Data Centres and the Grid

Vera was born on 23 October1965 and raised in Caracas/Venezuela. After finishing school in Caracas in 1984 she studied business administration in Munich and completed a post-graduate master at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. She then moved on to work for the European Commission, and had a position as expert in DG External Relations. She then continued as head of internal market at Eurelectric. Vera then worked for E.ON until 2020 in different positions and eventually as head of political Affairs of E.ON SE. On 1 November she started with TenneT. On an extracurricular base she is member of the board of the Economic Council (Wirtschaftsrat) in Brussels and member of the Supervisory Board of EQUIGY. She lives in Brussels and is married with four children.

Mr Chrenek has an extensive experience from the European and national administration. He joined the European Commission in 2007 and held several posts, including Head of the Commission´s Representation in Slovakia and Head of Unit for Enlargement in Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development and. Previously, Mr Chrenek worked in the Policy Unit of the High Representative/Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union and held several senior posts in the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including Head of Cabinet of the Chief Negotiator for the Slovak accession to the EU. Mr. Chrenek studied diplomacy at Oxford University, international relations at Comenius University in Bratislava and Computer Science at the Slovak Technical University.

Olivier Franz is a regulatory expert focusing on energy markets and energy networks, with additional knowledge in financial regulation. Recently, telco regulation has become part of his portfolio, particularly in the FttX environment. He teaches energy economics and regulatory economics at various institutions, including TU Berlin. During his tenure within innogy (now merged with E.ON), smart metering was a significant aspect of his work. Recently, he has also been actively involved in E-Mobility-related projects.

Christina Papapostolou is the EU Affairs Director at PPC Group, the leading electricity utility in Southeastern Europe, with over 15 years of experience in the energy and industrial sectors. She has held managerial roles across these sectors and has extensive experience as Policy Advisor and Project Coordinator on numerous EU-funded projects. Christina holds a BA in Political Science and International Relations, an MA in Organisational Analysis and Behaviour, and a PhD in Public and European Policies.

She currently combines her academic background and industry expertise to contribute to EU and public policy, actively engaging in EU policy dialogue and teaching as an Adjunct Lecturer at universities in Greece and Cyprus. She speaks English, French, Bulgarian, and Greek.

Josh Parker leads Corporate Sustainability at NVIDIA.  An engineer and a lawyer, he believes following the data wherever it leads is critical for an effective sustainability program. He previously built and led the sustainability program at Western Digital, a computer storage company, and practised patent law at the law firm Baker Botts. 

Stavros Stamatoukos is a senior energy engineer with 25 years of experience in energy systems.

He is a Policy Officer at the European Commission (DG ENER), where he works in Digitalisation and use of Artificial Intelligence in energy systems.

Prior to joining the Commission, Stavros worked for 15 years in the private sector, in the design and construction of energy infrastructure projects.

He has a Diploma in Electrical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens and a Master in Energy Management from the Business School of the University of Amsterdam.

Willem is EMEA Head of Public Policy at Equinix, the world’s digital infrastructure company. At Equinix he works on all policy issues impacting the data center sector, from energy and sustainability to critical infrastructure and digital sovereignty. Before his current role Willem was Energy and Climate Attaché for the British Embassy in the Hague. He has also worked as a researcher for the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael, as a journalist in Saudi Arabia, and in international development for the European Commission. He holds an M.Phil in International Relations from the University of Oxford and is based in the Netherlands.