11th Edition CEE Hydrogen Summit

IT Engineer and Economist by profession, eMBA in Innovation Management. Special tasks manager with 15 years of professional experience in the public sector and business. He specializes in the areas of ESG, sustainable development and climate transformation. An expert in EU and national regulations as well as hydrogen, CCUS and energy technologies. He implemented climate policy in one of the largest industrial enterprises in Poland. The Lower Silesian Hydrogen Valley Association is a voluntary and self-governing association of entities interested in supporting the development of the hydrogen economy understood as a value chain related to the production, transmission, storage and use of hydrogen in the main sectors of the economy - transport, energy, heating and, above all, industry. The association's area of operation covers the whole of Poland, with emphasis on the Lower Silesian, Lubuskie and Opolskie voivodeships and the Odra River region.

Lawyer and climate policy analyst. He holds a Master's degree in Law from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and is a graduate of the American Law Program organized by The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law.

He also holds a Master of Public Policy from the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin and is a graduate of the German Law School organized by Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn in cooperation with the University of Warsaw.

He is an alumnus of the Swedish Academy for Young Professionals (SAYP) program at Lund University.
 

He is the author of academic and policy-oriented publications on the energy sector and climate policy, and has completed the IKEM Academy and the Energy Community Summer School, programs aimed at developing future leaders of the energy transition.

European Union law and policy specialist from Hungary, Marton spent time as a consultant focussing on energy policy before taking up a role at the Commission’s DG GROW unit responsible for raw materials, energy intensive industries and hydrogen. Since March 2022 he has been working in the policy team of Hydrogen Europe, focussing on industrial and sustainability topics.

Ján has been president of the Slovak National Hydrogen Association since June 2021. He graduated from the Technical University of Vienna with a degree in Renewable Energy Systems. He has experience in the preparation, implementation and management of projects in the field of renewable energy sources. He aims to use the acquired knowledge and expertise to actively construct the national hydrogen ecosystem to mitigate climate change, increase the country's energy security, and stabilize energy prices. He aims to help create new business opportunities and jobs in the emerging hydrogen sector of the national economy. With the support of international hydrogen agencies, he is ensuring the transfer of knowledge and experience for the fruitful construction and sustainable operation of emerging hydrogen valleys. He participated in the preparation of the National Hydrogen Strategy. He is working with industry, municipalities, the third sector, science and research to identify barriers to introducing hydrogen technologies into practice. He is drafting strategic, legislative and regulatory documents to make his plans a reality and make Slovakia a better place to live.
 

Sylvia has more than 20 years of working experience in the gas infrastructure sector. After obtaining master's degrees in economics and law, she started to work in the petrochemical industry.

After two years, she joined the gas infrastructure sector – namely natural gas storage and later to gas transmission.

During work for the gas storage operator Sylvia was responsible for the implementation of the second and third gas packages by the storage system operator as well as significant underground gas storage development projects.

For more than 10 years, she has been focusing on the implementation of European legislation for transmission network operators, with an emphasis on planning and development of the gas transmission network.

Kaarel Kuusk has worked for Eesti Energia AS (internationally known as Enefit), an Estonian government-owned energy company, offering energy solutions to ~700,000 customers in 5 different home markets in the Baltic Sea region, for 10 years. Currently Kaarel works as the head of partner relations for Eesti Energia Group. His main responsibilities are: 1)coordinating R&D activities, 2)partnerships for Eesti Energia's strategic development projects and 3)coordinating hydrogen topics on the Group level.
Kaarel is also representing his company in Hydrogen Valley Estonia management board.

Kleopatra Avraam: Strategic Planning Senior Director
She has been working in both the electricity and natural gas sectors for the last 13 years mainly focusing on business development and business planning. Starting as an Energy Trader dealing with electricity transactions mainly between Greece and Bulgaria, she moved in the strategy team of the National Natural Gas Transmission System Operator (DESFA).
Her main responsibilities include analyzes of new-business proposals that create and nurture opportunities and partnerships, identifying risks and benefits of said investment proposals with main outcome the building of action plans for strategic initiatives improving business performance as per DESFA's corporate strategy.

Daria Vladikova is head of the Department of Hydrogen Technologies at the Institute of Sustainable Transition and Development towards Trakia University – Stara Zagora. She is also a professor in Electrochemistry at the Institute of Electrochemistry and Energy Systems towards the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
Prof. Vladikova has a PhD in Solid State Chemistry and a D.Sc. in Electrochemistry. She is working in the field of fuel cells and batteries testing and diagnostics and deployment of hydrogen technologies. She is the author of more than 150 scientific publications with over 1000 citations. She has been awarded the Herman Gӧhr Award by the European Fuel Cell Forum.
Prof. Vladikova is President of the Bulgarian Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Energy Storage Association, Member of the Governing Board of the European Innovation Digital Hub Zagore, Member of the Clean Hydrogen Alliance Round Table for Green Hydrogen Production, member of the Working group for implementation of the National Hydrogen Roadmap

Graduate of law at the University of Wroclaw and postgraduate studies in sustainable finance at the University of Warsaw. She is currently a PhD student at the Doctoral School of Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Gdansk, where she is preparing her dissertation on hydrogen regulation in Poland and the EU. She is an expert on EU and national regulations on renewable hydrogen and has experience in the investment process of hydrogen network construction. She has a wealth of knowledge, especially in the area of ​​gas sector activities at the national and EU level gained during the implementation of domestic and foreign projects. Author of numerous scientific and journalistic publications on the hydrogen and gas sector.

Dr. Katarína Sasaráková works as a project manager at the Košice Self-Governing Region in Slovakia, where she leads initiatives in hydrogen technology and sustainable energy development. Her primary focus is on establishing Slovakia's first Hydrogen Valley in the Košice region, which includes launching regional hydrogen mobility and developing the supporting infrastructure. Collaborating with regional and international partners, she is working to pioneer green hydrogen production for the region's energy transformation.
Dr. Sasaráková holds a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Pavel Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, with her research specializing in hydrogen production.

Tamas has 10+ years' experience in the field of energy storage solutions and hydrogen value chain. He joined the MOL Group in the New and Sustainable Businesses Department in 2023 and he is currently responsible for green hydrogen value chain development (feedstock, production, logistics, end-users) in the CEE region, dominantly in the refinery, mobility and petrochemical sector. The MOL Group launched new projects in the name of sustainability, primarily focusing on green hydrogen, biogas and circular economy.

Marcel Keilhaue is an Expert at the German Energy Agency (dena) in the department Future of Energy Supply and is working within the area Hydrogen and Resilience. The German Energy Agency supports the Federal Government in implementing the energy transition and the National Hydrogen Strategy. Marcel Keilhaue has a M.A. in Political Science from the University of Leipzig and an B.A. in Political Science and Economics from the MLU Halle-Wittenberg. Professional experience prior to dena includes working for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in the Energy and Climate Cluster Ukraine as well as the Office for International and European Affairs of the Leipzig City Administration. Both in his academic life as well as professional career Marcel Keilhaue has developed a specialised background in the areas of just transition, international energy cooperation, offshore energy generation, hydrogen economy and resilience. He is currently expanding his specialisation on the topic of resilient energy systems.

A senior executive with extensive experience in the maritime port and logistics sectors, currently serving as the Director General at the Port of Klaipėda Authority. He has previously held leadership positions in various logistics, cargo handling, and manufacturing companies, including Klaipėda Stevedoring Company KLASCO and the Achema Group

Director of the National Center for Nuclear Research, until August 2025 Director of the Center for Hydrogen Technologies, Institute of Power Engineering – National Research Institute (IPE-NRI), (CTH2 IPE-NRI).

In 2022-2025 served as Director of IPE-NRI. Project manager, task leader and contractor in more than 70 projects related to power engineering and hydrogen technologies funded by the national funding agencies, EC, DoE/DoS, ESA and directly by the industry.

Involved in projects related to nuclear power in Poland (IPE-NRI, NCBJ) and in Sweden (KTH).

Author and co-author of numerous technical reports and recommendations for policymakers, more than 300 publications and conference presentations, 8 patents/patent applications, mostly commercialized.

Double Fulbrighter and recipient of numerous recognitions, including the Siemens and Nernst awards.

Member of the Executive Board of Hydrogen Europe Research, Coordinating Board in Polish Hydrogen Strategy and the Expert Group focused on Hydrogen in the Chamber of Natural Gas Industry (IGG), and Member of the Committee of Power Engineering of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Prof. Kupecki led the multi-disciplinary team which delivered a comprehensive report Perspectives of hydrogen technologies until 2030 with an outlook until 2040, an analytical study for the Polish Hydrogen Strategy.

Received diplomas from Warsaw University of Technology, University of Iceland and University of Akureyri, and from Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley in commercialization of R&D and leading research teams.

Annett Weß has an academic background is geosciences holding a Master of Science in Georesources Management where she specialized in sustainable energy and resource management involving topics such as regulatory aspects in developing a hydrogen market.

 She then gained experience in the energy industry as a consultant and worked in projects related to process digitalization and automatized invoicing with means to contribute to the digital transformation. In January 2022 she joined the European Affairs team as Program Manager Hydrogen and is responsible for monitoring EU regulatory developments.

In this context she advises the German Federal Government on hydrogen markets and the rollout of a European hydrogen refueling infrastructure. In addition, she is part of the German IPCEI. Hydrogen coordination team that manages the mobility topics.

Filip Margan, B.Sc. in Computer Science from University of Ljubljana, acting as COO of ECUBES, excelling in creating and managing hydrogen projects worldwide. Today, Filip is translating the ECUBES' vision and culture into a functional and sustainable success with a mission: harness renewable energy and supply green hydrogen to humanity.
Previously, as an IT Project Manager, mostly, on a freelance basis, has achieved 20+ years of expertise developing and managing mission-critical IT infrastructure systems for the marine industry, including 10 years of experience driving operational excellence, implementing innovations, and executing projects.

Marco La Cognata, officer at the Italian Energy Regulator (ARERA). Expert in regulation of energy infrastructures, revenue and tariff setting, evaluation of network development plans.

Within the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) has contributed developing the EU regulators’ positions on the Decarbonisation Package and the nascent hydrogen sector.

Co-chair of the Hydrogen Markets and Regulation task force within ACER, and member of the ACER and MEDREG gas working groups. Previous experience of lecturer on competition and regulatory topics, researcher and consultant.

MSc Economics at Università Cattolica of Milan and MSc Regulation at London School of Economics and Political Science.

After finishing studies at Technical University of Košice, Slovakia and University of Teesside, UK in 2006, Peter worked at KPMG Slovakia auditing financial services institutions. 

In 2009 he started a role of Network performance analyzes at Slovak gas DSO SPP-distribucia. 

Since 2012 he leads the department of Strategy and network development. Besides implementing asset management standards into daily practice of gas network planning, operations and maintenance he has been leading several internal projects concerning the integration of sustainable gases in the Slovak gas distribution grid. 

Since 2020 he plays an active role in leading hydrogen projects dealing with blending, planning new hydrogen ready network and repurposing existing natural gas grid to enable future pure hydrogen distribution.

Dr. Oleksandr Riepkin is the founder of the Hydrogen Ukraine LLC and is actively working on the development of hydrogen projects across Ukraine.

With over 14 years of expertise in renewable energy in Ukraine, Oleksandr has been at the forefront of the country's energy transition.

As a passionate advocate for sustainable energy, he has played a pivotal role in the development and promotion of hydrogen energy in Ukraine.

His extensive experience in international negotiations and cross-border communication has been instrumental in driving Ukraine's renewable sector forward.

He is the author of 8 scientific articles on hydrogen energy, co-author of the Atlas of energy potential of renewable energy sources in Ukraine, and co-author of the Hydrogen Strategy of Ukraine.

Thomas Sölla is an experienced and certified project manager (IPMA Level C) with a strong background in corporate governance and process engineering.

He brings extensive experience in strategic planning, change processes, proposal and contract management, and international business.

Currently, Thomas serves as the Head of Project Management at Green Energy Park | Global BV, where he focuses on developing and implementing GEP's hydrogen production infrastructure utilizing ammonia and methanol as vectors.

In his previous role at TGE Gas Engineering, he led the sales department, where he was responsible for crafting sales and marketing strategies and managing regional sales managers and bid teams.

Thomas has an impressive career in plant engineering and project development, holding leadership positions at renowned companies such as Heitkamp and Humboldt Wedag.

He has successfully implemented processes to enhance efficiency and optimize costs, and he possesses extensive experience in corporate development, process management, business development and international plant engineering.

I have been working for 20+ years on the oil and gas industry, mainly on the development of major infrastructures projects (CAPEX intensive) such as LNG plant, refineries, etc. in various part of the world and in Europe.

Starting as a project manager, then moving towards business development, head of BU and now in consulting. His main responsibilities include the support to Energy companies for the development of new sustainable projects such as Hydrogen, Photovoltaic, Wind (On and Offshore), etc.

Over the last years, his focus has been on the presentation of the benefits of the Hydrogen infrastructures towards a more efficient energy system in times of transition.

Current activities

• Expert in the field of energy market and hydrogen technologies at TÜV SÜD
• Member of the board Hydrogen Poland Association
• Member of Hydrogen Europe
• Lecturer AGH University, Silesian University of Technology and Lazarski University
• Founder of the European association 3Seas Hydrogen Council.

Graduate of the Faculty of Technical Physics and Applied Mathematics of the Warsaw University of Technology. He obtained a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) with a specialisation in Energy. Expert in the field of energy and fuel independence and security, decarbonisation and alternative energy sources. Speaker at many international conferences. For several years, he has been dealing with technological, regulatory and safety aspects of hydrogen technologies and various forms of energy storage. Author of numerous articles for professional journals and portals. Author of didactic and training programmes. He has supervised and implemented many projects. Selected examples of projects in the field of energy and hydrogen:

• Large-scale energy storage audits
• HAZOP analysis for hydrogen refuelling stations
• Expert report on the safety of an assembly and maintenance facility for a manufacturer of hydrogen railway vehicles.
• Technical and regulatory expertise.
• Author of AESS (Advance Energy Storage System Certification).

Alex Naumann, hydrogen technologies expert at Hynfra P.S.A., board member of Hydrogen Poland association and deputy chairman at Hydrogen Technologies Committee of Polish Chamber of Commerce.

Regulatory, technology and market expert, in hydrogen, renewable energy and clean chemicals. Member of Hydrogen Europe, Clean Hydrogen Alliance, The Polish Committee for Standardization (PKN). Co-author and author of number of industry reports, feasibility studies with basic designs and other technical documentation related to the above.

Bartłomiej Lis (PhD Eng) is an experienced engineer and scientist with over 10 years' expertise in hydrogen technology, fuel cells, and electrolysers, focusing on research and development activities.

He earned a PhD in chemical engineering by successfully defending a dissertation on the development of new electrolytes for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC).

For more than a decade, he worked at AGH University of Science and Technology, contributing to projects aimed at studying materials for SOFC and exploring the use of hydrogen to power unmanned aerial vehicles.

Three years ago, he joined HydrogenTech, initially as a Materials Specialist, and later progressed to the role of Technology Director

With heavy experience in environmental technologies, especially in water and waste water treatment, I came to work for Messer as an applications engineer.

For over 16 years, I am leading the application technologies department at Messer Tatragas, spol. s r.o., the leading supplier of industrial and medical gases in Slovakia.

In this role, I oversee the applications of technical gases in various industries, such as environmental, food, cutting and welding, metallurgy, glass, chemistry, and more.

For the last 5 years I worked hard on the development of new, potentially green hydrogen projects in the transport business and in various industrial branches.

Dr. Dirk Flandrich studied economics with a focus on energy economics at the Universities of Bochum and Essen.

After working as a doctoral student and research assistant at the Chair of Energy Economics at the University of Essen, in 2005 he started at WINGAS GmbH in Kassel and held various specialist and management positions in the now unbundled company group; among other things, as Head of Capacity Management at GASCADE Gastransport GmbH and as Managing Director of OPAL Gastransport GmbH & Co. KG. He currently is in charge of “Flow – making hydrogen happen” as Senior Program Manager.

Jurij Giacomelli is a founder of META Circularity Ltd. A strategic advisory founded in 2012 in Ljubljana, engaged with circular transformations, sustainable innovation and the transition to renewable energy sources including an active role in the North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley (NAHV). and the Hydrogen Ecosystem Conference North Adriatic.

He served as investment manager of META Ingenium, an early-stage venture capital fund. In the course of his career, he served on leading positions in several industries, including news publishing and media (GV, Finance, Delo and others), industrial design (Gorenje Design Studio, a part of Gorenje Group), insurance (Prva Group, a life insurance company) and banking (NLB, Group).

He is the President of the Italian-Slovenian Forum and is speaker, lecturer and a writing contributor in several news media.

In 2004 he received the award for “Young Manager of the Year” by the Manager Association of Slovenia (MAS). In 2015 he received the honorary title "Cavaliere dell'Ordine della Stella d'Italia" (Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy) by the President of the Republic of Italy