 | Wolfgang BURTSCHER Director General, DG Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission Wolfgang Burtscher has been Director-General (DG) of DG AGRI since April 2020. From 2009 to 2020, he was Deputy DG of DG Research and Innovation (responsible for i.a. agriculture, food and health). From 2000 to 2009, he was Director in DG AGRI (responsible for i.a. legal issues, quality policy and the control of agricultural expenditure). Before 2000, he was representative of the Länder at the Austrian Permanent Representation to the EU. | |
 | Nathalie SAUZE-VANDEVYVER Director, Directorate B - Quality, Research & Innovation, Outreach, DG Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission Since 1987, Mrs Nathalie Sauze-Vandevyver has held various positions within the services of the European Commission (Financial Control, DG Enterprise and DG AGRI). After 18 years in DG AGRI legal department, she has been nominated in October 2017 as Director of the Directorate "Quality, Research and Innovation, Outreach". Her mission is, in particular, to promote EU agricultural products while increasing awareness of EU production methods, quality and organic policy on the internal market and in third countries. | |
 | Christina GERSTGRASSER Head of Unit External communication and promotion policy, DG Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission Since joining DG AGRI in 2002, Ms Christina Gerstgrasser has held various positions within the directorate-general. She became responsible for the external communication and promotion policy unit in 2019, having earlier headed the service’s monitoring and evaluation unit. | |
 | Gijs SCHILTHUIS Head of Unit Policy perspectives - C1, DG Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission Gijs Schilthuis is the Head of Unit for Policy Perspectives at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development. He has worked since 2008, in different capacities, on agricultural policy reform in this Directorate-General. He first joined the European Commission in 2005 at the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers. Prior to joining the Commission, he worked at the European Parliament as a parliamentary assistant. He earned a Master’s degree in agricultural economics from Wageningen University in 2000. He is a Dutch national. | |
 | Lukas VISEK Member of the Cabinet - First VP Timmermans Lukas Visek is a member of the Cabinet of Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans. In the context of the European Green Deal, his responsibilities cover the Farm to Fork Strategy, agriculture and the EU’s common agricultural policy as well as the zero pollution initiatives. He also advises on policies related to health, food safety and animal welfare. Lukas started working in the European Commission in 2001 after three years in the Czech Ministry of Agriculture. Lukas graduated as an economist from the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague. | |
 | Simona RUBBI Chairman of the Civil Dialogue Group on Promotion Simona Rubbi, International relations manager of CSO Italy. In November 2020, she was elected for the first mandate as Chair of Civil Dialogue Group on quality and promotion, after two mandates as vice-Chair as representative of SACAR/Freshfel. For many years, she attended the expert meetings. She is member on the Freshfel board. She has a long experience on Quality issues with GI and certifications and on management of different promotional programmes on Internal market and Third Countries (from 2006). | |
 | Herbert DORFMANN Member of the European Parliament Herbert Dorfmann is a politician from South Tyrol, a German-speaking region in Northern Italy and is currently serving his third term as a Member of the European Parliament. After having completed a degree in Agrarian Sciences in Piacenza, Dorfmann started his professional career as a professor at the Agricultural College in Ora. He then became the director of the agriculture department at the Bolzano Chamber of Commerce and went on to direct the South Tyrolean Farmers’ Federation for nearly ten years. Dorfmann’s political career started in 2005 when he became the mayor of his hometown. In 2009, he was elected for his first mandate at the European Parliament and was subsequently re-elected as a MEP for the European People’s Party in 2014 and 2019, for a second and third mandate. In the present term, he is a member in the AGRI Committee and a substitute member in the BUDG, REGI and ECON Committee. | |
 | Bruno ALVES Team Leader External communication and promotion policy - B1, DG Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission Bruno Alves is the Head of Sector promotion policy and CAP information measures at the European Commission Directorate General Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI). Before joining DG AGRI, he was Policy Advisor at the European Commission Directorate General Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT), working on digital health policy and R&I initiatives promoting ICT innovation for health and well-being. Bruno has 25 years’ experience in international public policy having worked in Lisbon, London, Strasbourg and Brussels and he holds a Diploma in European Community Law from King’s College University, London. | |
 | Aleksandra MECILOSEK Head of Unit Promotion of agricultural products, Chafea, European Commission Aleksandra Mecilošek has a scientific background in physical chemistry and holds an MBA. After having worked in the chemical and food industry in Slovenia, in 2007 she joined the European Commission’s Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development. Since 2015, she is leading the unit responsible for implementing the EU policy for promotion of agricultural products at the Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive agency (Chafea). | |
 | Izaskun ARTETA Flourishing Europe Izaskun Arteta is Business and Tourism Activities Technician. She is responsible for the Administration Department of FEPEX since 1989, with experience in the areas of Grants Processing and Management, Promotion Activities, Business Administration and Accounting. Responsible for the EU programme on promotion of flowers and plants carried out in 1998-2000 led by FEPEX. Focused on the different programmes for the promotion of agricultural products in the EU in which FEPEX takes part, she is currently the project coordinator of the simple programme to restore market conditions in Germany and Spain in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic called “Flourishing Europe”. | |
 | Mónica TIERNO DIAZ EU PICOTA cherries Mónica Tierno Díaz has been the Managing Director – CEO of Agrupación de Cooperativas Valle del Jerte since 2018, after having held the position of European trade delegate. She has a BA International Relations and earned a Master’s degree in Business Studies and International Development. With her team, she will be in charge of a simple programme to restore market conditions in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic on the EU Picota cherries. | |
 | Wim VERBEKE Professor in Agro-food marketing and consumer behavior, Ghent Wim Verbeke is a professor of agro-food marketing and consumer behaviour at Ghent University in Belgium. Using his combined background in natural sciences (as Bio-Science Engineering and PhD in Applied Biological Sciences) and social sciences (MBA Marketing Management), he is active in academic teaching, scientific research and services in the field of food economics, food marketing and consumer behaviour. Key research areas of his team are related to food quality, safety, healthiness and sustainability following a farm to fork approach and envisaging a better understanding of food choice to foster the adoption of sustainable healthy production and consumption. | |
 | Beatriz CASARES Interovic/JKTTSZSZ ‘Sustainability of sheep and goat farming’ (ES, HU) Beatriz Casares has been Marketing & Communication manager of the Interprofessional Organization of Sheep and Goat Meat in Spain since 2018. Graduated in Mass Media, in the last ten years she has specialized in agro-food communication, collaborating with different media and carrying out the development of several European campaigns. She is the coordinator of the multi programme INTEROVIC-JKTTSZSZ. | |
 | Konstantinos GIANNOPOULOS EURICE Konstantinos Giannopoulos is the General Manager of the Agricultural Business Partnership of Thessaloniki (EASTΗ SA) since 2010. He holds a degree in financial studies from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He is highly experienced with a special interest in investment programs and promotional activities. He is the coordinator of the multi programme on sustainable rice production EU RICE in Spain and Greece. |
 | Peter BAADER Senior Expert, DG Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission Peter Baader is a lawyer by training and was a judge in Germany before joining the European Commission in early 1998. Mr. Baader has worked in different Directorates General of the Commission: Research, Information Society, Anti-fraud and, since mid-2011, Agriculture, almost always in contract and financial management and compliance. He is now a Senior Expert for compliance in DG AGRI’s resource directorate and is also active in communication. | |
