The list of speakers is updated gradually.
Nicolas Schmit took up office as European Commissioner responsible for Jobs and Social Rights in 2019. Prior to this, he was a Member of the European Parliament for the social-democratic Lëtzebuerger Sozialistesch Aarbechterpartei following his election in May 2019. From 2009 to 2018, he held the position of Minister for Labour and Employment in the Luxembourgish government. In 2004, he was appointed Minister Delegate for Foreign Affairs and Immigration.
Following a long career of public service, in 1998 he became Permanent Representative of Luxembourg to the EU for a six-year term. He holds a doctorate in international economic relations and a master’s in French literature from the University of Aix-Marseille.
Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Petr Gazdík graduated from the Faculty of Education at Masaryk University in Brno. After graduating he started teaching at elementary school.
In 2020 he was elected mayor of his hometown Suchá Loz and in 2008 he was elected representative of the Zlín Region where he held the position of Councilor for Education from 2016 to 2020. In 2010 he became a member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic.
Petr Gazdík is co-founder of the political movement Starostové a nezávislí (Mayors and Independent) and from 2009 to 2019 he was its chairman. He was also chairman of the Czech Commission for UNESCO for four years. He is currently teaching regional politics at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University.
Paulo Azevedo is Chairman of Sonae, a multinational company managing a diversified portfolio of businesses in retail, telecommunications, software, shopping centres and financial services; Sonae Indústria, a wood panel manufacturer; and Sonae Capital, an investment group active mainly in energy, industrial engineering and real estate. He was previously CEO of Sonae for 12 years and, prior to that, CEO of Sonaecom and Optimus. He is also chair of EFANOR and of BA Glass. He is a member of the International Advisory Board of Allianz and of the European Roundtable for Industry and chairs the Jobs, Skills & Impact Steering Group. He has always been active in roles outside his management functions. He is actively involved in the Belmiro de Azevedo Foundation – dedicated to education – and EspaçoT – dedicated to fighting social exclusion. He has been involved in several sectorial and general business associations, foundations and academia and was the first Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Porto University. More recently he was appointed Chair of the Installation Committee of BIOPOLIS, an International Centre of Excellence in Environmental Biology, Ecosystem Research and AgroBiodiversity. Besides his degree in chemical engineering from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Paulo Azevedo has an MBA from Porto Business School.
Ben has been with EUROCHAMBRES, the association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry, since 2008 and became CEO in 2020. He has over 20 years of experience in representing business interests towards the EU institutions, with a strong focus on small and medium sized enterprises.
He acquired experience in both the European Commission and the European Parliament earlier in his career, as well as working for a network of innovation centres. Directly before joining EUROCHAMBRES, he created and for several years ran his own business providing EU advocacy support to small business associations.
Since 2013, Gregorio Canavate has been international project manager at CETEM, the wood and furniture innovation centre of Murcia Region (Spain), where coordinates various European initiatives related to research and training.
He holds a telecommunication engineering degree and is currently working on his PhD about key enabling technologies applied to vocational training. He has worked as a software developer in sectors such as e-health and online marketing.
Recently, he coordinated ALLVIEW, the platform of centres of vocational excellence in the furniture and wood sector. This project encompasses 22 partners from eight European countries with the aim of building the first international platform of vocational excellence in the sector.
Ana Carrero is deputy head of the unit in charge of vocational education and training, as well as digital and green skills in the Directorate General of Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission. Previously, she was responsible for promoting the modernisation of the labour market, skills and social protection systems in Spain, in accordance with the European Semester reform agenda, as well as ensuring social cohesion through the effective programming and implementation of the European Social Fund and the Youth Employment Initiative.
Claire Challande-Osuna is the Head of SEPR’s international International departmentDepartment, based in Lyon, France. She has a Master’s master’s degree in economics and management, and European law. She carried spent a semester on out an Erasmus+ mobility for study programme in at Maastricht University School of Business and Economics. With a 15 -years of experience in piloting European and international activities, she is now experienced in Erasmus+ projects for mobility, strategic partnerships and capacity building. This year, she is starting to implement a Centre of Vocational Excellence in Arts and Crafts. She also has a strong cooperation forhas also worked on the development of VET in Armenia and she is a member of the Asian Food and Culture Education Alliance.
Arja Flinkman is the CEO and Chief Principal in South Savo Education Ltd, a Finnish vocational education and training provider, and is active in the regional chamber as a member of the board. The college includes both IVET and HVET and is committed to steering the green transfer through upskilling and reskilling of current students and those who have already begun work. She has previously been CFO and CIO of Mikkeli City consortium.
She has been Vice President (Policy) of EfVET since 2020 and was a board member of the Finnish Association for the Development of Vocational Education and Training between 2017 and 2019.
With long experience in the field of education, she is also a member of EMPL VET Providers’ Expert group and EQF Expert Group as a representative of the VET4EU2 network of VET Associations. She is also a member of the WG GreenTransfer under the European Commission.
Born and educated in France, Laurence Gates graduated with a master’s degree in international relations. She moved to Finland in 1996 following the endafter of her studies, where she worked as a journalist and editorial assistant before being put in charge of the internal and external communication of ICSID, the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design.
Following When the move of the organisation moved to a new headquarters in Canada, she stayed in Finland and became involved with the European Leonardo programme, organizing organising student exchanges between vocational education trainingVET centres in Finland and France. HAfter having collaborated worked as a volunteer with WorldSkills France as a volunteer for a few years from 2005 onwards, Laurence worked for WorldSkills France at their headquarters in Paris in 2007, taking over as CEO in 2012.
She left WorldSkills France to and moved to the UK in June 2015 to work at the Education and Training Foundation, where she provided strategic and operational leadership of vocational education and trainingVET, focusing on apprenticeships and employer engagement, and other special projects around offender learning and prevention of radicalisation.
In 2017, she left the Foundation foundation to return to the world of skills competitions and become the CEO of WorldSkills Europe, the organisation behind the EuroSkills competition. Laurence is also a board member of WorldSkills International, a position she was elected to in 2014.
Manuela Geleng works for the European Commission, where she is the Director for Jobs and Skills in the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. She is responsible for the Future of Work file as well as Youth Employment, the implementation of the Skills Agenda and vocational education and training policies. Previously, she held other managerial positions in the Commission. Prior to joining the European Commission, she worked in the private sector as a management consultant and for the United Nations Development Programme. She holds an MSc in financial economics from the University of London and a master in public administration and management from the Solvay Business School (Brussels). She completed her postgraduate studies at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna.
Valentina Guerra is Policy Adviser for Social Affairs and Training at SMEunited, the European Employers’ organisation representing crafts and SMEs. She is responsible for issues concerning social affairs, education and skills, social dialogue and migration.
Pieter Hoekstra is Programme Manager at CIV Water, where he is responsible for the setting up and development of CIV Water from a project into a sustainable organisation, as well as leading the Pilot PoVE Water project. Pieter has a MSc in implementation and change management from the Open University of Groningen and his own consultancy and training company, in which he specialises in process thinking and change management. He has a passion for innovation in education and has a strong network in the regional, national and international water sector.
My name is Lukas Kohl, and I did an apprentice programme in the city of Nuremberg as a specialist in wastewater technology, and this is where I currently work. A lot of new things, such as mechanical, biological and chemical cleaning, inspired me to have broader horizons. My mentor, Michael Dörr, encouraged me to take part in the professional competitions and I got the “competition fever”. With a lot of hard work, I was able to participate at Worldkills Kazan, among others. I don’t want to keep all this knowledge and experience for myself, but I also want to pass it to others, so I test the trainees to check if they are ready to work as Environmental engineer at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Linked to my work, I am also passionate about environmental sustainability, and that is why I am a tutor at SUN (Urban drainage and environmental analysis Nuremberg), my employer, where I work with the young professionals who are in training. We go through the basics of science here. Another important aspect for me is not to stand still and keep on learning. After Kazan, I started my master's degree in wastewater technology and, after 2 years of learning, I have now obtained the master craftsman’s certificate – and it is still going on to get the next level.
Denise Kovarik studied English and American Studies and since 2014 she is part of the NGO Junior Achievement, the largest NGO in the field of Entrepreneurship Education. In this course she founded her own startup back in school. Driven by her passion for entrepreneurship and the startup scene she joined the Board of the Austrian JA Alumni Network as Head of Development in 2014 and later in 2018 the European Board as Partnership Manager.
She has organized national & international events all over Europe and established meaningful and especially impact-driven partnerships with companies and organizations. In 2020 she followed her passion and believe for a more sustainable world where she can really make an impact and joined Glacier at day 1 - a climate StartUp that has the vision to bring climate action into every companies’ DNA, where she is the Program Manager of the flagship event, the Climate Week. She also organizes workshops on entrepreneurial skills where VET students participate.
Petri Lempinen PhD is the Director General of General Upper Secondary Education and Vocational Education and Training at the Ministry of Education and Culture in Finland.
He has worked in multiple positions in education policy since the 1990s in Finland and the European Union. He participated in DGVT meetings from 2004-2010 and again from 2021. He has been a member of the ACVT and the Cedefop governing board.
Wilson Lima Júnior is a Project Manager at UNESCO-UNEVOC, where he is part of the Innovation and Future of TVET team, managing the Bridging Innovation and Learning in TVET (BILT) Project. He has authored articles on a variety of topics, including TVET, technical cooperation and offsets. He is a TVET graduate from the Brazilian National Service for Industrial Training (SENAI) and received his MBA from the FEAD – Centro de Gestao Empreendedora, Belo Horizonte. His diploma in countertrade and offsets was awarded by the École Supérieure des Sciences Économiques et Commerciales, Paris.
Prior to his current assignment, he served as an Industrial Development Specialist in SENAI, where he participated in the implementation of the Innovation Institutes Network and managed the provision of TVET services for Brazilian companies operating abroad. He has also held positions in international organisations such as the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Population Fund.
Hi, I'm Barry Madigan.
I have been involved in the construction industry for over 30 years, firstly as an apprentice plasterer and then progressing over time to becoming a sub-contractor to large construction companies in Ireland. I then moved on to becoming a plastering instructor in WWETB (Waterford & Wexford Education Training Board), tutoring plasterers in phase 2 of their apprenticeships.
In 2019 I became involved in NZEB (Nearly Zero Energy Building) and progressed to BIMzeED (Building Information Modelling and Nearly Zero Energy Buildings) in 2021, where I was required to deliver learning units 1, 2 and 5 to apprentices as a pilot scheme as part of the TUS (Technological University of Shannon) Development unit as TUS was the partner responsible for the content and lead on BIMzeED. I delivered it on a part time basis over a 20-week period in an in class setting. In total, 14 apprentice plasterers completed learning units 1,2 and 5 while 16 apprentices from different construction trades completed learning unit 1.
Olta Manjani holds a PhD in banking and finance from Tor Vergata University of Rome (2018-2021). She completed her postgraduate studies at Williams College, Massachusetts, having won a Fulbright scholarship from the US State Department, with an MA in policy economics of developing countries. She received her bachelor degree from the American University of Thessaloniki in Greece, in business administration, with a minor in international relations (2002-2006). She has several qualifications in the field of economics and finance from institutions such as the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Bundesbank, Germany; IMF Institute, Washington DC; Joint Vienna Institute, Austria etc.
She was appointed Albania’s Deputy Minister of Finance and Economy in December 2021. She has substantial experience as an economist at the Bank of Albania (2008-2021), in the Monetary Policy Department. She has also worked as an assistant lecturer at Tor Vergata University of Rome (2020-2021), part-time lecturer at the University of Tirana’s Faculty of Economics (2006-2007), visiting researcher at the Graduate Institute Geneva in Switzerland (2014-2015) and consultant in the Clean Score project (AADF). She has translated and adapted academic textbooks (2017-2021) and has been a researcher and consultant for IPA-funded projects including Vulnerability Gap Analysis.
Ms Manjani is the author of several studies and scientific articles in the field of economics, finance and banking, published in peer-reviewed journals. She is fluent in English and Italian and speaks some Greek, Turkish and French.
Giulia Meschino is Director-Secretary General at EVTA, the European Vocational Training Association. She has worked for EVTA since 2013 and is in charge of developing and implementing its strategic activities. She has in-depth knowledge of European policies on VET, especially in relation to excellence and internationalisation of training providers. An enthusiastic member of the VET4EU2 platform, she is leading the development of the VENHANS, the VET Networking Enhancement project, a flagship initiative that aims to strengthen networking and cooperation at the European level. Holding a master’s degree in international relations and diplomatic affairs at Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, she enriched her professional training with an executive master in management of international organisations at the Solvay Business School.
Dragoș Pîslaru is a Romanian economist and politician. As a member of the European Parliament, he is the acting chair of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee. He is also an active member of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and the Tax Matters Committee. He joined the European Parliament in 2019 as part of the Romanian delegation USRPLUS, which is affiliated to the Renew Europe political family.
He is a graduate of the Faculty of International Economic Relations within the Academy of Economic Studies (ASE) in Bucharest with a bachelor’s degree in international economics. He attended postgraduate courses, obtaining a diploma in European integration from the ASE. He holds a Master of Science in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science in the United Kingdom and a diploma of entrepreneurship – case study centered learning at Harvard Business School. He obtained a PhD in economic sciences with a thesis at the National Institute of Economic Research, within the Romanian Academy.
Chiara Riondino is head of unit for Vocational Education and Training, Cedefop in the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission. She previously worked as policy coordinator for employment policies and policy assistant to the Director for Employment. In this context, she focused mainly on employment opportunities and challenges in the changing world of work, active labour market policies and fair working conditions. She also worked more broadly on taking forward the European Pillar on Social Rights. Before joining the Commission, she worked in both the private and the public sector, including as head of unit in the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Agnes Roman has been Senior Policy Coordinator on education policy issues at the European Trade Union Committee of Education (ETUCE) since 2010. Since 2012 she has also acted as an advisor to the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) on lifelong learning and VET policy. She represents the European trade unions on several bodies and groups of the European Commission and agencies, such as the Cedefop Management Board, ACVT, DGVT, EQF and EQAVET.
João Santos is a senior expert in the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion at the European Commission in Brussels. The unit is responsible for vocational education and training and for the policy orientation of the Erasmus+ programme in this sector.
He previously worked as the coordinator of a geographical desk, and was involved in negotiations on EU structural polices supported by the European Social Fund. His responsibilities included employment, skills, social protection and social inclusion.
He also worked on international relations covering the employment and social affairs dimension of the EU’s bilateral cooperation with China, the USA and Canada, as well as on multilateral cooperation within the United Nations framework, on issues related to the social dimension of globalisation and the Decent Work Agenda.
From 2009 to 2013, he worked at the EU Delegation to China and Mongolia as a diplomatic counsellor dealing with bilateral trade and investment issues, as well as people-to-people dialogue.
Niklas Schmucker, 23 years old living in Berlin, is currently completing an apprenticeship as a European clerk. Since 2019, he has been active in Azubis4Future, where he campaigns with other activists for the improvement of dual education and the embedding of sustainability in vocational training.
Jürgen Siebel joined Cedefop from the private sector in 2019. As Executive Director, he is responsible for managing the agency’s operations in accordance with the strategic direction of its tripartite management board. Before joining Cedefop, he served for more than 20 years as an HR manager with global governance and business partner responsibilities at Siemens. He earned his MSc in economics at the University of Hamburg and a PhD in business administration at the University of Vienna.
Andriana Sukova is an economist by education. Over the past 20 years she has worked with large national and international teams, as part of governmental and NGO institutions. She started her career as an economist for an agricultural cooperative farm. Later she joined the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry as a researcher before taking the position of Director of the Phare Programme Management Unit for several years. She then moved to the World Bank office in Sofia to work as an operations officer. In 2000 she was appointed Deputy Minister for agriculture in charge of European integration and rural development, among other things. Ms Sukova has also served as an adviser to the Minister of Finance and was Executive Director of the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria. After Bulgaria’s accession to the EU, she joined the Cabinet of Commissioner for Consumer Protection Meglena Kuneva. In August 2010 she was appointed Director in DG EMPL. She was in charge of ESF and FEAD policy and legislation preparation, negotiations on the regulatory framework for the 2014-2020 programming period and the implementation of ESF/FEAD in a number of Member States. For the past two years she has headed the Investment Directorate, being responsible for the European Programme for Employment and Social Innovation, European Globalisation Adjustment Fund and Financial Management under shared and direct management. In March 2018 she was appointed Deputy Director-General of DG EMPL.
Ms Sukova has numerous postgraduate qualifications from the UK, Italy and Japan. In 2004 she participated in the International Programme for Women Leaders organised by the US State Department. She is also co-author of two books: East-West European Agricultural Trade: The Impact of Association Agreements and Privatisation of Agriculture in New Market Economies: Lessons from Bulgaria in 1994.
Giuseppina Tucci is the Secretary General of the Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions (OBESSU), the platform for cooperation between school student unions in Europe. She is also President of the Lifelong Learning Platform, a network of civil society organisations working to advance a true lifelong learning culture in Europe and beyond. She has been advocating for access to free, high-quality inclusive education for all for the past 15 years, aiming to present the voice of civil society in policymaking and promoting the exchange of practices among organisations and networks at local, national and European level.
Jan Varchola works in the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, in the unit dealing with vocational education and training. He leads a team working on VET policies, relations with EU presidencies, Advisory Committee for Vocational Training, VET provider associations and implementation of the EU VET tools.
Jan Varchola joined the Commission in 2004. Since then he has worked on a number of themes related to education and training, such as career guidance, the Leonardo da Vinci Programme, skills competitions, Agenda for New Skills and Jobs and the attractiveness of VET. He was in charge of the main policy documents in the field of VET from 2010: Commission Communication on the future European cooperation in the field of VET (2010), Commission Staff Working Document on excellence in VET (2012), Riga Conclusions on the medium-term priorities in the field of VET (2015), the Opinion of the Advisory Committee on Vocational Training on the future of VET (2018), the Council Recommendation on vocational education and training (2020) and the Osnabrück Declaration (2020).
IES Luces is a general secondary education and VET school located in Colunga, a very touristic town in the Spanish coastal region of Asturias with breathtaking landscapes of cliffs, mountains and beaches. Since 1950, IES Luces has been a farming VET school, now producing sustainable milk, vegetables, honey, flowers and trees. Its VET training offer focuses on agro-ecological production, gardening, forest and natural environmental management, and livestock and animal healthcare. Education for sustainability is therefore at the core of this VET school, which has received European Social Fund and Erasmus + funding to develop various innovative projects. Mackenzi Millar and Angela Vega are two young VET students following a higher VET programme to become technicians in livestock and animal healthcare that will share their views on VET and sustainability. They are both passionate about animal care and after their current studies Mackenzi would like to continue studying to become a veterinarian, and Angela would like to work caring for dogs and cows.
Dawn Ward Dawn Ward is Chair of the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics and is also Deputy Chair of the Chartered Institution for Further Education. She is the Chief Executive of Burton and South Derbyshire College and has a wealth of experience across professional technical vocational education.
Dawn has extensive experience in senior positions at Board board level, (both as a NED and Chair). She has received numerous awards throughout her extensive career in technical and professional education, including Principal of the year Year from the Centre for Excellence in Leadership, and the Lleadership in race Race equality Equality award from the Network for Black and Asian Professionals. She was promoted toawarded a CBE in 2014 for her services to Education education and was awarded a medal of Merit from The the Royal House of Georgia in recognition of her contribution to international education.
Georgios Zisimos is the Head of Policy Advice and EU Programming Unit at the European Training Foundation. He is a senior expert on EU education and training policies with long international experience. He has previously served as member of the Cabinet of the EU Commissioner for Education and Culture in the European Commission and has participated in scientific committees on curriculum reform and literacy. He has taught technology in public schools in England and Cyprus and was elected Secretary General of the Cypriot Secondary Teachers’ Union. He is the author of various publications on education and training and is often a speaker at international conferences.
