Péter Szijjártó was born on 30 October 1978 in Komárom. In 1997, he graduated from the Czuczor Gergely Benedictine Gymnasium in Győr, after which in 2002 he received a degree in Foreign Affairs from the Budapest University of Economic Sciences and Public Administration.

He has been a Member of Parliament for Fidesz since 2002, and in 2018 began his fifth term in Parliament. From 2006 to 2010 he was Fidesz Communications Director, the Prime Minister’s Spokesperson from 2010 to 2012, and was Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations at the Prime Minister’s Office from 2012 to 2014. In June 2014 he was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and since 23 September 2014 has served as Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Teodora Georgieva has more than 20 years of experience as a strategic manager, leading significant projects in various economic sectors. Currently, Ms. Georgieva is the Executive Director of the Bulgarian side of the project company ICGB and is also a member of its Board of Directors. ICGB is responsible for the overall management and development of the gas pipeline between Greece and Bulgaria and will soon be an independent transmission system operator.

From 2012 to 2014 Teodora Georgieva was Managing Director of Nabucco Bulgaria, and before that she worked at OMV Bulgaria for 13 years, 8 of which she was Managing Director of the company, holding cluster positions for Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia. Georgieva was the coordinator for Bulgaria of the European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT), in 2009 and 2010 she was awarded as Manager of the Year and is in the list of the top 10 Bulgarian managers.

She graduated from the University of National and World Economy and has a master’s degree in Finance. Married, with two children

John has served as VP LNG Origination for Cheniere since 2015 and is responsible for developing LNG sales opportunities in the EMEA region. Prior to joining Cheniere, John worked for Shell for almost 15 years in the company’s natural gas and power unit in Argentina and Brazil. John started his LNG career in 2003 at Shell’s LNG Supply and Trading unit in Singapore and The Netherlands. His last assignment in Shell was to lead the company’s LNG market development efforts in Sub-Sahara Africa out of South Africa. John holds a degree in Civil Engineering from the National University of Rosario, Argentina, and an MBA from the Macroeconomic Studies Centre of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Gergely Szabó has been leading MET Hungary since December 2014 and was appointed Regional Chairman of MET Central Europe from 1 January 2019. In the newly formed organisation Gergely Szabó is responsible for the overall management and coordination of the regional business operation and local subsidiaries in Croatia, Hungary and Slovakia, where MET Central Europe has more than 7000 long term partners in the industrial natural gas and power segment.

Gergely Szabó started his career at the Gas Division of MOL Group in 2007. He was Executive Director of Origination and Structured Trading at MOL Energy Trade Ltd. between 2010 and 2011, then managed the Swiss subsidiary of MET Group as CEO at MET International between 2011 and 2014.

In addition to his role of CEO of MET Hungary Ltd., Gergely Szabó is Chairman of the Board of Directors of E2 Hungary Ltd., the joint venture energy trading company established by Magyar Telekom and MET Holding, as well as Member of the Board of MET Croatia and MET Slovakia.

Thomas de Boer is Vice President, Commercial Road Transport (CRT), a global sector business within Shell’s Sector & Decarbonisation organisation.

Thomas has spent more than 20 years with Shell in commercial leadership roles, spanning business development, commercial fuels, retail fuels and aviation across Europe and the US. He was most recently General Manager, CRT for Europe, where he led European sales and marketing teams in serving tens of thousands of heavy-duty road transport customers. Currently based in the Netherlands, Thomas enjoys thriving through complex transitions, moving from concept to conversion – an approach that stems from his MSc in industrial engineering and management, gained from the University of Twente, the Netherlands.

With a current focus on how to profitably decarbonise the road transport business, his strong experience in sales, operations, marketing, and asset management inspires his collaborative work with the entire industry ecosystem, from colleagues and customers to business partners. He is committed to developing and delivering decarbonising transport solutions – whether energy products or digital services – that help keep businesses moving today, while planning for tomorrow. This covers biofuels, electrification, bioLNG and hydrogen, as well as digital technologies, infrastructure plays, and strategic partnership agreements – all of which are used to help shift projects from innovation to investment to reality.

Hrvoje Krhen was elected as the Managing Director of LNG Croatia LLC in April 2020. Before he was the Technical Director of the company. He has more than ten years of experience with gas infrastructure project development. Before joining LNG Croatia he was Director of Development and Investment Division at gas transmission system operator, Plinacro Ltd. He received his Master’s degree in Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Zagreb.

Franck studied Energy at the University of Rouen and received an Engineer Degree and then followed a Master of Mechanical Engineering at Cranfield University in United Kingdom. Later on, he earned an Executive Degree from the London Business School. Franck spent 25 years working for the Group Engie. Thus, he started his career at Gaz de France in the engineering department for 7 years and then moved to the Marketing and Sales with different functions in different countries such as France, Czech Republic, Hungary, Netherlands, Italy and UK before joining OMV Petrom. He was appointed member of the OMV Petrom Executive Board as of July 1, 2018 and President of FPPG as of January 30, 2019.

As of 1 January 2021, Dora Zombori serves as Ambassador-at-Large for Energy and Climate at the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Prior to her recent appointment, Ms Zombori served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Hungary in Washington DC, between April and November 2020 she assumed the role of Chargé d’Affaires ad interim. Ms Zombori has had a variety of assignments in Washington, serving as the First Counselor for Energy and Political-Military Affairs at the Embassy of Hungary. She was also Transatlantic Diplomatic Fellow at the US Department of State from 2015 to 2016.

Prior to her assignment in the United States, she served as head of the Energy Security Unit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary where she held a variety of postings, including Energy Policy Expert, Desk Officer for Japan and the Asian Development Bank, Energy Policy Coordinator of the Hungarian EU Presidency. She is a member of the Women in Energy Association.

Mr Laszlo Fritsch started his professional career in the oil and gas industry at Shell Gas Hungary where he worked in various positions. He joined E.ON Gas Storage as Financial Director in 2006. After the takeover of the company by the Hungarian state in 2013 he has been appointed the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Hungarian Gas Storage. From 1 July 2020, he been the CEO and Member of the Board of former Hungarian Gas Trade Ltd., which changed its name to MVM CEEnergy Zrt.

During more than 20 years spent in the oil and gas industry Laszlo Fritsch has gained extensive professional knowledge and is also keen on sharing his expertise as a member of the Board of GIE, member of the Advisory Board of the Fund for Hungarian Oil and Gas Museum as well as a member of the Hungarian Mining Association.

In June 2020, Olga Bielkova joined the management team of Gas TSO of Ukraine LLC and is responsible for promoting and protecting the interests of GTSOU in the international arena and among key regulatory bodies.
Previously Member of Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine), three tearms 2012-2020: Member of the Verkhovna Rada’s Committee on Finance, tax and customs policy (2019-2020); Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada’s Committee on Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety; Permanent Member of the Ukrainian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of OSCE (2014-2019); Member of the Verkhovna Rada’s Committee on Finance and Banking (2012-2014).

Throughout the years Olga Bielkova has been building her expertise in the following Public Policy focus areas: energy reform and creation of competitive energy markets; unification of energy prices at a market level; transition to more efficient subsidies for energy consumers; establishing an independent energy regulator; ensuring full transparency of the energy sector; fiscal regime improvement for energy sector; simplification and unification of the regulatory framework for the oil and gas producers; SOE efficiency; improvement of energy SOE’ corporate governance; national energy security, energy independence and diversification of energy suppliers; banking sector reform, digitalization of Ukraine, gender issues.

Olga Bielkova holds a Master degree of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, a law degree from the Kyiv Shevchenko National University and a degree in economics from the Cherkassy State Engineering University.

Imran is the Gas Transportation and Storage Analyst at the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF). He has a Master’s Degree in the field of Advanced Chemical Engineering from the University of Manchester.

The GECF is an intergovernmental organization comprised of the world’s leading gas exporting countries. Currently his role in the Gas Market Analysis Department (GMAD) focuses on pipeline natural gas trade, natural gas storage, the LNG shipping industry, and natural gas utilization in the transportation sector. As part of the GMAD team, he is also involved in other gas market aspects, including long and short term LNG trade, supply and demand, global prices and energy policies.

Previously, he had over ten years’ experience in a regulatory role of the LNG value chain, at the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries in his home country, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

The Director General of the Romanian National Natural Gas Transmission System Operator – Transgaz, Mr. Ion Sterian, is a renowned name in the energy sector in Romania, within the European Union and at international level.

Ion Sterian joined Transgaz in 2007 as representative of the Romanian State in the General Assembly of the Shareholders, and subsequently became the Chairman of the company’s Board of Directors in 2013.

A graduate of the Petroleum-Gas University of Ploiești, Ion Sterian specializes in drilling wells and the exploitation of oil and gas fields. He is also graduate of the Faculty of Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and Rural Development of Bucharest. He holds a Master’s degree in Management and a Master’s degree in Management and Rural Development. He has also completed specialisation courses in International Relations, all of which provide him with the perfect profile to lead a company such as Transgaz.

Mr. Ion Sterian has professional experience and expertise in both the energy field and corporate management, having previously held senior positions in various key institutions in Romania. He was Executive Director of the Technical Division within the Autonomous Administration of the Free Zone of Braila, Executive Director of the Autonomous Administration of State Protocol Patrimony, and also served as Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism of Romania.

Throughout his career, Ion Sterian has developed and perfected his professional knowledge of corporate and security governance, international and diplomatic relations and financial management, all of which have contributed to the efficient, high-performance development of the company he manages. Under Mr. Sterian’s close coordination, Transgaz has implemented and continues to implement one of the most ambitious and important national natural gas transmission infrastructure development programs of the last 20 years, with investment projects estimated at over 3.4 billion euros.

During his tenure as Director General of SNTGN Transgaz SA, Ion Sterian has contributed decisively to increasing Romania’s energy security through the investments he has completed, such as BRUA – phase 1, a project that allows Romania to operate as a true regional energy hub, the Vadu-T1 National Natural Gas Transmission System expansion project, which now allows natural gas from the Black Sea to reach the National Transmission System, as well as numerous other developments of the National Transmission System, leading to an increase in the citizens’ quality of life and the development of local and national economies.

Moreover, Ion Sterian led Transgaz on the path to becoming the first Romanian multinational company in the energy sector with majority state-owned capital, successfully completing the takeover of Vestmoldtransgaz in the Republic of Moldova and building the Ungheni-Chișinău gas pipeline, an item of energy infrastructure that enhances regional energy independence.
A charismatic, dedicated leader, with a positive and effervescent personality, Ion Sterian has earned the trust and respect of his national and international peers, European and international authorities and institutions, the Romanian media and over 4100 employees.
In recognition of his professional merits and managerial skills, Mr. Ion Sterian has received, both personally and on behalf of Transgaz, numerous awards, diplomas and accolades, is invited to deliver speeches on issues specific to the energy sector, management and corporate governance, negotiation and financing related to complex and large-scale investment projects in national and European energy infrastructure, as well as on other topics related to the prospects for sustainable development and decarbonisation of the energy sector in Romania and Europe, energy diversification in Europe, digitalisation of the energy sector.