11th HAEE Energy Transition Symposium

Political science, English language and literature, and Arabic language and literature graduate

Previously held positions

2020-2023    Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France in Bucharest 

2017-2020    Director of culture, education, research and networks at the Ministry of                       

                           Europe and foreign affairs

2016-2017  Deputy director of the European Union

2013-2016  Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France in Skopje

2010-2013  Secretary general at the French Institute in Paris

2006-2010  Director of the French Institute in the United Kingdom

2003-2006  Deputy spokesperson in the Office of the President of the Republic

2002-2003  Adviser in the office of the Minister 

2000-2002  Deputy spokesperson of the Ministry of foreign affairs 

1999-2000  Spokesperson at the European Commission 

1995-1999  Administrator for the Euro-Mediterranean partnership, DG Relex 

1991-1995  Adviser at the Permanent Representation of France in Brussels

1988-1991  Adviser at the Permanent Representation of France in Brussels

1985-1988  Environmental adviser (Ministry of foreign affairs)

Honors

Knight of the French Legion of Honor

Officer of the National Order of Merit

Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters

Date and place of Birth: 25 September 1971, Muscat, Oman

Marital Status: Married, 3 children

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Education

1989 High School (VWO) Rijnlands Lyceum, Oegstgeest

1996 Master of Business Administration, University of Groningen

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Professional experience

Ambassador van Hellemond joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1998 as a diplomatic
trainee after working at ABN Bank in Tokio, Japan. Her first assignment as a junior policy
officer was in the multilateral division at the Ministry in The Hague. Her first posting abroad
as a diplomat was in the field of development assistance and trade in Jakarta, Indonesia.

She then had the following assignments:

2005 - 2009 Senior Policy advisor in the Economic and Development Assistance
division in Cairo, Egypt

2009 - 2013 Coordinating Policy Advisor in the Financial and Budgetary division at
the Ministry in The Hague

2013 - 2017 Head of recruitment and Human Resources division at the Ministry in
The Hague

2017 - 2021 Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi, based in Harare,
Zimbabwe

2021 - 2025 Director-General NL Diplomatic Missions at the Ministry in The
Hague

2025 – current Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic

Mrs. Carmen-Ileana Mihalcescu has been serving as the Ambassador of Romania to the Hellenic Republic since November 2024. Previously, she was the Consul general of Romania in Romania in Thessaloniki. She is a graduate of the Faculty of Law at the Lucian Blaga University in Sibiu and of the National Defense College "Carol I". She also holds a Master's degree in Political Management from the Social-Democratic Institute "O. Șincai" and a certificate of graduation from the Romanian Diplomatic Institute.

Starting with 2000, she has served several successive terms as Member of the Romanian Parliament holding successively several high-level position such as Vice-President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Romanian Parliament, Vice-President of the Committee for Foreign Policy, President of the Committee for the Environment and Ecological Balance, President of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on the situation of missing children as well as member of numerous parliamentary friendship groups with countries from Europe, Middle East and Africa.

She is fluent in English and French. She is married and has one son.

KOSTAS AXARLOGLOU, Dean, Alba Association, and Professor of International Business and Strategy (Alba Graduate Business School, The American College of Greece; 2016-present), Visiting Professor (Shanghai University; 2015-present), Associate Professor of International Business (Democritus University of Thrace; 2002-2016), Michael Gerrits Term Chair Assistant Professor of Economics (Babson College; 1994 2002), Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics (Fuqua School of Business, Duke University;1993-1994), Instructor (University of Michigan; 1990-1993). B.A. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, M.A. University of Michigan, Ph.D. University of Michigan.

Dr. Axarloglou is doing research and consulting work in the areas of International  Business Strategy, Strategic Leadership, Strategic Agility and Adaptability and Blue Ocean Strategy. His research has been published in leading management and economics journals such as Management Science, the Journal of Business, the Journal of the European Economic Association, World Economy and Managerial and Decision Economics. He has received several research grants and also participated in numerous international conferences. Dr. Axarloglou serves in various company and NGO Boards in Greece and abroad, and has done extensive training and consulting work in numerous
multinational corporations such as Eurobank, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen-Cilag, Novo Nordisk, Sunlight, PepsiCo, Quest, Titan, Viohalco and Vodafone.

Dr. Axarloglou, a recipient of the Fulbright scholarship, has extensive teaching experience in all levels of business education and has also received several teaching awards.

Anne-Sophie Corbeau is a Global Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy. She leads the Center’s research on hydrogen and natural gas. Anne-Sophie has around 25 years of experience in the energy industry, and is a recognized expert on natural gas and hydrogen. She is the author of many publications focusing on gas, LNG markets, hydrogen, Asia, China, India and Africa, including the book “LNG markets in transition: the great reconfiguration”. She is also the co-chair of Gastech's governing body.

Prior to joining the Center, Mrs. Corbeau was head of gas analysis at BP where she was responsible for advising the Leadership Team on gas market developments and long-term pricing assumptions. She served as a member of BP France’s Comex (board). She also worked at KAPSARC, the International Energy Agency and IHS CERA.

She began her career as an engineer working on fuel cells and hydrogen at Peugeot and Debis Systemhaus. Anne-Sophie holds two MSc from the Ecole Centrale Paris and the University of Stuttgart. 

Dr. Panagiotis Grammelis is Director of Research at the Chemical Process and Energy Resources Institute of CERTH (CERTH/CPERI). The scope of his research is the exploitation of solid fuels, i.e. biomass/waste and coal, with emphasis on the thermochemical conversion technologies. He is experienced in numerous EU and national funded and industry oriented projects, with an extensive knowledge of the South-East European market.

Since May 2011, Dr Grammelis is Head of the Laboratory of Alternative Fuels & Technologies and guides a team of highly-skilled researchers. He has been Steering Committee member of the Biomass Panel in the RHC-ETP (responsible for industrial boilers and district heating), national expert for the standardisation of solid biofuels and member of DHC+ (District Heating & Cooling) Platform. Member of the Editorial Board in IJER and IJGW and the Scientific Committees of international conferences (EUBCE, GCGW, WSED).

He is co-author in 380 papers in scientific journals, international conferences, workshops and books, with 2777 citations and h-Index 30 according to Scopus.

Professor Dr. Emmanouil Kakaras is Senior Advisor at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries EMEA. Previously, he served as Executive Vice President, GX Solutions. Prior to this, he led the MHI EMEA Dusseldorf branch and held the role of Senior Vice President for New Products and Energy Solutions at Mitsubishi Power Europe. His R&D focuses on flexible operation of thermal plants, fuel cells, electrolyzers, and large-scale energy storage. Since 1991, he has been a Professor at the National Technical University of Athens and lectures at the University of Duisburg-Essen. He participates in various European Commission working groups and advisory committees.

Professor Dr. Kostas Andriosopoulos is Αffiliate Professor of Finance & Energy Management at Alba Graduate Business School, Director of the HELLENiQ ENERGY Center for Sustainability and Energy @Alba and CEO & Chairman, Akuo Energy Greece. Kostas holds a PhD in Finance (Cass Business School, City University London), where he has been the recipient of the prestigious Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation’s scholarship. He also holds an MBA and MSc in Finance (Northeastern University, Boston, USA), and a bachelor’s degree in Production Engineering and Management (Technical University of Crete, Greece). Kostas is a member in various professional and academic associations.

- President of the Energy Committee of the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce.
- President of the Decarbonization Fund of the Greek islands for the Hellenic Ministry of Environment & Energy.
- Board Member and Founding Chairman of the Hellenic Association for Energy Economics (a think-tank focusing on issues related to energy, the environment and the economy).
- Board member of the Global Gas Center - World Energy Council as a Gas and LNG markets expert.
- Member of the board of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE) as a Vice President for Publications.
- Founding board member of the Financial Engineering and Banking Society.
- Member Technical Chamber of Greece.
- Member of the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society, which recognizes outstanding academic achievements of students enrolled in collegiate business and management programs.
- Member of the Energy Commission of the Industry and Parliament Trust in the UK (2012-13).

In addition to his academic profile, he has an extensive professional experience in the business world and has served as a business consultant in energy, food, web & software, commodity trading and shipping industries. During September 2019 - February 2021 he was appointed Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Public Gas Company (DEPA), a position he also held for the period 2014-2015. Since August 2018 he is Country Manager of Akuo Energy in Greece, a multinational company based in France that develops RES projects in 17 countries around the world. In addition, he has worked as an advisor to the Retail Banking Director and Managing Director for the British Bankers' Association (2007). Kostas’ current interests include energy-related geopolitical issues, gas and LNG market dynamics, RES investments, financial engineering and the application of operational research tools on risk management and investment techniques in energy, shipping and agricultural commodity markets. His work has been published in international finance and commodity-related Journals and has participated as speaker in recognized conferences world-wide. He is the Associate Editor for the International Journal of Financial Engineering and Risk Management, Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Energy Markets, he has edited special issues in recognized journals, acts as a reviewer for a number of academic journals, and has organized numerous international conferences.

Spiros is Professor at the Technical University of Crete and the Director of the Industrial, Energy and Environmental Systems Lab. He is specialized in renewables, energy efficiency issues and energy saving applications. His research interests include various aspects of renewables (assessment and implementation of technologies and especially photovoltaics and solar thermal systems, implementation of national policies related to renewables and financial and social incentive schemes, renewable energy heating and cooling applications, renewable energy auctions and market exchange, Life Cycle Assessment and environmental impacts analysis from large-scale deployment of renewable energy technologies); Sustainability in the energy sector; Energy saving devices; Technologies of "smart" materials for energy related applications; Energy characterization of building structural elements.
As part of his academic work he has published more than 60 papers in international peer-reviewed journals and has been cited more than 2800 times, with a current h-index of 30; additionally, he has actively participated in more than 50 research projects. He has presented papers to numerous international energy related conferences and acted as referee for international journals in the area of Renewables, Energy efficiency and Energy policy, while on the same time he has served as member in various professional and academic associations such as the International Association for Energy Economics and the International Solar Energy Society. Additionally he has provided lectures and supervised MSc theses in various academic institutions including ESCP London, EADA Spain and Montpellier Business School. Spiros is the President of the Hellenic Association for Energy Economics.

Dimitrios Pefanis is the General manager of insider.gr, the award winning financial website, which was launched in December 2015 and attracts more than 1,3m unique users on a monthly basis.
He is the former director of in.gr, the leading Greek website as well as a financial Reporter at TA NEA Newspaper and editor of N-Digital Technical Supplement.
He studied Communications and Mass Media at Panteion University (BA) and New Media Journalism (ΜΑ) at Emerson College in Boston, MA.
In 2013 he received the Citi Journalistic Excellence Award in Greece for financial reporting and is experienced in banking, bonds, stocks and general financials. He is also a Lecturer, teaching Social Media Marketing and Content Marketing at Hellenic American Union and has attended numerous conferences in Europe on New Media, Online Business Development.