EU Water Blueprint Conference

26 – 27 November 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

Speakers’ bios

Jointly organised by and

with the support of

2

Last name: Aletraris

Name: Sofoclis

Function: Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment of

Cyprus

Sofoclis Aletraris was born in Nicosia on the 22nd of April 1953. He graduated

from the Pancyprian Kykkos Boys’ High School in 1971. He served in the

National Guard where he was released with the rank of Second Lieutenant.

He then studied at the National Technical University of Athens, where he got a diploma in Rural

and Surveying Engineering (1977) and at Utah State University, USA, where he was awarded a

BSc in Civil Engineering (1982) and an MSc in Water Engineering (1983). He holds a Master in

Business Administration (MBA) from the University of New Haven, USA (1999).

In March 1978 he undertook the permanent position of Irrigation Engineer at the Water

Development Department. In the period from 1978 to 1985 he worked at the Planning Division

and the Design Division of the Water Development Department in the design of various projects.

During the period from 1985 to 1998 he worked at the Construction Division as Resident

Engineer on various construction projects.

In May 1998 he was promoted to the position of Senior Water Engineer and as the Nicosia

District Engineer he was responsible for coordinating and supervising all the activities of the

Nicosia District Office of the Department. In July 2008 he was promoted to the position of the

Chief Water Engineer having the responsibility of "Execution” sector of the WDD.

On the 15th of December 2008 he was appointed as Director of Water Development Department

(WDD) by the Public Service Commission.

Mr Aletraris assumed office as Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment on 5

August, 2011. He is married to Chryso and has a son, George, and a daughter, Lydia.

3

Last name: Barth

Name: Friedrich

Function: Senior Advisor at the Environment, Climate and Energy

Group, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Friedrich Barth is currently Senior Advisor at the Environment, Climate

and Energy Group of the United Nations Development Programme

(UNDP) in Europe/Bonn. He has long standing management and technical

experience in various national and international organisations, among

them the German Government, the European Commission, the German development

cooperation (GIZ) and UNDP. In the European Commission he was heading the EU Water

Framework Directive team, Chairman of the EU Water Initiative and a Member of the Task force

for the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.

He established and chaired several national and international bodies and stakeholder processes

as well as key working groups in large international river basins. Till 2008 he has been a member

of the Executive Board at the Institute for organisational Communication, IFOK and was heading

the Department for Environment and Development and the Brussels office. At GTZ, the German

Technical Cooperation, which supports the German Government in achieving its development-

policy objectives, he was a deputy Director responsible for global business development.

Friedrich Barth served as an adviser on sustainable development to various Ministries and large

multinational companies inside and outside of the European Union as well as to various UN

agencies, the African Council of Water Ministers (AMCOW) and business organisations such as

the World Economic Forum and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

Currently he also serves as the Vice-Chairman of the European Water Partnership and as a Board

Member of the Club of Rome/EU-Chapter.

Friedrich Barth studied Geo-ecology and Hydrology in Bayreuth, Freiburg and Galway (Ireland).

4

Last name: Bonhage

Name: Almut

Function: Secretary General, European Federation of National

Association of Water Services (EUREAU)

Experience

2010 – 2012 Consultancy Almut Bonhage, Brussels (Belgium)

Consultant in communication and lobbying mandated by two

renowned Swiss universities (ETH Zürich and EPFL) to liaise

with EU Commission and Parliament concerning the decision making procedures

of a novel research funding scheme (FET Flagship).

2009 – 2012 European Environmental Citizens Organisation for Standardisation (ECOS), Brussels

(Belgium) Treasurer (www.ecostandard.org)

2006 – 2012 Bonhage PR Ltd., Berne (Switzerland)

Founder and Director of a consultancy for Corporate Communications and Public

Affairs, specialised in higher education and science. The company is bilingual

German-French with its office in Berne. Until 2009 managing director.

(www.bonhage.ch)

2005 – 2006 Science Com Services Ltd., Berne (Switzerland) Editor in charge of the multilingual

magazine «Vision – Science and Innovation made in Switzerland» and project

manager for a lobbying project for the association of Swiss universities and

research institutions

2003 – 2005 Neue Europäische Bewegung Schweiz, Berne (Switzerland)

Secretary General of the European Movement of Switzerland (www.europa.ch)

1999 – 2003 Science Com Ltd., Berne (Switzerland)

Editor of the multilingual magazine «Vision – Science and Innovation made in

Switzerland» and junior consultant for several public relations projects Education

2006 – 2008 Schweizerisches PR Institut, Zurich (Switzerland)

Diploma as Consultant in Public Relations

2003 – 2004 Verbandsmanagement Institut (VMI), University of Fribourg (Switzerland)

Diploma in Fundraising

1998 – 1999 College of Europe, Natolin, Warsaw (Poland)

Master in European Studies, law major

1990 – 1998 University of Basle (Switzerland)

Master in History and Russian Philology

Languages

German mother tongue;

French, English and Russian fluent;

Dutch, Italian and Spanish basic knowledge

5

Last name: Borchardt

Name: Gustaaf (Guus)

Function: Director, Directorate D: Water, Marine Environment &

Chemicals, Environment Directorate General

Wide experience in different aspects of European policy: European Commis-

sion: Environment, Relations with Council and co-decision, Justice and Home

Affairs; NL Permanent Representation to the EU; European Court of Justice

and NL Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Open eye for private sector based on experience as investment

manager in London and Buenos Aires.

Professional experience

From 1 April 2009: Director – DG Environment – responsible for protection of water and marine

environment, chemicals and nano-materials.

From 1 September 2003 to 31 March 2009: Director – Secretariat General of the Commission –

responsible for the relations with the Council and co-decision; Commission representative in

Coreper I.

From May 1995 to August 2003: Director - Justice and Home Affairs; Responsible for free movement

of persons, visas, Schengen, external border controls; asylum and immigration, European Refugees

Fund; judicial civil cooperation; coordination for the fight against drugs; citizenship, Charter of

fundamental rights, Daphne programme. In the Convention on the Charter of fundamental rights,

chairman of the DG network in charge of preparing the positions of the Commission representative

(Commissioner Vitorino).

From 1988 to April 1995: Permanent Representation of The Netherlands

Legal and institutional adviser. Chair of the Friends of the Presidency Group during the

Intergovernmental Conference preparing the Maastricht Treaty during the Dutch Presidency.

From 1986 to 1988: Office of the legal adviser at the Dutch Ministry for Foreign Affairs: senior officer

responsible for all issues of Community law.

From 1981 to 1986: Clerk at the Cabinet of the Advocate General, VerLoren van Themaat, at the

Court of Justice of EC.

From 1978 to 1981: Office of the legal adviser at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

From 1975 to 1978: Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs– Directorate of European Integration.

Private Sector experience

Investment manager in London at Stock Exchange Brokers Strauss, Turnbull (London – 1967 to

1968) and Banco Shaw (Buenos Aires – 1968 to 1970)

Studies

Law, with specialisation in EU law, at the University of Amsterdam (1975)

Summer courses at Harvard Law School (1992 et 1994) with success: US constitutional law and

Harvard Law School’s Programme on negotiations

6

Last name: Constantin

Name: Gheorghe

Function: Water Director, Romania

Gheorghe Constantin is director for water resources management within the

Ministry of Environment and Forests of Romania and also the Water and Marine

Director. In this position he is in charge with the implementation of the EU

directives in Romania.

Last name: Delsalle

Name: Jacques

Function: Policy Officer, Environment Directorate General

Work experience

Since 1 April 2009, I work in the European Commission, DG Environment,

Unit Protection of Water Resources. As leader of the Knowledge Base

team. I am in charge of the preparation of the assessments for the Blueprint to Safeguard

Europe's waters presented by the Commission in November 2012. I am co-ordinating studies

on the vulnerability of water resources, water accounts, water efficiency, land-use

management and adaptation measures, etc.

Between 2003 and 2009, I have been working in DG Environment, Units Clean Air and

Transport, then Sustainable Development and Economic Analysis. I was in charge of Impact

assessment of policy proposals (White Paper Adapting to CC, CO2 & cars regulation, Thematic

Strategy Air Pollution), implementation of innovative tools and methods for the elaboration

and evaluation of EU policies, (model TREMOVE2, Land-Use modelling, valuation of external

costs, adaptation to climate change, etc.) and integration of environmental concerns into

sectoral policies (advice on evaluation methods, and assessment of the effectiveness and

efficiency of policies and actions proposed).

Between 2000 and 2003, I have been working in DG Economic and Financial Affairs, on

economic evaluation and policy guidance on the Common Transport Policy and Community

policies in the interface of transport, energy and environmental issues.

Between 1990 and 2000, I worked as Consultant in Madrid (EPYPSA, BBJ CONSULT,

PricewaterhouseCoopers). I have been responsible for the management of numerous studies

and projects in the fields of transport engineering, transport network modelling, transport

economics, investment appraisal and strategic Planning.

I am an economist by training (Maîtrise en Sciences Economiques, Université de Paris II, 1988),

with post-graduate in transport planning (Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies (DEA) – Transport,

Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées – Institut d’Urbanisme de Paris, 1990).

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Last name: Dierckx

Name: Ann

Function: Environmental Policy Manager, European Chemical Industry

Council (CEFIC)

Ann Dierckx graduated as an engineer in chemistry and agricultural sciences

in 1990 at the Catholic University of Leuven.

She holds a PhD in engineering in chemistry and agricultural sciences from the same university

(1995).

She worked in the field of disposal of radioactive waste, first at the Belgian Nuclear Research

Center in Mol, Belgium, later at the Belgian Agency for Radioactive Waste and Enriched Fissile

Materials (NIRAS/ONDRAF) in Brussels.

In 2008, she joined CEFIC, the European Chemical Industry Council, where she is working as

environmental policy manager.

Last name: Faergemann

Name: Henriette

Function: Policy Officer, Environment Directorate General

Henriette Faergemann is a Master of Science in Chemical and

Environmental engineering from the Technical University of

Copenhagen.

She has been working in the European Commission, DG Environment since 1998. Until 2008 she

was mainly working with Enlargement Countries preparing them for accession to the EU and on

regional co-operation with the Danube & Black Sea countries on financing of water projects.

Since 2008 Ms. Faergemann has been working in the Unit responsible for protection of Water

resources within DG ENV where she is Team Leader for the Water Scarcity & Droughts team and

responsible for inter-alia Water & Agriculture, Water Efficiency and Water Innovation.

8

Last name: Falkenberg

Name: Karl

Function: Director General, Environment, European Commission

Karl Falkenberg has a long experience as a negotiator in the European

Commission. He started his career in the Commission as textiles negotiator, has

dealt with international fisheries issues and since 1985 with the GATT. In 1990,

he served as foreign policy advisor to EU President Jacques Delors, with

particular focus on the German unification process.

He was involved in the Uruguay Round negotiations and has been negotiating the tele-

communications and financial services agreements in WTO. From 1997 to December 2000 he was in

charge of the coordination of all WTO issues. In 2001 he was appointed Director in charge of

sectoral trade policies and bilateral trade relations with North America, Japan, the Mediterranean

area and the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and in 2002 Director for Free trade

agreements, Agricultural trade questions, ACP.

From 2005 to 2008 he coordinated all bilateral trade policies as Deputy Director General. In January

2009, he took up the position of Director General of the Environment, covering the EU's

environmental policy in both its domestic and international dimensions. Karl Falkenberg is a trained

economist and journalist.

Last name: Farmer

Name: Andrew

Function: Director of Research, Institute for European

Environmental Policy (IEEP)

Dr Andrew Farmer is the Director of Research at the Institute for European Environmental Policy, London. He began his career as an aquatic ecologist, undertaking research in the UK and USA. Subsequently, Dr Farmer worked for a UK government conservation agency as a pollution specialist. He joined IEEP 15 years ago and has undertaken extensive research on the development and implementation of EU water legislation. Most recently he has worked closely with the Commission on the development and assessment of policy options for the Blueprint. Dr Farmer is the author of several books including Managing Environmental Pollution (Routledge) and a Handbook of Environmental Protection and Enforcement (Earthscan). He is currently the Editor of the Manual of European Environmental Policy published by Routledge.

9

Last name: Gammeltoft

Name: Peter

Function: Head of Unit, Environment Directorate General

Chronology

European Commission, DG Environment, Water Unit 2006

European Commission, DG Environment, Clean Air and Transport Unit, 1998-2005

European Commission, DG Environment, Water Unit 1991-1997

Danish EPA, 1979-91

Copenhagen Gas Works, Denmark, 1977-79

Roskilde University, Denmark, 1975-77

Current responsibilities include: Water Framework Directive, Groundwater, Chemicals in Water,

Floods Directive, Water Scarcity and Droughts, Water and environmental resources vulnerability.

Last name: Gatta

Name: Leonardo

Function: Responsible of Water Resources Operational Unit, Tiber River

Basin Authority

Leonardo Gatta is currently Responsible for the Water Resources Area-

USD1 Office for the Italian Authority of Tiber River Basin where he works

since March 2000. He has been Responsible for the Economic Analysis Area

for the same Institution. He’s also a consultant for private and public institutions and he has been

University Professor of Environmental Economics at Tuscia University in Viterbo, Italy.

In the past he has been a consultant as Agronomist/Economist and Environmental Specialist for

many multipurpose water resource development projects in a lot of developing countries.

From 2003 to 2007 he has participated in the Tiber Pilot River Basin - Article 5 report, phase I and

II of the Common Implementation Strategy of the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/CE. He

has been an Expert within some Working Groups of the CIS and in the years 2006 and 2007 he

has been the Italian Focal Point for the Land Use Planning Exchange Circle (EXCILUP) within the

EU Flooding Directive 2007/60/CE.

He has been Member of the Environmental Accountancy Commission of the Italian Ministry of

Economics. He has given numerous invited lectures and he is the author of many scientific

articles.

10

Last name: Heinzelmann

Name: Werner

Function: Head of intellectual property, Hansgrohe SE

28.05.1949 born in Alpirsbach, Germany

30.04.1974 finished studies as mechanical engineer

01.06.1974 started working at Hansgrohe SE in the Development

Department

since 1978 took over Intellectual Property Department

since 1979 Member in several National and European Standardization Committees for

sanitary products

Last name: Holzwarth

Name: Fritz

Function: Water Director, Germany

Fritz Holzwarth was appointed Deputy Director General for Water-Management in the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in 1991. His professional responsibilities, are inter alia Head of the German Delegation, Baltic Marine Environment Commission (HELCOM), Head of the German Delegation for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR), Head of the German Delegation for International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR), President in 2003 and President of the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine (ICPR) (2004-2007), President of the International Commission for the Protection of the River Elbe since 2008-2010.

In 1996 he was Chairman of the 9th International Soil Conservation Organisation (ISCO) Conference ”Towards Sustainable Land Use. Furthering Cooperation Between People and Institutions” in Germany 1996 with participation from 120 countries.

He is a Member of the Board of Advice of the European Water Partnership, of the External Advisory Group of WATCH (Water and Global Change), of the Board of Advice of the Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics, Cologne University of Applied Sciences, of the Supervisory Board of the Helmholtz-Center Geesthacht (Member of the Helmholtz Association), Member of the Kuratorium of the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology, Chair of the Governing Board of UNESCO-IHE, Institut for Water Education, Delft, The Netherlands and Member of the International Steering Committee of the Great Rivers Partnership Programme of The Nature Conservancy.

Mr. Holzwarth has been actively involved in transboundary cooperation in international river basins. Together with the World Bank he was one of the initiators of the “Petersberg Process on Transboundary Water Management”, a global initiative. In his position as German Water Director

11

he has been actively involved in developing EU-Directives such as the Water Framework Directives, the Marine Strategy Directive and other water related regulations. Furthermore he jointly initiated with EU-Commission and the Joint Research Centre the discussion process on Climate Change and the European Water Dimension and was Chair of the Conference under the German EU-Presidency “Time to Adapt - Climate Change and the European Water Dimension Vulnerability – Impacts – Adaptation” in February 2007. He also was part of the discussion process on ”Marine and Coastal Dimension of Climate Change in Europe”.

He initiated together with the German Ministry for Economic Development the “International Conference on Freshwater – Bonn 2001”. The same applies for the “Bonn 2011 Conference. The Water, Energy and Food Security Nexus. Solutions for the Green Economy.”

Fritz Holzwarth studied Economics, Law and Political Science at the University of

Freiburg/Breisgau and holds a Diploma (1977) and Ph. D. (1984) in Economics and a Diploma in

Business Administration (1973) from the College of Economics, Pforzheim.

Last name: Kyrou

Name: Kyriacos

Function: Water Director, Cyprus

Kyriacos Kyrou received a BSc Hons degree in Civil Engineering from the

Polytechnic of Central London, an M.Sc degree in Bridge Engineering and a

Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering (specialization Geotechnical Engineering)

from the University of Surrey.

He worked for the Water Research Centre (U.K.) as a Geotechnical Engineer (Research) in 1980/81

and he is employed by the Water Development Department (WDD), Cyprus since 1981. During his

employment with WDD he had an active role on the implementation of numerous large water

development projects (mainly large earthfill/rockfill Dams).

Kyriacos Kyrou has over 30 years of experience in the water sector and is currently the Director of

the Water Development Department.

He is a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (U.K.) and the President of the Cyprus National

Committee on Large Dams (CYNCOLD).

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Last name: Lucius

Name: Irene

Function: CEE Head of Policy and Green Economy, WWF

Danube-Carpathian Programme

Irene Lucius is Head of Policy and Green Economy of WWF´s

Danube-Carpathian Programme. In that function, she follows

closely meetings of the International Commission for the

Protection of the Danube River (IPCDR) and EU level policy developments. Before joining WWF,

Irene worked in the field of integrated coastal zone management in many countries across

Europe. She holds a master’s degree in Biology.

Last name: Maltby

Name: Alistair

Function: Director – North, The Rivers Trust

Alistair Maltby MSc CEnv FIFM, is Director for the North of England of The Rivers Trust. The Rivers Trust is the umbrella body for community-led river restoration organisations in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and works in partnership with its sister organisation in Scotland. The rivers trust movement is probably the fastest growing environmental initiative in the UK with over 80 % of rivers in the country now having a community based catchment management trust. Alistair is a fisheries specialist and has worked for community-led river restoration initiatives since 1997. He has also worked for a central government research agency, and for a UK water supply company. Alistair has been involved in the practical development of the catchment-based approach. This concept integrates the community into a holistic catchment management strategy, and deals with problems at their source. This often leads to implementation work quite detached from working in the river itself, and has led to the development of green infrastructure solutions for diffuse pollution, and methodologies for implementing them with land managers. Alistair is project manager for a € 6.4M European project on restoring fish migration for the Water Framework Directive, and is involved in developing the practicalities of dealing with flood and drought issues through changing land management practices, and introduction of green infrastructure. Alistair has worked in both rural and urban river catchments, has taken a special interest in practical implementation of measures to provide climate-change resilience in river ecosystems, and is a proponent of the ecosystems approach.

13

Last name: Marcuello

Name: Conchita

Function: Technical-Scientific Programme Coordinator, Centro de

Estudios y Experimentación de Obras Públicas (CEDEX) Civil Engineer by the Polytechnic University of Madrid. She is specialist in Hydraulics and Hydrology and works at CEDEX since 1994. She is currently the Technical-Scientific Coordinator of the international activities on freshwater at the Centre for Hydrographic Studies of CEDEX. Her experience at national level has embraced physical modelling of dam spillways and rivers in the Hydraulics Laboratory, mathematical 1D- and 2D- modelling of floods and hydrometeorological and statistical studies for extremes estimation. She has taken part in several European initiatives, being responsible for water quantity indicators for the EEA ETC/Water, co-author of reports on water use and floods in Europe, and member of WFD CIS-WG F on floods. She is involved in the Ad-Hoc Activity on Science-Policy Interface, being this field one of her most attention capturing. She is lecturer on hydrology at several post-graduate and professional courses and co-director of the International Course of General and Applied Hydrology of CEDEX.

14

Last name: Moren Abat

Name: Marta

Function: Policy Officer, Environment Directorate General

Marta Moren Abat has a Master's degree in Civil Engineering with a specialisation in Hydraulics and Hydrology. Since 1998, she has held several positions in the Spanish Ministry of the Environment and the European Commission linked to water management and water policy:

1998-2000 Spanish Ministry of the Environment, Integrated Coastal Zones management and the Jucar River Basin

2000-2004 European Commission, DG Environment, Water Unit, Implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD)

2004-2006 Spanish Ministry of the Environment, setting the strategy for the implementation of the WFD in Spain and correspondent for international water issues

2006-2008 European Commission, DG RTD, Climate Change and environmental risks related to water

2008-2012 (January), Spanish Ministry of the Environment, General Director responsible for Water

2012 (February)-present, DG Environment, Water Resources Unit, WFD Coordinator (since June 2012)

She has also taught Spatial Mathematics and Hydrology at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. In addition, Marta regularly presents to large audiences. She has also published various reports and articles and has contributed to a number of publications.

Last name: Müller

Name: Stephan

Function: Water Director, Switzerland

Stephan Müller (52) obtained a PhD in Chemistry from the ETH Zurich.

In the early 1990s, he worked at the Water Research Institute Eawag as a

specialist in the field of analytical chemistry.

From 1996 he headed the Chemistry Division with around 40 staff and in 2000, he took over the

development and management of the Eawag Water and Agriculture Division.

He has headed the Water Division at the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) in Ittigen bei

Bern since 2004.

15

Last name: Nørring

Name: Niels Peter

Function: Director, Environment & Energy Division, Danish Agriculture

& Food Council

Niels Peter Nørring has been Director of Environment & Energy in Danish

Agriculture & Food Council since 1999 and chairman of COPA’s (Committee

of Professional Agricultural Organisations in the European Union

representing EU’s 11 million farmers) group for Environment and

Agriculture since 2003 – since 2011 vice chairman.

Niels Peter Nørring was born on 1 November 1961 in Denmark and studied agricultural

economics in Copenhagen. He has a PhD in agricultural economics from the Royal Veterinary and

Agricultural University.

Between 1985 and 1999, Niels Peter Nørring served in the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and

Fisheries as a researcher and principal private secretary to the minister and as Danish

Agricultural Attaché to the European Union, Brussels.

Mr Nørring’s responsibilities include a pallet of political issues concerning the entire food sector

from agricultural production to the food industry, for example resource efficiency, life cycle

assessment, water footprint and the water framework directive.

Last name: Notaro

Name: Nicola

Function: Deputy Head of Unit, Environment Directorate General

Dr Nicola Notaro is a qualified Italian lawyer and holds an LL.M in European

law (Bruges) and a PhD in environmental law (London).

He is Deputy Head of the Water Unit in DG Environment at the European

Commission (EC) and visiting Professor of European Environmental Law at

the College of Europe in Bruges.

He has previously worked as Legal Adviser and then Team Leader for the international climate

negotiations in DG Environment and has lectured and published extensively in the field of

environmental law.

16

Last name: Pantelakis

Name: Egly

Function: Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Agriculture, Narural

Resources and Environment

Egly Pantelakis, was born in Nicosia. She studied economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science of the University of London and did post graduate studies in Administrative Sciences (at the City University of London) and in environmental economics (at the Institute for International Development of the Harvard University). She has been working at the Planning Bureau as from 1978 - since 2003, as Director of Planning in the directorate of development policy. She served as National Coordinator (at a technocratic level) for the promotion of the Lisbon Strategy, a member of the Town Planning Commission and a member of the Board of Directors of the European Lifelong Learning Programmes Foundation. In addition to the duties of the position she held in the Planning Bureau, on July 6, 2009 she was appointed Acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment. On 15 March 2010, she was appointed Permanent Secretary of the above Ministry. Mrs Egly Pantelakis is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Agricultural Insurance Organization, as well as of many other Councils / Committees. She is also a member of the Commonwealth Partnership for Technology Management.

Last name: Phippard

Name: Sonia

Function: Water Director, UK

Sonia Phippard has been Director for Water and Flood Risk Management

since April 2010.

She held two previous posts in Defra – responsible for EU and International policy in relation to

food, farming and rural development, including reform of the Common Agriculture Policy (2006-

2010) and Director, Sustainable Agriculture and Livestock Products (2001-2006). That role

included oversight and co-ordination of the delivery programme for the Government’s

Sustainable Farming and Food Strategy, sustainable agriculture policy issues and co-ordination of

policy issues in relation to the livestock sectors.

Before joining Defra, most of her career was spent in the Cabinet Office, with periods of

secondment to the Department of Education and Science and to PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

17

Last name: Potočnik

Name: Janez

Function: European Commissioner for the Environment, European

Commission

Dr Janez Potočnik was born in 1958. He graduated with honours from the

Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana. He continued his studies

at the same University where he did his Master's degree in 1989 and a Ph.D.

degree in 1993.

For several years (1989-1993), he worked as a researcher at the Institute of Economic Research

in Ljubljana. In July 1994, he was appointed Director of the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis

and Development of the Republic of Slovenia. In April 1998, the Government of the Republic of

Slovenia appointed Dr Potočnik Head of Negotiating Team for Accession of the Republic of

Slovenia to the European Union. From June 2000 to December 2000, he was also the acting

director of Government Office for European Affairs. In June 2001, he was appointed a Minister

Councillor at the Office of the Prime Minister. On January 24, 2002, the Government of the

Republic of Slovenia appointed him for the Minister without portfolio responsible for European

Affairs.

From 1991 until 2004 Dr Potočnik has also been an assistant professor at the Faculty of Law at

the University of Ljubljana, where he lectured on statistics and economy.

Dr Potočnik became a Member of the European Commission on the May 1 2004. In his first

mandate (2004 – 2009) he was responsible for the Science and Research. In February 2010 he

started a second mandate as a Commissioner for Environment.

In May 2008 he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Science by London Imperial

College. In March 2009 he received the honorary degree from Ghent University (Belgium).

18

Last name: Simoner

Name: Markus

Function: Team leader Infrastructure Development; EU Danube

Region Strategy – Inland Waterway Transport, via donau

Markus Simoner graduated in 2001 at the Vienna University of

Technology, Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Planning. The focus of his

studies was on international regional development and transport

planning. Since 2002 he is employed at „via donau“, the Austrian

waterway management company. He managed various European and national projects aiming at

improving the transport mode inland waterways along the river Danube.

One major field of expertise is integrated waterway management taking into consideration the

different functions / needs of rivers (as e.g. navigation / ecology. In this context, he was engaged

in the development of an integrated waterway infrastructure project and contributed to several

international/European publications: the „Joint Statement on the development of Inland

Navigation and Environmental Protection in the Danube River Basin (2007)“, the „Manual on

Good Practices in Sustainable Waterway Planning (2010)“ and the European „Guidance

document on Inland Waterway Transport and Natura 2000 (2012)“.

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Last name: Ursat

Name: Xavier

Function: Deputy Vice President Hydro Generation and Engineering,

Electricité de France (EDF)

Xavier URSAT is Deputy Vice President in charge of Hydro Generation and

Engineering at EDF, since 2010.

His responsibility includes in particular sustainable hydro development, water resources

management, multi-purpose water use and environmental issues: fish migration, water quality,

river morphology, sediment transportation.

Xavier URSAT has 20 years of experience in the field of Hydroelectricity.

He joined EDF in 1991 and has worked on several Hydro projects and held a range of positions

within EDF’s Hydro & Engineering Division until 2002. He contributed to international projects,

notably in South America.

From 2002 to 2005 he was “Chargé de Mission” for the Senior Executive Vice President,

Generation & Engineering and then Deputy Director in charge of generation in the Alps.

In 2007, he was then appointed Director of Generation for EDF in the Southwest of France.

Xavier URSAT is also a member of the Board of the ONEMA (the French National Agency for

Water and Aquatic Environments) and a member of the French National Water Committee.

Last name: Werner

Name: Beate

Function: Water - Head of Group, European Environment Agency (EEA)

Beate Werner has led the Water Group at the European Environment

Agency (EEA) since 2006. As a biologist with over 20 years international

experience in ecosystem research and monitoring, her work focuses on

assessing ecosystem services provided by water. In the 1980s she

researched nutrient balances in forest ecosystems on behalf of the UNECE

Critical Loads Mapping Programme before leading the German federal government’s Soil

Monitoring Initiative.

Since joining EEA in 2003, her work has encompassed developing the Water Information System

for Europe (WISE), establishing links between science and policy, and assessing ecological and

economic aspects of water quality and quantity.

20

Last name: Wiberg

Name: David

Function: Research Scholar, International Institute for Applied

Systems Analysis (IIASA)

David Wiberg joined the Modeling Land-Use and Land-Cover Changes in

Europe and Northern Asia Project in January 1997, where he developed

methodologies to assess the impact of land use and climate changes on basin water resource

availability, demand, required storage capacity, development costs and management options, as

well as helping develop the Harmonized World Soil Database and Global Agro-Ecological zoning

methodologies and assessments. He now works in the water program and coordinates the Water

Future and Solutions: World Water Scenario Project and the related global and regional water

assessments.

Dr. Wiberg received his bachelor’s degree in physics, with a minor in economics, from Gustavus

Adolphus College, where he also served as a teaching assistant for the Physics Department. He

went on to obtain a master’s degree and PhD in civil engineering, with a focus in water resource

engineering and management, from the University of Colorado at Boulder. In Boulder, Dr.

Wiberg was contracted by the Bureau of Reclamation, DOI, to develop user-friendly software for

simulating flow in developed, managed watersheds and worked as a research assistant at the

University of Colorado on projects involving water quality modeling and climate change impact

studies for the EPA and DOE.

He has also consulted for the Dialogue for Water and Climate and UNESCO’s World Water

Assessment Program. Dr. Wiberg's primary fields of interest are water modeling, climate change

impact assessments, and efficient and sustainable water management strategies.

Last name: Zetland

Name: David

Function: Senior Water Economist, Wageningen University

David Zetland is a senior water economist in the Department of Environmental

Economics and Natural Resources at Wageningen University in the

Netherlands where he is working on an EU-funded project, "Evaluating

Economic Policy Instruments for Sustainable Water Management in Europe."

David received his PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from UC Davis in 2008. He was a

S.v. Ciriacy-Wantrup Postdoctoral Fellow in Natural Resource Economics and Political Economy at

UC Berkeley from 2008 to 2010. He blogs on water, economics and politics at aguanomics.com

and is the author of The End of Abundance: economic solutions to water scarcity (2011).