SCORE Advisory Board Members

Prof. Günter Verheugen, former vice president of the European Commission, is teaching European governance at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder). After his studies in history, sociology, and political sciences in Cologne, his political career began first in Germany and later increasingly also on the European stage: In more than 50 years of political experience, he has held several leading positions amongst others as member of the German parliament, European Commissioner for Enlargement (1999 to 2004), as well as European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry (2004 to 2010).

Lutz Ribbe chairs the European Economic and Social Committee’s Observatory for Sustainable Development. After his studies in landscape planning and ecology he became vice president of one of Germany's largest environmental NGOs, BUND. Later he switched positions to become department head at the EuroNatur foundation. As a renowned expert on environmental protection and agrarian policy, he was appointed to the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), where he maintains regular contact with parliamentarians, governance bodies, and environmental NGOs. For the EESC he co-authored the study “Changing the Future of Energy – Civil Society As a Main Player in Renewable Energy Creation” in 2015, which reviews the role of of civil society in the implementation of the renewable energy directive (2008). In 2017, he was the EESC rapporteur for the recast of the renewable energy directive (2018).

Patricia Hetter Kelso is president of the Kelso Institute for the Study of Economic Systems in San Francisco, California, USA. With her late husband, Louis O. Kelso, she pioneered the CSOP and the ESOP. She co-authored with Mr Kelso “Two-Factor Theory: The Economics of Reality and Democracy” and “Economic Power: Extending the ESOP Revolution Through Binary Economics,” as well as numerous articles, monographs, occasional papers, and congressional submissions. She also served as vice president of Kelso & Company, a merchant bank, which she co-founded in 1971 with Mr Kelso simultaneously with the Kelso Institute. Mrs Kelso holds a BA degree in government and philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Thomas Engelke leads the Energy and Construction team at the Federation of German Consumer Organisations. After finishing his PhD in Biology in 1991, he was engaged by the German Regional Government of Schleswig-Holstein and as a national expert by the European Commission. Starting in 2004, he worked for the Hanse-Office, the Joint Representation of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg to the EU. In 2016, he joined the Federation of German Consumer Organisations. Over the years Dr Engelke gathered ample experience in governmental institutions and in lobbying work. He initiated, organized and participated in several national and EU projects and is familiar with EU and national energy policies. Recently he has worked on energy efficiency, renewable energies, prosumers and the impact of the energy transition on consumers.

Dr. Jean-Francois Renault coordinates the strategic team on resource (incl. energy) efficiency at Projektträger Jülich. He studied geology, town and country planning, and entrepreneurship in France, India, and Germany and earned his PhD in environmental geology at the Berlin University of Technology / Mines Paris Tech. As a project manager, he has been involved in more than 25 international projects dealing with resource management and policy, as well as with capacity building, knowledge transfer, innovation management, financial instruments and business models for research and innovation. He was the scientific coordinator of the European ECOPOL InnoNet project and is currently leading the study, “The International State of the Transition to a Green Economy” for the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.

Pia Saraceno is the chairwoman of REF-E, a company specialised in regulation and market development in the Italian energy sector. She has a background in macroeconomics and development economics. In the late 1990s she set up REF-E’s (then named Ref. Ricerche per l’Economia e la Finanza) Energy Observatory, a think tank within the company supported by around 30 major players of the Italian market. There, independent research is carried out on a broad spectrum of topics such as technology, regulatory, market/economic issues concerning the energy sector. Pia Sarraceno has direct experience with assessing the effects of energy investments on national and local economies. She has participated in academic life teaching courses at a number of universities. Since 2011 she has been teaching energy economics and management of environment assets at the Catholic University of Milan

Dirk Vansintjan is one of the founding members and director of the Belgian RE cooperative Ecopower. He has been working in the renewable energy sector since 1985 and still pushes for an energy transition that leads to energy democracy. During his studies of German philology, he co-founded the Belgic green party’s student body. As part of his commitment for (energy) cooperatives, he initiated and leads the Horizon 2020 project REScoop to foster the European-wide communication and cooperation on the topic. He remains an active member of the green party and has served on party positions and public offices for over 20 years.