Be our Lights

Marie-Claire Aoun is the Director of Prospective and Institutional Relations at Teréga, a gas transmission and storage operator in France. She is also the Chair of the consortium Gas for Climate.

Holding a PhD in Economics from Paris Dauphine University (2008), Marie-Claire Aoun was the Director of the Center for Energy and Climate at the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) between 2014 and 2017.

Between 2008 and 2014, she served as a Policy officer at the European interconnections and networks department of the French energy regulator (CRE).

She has an extensive knowledge of global energy and climate dynamics, regulation, public policies on energy transition, development of hydrogen and biomethane, energy markets and energy security.

Marie-Claire Aoun has been a regular speaker at high level international conferences and in the media on energy and climate since 2004.

She is also a lecturer at Paris Dauphine University and Sciences Po Paris. She speaks Arabic, French and English.

Clara Poletti is Commissioner of the Italian independent Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and Environment (ARERA), Chair of the Board of Regulators of the European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and ARERA delegate at the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER).

She has more than twenty years’ experience in the field. She contributed to the start-up of the Italian independent energy regulator. Since then, she has worked on the regulation of energy, water and waste management services at both national and European level.

She was Director of the Bocconi University research centre on energy and environment (IEFE).

She was also a founding joint academic director at the Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE).

She is member of the Advisory Council Executive Committee of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and associate researcher of the Cambridge Energy Policy Research Group.

Dagmar holds a Master’s degree in Language and Communication majoring in cognitive media linguistics from the Technical University of Berlin. She previously studied English & Spanish philology at the University of Potsdam, initially training to be a teacher. During her studies, she was already active in energy and climate policy in public relations for associations such as the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce as well as German Klimaschutz-Unternehmen e.V.

Since 2017, Dagmar Düring has been driving forward the energy transition with Landwärme. She is the Head of Strategy and Communications, including marketing, public relations, politics as well as organizational development. As part of the Landwärme team, she is working on actively shaping energy policy, is committed to climate-positive energy systems, and the visibility of women in the energy industry.

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Dr Houda Ben Jannet-Allal is Franco-Tunisian and a figurehead of the Mediterranean energy transition. She is Managing Director of the Organisation Méditerranéenne de l’Energie et du Climat (OMEC) and heads the Secretariat of the UfM Gas Platform since its launch. She joined OME in 1992 and held several positions, with a focus on renewable energy, forecasting, strategy and sustainability. She has extensive experience managing large complex projects involving both public and private sector, as well as research institutions in the Euro-mediterranean region. She led the transformation of Observatoire Méditerranéen de l’Energie (OME) into OMEC, putting the energy transition at the heart of its mission and enlarging its scope to all related aspects, including the social dimension and the circular economy. She has a keen interest in the creation of an integrated Mediterranean energy market to serve the carbon neutrality goal in both North and South shores and believes that cooperation between all stakeholders and all countries is essential to succeed. She graduated in energy economics from Institut Français du Pétrole and Paris University, and has a PhD from Ecole des Mines. Moreover she has been teaching at Ecole des Mines de Paris and Ecole Normale Supérieure.

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Anna Sobczak is a permanent official of the European Commission with over 16 years’ experience in policymaking (clean energy transition, industrial transition, green recovery, innovation, trade, enlargement, regional development) and 8 years’ experience in business consultancy and academic research.

Since 2020, at EC’s Directorate-General for Energy, she was first coordinating initiatives for coal regions in transition, and since 2023, she has been coordinating activities under the Strategic Energy Technology SET Plan. In 2022/2023 as an EU Fellow at EUI’s Florence School of Regulation, Anna was developing a comprehensive set of policy recommendations on a just transition from theory-as-practice to a now essential mindset of effects-in-practice, with an emphasis on socio-economic and clean energy transition of coal-dependent communities towards climate neutrality, with a focus on women.

She is also a top EU Social Media Ambassador (24.000 followers on LinkedIn), supporting #justtranstion #cleanenergy #youth and #women #leadership.

Anna Sobczak has a Doctorate Degree in Social and Political Sciences from the European University Institute, a Master in International Relations from the Cracow University of Economics, Poland’s largest economics university and an Erasmus MA in Urban and Regional Change in Europe from the University of Durham, UK’s world-leading research centre on global challenges.

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Marine Cornelis, founder of Next Energy Consumer and host of the Energ’Ethic podcast, is a vanguard in the energy and climate transitions, having focused on their social and ethical dimensions for the past 15 years. With expertise spanning consumer protection, energy poverty, and digital transformation, her work bridges analysis and thought leadership with actionable dissemination across Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Recognized as a European Climate Pact Ambassador, Marine champions diversity and community empowerment, showcasing her commitment through global advocacy and her podcast.

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Liesbeth started her career in leading law firms, with a focus on sustainability.

She has been involved in renewable energy certification for nearly 20 years, at the Flemish energy regulator and later in the AIB, the Association of Issuing Bodies, including roles as legal advisor, chair of the reorganisation and the reviewers’ group, thereby securing the quality assurance of the European Energy Certificate System.

As secretary general, Liesbeth loves bringing members together and empowering young female professionals, while jointly working towards guaranteeing the origin of all European energy.

Liesbeth is a regular speaker at conferences on renewable energy and, as vice president of the European Society of Association Executives, on association management and DEI.

The AIB provides the EECS standard for guarantees of origin (GO) for different energy carriers within Europe, implemented in 28 countries, with several more joining in the near future. AIB also operates a hub for transferring GOs for electricity and gases.

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At Edison – a major energy player based in Italy – since 1997, Barbara held managerial roles in Human Resources, mainly in human capital development.

In 2016-2020, she led the Transformation Team, a cross-divisional program promoting the energy transition and the diffused people’s empowerment, encouraging a growing number of women to participate to company’s activities and decisions making process. In 2022, she joined the Executive Committee as EVP Sustainability; she also acts as CEO’s Office Director and is in the board of Edison Next Government, providing energy services to Public Administrations and municipalities.

She serves in various organizations committed to sustainable development and energy transition: she is Board member of EOS Foundation, supporting vulnerable communities through social innovation.

Since 2022 she has been serving in the Board of the UN Global Compact Italian Network. In 2023, she has been appointed Co-Chair, Programme Committee of the World Energy Council. She is member of the “Banco dell’Energia” Steering Committee, a multi-stakeholders’ foundation supporting vulnerable families and third sector by fighting energy poverty, and she belongs to the “InTheBoardroom” network, promoting diversity within the Boards of Directors.

Barbara graduated in Business Administration at Bocconi University in Milan.

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Since 2020, Ms Shortall heads up communications for the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER).

With twenty years’ experience in energy, Una has contributed to several pioneering international initiatives. She was the founding Secretary General of the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) from 2004 to 2006, bringing national regulators together in a collaborative association.

Between 2007 and 2020 she continued to drive collaboration on energy challenges at international level as CEER’s Deputy Secretary General, working part-time in this capacity for work-life balance (she has four children).

Una champions equality and inclusion. She brought a handful of pioneering women (dotted across the globe) together to create (in 2013) ICER Women in Energy, a volunteer initiative of the International Confederation of Energy Regulators’ (ICER). This project, which Una chaired from 2013 to 2020, supports hundreds of women globally through mentoring, training, storytelling and networking.  Una has degrees in economics and law. She worked as a university lecturer in economics, and as an economist for the Irish Competition Authority, and for the Irish energy regulator (CRU).  Passionate about sport, she served as European Youth Officer (2022) for Gaelic Games Europe.

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