Michiel Penne has been living in and working for the city of Antwerp for more than 10 years. In his team, Smart Ways to Antwerp, 12 mobility professionals are working on a modal shift in the Antwerp region with an employer approach, extensive marketing programme, technological tools (for example a unique multimodal route planner) and intense stakeholder management. As coordinator of the Horizon Europe project SCALE-UP, Michiel oversees 28 mobility measures in Antwerp, Turku and Madrid that focus on the transition towards sustainable mobility.

Thomas Geier is policy advisor with EMTA, the association of Europe’s metropolitan transport authorities. He is seconded to EMTA from VOR in Austria - the public transport authority for the States of Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland - where he is a strategy advisor for projects on digitalization and innovation in the metropolitan transport services ecosystem. 

Joris Beckers is assistant professor Economic Geography and Urban Logistics at the Department of Transport and Regional Economics at the University of Antwerp. His current research focuses on the design of sustainable (urban) economic and transport networks in the context of the on-demand economy. His work involves the development of quantitative spatial analysis for freight and retail planning, consumer analytics and business modeling. Dr. Beckers is a Ph.D. in Applied Economics and a MSc. in Geography. He was previously a postdoctoral fellow of the FWO.

Nathalie Guri is EUROCITIES project and knowledge sharing director. She works on a wide range of policies, including mobility, culture, food policy, migration and integration, social inclusion. Nathalie is part of our senior strategy team. She leads EUROCITIES project work, both on project development and project implementation. She also leads on knowledge sharing activities amongst EUROCITIES members and on knowledge management for our network. Nathalie has more than 20 years of experience in implementing and coordinating EC-funded projects (e.g. ERDF and ESF, Interreg, Urbact, Horizon Europe, EaSI, etc.). Before joining EUROCITIES in 2011, Nathalie has worked on EU-funded projects and programmes in France, in the UK and in the Czech Republic at national, regional and local level. Nathalie holds a Master in European Funding and Projects Management (Paris). Nathalie is fluent in French (mother tongue), English, Czech and Albanian. 

Stijn Vernaillen has always loved mobility and thecity. As a youngster he played around with recumbent bikes, velomobiles and foldable bikes. In highschool he wrote 2 thesis’s: one about EVs and hybrids (in 1998) and one about urban planning through history. After graduating as an Industrial Product Designer and a little detour along packaging engineering and logistical optimizations he found his way back to wheels in the city.

After working as mobility researcher at VITO, starting up Creating Collective and fixing bikes at Lucien he landed his current job at Smart Ways to Antwerp. There he tries to be the spider in the MaaS/mobility web, bringing together data, services, legislation and collaboration. He’s involved in various European projects and initiatives like Portis, ScaleUp, SPINE, eGUM,…

Jochen Maes is a Principal Consultant at Ecorys in the Transport Infrastructure and Mobility (TIM) group, specialising in urban mobility, waterway transport, ports and multimodal, air, and rail research. With a policy-oriented approach, he focuses on European, national, and regional transport policies and their integration. Jochen coordinates Ecorys' contribution to SCALE-UP, an H2020 project where urban nodes Antwerp, Turku, and Madrid, alongside various partners, collaborate on multilevel governance. He holds a PhD in applied economics from the University of Antwerp and is a part-time Professor at Ghent University and the University of Antwerp. Jochen is based in Rotterdam (The Netherlands). 

Juan Montero is the Director of the Florence School of Regulation-Transport Area, and Full Professor in UNED (Madrid). He has extensively published on transport regulation, particularly at EU level, as well on the regulation of digital platforms and the impact of new technologies on transport. He is member of the Advisory Board of the Italian Autorità di Regolazione dei Trasporti and advices regularly other international bodies and public authorities.

Peter Staelens serves as the Head of Mobility at EUROCITIES, the leading network of major European cities. In his role, he oversees team coordination, proposal writing, and project management, including writing reports, manuals, and guidelines. He is also responsible for organizing and moderating conferences, training sessions, technical workshops, and political debates. In his project work along the years, he has addressed various aspects of urban mobility such as digitalization, connectivity, automation, urban mobility planning, advanced traffic management, logistics, and behavioural change.

Lucian has expertise in urban planning and policy, with particular interests in mobility and transport, transition pathways for sustainability and climate-neutrality, governance and integrated urban planning, urban design and public space. He holds a Master’s degree in Urban Mobility from the “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urban Planning in Bucharest, and he currently works in the Mobility Team at Eurocities, the leading network of major European cities.

Anne-Charlotte Trapp is a Project Coordinator for Mobility at Eurocities, with a background in political science and urban geography, and a specialised focus on urban logistics. She holds a Master's degree in Political Science from the Albert Ludwigs University in Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany) and Sciences Po Aix-en-Provence (France), as well as a Master's degree in Urban Studies from the Brussels-based universities VUB and ULB.  Anne-Charlotte has a specialised interest in urban logistics, particularly in how planning and governance intersect with the movement of goods in cities. At Eurocities, she leads on urban logistics, having a key role in advancing this thematic area within the organisation’s projects and policies.

Kateřina Kührová is a Project Officer – Mobility in Eurocities. She holds a Bachelor degree in Municipal Engineering from Brno University of Technology, and Master degrees in Sustainable Development from the University of Graz and in Environmental Sciences from Ca’Foscari University of Venice. In the Mobility team of Eurocities she leverages her multidisciplinary expertise in projects connecting mobility with other aspects of urban development, such as public space design, environment, or energy.

Irma Lissberg-Grondstra works as advisor regional mobility for the 14 municipalities of the regio Twente at the eastern border of the Netherlands. Netwerkstad Twente is part of this region and an unique collaboration of three closely located cities (Enschede, Hengelo and Almelo). The entire region has a population of 634,000 of which more than 330,000 people live in Netwerkstad Twente. The Netwerkstad has a special task in our region, being the home of social, cultural and economic facilities for our inhabitants and visitors. Being a border region brings extra opportunities but also challenges on the mobilityprojects.

The region focuses on better, safer and sustainable mobility:
> within the region – connecting the smaller villages to the cities of Netwerkstad -,
> within the cities – making our inhabitants less independent of car-use –
> mobility between the connecting regions.
We do this by working on projects for safety, bicycle, public transport and innovation within transport. Irma coordinates the regional projects on shared mobility, railway and stimulating bicycling.    

Anna Ibraeva is currently a Senior Researcher (post-doc) at the TRANSyT reserch centre at UPM. She holds a PhD in spatial planning from the University of Coimbra. Her main research interests are integrated land-use and transport planning, urban mobility, accessibility analysis, and transport demand modelling.

Yiorgos Chronopoulos is a civil engineer and transport planner with a master's degree in urban and regional planning and a PhD in sustainable mobility. He works at the Department of Sustainable Urban Mobility of the Greek Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, which is the competent authority for monitoring the SUMPs. He has experience in sustainable mobility, ITS and transport policy and he is a member of the National SUMP Contact Point team for urban nodes. He also represents the Ministry in the EGUM sub-group on SUMPs and in the working group for the upcoming TEN-T implementation act on urban mobility indicators.

Isak Solomon is mobility advisor for the City of Oslo's Climate Agency. His work spans the mobility field and includes topics such electrification of vehicle fleets, climate policy implementation in mobility, modal shifts to sustainable modes, and green and active mobility.

Róbert Szűcs is a policy officer in the Innovation and Research Unit in the Directorate General for Mobility and Transport of the European Commission. Within the unit he is working on EU urban mobility policy, including sustainable urban mobility planning, TEN-T urban nodes and EU funding to urban mobility from CEF and other funding programmes of the EU. Before that he was a policy officer for coordinating cohesion policy support to transport investments, and was responsible for the preparation and implementation of Cohesion Policy programmes in Member States.

For the Netwerkstad Twente Erik is active on mobility issues for many years and member of several European networks like Eurocities and POLIS. As active member of the NorthSea Baltic corridor Forum since 2013 Erik has experienced the development of the TEN-T corridors and regulations. Erik also has a broad expertise in mobility projects with focus on Interreg, Horizon and CEF. 

Torsten Brand is a Senior Banker, based in Brussels and dealing with EIB financing for the public sector in Belgium (mainly Flanders). From 2015 to 2022, he was a Senior Policy Adviser in the EIB Brussels Office, responsible for regional policy, cohesion policy and urban development. Before joining the EIB, he had worked in Brussels since 2005, first at the German Permanent EU-Representation for the Ministry of Justice, then at representations for German regions (Baden-Württemberg and – as head of office – Sachsen).”

After several years as a project manager for various construction projects, Luc Hellemans joined Arcadis in 2000. His first major leadership role was overseeing the master plan for the city of Antwerp in 2002. Following this, he advanced through the company, first as a commercial manager and then as a department director. In 2012, he was appointed CEO of Arcadis Belgium, and later also Italy, France, and Spain.

In mid-2017, Luc brought his experience and expertise to BAM NV, the builder of the Oosterweel Link, as COO. In September 2018, he became CEO of BAM NV, which transitioned into Lantis in 2019.

After several years as a project manager for various construction projects, Luc Hellemans joined Arcadis in 2000. His first major leadership role was overseeing the master plan for the city of Antwerp in 2002. Following this, he advanced through the company, first as a commercial manager and then as a department director. In 2012, he was appointed CEO of Arcadis Belgium, and later also Italy, France, and Spain.

In mid-2017, Luc brought his experience and expertise to BAM NV, the builder of the Oosterweel Link, as COO. In September 2018, he became CEO of BAM NV, which transitioned into Lantis in 2019.

Dr Yanying Li is Head of Programme and Knowledge Management in ALICE, European Technology Platform for the logistics sector. She has 15+ years of career in international associations (ALICE, Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, ERTICO– ITS Europe). She is currently a member of the EU’s Expert Group of Urban Mobility (EGUM) and co-leader of the Urban Logistics subgroup of EGUM. She was an expert for the evaluation of the 100 climate-neutral and smart cities (the Mission Cities). She holds a PhD in Transportation Engineering from the University of Southampton, UK.

Stella Aaltonen is an expert in sustainable mobility, project management and stakeholder involvement. Currently, Ms. Aaltonen leads Scale-up and USER-CHI projects in Turku. These projects tackle, among other things, cycling services, mobility services, mobility activation in schools and day care units, usage of data, e-charging and nudging of users.

Master in Forestry Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and an expert in GIS
and Remote Sensing from the Complutense University of Madrid.
He worked as an Environmental Consultant at Spain’s largest law firm before joining EMT Madrid
in 2008, a SCALE-UP partner and the country’s biggest public mobility operator. EMT Madrid
manages buses, tow trucks, underground parking, Bicimad (e-bike sharing), and the cable car.
Specialising in sustainable urban mobility, he focuses on mobility governance, electric mobility,
and international projects. He currently leads the International and EU Projects department at
EMT Madrid.

Ivo Cré As POLIS’ director for policy activities and EU research and innovation projects and the leader of the Working Groups on Access and Parking, Ivo is active in EU research and innovation projects and advocacy relating to EU urban mobility research and innovation, TEN-T, SUMP, public transport, access regulations, parking, and digitalisation in each of these areas. He also co-leads the ERTRAC-ERRAC-ALICE Urban Mobility Working Group and leads the UVAR and Parking subgroup within DG MOVE’s Expert Group on Urban Mobility.
Before joining POLIS, Ivo worked at Eurocities and served as an advisor to a Member of the European Parliament and the Belgian Federal Minister for Environment.

Expert in regional and local mobility planning, Policy Unit within the Flemish Ministry of Mobility and Public Works.  Since 2006 policy officer for the SUMP framework program in the Flemish Region (Belgium).

Follow-up of relevant European policy initiatives and legislation. Deputy for the Belgian representation in the Expert Group on Urban Mobility (EC DG MOVE).

Elina Rantanen is the Deputy Mayor of Urban Environment in the city of Turku. She has been in Turku city council since 2005 acting in different positions. She is a social scientist and holds a PhD in Medical Genetics from the University of Turku. Elina has worked before as a development director in an NGO for rare diseases and in research projects. She is a green politician whose background is in the environmental movement.

Thomas Ertel is heading the office of the Interregional Alliance for the Rhine-Alpine Corridor EGTC since 2015, following activities for the preceding project CODE 24. His expertise is covering the fields of environmental technology, brownfield regeneration, urban and regional development. He has been active in research activities in these fields with leading roles in Research Framework Programmes projects since FP 5 and transnational projects funded under various INTERREG programmes since INTERREG III. Thomas has also been active as an evaluator for Research Framework Programmes, INTERREG and German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

María has solid professional experience in multimodal strategic planning, financing mechanisms and promotion of projects related to the transport sector for both the public and private sectors.
She is currently Deputy Director General of Planning, Trans-European Network and Logistics, in the General Secretariat for Sustainable Mobility, in the Spanish Ministry of Transport.
She is also Board member in AENA S.M.E and ADIF Alta Velocidad, the Spanish infrastructure managers for Airports and Railways in Spain respectively. 
 

After having worked in the private sector for several years, Koen Kennis, an engineer in electronics, decided to engage himself in politics and actively change his hometown Antwerp for the better. Belgium’s second largest city faces a historical mobility challenge, which is why a number of immense projects, such as the completion of the whole Ringway – Oosterweel, were initiated with the aim of forcing traffic underground, providing more green spaces and improving the overall quality of life for the people of Antwerp. 
As the city’s Alderman responsible for finance, mobility, heritage, tourism and commerce, Koen considers it a true privilege to be part of this immense transformation. 

Dirk Engels graduated in civil engineering from KU Leuven and is EIA expert in the Human-Mobility discipline for preparing environmental impact report. He has a strong experience in traffic modelling and the design, management, and evaluation of multimodal traffic systems. He is particularly active as an evaluation expert in several European projects such as CIVITAS PORTIS, SCALE-UP and CIVITAS SATELLITE, where he coordinated the evaluation of ongoing urban projects, and in SMARTA, where rural mobility solutions were tested. He also worked on the development of the SUMI indicators monitoring the evolution of a range of sustainability aspects. 

Evelyn De Wachter is a researcher at Transport & Mobility Leuven (TML). She has experience as evaluation manager in the European CIVITAS projects SATELLITE, SCALE-UP and GEMINI, where she provides support to local stakeholders in monitoring the impact and implementation process of sustainable mobility solutions.

In local and national projects, she has collaborated closely with various stakeholders to develop an action plan for the mobility strategy of the Leuven transport region. Additionally, she assists businesses and public interest organizations in Brussels with creating a delivery and servicing plan to rationalise the logistic movements, a key initiative under the GoodMove regional mobility plan.

Alberto González is a Senior Transport Specialist at the European Investment Bank. Previously he has worked in the European and in the private sector. One of the key challenges for the mobility planning in the functional area is the integration between different institutions and different governments. Alberto González contribution will present how the European Investment Bank, through JASPERS, is supporting the Spanish Ministry of Transport in addressing this challenge.

Eva is a senior expert for walking and cycling and sustainable mobility and part of the Austrian programme “klimaaktiv mobil”. She is the Austrian SUMP contact point and the Austrian representative in the Expert Group on Urban Mobility (EC DG MOVE).

Mr. Aquilino Iniesta Lopez is the Deputy Director of the Planning and Infrastructure General Directorate at Madrid City Council. In his role as Deputy Director, he specialises in the management of parking facilities.

Mr. Iniesta holds a degree in law and four postgraduate master's degrees in senior public management, public procurement, European Union law, and environmental law and sustainability.

He has extensive experience working for the Spanish government, holding important positions such as State Attorney qualified, Head of the Economic Management Section at the Ministry of the Interior and Subdelegate of the Government of Spain in Albacete. In the Castilla-La Mancha region, he served as President of the Public Law Entity Water Infrastructures of Castilla-La Mancha and Deputy Minister of Development of Castilla-La Mancha.

He is also a passionate educator. He is a professor accredited by the General Directorate of Police and he has taught at the School of Public Management in Madrid and the School of Regional Administration of Castilla-La Mancha.

Yannick Bousse joined the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency in 2021 and works as Project Adviser within the Integrated Transport and Cities sector. He is currently the Project Officer of several projects in the field of urban freight and logistics, multimodal hubs, public transport and urban planning and design within the CIVITAS Initiative and Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission. Previously he has delivered EU funded projects throughout their full lifecycle. Yannick holds an MSc degree in Urban Sustainability from the University of Reading’s Geography Department in the UK.

Alberto Mazzola became CER Executive Director in 2021, representing its members towards EU policymakers and advocating rail as the backbone of a competitive and sustainable transport system in Europe. He holds a Master’s in Business Administration and Doctorate cum Laude in Nuclear Engineering from Politecnico Milan. His past roles include Head of International Government Affairs for Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS), cabinet member of Italy’s State Holding Minister, adviser to the Romanian Minister of Industry, Mayor of Villa d’Adda, and contributing to the worldwide business section of Leonardo Finmeccanica. Alberto Mazzola is also active in the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) since 2015.

Menno Menist is Director International & Transport at Panteia. He has over 30 years of experience in research and consultancy and training in the field of transport (both passenger and freight). His background as an econometrician has proven to be a very useful one during a lot of projects in his career. Menno has been working in almost all countries of the European Union (and many countries outside the European Union) in all modes of land transport. (freight and passenger). During all these years and projects he has built up a very extensive European network of experts in the field of transport policy, at the various national governments and with many private companies all over Europe.  Leading principle in his work is that transport and mobility should contribute to the welfare of the citizens.

Menno has extensive experience in forecasting and optimising freight and passenger transport in Europe, for all modes. Since 2014 he is deeply involved in the TEN-T corridor studies of DG MOVE, in content and in a coordinating role in the 8 corridors in which Panteia is involved. Menno has become one of the leading experts in improving the sustainability of supply chains and the greening of the corridors. Currently he is heavily involved in implementing the first SUMP in Izmir and in reducing emissions in cities by accelerating the transition of the various fleets in combination with access to sufficient green fuels. 

Florian joined EUROCITIES first as part of the Environment team and is now part of the Mobility team coordinating SCALE-UP. Florian has a Master in European Studies from the university of Hamburg.