Staff

Kristina Steenbock

Kristina Steenbock is the Executive Director of SEFEP (Smart Energy for Europe Platform).  Before joining SEFEP, Kristina worked as a consultant to the corporate sector as well as to non-profit organisations in Berlin, Germany. She was Vice President of the NGO Germanwatch.
Kristina served as an editor and as scientific advisor in the German Bundestag before joining Greenpeace in 1992. For several years she worked as the Political Director of Greenpeace Germany, and as representative of Greenpeace International to the United Nations in New York. She prepared and led, inter alia, the project Economic Effects of Ecological Tax Reform, which had a significant political impact in Germany.
After leaving Greenpeace, Kristina chaired the division for sustainable development in the German Ministry for Economics, inter alia preparing Germany’s official contribution to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg). She then became one of the two Executive Directors of the German Energy Agency, developing campaigns, together with partners from the business and the finance sector, to improve market access of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies.

Antonella Battaglini

Antonella Battaglini is Programme Director at SEFEP, mainly dealing with the power sector and in particular with grid expansion and renewable energies integration. Antonella is also a senior scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) where she leads the SuperSmart Grid (SSG) process, a concept she developed to reconcile different approaches to renewables. She is the Executive Director of the Renewables-Grid-Initiative, which brings together transmission system operators (TSOs) and environmental NGOs in support of grid expansion and full integration of renewable energy sources in the European grid.

Raffaele Piria

Raffaele Piria is SEFEP-Programme Director, with 12 years experience in European energy policy. From 2002 to 2009, Raffaele was Secretary General, then Policy Director, Board member and Vice-President of the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation. From there, he contributed to the development of the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC). Earlier, he had been policy advisor of MEP Claude Turmes, and policy officer at Euroheat & Power. In 2008, he moved to Berlin, where he held executive positions at Solarpraxis AG and eclareon GmbH. Raffaele grew up in Italy. He took his first degree in political science at the Freie Universität Berlin, and he holds a MSC in European Politics from the London School of Economics. He speaks fluently English, German and Italian and has a good knowledge of French and Spanish.

Loukianos Zavolas

Loukianos Zavolas is Project Manager at SEFEP since January 2011. Loukianos has professional experience in energy policy through junior positions held at the Power Programme of the European Climate Foundation and the European Commission's DG Energy. He started his career in Greece in the photovoltaics sector for a consulting company and an EPC contractor. Loukianos grew up in Athens. He undertook his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in the UK where he completed a MEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Nottingham and a MSc in Sustainable Energy Systems at the University of Edinburgh. He speaks fluent English and Greek, and has a basic understanding of German.

Eva Zoll

Eva Zoll is the Office Administrator at SEFEP. Eva grew up in the United States and holds a M.A. in Media & Communication, American & Italian studies (University of Leipzig). Her previous work experience includes administrative and PR work in publishing, various international companies and at the European Central Bank. Eva enjoys working in SEFEP´s international environment and appreciates its European and future-oriented focus.

Sylvia Kessler

Sylvia works at the SEFEP secretariat since September 2011. She spend several years living in Johannesburg, South Africa,  working as  secretary for the industrial department of Mannnesmann and AEG.  During the last 7 years she worked for a Spanish agency in Germany and was in charge of sales and  general administration.  Sylvia has the Spanish nationality and grew up in Germany.  She speaks fluently English, German and Spanish.