Boyana Achovski
Secretary General, Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE)
Since September 2016, Boyana Achovski serves as Secretary General of Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), the European association of gas transmission, gas storage and LNG regasification terminal operators. Prior to her current function, Ms. Achovski held the position of GIE Vice Executive Secretary for a period of 4 years. Before joining GIE, Boyana Achovski worked for Bulgartransgaz, the Bulgarian transmission and storage operator, where she led the Analysis and International Operations Division, managing the company’s undertakings relating to the European regulatory framework and European energy policy. Ms. Achovski graduated in International Economic Affairs, specialized in International Finance and holds a Master’s degree in Finance. Boyana Achovski was a Chair of GasNaturally Steering Committee from June 2017 to January 2018 and from July to December 2019.
Radek Benčík
Chief Operations Officer, NET4GAS, s.r.o.
Radek Benčík graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the VUT in Brno and in 2005 successfully completed his MBA studies at the prestigious Nottingham Trent University.
He has worked since 2008 at Alstom, s.r.o., in the position of managing director and general director of Thermal Services for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and at the same time as member of the management for the Central Europe region. He implemented projects to reduce emissions from power plants and heating plants, for example for the ČEZ group in Prunéřov or for the Žilinská teplárenská in Slovakia. Before that, he was the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of ŠKODA Praha, a.s., and at the same time CEO of ŠKODA Praha Invest, s.r.o. From 2001, he worked in the management of ŠKODA JS and subsequently as its CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors.
He became Chief operations officer and executive director of NET4GAS in 2011.
FILIP DOSTÁL
Head of Business Development, GasNet, s.r.o.
Ing. Filip Dostál is a graduate of Finance at the University of Economics in Prague. During his career, he has held many financial and operational management positions in a number of international companies. He started his career in the field of logistics management of cement plants of the Swiss concern HOLCIM. He completed this stage in the position of Regional Logistics Manager for Central and Eastern Europe. His next steps led to the German group REMONDIS. At that time, he managed the operation of TSR Czech Rep. In 2017, he took up the position of Head of Business Development at innogy Czech Republic. After the division of the innogy group, he moved to the same position at GasNet.
ALEŠ DOUCEK
Chairman of the Board of Directors, Czech Hydrogen Technology Platform, z.s.
Head of the 'Hydrogen Technologies and Innovations in Energy' Department, ÚJV Řež, a.s.
Aleš Doucek is a graduate of the University of Chemical Technology in Prague, where he obtained a doctorate in the field of chemical and energy processing of fuels. Since 2008, he has been working at ÚJV Řež, a. s., focusing on hydrogen technologies. He is currently the head of the Hydrogen Technology and Innovations in the Energy department. At the same time, he is also the chairman of the board of the Czech Hydrogen Technology Platform, of which he has been a member since 2013.
Aleš Doucek is a member of the coordination group for the National Action Plan for Clean Mobility, co-chairman of the Working Group for Hydrogen Mobility at the Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic and platform representative at the National Council for Hydrogen and the Hydrogen Coordination Group at the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
JIŘÍ GAVOR
Founder, owner and manager of the consulting firm ENA, s.r.o.
Jiří Gavor is also the executive director of ANDE – Association of Independent Energy Suppliers. He is a specialist in the development of energy markets, price relationships, taxes and competitiveness of all types of fuels and energies. He regularly publishes on these topics, including presentations at international conferences. He cooperates with a number of prestigious institutions, including international arbitration tribunals. He is also involved in forming opinions on the direction of the state energy concept of the Czech Republic and other current energy problems, including cooperation with media of all types. He is a member of the Committee for Sustainable Energy at the Government of the Czech Republic.
LUDĚK HORN
Director of Trading Department, ČEZ, a.s.
Luděk Horn is a graduate of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (field of thermal and nuclear machinery and equipment) of the Czech Technical University in Prague. From 1986, he worked at the ŠKODA company in Pilsen in various technical and later managerial positions, most recently as executive director for informatics and management in 1998. In 1999, he became the commercial director of Plzeňská energetika s.r.o., which at the time was owned by the American energy company CINERGY . At the same time, within the European structure of this company, he held the position of director of business development for Central and Eastern Europe. In 2001, he joined ČEZ, a. s. as head of domestic and foreign contracting. From 2007, in the new structure of the trading department, he worked as a Front Office manager with responsibility for all wholesale transactions with electricity and other energy commodities of the ČEZ Group. From 1 May 2016, he became the director of the trading department. Since 2016, he has also been a member of the board of the European association of energy traders EFET.
PETR KOUTNÝ
Director of operations and maintenance, GasNet, s.r.o.
Graduate of VUT Brno, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Institute of Electric Power Engineering, and VŠCHT Prague, Institute of Gas Industry. He started his professional career in 1995 at the I&C Energo company at the Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant as a technician of control and control systems. He has been working in the gas industry since 1998, when he joined Transgas, today's NET4GAS. He has worked here in senior positions since 2005, and since 2014 as director of transportation system operations. He has been working in the GasNet group since April 2021. He is a member of the Council of the Czech Gas Association.
RADEK KUNDRATA
Executive Director, HUTIRA - BRNO, s.r.o.
Already during his studies at the Faculty of Economics, Administration and Law of Masaryk University, he started working in the public support department of the Office for the Protection of Economic Competition. Then he worked at the regional chamber of commerce in Brno, where he was in charge of membership, consultancy in the field of subsidies and law. Since 2010, he has been working in the company HUTIRA – BRNO, s.r.o., which deals with gas and energy, at first as procurator and executive director, and since 2019 as company director. He is also an executive director in the company HUTIRA Slovakia s.r.o., an executive in the company HUTIRA – VISION, s.r.o. dealing with the development and production of water treatment plants and an executive at the company HUTIRA green gas s.r.o., which deals with the greening of the gas industry, especially as part of activities around biomethane and hydrogen. He is also a member of the energy section of the Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic.
Piotr Kuś
General Director, 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.
MARIANA LIAKOPOULOU
Markets and Policy Associate, European Federation of Energy Traders (EFET)
Mariana Liakopoulou is a Markets and Policy Associate working in the EU liaison office of the European Federation of Energy Traders (EFET). In this capacity, she undertakes analysis on topics related to the Fit for 55 package, emissions trading, gas decarbonisation and hydrogen, certification and guarantees of origin, as well as on topics related to the French and Greek power and gas markets. She also serves as research analyst with the NATO Association of Canada (Energy Security Program), producing papers pertaining to Caspian energy policy and energy market integration in Southeast and Central and Eastern Europe. Parallel to her professional activities, she oversees and contributes to the drafting of The Palgrave Handbook of Zero Carbon Energy Systems and Energy Transitions, a book project aiming to provide an inter- and multi-disciplinary analysis and overview of decarbonisation from both a gas and power sector perspective. Formerly, she was a consultant and member of the Roster of Experts of the Energy Community Secretariat. She has also completed an internship in the Director’s office of the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators. She started out as Energy Policy and Security Fellow with Caspian Policy Center (Washington DC.) Her publication record comprises works for various industry sources, including the International Association for Energy Economics, the United States Association for Energy Economics, Natural Gas World, the NATO ENSEC COE’s “Energy Highlights” journal, Gulf Intelligence and European Gas Hub. She holds a Master’s in International Relations and European Studies from the School of Economics and Political Science of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
THOMAS MERKER
Managing director, GasNet, s.r.o.
Since 2019, Thomas Merker holds the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at the GasNet Group, a domestic leader in natural gas distribution. Thomas is responsible for finance & controlling, investor relations, regulation, capacity sales and business development.
Prior to his current position, Thomas worked for the innogy group in the Czech Republic (formerly RWE) in various top management positions. He started working here as early as 2002 and worked his way up to the CFO of GasNet, which was still part of RWE at the time. Since 2016, as CFO at innogy Česká republika, he managed all financial aspects of the entire group, led shared services and was in charge of developing new business opportunities. Thomas has also led a number of key transformation projects within the group. In 2019/2020, he played a crucial role in the separation of GasNet & GasNet Služby from the innogy group.
Thomas studied at F. Schiller University in Jena, J. Maximilian in Würburg and Université de Caen in France.
PETR MERVART
Zmocněnec ministra průmyslu a obchodu pro vodíkové technologie, Ministerstvo průmyslu a obchodu
Petr Mervart and his team prepared the Hydrogen Strategy of the Czech Republic, which was approved by the government in 2021. Currently, together with representatives of other ministries, industry and trade unions, he ensures the fulfilment of this strategy. At the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Petr Mervart also participated in the preparation of the Study on the Decarbonization of Czech Industry. He has extensive experience in the private sector, where he worked for international computer and energy companies such as Digital Equipment, Sun Microsystems and E.ON. He began his career as a university teacher at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague. He also participated in professional internships at Kyoto University in Japan and the University of Alberta in Canada. He studied at the Czech Technical University in Prague.
ADAM MORAVEC
Head of the biogas section at CZ Biom - Czech Association for Biomass, z.s
Adam Moravec connected his life with biogas already during his studies at Mendel University in Brno, where he graduated in 2001. Since then, he also provides services as a consultant for the energy use of biomass, where he makes full use of the combination of agricultural, technical and economic education. In addition to the freelance profession, he also worked in various employee positions. He started at TEDOM as an advisor to the CEO and later became head of the renewable resources center. Here he mainly focused on the use of landfill gas and was also at the beginning of the construction of modern biogas stations in the Czech Republic. In addition, he was part of projects on the use of biomass in heating plants. After the entry of the Czech Republic into the EU, in an effort to green the large energy industry, he moved to the ČEZ Group, where he held the position of development manager at ČEZ Obnovintelne zdroje and executive director of the subsidiary company implementing the only biogas station ever in the Group. After the end of the project, he returned full-time to consulting in the field of biomass and shortly after that he was elected as Head of the biogas section at CZ Biom - the Czech Association for Biomass, z.s. He works there in the same position to this day and also as vice-president of the association.
JAKUB NEČESANÝ
Head of the Gas Balance Department, OTE, a.s.
Jakub Nečesaný graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at CTU, majoring in Electrical Engineering, where he also completed his doctoral studies. During and after finishing school, he worked as a researcher at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. From 2005, he worked at OTE, a.s., as a specialist in the operation of the OTE system for the electricity market. From 2006 to 2008, he was involved in the administration of the register of emission allowances. Since 2009, he has been fully dedicated to the gas market; he was at the birth of the expansion of the OTE system for the gas industry and ensured its integration into all existing processes and structures of OTE. He currently holds the position of head of the Gas Balance department.
RENÉ NEDĚLA
Deputy Minister for Energy at the Ministry of Industry and Trade
Mr. René Neděla graduated at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Czech Technical University, Masaryk Institute of Advanced Studies and Florence School of Regulation. Since 2011, he worked in the Energy Regulatory Office and he lectured at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Czech Technical University and at the Faculty of Engineering of the Czech University of Life Sciences (ČZU) Prague. He currently woks as the Deputy Minister for Energy at the Ministry of Industry and Trade and at the same time as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ČEPS, a.s.
BLAHOSLAV NĚMEČEK
Partner, Ernst & Young, s.r.o.
Blahoslav Němeček is a partner of the consulting team for clients from the energy industry in the region of Central and Southeastern Europe. Since 2012, he has been working at EY on international integration projects in the electricity and gas industry, creating strategies for regulated and unregulated entities in the energy sector across Europe, and collaborating with state administration bodies on the creation of new energy legislation. He also participated in many successful transactions in the region of Central and South-Eastern Europe. Blahoslav is currently focusing mainly on the topic of digitization of the sector and decarbonization, and he prefers to devote himself to market design. In the past, he worked as the founder and deputy chairman of the Energy Regulatory Office (ERÚ), as a member of the Council of Regulators of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and as a representative of the Energy Regulatory Office in the Council of European Energy Regulatory Authorities (CEER). Blahoslav graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague, where he obtained an engineering degree and later also a doctorate in the field of Economics and Energy Management. He graduated from the University of Florida with a program in utility regulation and energy strategy.
LIAM NOLAN
President, Marcogaz
Liam Nolan is the President of MARCOGAZ since 14 of June 2022, after holding the office of Vice-President since 2020. He is Head of Technical Competency & Standards at Gas Networks Ireland, which owns, operates and develops the national gas infrastructure in Ireland. Liam Nolan is the Chair of the Gas Central Committee of the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI), responsible for overseeing the national gas infrastructure and gas utilisation standardisation committees covering natural gas, renewable gas and hydrogen. He is also board member of the Register of Gas Installers of Ireland (RGII) and the Chair of the Pipeline Industries Guild, Irish Branch. He represents Ireland on the International Gas Union (IGU) Council.
MARTIN PACOVSKÝ
Chairman of the Board, Pražská plynárenská, a.s.
Martin Pacovský leads the company Pražská plynárenská, a.s. from the position of chairman of the board of directors, with the aim of making it a more modern and greener company. This is not his first engagement in an energy company, he worked for ČEZ for many years, where he focused on renewable sources and successfully entered the German market in the field of wind energy. He drew on the spirit of the startup scene as a risk manager of the VC fund INVEN CAPITAL with a focus on clean technologies. He graduated from the University of Economics in Prague and received his MBA from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
MICHAL PECH
Vice-Chairman, RWE Supply & Trading CZ, a.s.
Michal Pech joined Transgas, a.s. (now RWE Supply & Trading CZ, a.s.) in 2002. For more than 20 years in the company, he held a number of positions in the sales department. Among other things, for example, after the unbundling of the company and the separation of its transport part, he created the commercial dispatching department, which he then led for many years. In March 2016, he was elected to the company's board of directors and entrusted with the management of the commercial department (CCO). Since May 2017, he has also been responsible for the management of the financial department (CFO) and was also appointed Vice-Chairman.
DANIEL PEXIDR
Managing Director, member of the Board, EP Commodities, a.s.
Daniel Pexidr studied at the Czech Technical University in Prague, then at the University of Economics in Prague. After graduating in 2002, he started working at RWE Transgas, a.s., where he worked in the Commercial Department and was in charge of the agenda related to the transportation of natural gas from Norway and then from Russia. In 2006, he joined ČEZ, a.s. In the first years at Trading of the company, he focused on trading and optimization of independent electricity producers. He then founded the department for physical trading of natural gas. In 2014, he left ČEZ, a.s. and co-founded EP Commodities, a.s. within the EPH group. There he works in the position of Managing Director and member of the board of directors.
MARTIN PICH
Director of the MND Trading Division, MND a.s.
Martin Pich graduated from the Faculty of Economics of the Technical University in Ostrava, where he received the degree of engineer. He started working in the field of trading energy raw materials in the continental Europe region since 2001. He further expanded his experience for 12 years at the Alpiq company, of which 9 years at the headquarters in Switzerland. Since 2017, he has been the director of the MND Trading division.
ZBYNĚK POKORNÝ
Director of Sales, RWE Gas Storage CZ, s.r.o.
Zbyněk Pokorný is a graduate of the Faculty of International Relations at the University of Economics in Prague.
After his studies, he worked for some time in logistics and consulting, before succumbing to the charm of the gas industry at the end of 2005 and joining RWE Transgas, a.s.
In 2007, he transferred to the newly formed company RWE/(innogy) Gas Storage, where he currently holds the position of sales director.
LUKÁŠ POKRUPA
Chief Executive Officer, MND Energie a.s.
He graduated from the Prague International Business School. He joined the energy industry in 2007 after years of experience in telecommunications. After the liberalization of the energy market, he built an important supplier on the market, Centropol Energy, a.s., where he held the positions of Commercial Director and member of the board of directors.
He currently works at MND Energie, a.s. as Chief Executive Officer for the Czech Republic. He is also an active member and vice-chairman of the Czech Gas Association.
MICHAL PUCHEL
Chairman of the Board, OTE, a.s.
Ing. Michal Puchel is a graduate of the University of Economics in Prague, E.ON Academy Energy Series and Prince Foundation 5th Edition. He has been working in energy sector since 1999, his entire professional life. Among other things, he worked as an analyst at Accenture, director of Euroenergy, head of the strategy and regulation department of Západoslovenská energetika, and also as head of the transmission and system services department at ČEPS, a.s. Since April 1, 2021, he has been a member of the board of directors of OTE, a.s. From June 30, 2021, he serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of OTE, a.s.
MARTIN SCHWARZ
Executive director of EBW Solution, s.r.o., member of the board of directors of CZ BIOM
Martin Schwarz is a graduate of the University of Economics in Prague. He is a member of the board and head of the Biometan CZ BIOM section and head of the CzBA legislative section. He began his professional career in the energy and gas industry in 2015 by acquiring a stake in the holding company that owns and operates the Biowaste Recycling Energy Center in Rapotín, which includes the first biomethane production plant connected to the gas system in the Czech Republic as of 2019. As a member of the board of directors, he focused on the company's development and strategy. Since 2019, at EBW Solution, he has been fully dedicated to consulting and investing in the production, certification and trade of biomethane. He is a member of a number of Czech and international professional organizations, platforms, advisory bodies and working groups dealing with renewable and low-emission gases, renewable energy, decarbonisation, clean mobility and the circular economy. It participates in international projects to support and develop hydrogen and biomethane in EU member states.
Catharina Sikow-Magny
Director of Green transition & energy system integration, European Commission
Catharina Sikow-Magny joined the European Commission in 1997 and is currently the Director responsible for Green Transition and Energy System Integration in the Directorate General for Energy. Before that, she was the Head of Unit in charge of Consumers, Local Initiatives, Just Transition. Before that she was the Head of Unit responsible for Networks and Regional Initiatives. She has as well worked on international transport, trans-European network policy and financing, internalisation of external costs, and strategic policy research.
Before joining the Commission, Catharina Sikow-Magny was a team leader and chief economist in the private sector in Finland. She has also worked for the United Nations Development Programme in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She holds a Master of Economics degree from the Aalto University, Finland.
MAREK SMATANA
Head of Strategy and Network integrity, SPP distribúcia, a.s
Marek Smatana has studied Business Administration at Masaryk University in Brno. In SPP Disribúcia, a.s. he is responsible for implementing optimal operational strategy for complex portfolio of gas facilities – pipelines (all pressure levels), pressure regulating stations, odorizing facilities, corrosion protection. He is also involved in introducing integrity monitoring instruments (PIMS, RBM) for operation and maintenance of specific gas facilities and is responsible for ISO 55 001 certification process and supervision the whole asset lifecycle process is kept in compliance with the standard.
Since 2021 he has been the Head of the Legislation Committee of the Slovak Gas and Oil Association. During the same time period he has also been Project Manager for H2Pilot of initial blending of hydrogen into gas distribution network.
ONDŘEJ ŠABATA
H2 Readiness Program Lead pro NET4GAS
Ondřej studied master's programs at VŠE Prague and NHH Bergen (including study stays at WU Wien and HEC Paris) within the CEMS program. After working internships at Roland Berger and T-Mobile International, he headed to the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he focused mainly on network energy infrastructure. As part of his work at BCG, he spent 1.5 years in the USA and participated in projects in almost 20 countries around the world. He left BCG after 9 years as Principal and joined NET4GAS in 2019, where he first led the Pipeline Integrity Management project and then the H2 Readiness program, which aims to capture the relevant technical, strategic, commercial, legislative, regulatory, financial and organizational areas needed for preparing NET4GAS for the hydrogen future.
MARTIN ŠTANDERA
Head of the Administration of Guarantees of Origin and Clean Mobility Department, OTE, a.s.
Martin Štandera started his professional career in energy at OTE, a.s. in 2013 in the area of energy origin certification. As the head of the Department of Guarantees of Origin and Clean Mobility, he has been responsible since 2017 for the management and development of the Records of Guarantees of Origin and the resulting involvement in international projects, and since 2021 for the preparation of new company activities in the transport sector. From 2017 to 2020, he was a member of the board of directors of the European Association of Issuing Bodies AIB (Association of Issuing Bodies), which unites most of Europe in an effort to harmonize the certification of the origin of energy for the needs of end customers in the era of energy transformation. He continues to be active in this European association as the head of the ISU (Information System Unit) working group.
DAVID ŠAFÁŘ
Member of the Board and CTO (Chief Technical Officer) EG.D, a.s.
Energy has accompanied David throughout his professional life. He studied Electrical Power Engineering at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. He started working at E.ON in 2009, when he focused on Smart Metering. He also addressed this topic in Germany. Between 2012 and 2019, he worked as the head of several departments and thus devoted himself to a wide range of distribution and energy topics and managed many national and international strategic projects. And finally, since January 2020, David is a member of the board of directors of EG.D, a.s. as CTO, i.e. Chief Technology Officer, he focuses on fulfilling the key goals and vision of the company's overall strategy. So now he deals with, for example, Digitization, IT/OT Development, Smart Asset Management, Cyber Security, Distribution System Development Concept and Smart Grids, Innovation Projects and Workforce Management.
KAREL TICHÝ
Project manager, Economic and Social Council of the Ústí Region
Karel Tichý is a professional consultant with extensive experience in areas such as regional development (coal regions, fair transformation, restructuring activities, business development and innovation), public administration and preparation, implementation and evaluation of European fund projects. Between 2016 and 2020, he was part of the national team preparing and implementing the Economic Restructuring Strategy of the Ústí, Moravian-Silesian and Karlovy Vary regions. Through his current position as project manager of the Economic and Social Council of the Ústí Region, he actively participates in processes related to the preparation and implementation of the Fair Transformation Mechanism in the Czech Republic and in supporting activities to deepen the cooperation of coal regions in Central Europe in various areas. He also works as Developer of strategic projects in the field of hydrogen in the Ústí Region.
KRISTIÁN TITKA
Director of the supported energy sources Department, Energy Regulatory Office
Kristián Titka graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague, majoring in Economics and Energy Management. Since 2011, he has been working at the Energy Regulatory Office in the area of supported energy sources. In 2018, he was appointed to the position of director of the Department of Supported Energy Sources within the Section of Regulatory Activities and International Cooperation. It is primarily responsible for issuing the price decision, which determines the operating support for supported energy sources.
At the end of 2017, the ERÚ Council appointed him to the dissolution commission, which is an advisory body of the ERÚ Council and where he continues to work. As a representative of ERÚ, he is also appointed to working groups at the Government Council, for example to the Government Council for the Energy and Raw Materials Strategy of the Czech Republic, the working group for secondary raw materials.
In a number of working groups, he participates in the preparation of legislation in the field of energy and supported energy sources. In recent years, mainly in the working groups of the Ministry of Industry and Trade for the preparation of the National National Plan for the field of energy and climate, amendments to Act No. 165/2012 Coll. on supported energy sources and notification procedures on the compatibility of support schemes for supported energy sources.
LUBOR VELEBA
Director of the division, RWE Gas Storage, s.r.o.
Lubor Veleba is responsible for the sales and finance aspects of RWE´s storage business in the Czech Republic composed of 6 gas storage facilities and representing working gas volume in excess of 2 billion cubic meters. In his previous roles at RWE Transgas he was responsible for regulatory affairs in the Czech Republic and his tasks included negotiating regulatory price formulas as part of a 5-year regulatory review and developing market principles for the planned liberalization of the Czech gas market. Prior to his career in the gas sector he worked in corporate finance where he mainly advised on acquisitions of Czech companies. He also worked for the inward investment agency of the Czech government where his responsibilities included establishing the first overseas office. Lubor Veleba earned his degree in engineering from the Technical University in Brno, Czech Republic and received Master of Business Administration at the Cass Business School, London.
James Watson
Secretary General, 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.
