Radek Benčík
COO, NET4GAS, s.r.o.
Radek Benčík has graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of Brno University of Technology and in 2005 acquired his MBA at Nottingham Trent University.
From 2008, he worked at Alstom, s.r.o. in the position of Director and Chief Executive Officer for Thermal Services in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, while holding a management role for Central Europe and the republics of the former Soviet Union. In this position he implemented emission reduction projects at power stations and CHP plants, e.g. for ČEZ Group in Prunéřov and for the Žilinská teplárenská district heating company in Slovakia. Before that, he served as the Chairman and CEO of ŠKODA Praha, a.s., while also holding the post of Director at ŠKODA Praha Invest, s.r.o. From 2001 he worked in the management of ŠKODA JS, subsequently as the company’s Chairman and CEO and as a member of the Board of Directors of the OMZ Nuclear Division international group.
He has been the COO at NET4GAS since 2011.
JAN BEZDĚKOVSKÝ
Special Envoy of Transport Minister for Clean Mobility, Policy Section, Ministry of Transport
He studied Western European Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague (2002). Since 2004, he has been an employee of the Ministry of Transport, where in 2007–2011 he was the head of the EU Coordination Department and later the Deputy Director of the Department for International Relations and the EU. Since 2012, he has been working i the Strategy Department as a specialist in the areas of Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) policy, energy in transport and clean mobility. In this position, he participated, among other things, in the negotiation of some European legislation or in the preparation of a subsidy program to support infrastructure for alternative fuels. Since February 2019, he has been the Special Envoy of Transport Minister for clean mobility.
Petr Binhack
Policy Officer, Directorate-General for Energy, European Commission
Petr has completed an International Relations postgraduate course at Charles University’s Faculty of Social Sciences. Having gained practical experience in the private sector, the non-profit sector, and in the academia, in 2011 he joined the Section for European Affairs of the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic in the position as coordinator of the European climate and energy policy. From 2014, he worked at the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the European Union as the energy attaché, representing the Czech Republic at the technical level in negotiations on European legislative and non-legislative proposals. In September 2019, Petr was seconded to the European Commission, DG ENER, Wholesale Markets; Electricity & Gas (ENER.B.2), where he is focusing on the horizontal issues of sector coupling, natural gas market transparency and the implementation of capacity mechanisms.
Tomáš Drápela
Chairman, Association for District Heating of the Czech Republic
Following graduation, Tomáš spent two years as an independent researcher at VŠST in Liberec (College of Mechanical and Textile Engineering). He worked as a programmer-analyst in various commercial companies from 1988 to 1995.
In 1996, he took the position as an independent economist at Plzeňská teplárenská, a.s., initially, from 1997, working as the CFO and then since 2002 as the CEO. At Plzeňská teplárenská, a.s. he also served on the Board of Directors since 2002 and between 2014 and 2018 as its Chairman.
Tomáš is the Chairman of the Executive Board of the Association for District Heating of the Czech Republic, member of the CR National Committee of the WEC/CME, and member of the Board of Directors of ČSZE – Czech Association of Energy Sector Employers.
Zdeněk Kaplan
Managing director, innogy Energo, s.r.o.
Zdeněk Kaplan became the managing director of innogy Energo in July 2014. He has been working in the innogy group for thirteen years. Zdeněk went through all sorts of positions that enabled his development not only in theory but also in practice in the field of gas and energy. At the beginning of his work in the innogy group, he was responsible for strategic projects, especially in areas of natural gas distribution. In 2009, he became the director of strategy of the distribution system at RWE GasNet. In innogy Energo he is in charge of the CEO area. Zdeněk graduated from the University of Economics in Prague, majoring in business economics and management.
JAN KŘÍŽ
Deputy Minister for Section of EU Funds, Economic and Voluntary Instruments at the Ministry of the Environment
Ing. Jan Kříž was born in 1976 and graduated from the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the Czech Technical University. During his career he has gained a lot of experience with EU funds and a financial system. He worked at the Ministry of the Environment in the years 2007–2010 as Director of the Department of EU Funds and then in the position of Deputy Director and Head the Department of EU Structural Funds at the State Environmental Fund. In years 2010–2013 he focused on funding from the Operational Programme Research and Development for Innovation at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports first as a Director and later in position of Director General. Currently, he is the Deputy Minister for Section of EU Funds, Economic and Voluntary Instruments at the Ministry of the Environment. He is married and has two childern.
PETR KUSÝ
Member of the Energy Regulatory Office Board
Mr. Kusý graduated from the University of West Bohemia in Plzeň (ZČU FEL).
After graduation, Mr Kusý has started to work at the ERO as a regulation specialist in the electricity division, in power supply and network department. He was mostly concerned about technical and economic analyses, renewable sources of energy and quality of electricity supply. Later as the director of statistics division between 2011 and 2013 he created new statistics electricity system and was responsible for publication of reports on the operation of the electricity grid and of the gas system.
In year 2014, Mr Kusý held position of the director of analytical-statistical division, where he was responsible for complete data support for regulation in electricity, gas and heat industry. In 2015, he went over to the function of director of statistics and quality monitoring division. On this position, he was the head of implementation of new statistics for heat system. On August 1, 2019 he was nominated to the ERO Board.
MICHAL MACENAUER
Project Manager, EGÚ Brno, a. s.
Michal is a graduate of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics of the Technical University of Ostrava (engineering study programme of Electrical Power Engineering and doctoral study programme of electrical machines, devices and drives) and the Faculty of Social Studies of Masaryk University (master's field of Sociology).
Specialization: energy system operation, gas and heating industry, energy commodities demand outlook, new technologies in energy sector.
He has been working at EGÚ Brno since 2005.
Personal motto: A person is not rich in what they have but in what they give to others.
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.
MICHAL NYKL
Fleet sales coordinator ŠKODA AUTO ČR
He graduated in Regional Studies and International Trade at the Metropolitan University of Prague. During his studies, he also gained foreign experience in studying in South Korea. In ŠKODA AUTO a.s. he has been working since 2016, within the fleet sales department, where he was also in charge of the strategy and development of alternative drives (especially CNG) within the Czech market. Since 2019, he has been responsible for managing the fleet sales department. Prior to joining ŠKODA AUTO Czech Republic, he worked in automotive, international trade and retail.
Michal Ostatnický
Senior Specialist, Corporate Development, Strategy, M&A, GasNet, s.r.o.
Michal Ostatnický has graduated from Charles University’s Faculty of Mathematics and Physics in mathematics for IT, and from CERGE in mathematical economics. He initially joined the energy sector as part of projects at the Deloitte consultancy, which concerned a broad range of issues. He has been with the RWE group since 2012, focusing on strategy in various areas of the company’s operation. He currently works at GasNet as a Senior Specialist, Corporate Development, Strategy, working on projects related to new gases in gas systems.
MARTIN PAIDAR
Member of the Board in Czech Hydrogen Technology Platform HYTEP
Martin Paidar received his Ph.D. degree on University of Chemistry and Technology Prague with specialization on electrochemistry. He was promoted to associate professor at Department of Inorganic UCT Prague with his work “Hydrogen technologies for conversion of electric energy”. On the same institution he guarantees study Sub-programme “Hydrogen and membrane technologies”.
He has focused on research to hydrogen production and its back conversion in electrochemical systems since 2003. He attended several international as well as national research projects in basic science and also in application development. In the framework of international project he has cooperated with leading producers of fuel cell and water electrolysers.
Currently he is member of the Board in Czech Hydrogen Technology Platform. He is responsible for energetic section there.
LUKÁŠ POKRUPA
Director of Retail MND, a.s.
Graduate of the Prague International Business School.
He entered the energy industry in 2007 after previous years of experience in telecommunications. He took advantage of the liberalized electricity market, and subsequently the gas market, and built a major supplier on the market – Centropol Energy, a.s., where he held the positions of Sales Director and Member of the Board of Directors. Centropol managed to get into the prestigious Czech Top 100 ranking in a very short time, where it continues to be ranked regularly. He currently works at MND, a.s. in the position of Director of the Retail Department for the Czech Republic. Under his leadership, the company is growing the fastest among new suppliers in the market with the help of state-of-the-art acquisition tools. For a long time, he has been promoting a high level of ethics in the acquisition of new customers and is actively advocating, through associations, for the incorporation of ethical behavior of traders into the Energy Act. This is also evidenced by the award for the fairest supplier on the market announced by the Stem/mark agency in 2019. He is an active member and vice-president of the Czech Gas Association.
MARTIN SCHWARZ
Company Director, EBW Solution, s.r.o.
Martin has graduated from the University of Economics in Prague. He is member of the board and heads the Biomethane Section of the Czech Biomass Association and the Legislation Section of the Czech Biogas Association.
Martin launched his career in the energy sector, including the gas industry, in 2015 through an acquisition of an equity stake in a group of companies that own and operate a plant called Energetické centrum recyklace bioodpadů (a biological waste-to-energy plant) in Rapotín; since 2019, one of its parts has been a biomethane producing plant connected to the Czech gas system. Martin is on the Board of Directors and focuses on the company’s development and strategy.
He also carries on business in marketing and IT, having started before the above activities.
Martin is a member of a number of Czech and international professional organisations, platforms, advisory bodies and working groups that focus on biogas, biomethane, biologically degradable waste, renewable energy, clean mobility, and circular economy.
RADEK STARÝ
Head of Operative Network Management, GridServices, s.r.o.
Radek has graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Faculty of Business and Management of Brno University of Technology and in 2013 acquired his MBA at Nottingham Trent University.
He has been working in the gas industry since 1999. Today, he works for the largest distribution system operator in the Czech Republic, the GasNet Group, where he is responsible for the development of the distribution network and the connection of new customers, including the management of technical and digital documentation of gas grid. He was involved in the projects of digitization and automation of processes associated with the connection and construction of gas facilities.
Since 2016, he has been serving as the Chairman of the ČPS Technical Coordination Commission, where he deals with gas legislation and technical and professional rules.
He is an active member and the Chairman of the Czech-Moravian Union for Natural Gas, which is mainly engaged in the professional education of design, construction and gas companies. He also represents the Union in the Board of the Czech Gas Association.
DAVID ŠAFÁŘ
Member of the Board and CTO (Chief Technical Officer) E.ON Distribuce, a.s.
Mr. David Safar, Member of the Board and CTO (Chief Technical Officer) E.ON Distribuce, has worked in the energy sector many years. David studied at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering – University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, specialization: Smart Grids and Electromagnetical field.
During the past year, David heavily worked in E.ON Group. He started as a Project manager – projects Smart Metering – feasibility study and implementation concept. Next year there were more big projects – Rollout Smart Metering E.ON, Homes storage, Reclosers. He was Head of big department Grid Management and Strategic Projects– Grid Development, Asset Strategy, Investment plan. And finally, from the year 2019 he is part of company high management, leading important Strategic and International projects.
KAREL ŠIMEČEK
Executive manager of the SVSE
Karel Šimeček worked for 40 years at chemical company Precheza, first in middle management positions, then as a production director, chairman or vice-chairman of the Board of Directors and 15 years as CEO of the company. From 1996 to 2016 he was vice chairman of the Board of Directors of company Kemifloc a.s.
In 1999 Karel was elected Chairman of the Board of the Association of Great Consumers of Energy (SVSE). He held this position and position vice-president of the Association of Energy Managers until 2015. From 2008 to 2012 he was a member of Supervisory Board of OTE a.s. Since 2016, he has been acting as executive manager of the SVSE. Karel Šimeček is a graduate of VŠCHT Prague (chemistry), Ashridge Management College (senior management training) a PIBS Praha (MBA program).
Jan Valenta
Vice-Chairman of the Board of the Czech Gas Association Director, GasNet s.r.o.
Jan Valenta has graduated from Charles University’s Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, where he also spent some time as a lecturer. He has also worked at the DCIT consultancy and at PA Consulting Group.
In 2002, Jan joined the RWE group, later transformed into innogy, where he has held a number of managerial positions.
Jan has been a Director of GasNet s.r.o. since 2015.
RADKA VLADYKOVÁ
Executive Director of the Bureau of the Union of Towns and Municipalities of the Czech Republic
Radka Vladyková graduated from the Metropolitan University of Prague in the field of European Studies and Public Administration. In the past 4 years, she was the mayor of the town of Jesenice near Prague (9.2 thousand inhabitants, district of Prague West), she also worked as a member of the Legislative Commission of the Bureau of the Union of Towns and Municipalities of the Czech Republic (SMO CR). Radka Vladyková is married and has three children. She speaks English. In her free time, she spends time with her family and likes to go for walks with her dog to Průhonice Park.
MARTIN ZÁKLASNÍK
CEO at E.ON in the Czech Republic
Martin Záklasník studied economy at universities in Prague and Vienna. He was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of the energy company E.ON at the end of 2016. Before that he worked as the vice-president for B2B marketing and sale to big customers at T-Mobile in Prague and he also worked in T-Systems for nearly six years. Before 2008, he held various senior management positions in the Czech Republic as well as abroad.
