On 2009/01/01 Jean Marc Leroy was appointed as CEO of Storengy, a new company of GDF SUEZ, dedicated to underground storage of natural gas in France and abroad. Since 2005, Jean-Marc Leroy has been in charge of storage infrastructures and LNG terminals of GDF SUEZ. From 1997 to 2004, he has been active at Gaz de France head office in several key positions : Manager of the President’s Office, secretary of the Board, Deputy Vice president of the Strategy Division, Vice President in charge of Exterior Relations and Internal Communication. Jean-Marc Leroy started his career in Electricité de France (EDF). In 1994, he moved to Gaz de France as Deputy Vice President of Gaz de France Transmission Division. Jean-Marc Leroy is also President of GSE – Gas Storage Europe, representing gas storage operators in Europe

After studying law and holding different positions as adviser and assistant head of division at federal level, Johannes Kindler headed the office of the Minister of State to the Federal Chancellor between 1987 and 1991. From 1991 to 1995 he was head of division for industrial and energy policy, the Treuhand privatisation agency, small and medium sized enterprises and regional economic policy at the Federal Chancellery. Between 1995 and 2007 he was head there of the department for industrial, energy and telecommunications policy, innovation, foreign trade and financial markets. In this position, he worked as industrial adviser to Chancellors Gerhard Schröder and Angela Merkel. Since February 2007 Johannes Kindler has been Vice President of the Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway. He was elected Vice-Chairman of the European Regulators' Group for electricity and gas (ERGEG) in the European Union in November 2007.

Mr. Ellis is the Head of the Business Development of RWE Supply & Trading GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of RWE AG. RWE Supply & Trading is the interface between the RWE Group of companies and the global wholesale markets for energy and energy-related raw materials. The company unites RWE’s successful wholesale trading activities with the long-term gas procurement, structuring and optimisation business. Thus RWE Supply & Trading GmbH is responsible for the economic optimisation of the entire non-regulated gas business of RWE Group with respect to procurement, transport and storage. RWE Supply & Trading is a leading European energy trader and No. 6 on the European gas market. Mr. Ellis is responsible for the global gas business development activities of the company, with a particular focus on Africa, the Caspian and the Middle East. The business development team successfully builds long term gas partnerships with the National Oil Companies and Governments in the respective core regions. He is also responsible for RWE’s participation in the Nabucco gas pipeline project.

Laszlo Varro has been appointed as Senior Vice President for Strategy Development of MOL Group in June 2008. Previously, as the Chief Economist of MOL Plc his role was to oversee energy economics in MOL and provide a professional support for executive decisions on a wide range of issues in macroeconomics and energy economics. Before joining MOL in March 2005, he was the Director of Price and Economic Analysis of the Hungarian Energy Office, the national regulator. His main projects there included introducing competition in electricity and developing a support scheme for renewable energy. He also served in the Board of Supervision of the Nuclear Waste Management Corporation. Previously he also worked at the Department of Economics and Research of the National Bank of Hungary. Laszlo Varro earned a graduate Diploma in Economics at the University of Cambridge, UK after finishing his undergraduate studies at the Budapest University of Economics and the Colorado State University.

Heinrich HICK is working as policy officer with the European Commission, Directorate General TREN, within the unit C.2 "Electricity & Gas". Prior to this appointment he has been involved in the negotiations on the international fusion energy research project ITER. He was also working as negotiator at the WTO negotiating team of the European Commission within the framework of the WTO Doha Trade negotiations. Prior to joining the European Commission Mr Hick has been working in the private sector as energy market analyst with a German energy company.

After studying law and economics in Göttingen, Klaus-Dieter Barbknecht (50) started his professional career as a lawyer and worked as a legal advisor in the field of the oil and natural gas business. From 1992 to 1997he worked as head of the Legal Department in VNG – Verbundnetz Gas AG, Leipzig, and later as head of the Gas Purchasing Department. From 2000 till 2004 Klaus-Dieter Barbknecht was responsible for the Gas Transport and Gas Storage Department and then was in charge of the newly established department Strategic Coordination. On 5 December 2007 he was appointed member of the Board of VNG – Verbundnetz Gas AG. In addition to his function at VNG, Klaus-Dieter Barbknecht is Managing Director of VNG – Erdgascommerz GmbH, Leipzig, and member of the Board of the German-Norwegian Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Moreover, until recently Mr. Barbknecht was actively involved in the discussion on energy policy issues at European level. From 2005 to 2008 he was President of GSE – Gas Storage Europe, representing the gas storage operators in Europe, and Vice President of GIE (Gas Infrastructure Europe).

Dr. Gerald Linke was appointed on 1 September 2008 to Head of the Competence Center Gas Technology of E.ON Ruhrgas. Prior to his new position, Dr. Linke served as Head of the EON Ruhrgas Northern Region where he was responsible for the operation of all assets in the Region (~ 6.000 km pipeline grid, ~ 500 MW installed compressior power, ~2 bill. m³ gas storage). Before 2007, Dr. Linke served as Head of Competence Center Pipelines for EON Ruhrgas where his responsibilities included the planning, construction, and integrity assessment of all EON Ruhrgas pipelines. In addition, he was responsible for R&D related to pipes and pipeline operation, maintenance and monitoring. During his career at Ruhrgas he has also held responsibilities in dispatching, SCADA system development and operation, risk assessment, and was on an advisor for the Ruhrgas Safety Management System. Dr. Linke is a graduate of the Technical University Carolo Wilhemina zu Braunschweig in physics, and holds a Doctor of Science degree from the same university.

Ben leads Wood Mackenzie's gas & power consulting practice in Europe, which advises clients on a range of market-related, project-specific and advisory engagements throughout the gas value chain.

Dave has been working in the energy industry for over 11 years. He began as a Technical Sales Engineer for a completions equipment company in England, and later worked for Schlumberger as a Senior Field Engineer based in West and Central Africa, USA and France, working in a variety of operational supervisory roles. Dave returned to the UK in 2004 to take up a technical management role in Weatherford, and was later promoted into a corporate legal and compliance role. In 2009 he joined TubeFuse (a Kenda Company) as the Global Commercial Manager. Dave’s background is in Mechanical Engineering and he is in the final stages of an MBA at Henley Business School. He serves on the SPE International Young Professionals Coordinating Committee.

Mr. Joerg Engelmann is Chief Executive Officer of Chemieanlagenbau Chemnitz GmbH (CAC), a private owned company operating in the field of process engineering and plant contracting. From 1990 until 1999 he has worked as a Project Manager at Lurgi Chemnitz GmbH a subsidary of Lurgi AG Frankfurt M., Germany. Between 1999 and 2004 he was Head of the Project Management Division of the SBU Lurgi Life Science GmbH. Since 2004 where Mr. Joerg and Joachim Engelmann took over the company by a Management Buy Out Mr. Joerg Engelmann is leading the CAC of Companies jointly with his father by beeing responsible the Operation & Sales.

Sanjeev Sinha is Director Sales Pipeline Projects in the Focus Market Segment Gas and Liquid Pipelines in the onshore oil and gas solutions segment of Siemens AG. He possesses a proven track record of accomplishments backed by a through understanding of the complexities of global Oil and Gas Pipeline business. He exhibits a firm grasp of the substantiative challenges posed by Pipeline projects especially global business trends, innovations, strategic direction and the impact of globalization on competitiveness spanning the three areas of Sales, technology and contractual complexities. Mr Sinha is adept at building productive working relationships with Pipeline companies, has demonstrated the ability to lead, guide and achieve success with remote teams with varied cultural backgrounds. He joined Siemens in 1987 in the Industrial solutions and services division and has several turnkey projects in the field of Industrial Electrification, Intelligent traffic systems and Pipeline Automation, Telecommunication, Applications and Security that were acquired and implemented under his guidance. His experience spans a wide range of markets around the world.

Dr. Judith Schulze-Schlarmann received her PhD in Chemistry at the University of Cologne, Germany. She is currently working for BASF Catalysts Germany as Business Development Manager Natural Gas, taking care on the former Engelhard product portfolio with applications in gas dehydration and gas purification. Before taking over this role, she acted as Regional Sales Manager for the complete product portfolio of BASF Catalysts including different kinds of adsorbents and catalysts.

Michael has been working in energy industry for several years. Operating as head of business unit zedas®asset Industry he is responsible for any activity in Energy, Mining, and Production Market. Focused on international activities he began as a Technical Engineer for Drive-Systems in Energy- , Paper- and Automotive Industry. After focusing to engineering activities in SCADA Systems for Power Plants, Waste-Systems and Enrichment Technologies he worked on Business Areas of Supply Chain Management and Business Intelligence (BI). After several conferences in USA, Europe and Australia he focused on Asset Lifecycle Management and Workforce Organisation. In 2008 he joined PC-Soft as the Global Commercial Manager in any Energy activities. Working today on MBA-issues, Michael´s background is in Software Engineering and he is in the final stages of an Electrical Engineer.