skills, working in partnership with governments.

Celia is a Member of the Board of Directors of CSR Europe, where as Chair she led the formation of the Pact for Youth partnership with the European Commission, to engage businesses to increase apprenticeships and build new partnerships with schools. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the UNDP Istanbul International Centre for Private Sector in Development. She is also on the board of the European Academy of Business in Society where she initiated a programme on Values Based Leadership with Business Schools in Africa.

Before joining IBM Celia held various positions in the not-for-profit sector and gained extensive experience engaging the corporate sector to address social issues that impact business, through forming cross sector partnerships.

George Markopouliotis was born in Athens in 1960. A mathematician and statistician by training, he began working for the European Commission in 1987.

In the course of his career he has worked in the areas of Regional Policy, Maritime Affairs, Fishing and Communication and has held a number of high level posts, including in the Cabinets of several Commissioners (member and Head of Cabinet).

He took up office as Head of the European Commission Representation in Greece on 1 February 2018, a post he also held from 2001 to 2006. Between March 2012 and January 2018 he served as Head of the Representation in Cyprus.