DAVID BAUER

Chairman of the Board, Cogen Czech

David Bauer graduated from the University of Economics in Ostrava, Department of Marketing. However, he devoted his entire career to energy in the ČEZ Group, where he went through ČEZ Logistika, ČEZ Energetické služby and ČEZ ESCO, where he was (in various positions) responsible for the development of ecological decentralized heat and electricity production. He currently works as an investment director at ČEZ Energo. This company belongs to the number one in the operation of CHP (piston combustion natural gas engines) on the Czech market.

Among other things, David is the chairman of the board of Cogen Czech, which represents about 70 producers and operators of CHP, and his responsibility is to consult with state organizations (ERU, MIT) on setting up a stable legislative environment for the development of construction and operation CHP.

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.

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.

PAVEL DRAHOVZAL

Místopředseda, Svaz měst a obcí

Pavel Drahovzal has been associated with the Union of Towns and Municipalities of the Czech Republic since 2004. Since 2013 he has been a member of the Board of the Union, since 2019 in the role of Vice-Chairman and Chairman of the Chamber of Municipalities of the Union.
He has been successfully holding the office of the mayor of Velký Osek since 2010. Pavel Drahovzal has been dealing with environmental and energy issues for a long time. He focuses especially on the issue of waste. He is a member of the Commission for the Environment and Energy.

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.

Martin Gebauer

Managing Director and Head of Central and Eastern Europe, MIRA
Executive Chairman, GasNet, s.r.o.

Martin Gebauer has been leading the Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) business activities in the CEE region since 2019. As Executive Chairman, he also heads the GasNet Group, a domestic leader in natural gas distribution.
In his previous positions, he worked at České Radiokomunikace. First as CFO and then as CEO.
He has extensive international experience in financial management and asset management in the CEE region from his period in the development company Orco Property Group.
He also previously worked for Ernst & Young in the Czech Republic and the USA and for a British private equity firm in Spain.
Martin Gebauer studied economics and management at VUT Brno and was preparing his diploma thesis at the City University of London. In 1998, he received the ACCA qualification.

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.

DAVID KONVALINA

Head of Mass Sales&Marketing, innogy Energie, s.r.o.

David Konvalina has graduated from the University of Economics in Prague, Faculty of international affairs. He started his career as business analyst on a project focusing on establishing a Credit bureau in the Czech Republic. Then he held several marketing oriented positions in Komerční banka and HVB Bank, focusing on strategic planning, marketing, segmentation development of new products, coordinating marketing activities. In 2006 he moved to former RWE Group CZ as Head of Marketing, focusing on strategic marketing activities as well as operational marketing activities. We was member of the board of RWE Energie, Východočeská plynárenská, Severomoravská plynárenská with main responsibility entering into electricity market. From 2009 he is Head of Retail Sales and Marketing, with responsibility over business results in B2C segment, sales channels management as well as marketing.

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

Director of strategy, 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.

THOMAS MERKER

Chief Financial Officer, 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.

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.

ANDREJ PRNO

Head of Operational Asset Management, GasNet, s.r.o.

Andrej Prno studied management and marketing at the University of Western Sydney and continued his business studies at the University of Canberra. He received his postgraduate studies in strategic management from the University of Nottingham.
He started as a Business Analyst and Senior Consultant (Strategic Management and M&A) at Accenture Central Europe. He joined the gas industry in 2009 working at RWE Distribuční služby as Director of Operations and Maintenance.
Since January 2014, he has held various managerial positions in Asset Management at GasNet and currently works as the Director of Operational Asset Management. He is responsible for the preparation and management of the material and financial plan for the renewal of gas facilities, the development of the distribution system and the connection of large customers.

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.

DAVID ŠAFÁŘ

Member of the Board and CTO (Chief Technical Officer) EG.D, a.s.

In the management of EG.D, a.s. David Šafář is not only a member of the Board of Directors, but he also holds the role of CTO – Chief Technical Officer.
David has been with E.ON since 2009, when he started as a project manager, then spent 1.5 years in Germany at E.ON Metering. In 2012, he took the first leading position in the Asset Strategy and Projects department, then he was the head of Strategic Projects focusing on national and international projects in distribution. He then expanded his field of activity beyond the distribution business within the leading position of Strategic Projects and Technical Development with a focus on energy solution, e-mobility, battery storage and renewable resources. He also held a leading position in the central department Managment Grid and Strategic Projects and led a team of 110 employees, focusing on the development of the electricity and gas distribution network and new business opportunities. From 1. 1. 2020 as member of the Board of Directors of EG.D, a.s. deals with key topics for strategic development: preparing the company for the future – Strategy 2030, Digitalization, Smart Asset Management. He is also part of international PCI projects ACON, Gabreta and others.

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).

JIŘÍ ŠIMEK

Managing director, innogy Energo; Member of the Board COGEN Czech, Member of the Board Czech Gas Association

Jiří Šimek began his professional career in the gas industry in 2000 at Oberösterreichische Ferngas AG. In Linz in the area of controlling and managing ownership interests. He later joined Jihočeská plynárenská, a.s., where he mainly worked in various positions in the emerging trade. After the merger of JČP into E.ON, he focused on the retail activities of the E.ON Group and worked in international projects in the field of business development. In 2008, he became a member of the Board of Directors of E.ON Energie, where he was responsible, among other things, for the purchase of gas and sales to the retail segment of customers. He also worked for a year in the sales department of Pražská plynárenská. From November 2017, he joined innogy Energo, where he is the managing director responsible for the operation of energy units (heating plants, cogeneration units, local distribution systems), the acquisition of new energy projects and the purchase and supply of commodities.

Šimek is a lifelong promoter of the use of natural gas in transport - CNG, LNG. He sees another challenge in the use of hydrogen and other gases in the gas system.

PAVEL ŠOLC

Member of the Board, ČEPS, a.s.

Born in 1962. After graduating from electrotechnical high school and energy at the Czech Technical University, he worked in the construction of ŠKODA power plants. In 1992, he studied energy systems modeling at the University of Pennsylvania. He then worked in the strategy of ČEZ a.s. After the establishment of ČEPS, he moved to a new company, and dealt with the development of market mechanisms related to energy liberalization (PpS, PřS, capacity auctions) and the company's strategy. In 2009/2010 he was the Chief Adviser to the Minister of Industry and Trade; then he returned to ČEPS. From May 2012 to October 2015, he was Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade for Energy and Industry and Deputy Prime Minister of the Government Council for Raw Materials and Energy Policy. Under his leadership, the State Energy Concept and related National Action Plans (Energy Savings, Nuclear Energy, Renewable Resources, Smart Grids) were completed. Since April 2016, he has been a member of the Board of Directors of ČEZ Distribuce, a.s. for 4 years, responsible for the development and management of the distribution network. Since September 2020, he has been a member of the Board of Directors of ČEPS, a.s. responsible for energy trade and dispatch management.

Jan Valenta

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. from 2015 to 2021.

VLADIMÍR VAVŘICH

Člen představenstva, Pražská plynárenská, a.s.

Vladimír Vavřich joined the energy sector in 2004 as Director of Sales and Marketing and a member of the Board of Directors of Východočeská energetika, then worked for ČEZ Prodej within ČEZ Group. Since 2007, he has worked in various managerial positions and entered the energy sector again in 2016 as a member of the Board of Directors and Sales Director of ČEZ ESCO a.s. In February 2018, he was elected to the Board of Directors of Pražská plynárenská and was entrusted with the management of the sales department.

CLAUDIA VIOHL

CEO of the E.ON Group in the Czech Republic

After her first work experience in consulting, Claudia Viohl began her career at E.ON in 2001. During her professional development, she held various positions in group accounting and controlling. She later took on the role of Head of the Corporate Office at E.ON SE and most recently held the position of Chief Procurement Officer, where she was responsible for the group's purchasing department. In May 2021, she became the CEO of the E.ON Group in the Czech Republic, and also serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of E.ON Energie.

PAVEL ZÁMYSLICKÝ

Director of the Department of Energy and Climate Protection, Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic

He studied heavy current electrical engineering and energy at Brno University of Technology and subsequently economics and energy management at CTU in Prague. In his diploma thesis and dissertation he dealt with the links between emissions trading and investments in energy sector. In 2005, he joined the Ministry of the Environment, since 2007 he has been the director of the Department of Energy and Climate Protection. Professionally, he focuses mainly on European and domestic climate and energy policy, its objectives and instruments, such as emissions trading in the EU ETS. He is the Czech Republic's main negotiator for international and European agendas related to climate policy. He represents the Czech Republic in the Investment Committee of the Modernization Fund.

JAN ZÁPOTOČNÝ

Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of E.ON Energie

Jan Zápotočný has been a member of the E.ON Energie Board of Directors since the spring of 2018. He is in charge of business support and management. He previously worked as a sales director at the Slovak Telefónica O2, he was an executive at ČEZ Prodej, where he was responsible for sales and sales channels. Prior to joining E.ON, he worked for three years as a member of the Board of Directors of the Slovak insurance company NN, where he was mainly in charge of sales and marketing.