Jörg Gigler - Managing Director at Topsector Energie / TKI New Gas
Jörg Gigler (1967) has been working on sustainability for 25 years, the last 12 years focusing on the interaction between gas, innovation and sustainability. Currently he is director of the Dutch New Gas Innovation Team (TKI New Gas) working on hydrogen, sustainable gases, power-to-gas, geo energy and carbon capture, utilization and storage. Jörg has held different positions in gas consultancy, the gas industry and at governments. He is a regular speaker at courses and conferences about sustainability, innovation and energy transition. Since April 2013 Jörg is also a self-employed consultant focusing on energy, sustainability and innovation. He holds different positions as board member in organisations focusing on energy and innovation. He studied Agricultural Engineering at Wageningen University (NL) where he obtained a PhD in Agricultural Sciences.
Nienke Homan - regional minister at the province of Groningen
Nienke Homan is since 2015 representative of the province of Groningen in the North of the Netherlands. Since May 2019 she has had the portfolio Energy Transition, RES, Climate Adaptation & Mitigation, Water and the first point of contact for the National Programme Groningen.
Ulco Vermeulen - Director Business Development at Gasunie
Ulco Vermeulen is a member of the Executive Board and Director Participations & Business Development. Ulco Vermeulen plays a key role in the social debate on energy in the Netherlands. He is chairman of Green Gas Netherlands and is internationally active in the debate on sustainability, a.o. as Chairman of the Strategy Commission of the International Gas Union. Ulco is furthermore chairman of the Dutch Top Consortium for Knowledge & Innovation on Gas in which business, knowledge institutions and government work together to realize sustainable growth by involving the entire gas sector in the necessary transition and innovation.
Helena Sarén - Business Finland
Ms. Sarén is the Head of Smart Energy Finland program at Business Finland. She has over 25 years of strong and comprehensive experience in the international business – starting from the business development at Wärtsilä about 25 years ago with the continuation of extensive consulting career in the fields of internationalization, development financing and in-vestments and further with heading the energy growth program. Recently she has been responsible for the Smart Energy Finland program, which includes close to 100 companies in various fields of energy, namely energy generation, smart grids, batteries, and district energy. She holds MSc in Engineering from the Helsinki University of Technology.
Are Opstad Sæbø - Greenstat AS / NORWEGIAN H2 ASSOCIATION
Are Opstad Sæbø works as a project manager at Greenstat with focus on green hydrogen production for use in transport and industry, as well as offshore wind combined with hydrogen production. He has worked for more than a decade in Sintef and Lloyd’s Register Consulting with safety related challenges and quantitative risk analysis. In Greenstat’s projects he works with most technical and organizational parts of the projects, but has a special focus on HSE.
Kajsa Kairento - Vattenfall AB
Kajsa Kairento is a Business Development Advisor of Strategic Development at Vattenfall AB, Solna, Sweden. Focus areas include business development within industry decarbonization and electrification, where fossil free hydrogen is an enabler to phase out fossil fuels and feedstock from the industry sector. Previous experience from Swedish TSO Svenska kraftnät, national grid investment planning. M.Sc. Industrial Engineering and Management.
Steven Engels - Ørsted
Steven Engels has worked with Ørsted for more than 8 years in several positions in Copenhagen and The Hague. Before joining Ørsted he worked at ExxonMobil and McKinsey&Co. As General Manager Benelux, Steven is currently responsible for Ørsted’s activities in the Netherlands and the development of new offshore wind and hydrogen opportunities in the Benelux.
Tejs Laustsen Jensen - Hydrogen Denmark / Scandinavian Hydrogen Highway Partnership
Tejs Laustsen Jensen has been CEO of Hydrogen Denmark since 2015. In his job as CEO for Hydrogen Denmark, he is responsible for the promotion of hydrogen and its associated technologies in all parts of the energy transition, as well as he heads the secretariat of Hydrogen Denmark. Tejs Laustsen Jensen has a master's degree in political science and has previously worked with transport, energy and climate, as a Danish representative in the European car organization ACEA and in the pension sector.
