JOHN BACHTLER is Professor of European Policy Studies and a Director of the European Policies Research Centre at the University of Strathclyde. He has led EPRC research on regional policy as well as the evaluation of Structural Funds programmes, EU development strategies and the implementation of the Funds. He has been an expert adviser to numerous government departments across Western, Central and Eastern Europe, and an adviser to international organisations (European Parliament, European Commission, Nordic Council of Ministers, OECD).

NICOLA DE-MICHELIS is Deputy Head of Unit B.2 in the Directorate-General for Regional Policy of the European Commission. The unit is responsible for conception and analysis related to the reform of EU Cohesion policy.


ANDY CHAPMAN is Deputy Head of Unit A/1 in DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities of the European Commission. The unit is responsible for ESF Coordination and Policy development in DG Employment. He has been in this unit for 5 years, and during that time he was also responsible for the work of DG EMPL on Local Employment Development. Prior to that he was Deputy Head of the Employment Analysis Unit where he was primarily responsible for the production of the Employment in Europe report.


WOLF HUBER is the Director of the Division for Coordination of Regional Policy and Spatial Planning in the Federal Chancellery, Austria, and is responsible for the coordination of all regional Structural Funds programmes in Austria as well as cross-border and transnational spatial development issues. With degrees in economics and spatial planning, and experience of consultancy in urban and regional development, he has been a civil servant since 1982 and head of division in the Federal Chancellery since 1995.

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SESSION 2: RECONCILING COMPETITIVENESS AND COHESION

ANDŽS ŪBELIS is the Deputy State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance of Latvia where his primary responsibility is heading the Managing Authority for EU Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund in Latvia. He has a bachelor degree in political sciences/international relations from the University of Latvia and a masters degree in European Community Law from the University of Nancy II in France. Since 1995, he has worked in the public administration of the Republic of Latvia. For two years, he represented the Ministry of Finance in the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Latvia to the EU in Brussels and was closely involved in EU accession negotiations and the launch of Latvian membership of the EU.

PIOTR ŻUBER is the Director of the Department of Structural Policy Coordination at the Ministry of Regional Development in Poland. He is responsible for the CSF Managing Authority and is involved in the negotiations of Structural Funds regulations for 2007-2013. He is also responsible for preparing  the strategic documents for EU Cohesion policy - the current National Strategic Reference Framework and previously the National Development Plan 2004-2006, the National Strategy of Regional Development 2001-2006 and others. In the past, he was the manager of regional development programmes co-financed by PHARE. He graduated at the University of Warsaw from the faculty of Geography and Regional Studies and is a doctor of economics. Besides this, he is the author of many publications concerning regional policy in Poland, the role of SMEs in regional development and European Cohesion policy.

NIKOS KLENIATIS is Head of the Task Force Development Planning 2007-2013 in the Ministry of Finance, Greece, with responsibility for the drafting of the National Strategic Reference Framework and coordination of the drafting of the Operational Programmes. During 2004-05, he was Head of the Task Force Financial Perspectives and Structural Regulations 2007-2013, providing technical support to the Ministry of Finance during the negotiation of the Financial Perspective and Structural Regulations. Previously he has worked in the Ministry of Finance Paying Authority, the Ministry of Employment, the European Commission (DG for Education and Culture) and the European Court of Auditors.

MIROSLAV DANEK is Head of the Programming Unit at the Czech Ministry for Regional Development. He is also a member of a team creating the Czech National Development Plan 2004-2006, and furthermore he is responsible for the National Strategic Reference Framework 2007-2013. In 1996 he graduated from the Charles University in Prague in Human Geography and was a university lecturer in Geography and European Union 1996-2002. Since 2002 he has worked for the Ministry for Regional Development.

ROSSELLA RUSCA is dirigente in the Structural Funds division of the Department for Development and Cohesion Policy in the Ministry for Economic Development in Italy. Her responsibilities include the development of economic and territorial analyses and innovative proposals, particularly for the promotion of territorial cohesion and, in the fields of cross-border, trans-national and inter-regional cooperation, urban development, rural development, and integrated territorial project design. For these policy fields, she also supports the negotiations with the EU. Additionally, she is in charge of the promotion and coordination of Structural Funds co-funded innovative actions.

SARA DAVIES is a Senior Research Fellow in the European Policies Research Centre. She graduated with First Class Honours in modern languages from University College London, before undertaking an MSc and PhD in regional economic development, and a Diploma in Economics.  She worked as an economist at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs in 1997-2003, specialising in Cohesion Policy and Member States’ domestic regional policies, including contributions to the Commission’s negotiating mandates for NDPs in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia in 2004-2006, and for Greece and Italy in 2000-2006.  She is currently EPRC’s specialist for Germany, for both the IQ-Net and EoRPA networks.  She also coordinated a major project for the European Commission in 2005 on the strategic priorities for Cohesion policy in 2007-13 in the ten new Member States, Bulgaria and Romania.

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SESSION 3: MAXIMISING REGIONAL POTENTIAL

LAURIE RUSSELL is Chief Executive of Strathclyde European Partnership Ltd (SEP), the public sector company established in 1989 to manage European Structural Funds supported economic development Programmes in Western Scotland. Since 1989, the various Programmes have invested over €1500 million of European funds in economic development projects in the region. SEP Ltd has a subsidiary company, SEP euroconnections, which is involved in sharing the knowledge and expertise of the Structural Funds in Western Scotland with the new Member States.

PASI RANTAHALVARI is head secretary for the Monitoring Committees at the Finnish Ministry of Interior. He is responsible for the Objective 2 Programmes for Western Finland and Southern Finland and is involved in the preparation of the Finnish National Strategic Reference Framework and following the preparation of the ERDF Programmes under the Regional Competitiveness and Employment Objective. He graduated from the University of Oulu in 1992 with Planning Geography as the main subject and has been working for the Ministry of Interior since 1994.

CLAUDIA SCHULTE is head of the Objective 2 Secretariat in the Ministry of Economics, SMEs and Energy of North-Rhine Westphalia. The secretariat is responsible for coordination among the various implementation bodies and committees involved in implementing the programme, as well as undertaking advisory, monitoring and publicity activities.

PETRA LELKES is Head of Unit at the Vice-Presidential Secretariat of the National Office for Regional Development in Hungary since 2004. Previously she gained experience as RDOP Coordinator, SPP/TA assistant at the National Development Office from 2002-2004. She has studied Hungarian Literature, Grammar and History as well as Economic Sciences and Law and Political Sciences from 1995-2005.

MARION LEFEU is an Officer in the European Team of the Interministerial Delegation for Territorial Development and Competitiveness (DIACT, Délégation interministérielle à l‘aménagement et à la compétitivité des territories), which is subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior and Territorial Planning. She is responsible for the Technical Assistance Programme which aims to ensure efficient implementation of regional and Structural Funds policies in France. She is also involved in a twinning project in cooperation with the Romanian Ministry of Finance in support of the implementation of regional policies. Additionally, she trains French civil servants on European issues.

GARRY WHITE is a Senior European Policy Adviser in the Department of Communities and Local Government in the UK. He has over 10 years experience of overseeing the drawing up and implementation of Objective 1 and 2 programmes in England. He has also addressed previous IQ Net conferences and seminars in Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria on the drawing up and management of Structural Funds programmes. He is currently engaged in the preparation of ERDF Operational Programmes for the 2007-13 period.

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SESSION 4: GROWTH, JOBS & COHESION: AMBITIONS FOR COHESION POLICY

GRAHAM MEADOWS is Director-General of the Directorate-General for Regional Policy of the European Commission. He has worked for the Commission for over 30 years, first in DG Agriculture and as an Adviser on agriculture, fisheries and environment to Commission President Thorn, then Head of Cabinet to the Commissioner for Environment Policy, Nuclear Safety  and Transport, and, from 1990 to 2004, Director in DG Regional Policy.

JACK ENGWEGEN is Head of Unit in the Directorate-General for Regional Policy of the European Commission, with responsibility for Latvia and the United Kingdom.  He has worked in DG Regio since 1982, initially in the policy department and non-quota actions department, and then as desk officer for programming (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, UK), policy advisor to the  operational director for Germany, France and UK,  policy advisor on administrative and financial reform of the Commission services, and Head of Unit Italy and Malta, before taking up his current post in 2006. He has a degree in international economic relations at the University of Brabant and undertook postgraduate study at the College of Europe.

HERBERT JAKOBY is the Head of the European and International Affairs Directorate in Düsseldorf at the State Chancellery of North Rhine–Westphalia in Germany since 2003. He has a degree in Economics and Sociology in 1984 from the University of Trier and a doctorate (Dr. rer.pol.) in regional economics at the University of Dortmund in 1989. From 1988-2003 he worked for the Ministry of Economic Affairs of North Rhine – Westphalia. He was also a member of the European Commission in Brussels from 1990-1991. He has extensive experience with competition policy and EU Structural Funds and was the head of the Managing Authority of the NRW Objective 2 programme from 2000 to 2003.

JOSÉ LUIS KAISER MOREIRAS is Deputy Director General for Territorial Programming and Evaluation of EU Programmes in Spain. His Managing Authority responsibilities include the Annual Implementation Reports and the Updated Mid-Term Evaluations. He is also responsible for the programming of the Structural Funds in 2007-13, including the National Strategic Reference Framework, and was involved in the negotiations of the Financial Perspectives and the Structural Funds Regulations. In the past he has worked in the cabinet of the Secretary of State for Finance and Budgets (May 2004-December 2004), the Department of Economics of the cabinet of the Presidency (October 2003-May 2004), the cabinet of the Secretary of State for Trade and Tourism (November 2002-October 2003). He has degrees in Law (1996) and Business Studies (1997) from the University Pontificia Comillas (ICADE-Madrid).

JOHN NEVE is Director, Regional European Funds and Devolution in the Department of Trade and Industry, a post he has held since September 2001. The DTI leads within the UK Government in the development and presentation of UK policy on the European Union’s Structural and Cohesion Funds.  It is also responsible for coordinating implementation of the Funds at the UK level. John has previously dealt with a range of international and European policy issues, including the international non-proliferation regimes and European transport policy.  He has also worked in the European Commission and at the British Embassy, Washington DC.

PHILIP RAINES is Head of the Cohesion and Coordination Team in the European Structural Funds Division in the Scottish Executive with responsibility for planning future Structural Funds programming in Scotland. He was a Senior Research Fellow at the European Policies Research Centre at the University of Strathclyde for 13 years.

WILLIAM ROE has been Chairman of Highlands & Islands Enterprise since September 2004.   He is a Director of Rocket Science UK Ltd, a company that provides consulting services and develops solutions in the fields of economic development, lifelong learning and multimedia technology.   He has worked for many government departments and public agencies in Scotland and England and for financial services and technology companies both in the UK and North America.   In addition, he operates a tourism business in the north-west Highlands.  William Roe is also Chair of the Centre for Confidence & Wellbeing Ltd and Chair of the Scottish Executive’s 21st Century Social Work Review Group.