The Steering Board has the task to oversee the implementation of the InvestEU Programme and determine the strategic and operational guidance for the implementing partners. Other duties of the board include the adoption of the risk methodological framework, the rules of procedure of the secretariat for the Investment Committee and the rules for operations with investment platforms.
The Steering Board is composed of four representatives of the Commission, three representatives of the EIB Group, two representatives of the implementing partners other than the EIB Group and one expert appointed as a non-voting member by the European Parliament.
Chair of the InvestEU Steering Board; Deputy-Director General – International and Investment, Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs (ECFIN)
Before becoming Deputy-Director General, Elena Flores has held several senior management positions at ECFIN, including Director for International economic and financial relations, global governance; Director for Policy Strategy and Coordination and Director for Economies and Member States II. Previously, she worked as head of the units ‘Public finance in the euro area and the EU’ and ‘Monetary union: technical and financial market questions’ and served as Advisor in Commissioner Solbes’ office, responsible for economic policies, employment, taxation and financial issues.
Director - Investments, Sustainable and Innovative Transport, Directorate General for Mobility and Transport (MOVE)
Herald Ruijters’ main working areas include the trans-European transport network, Alternative Fuels, Intelligent Transport Services, Urban Mobility, Passenger Rights, as well as social, research and innovation. Alongside these major policy areas, his responsibilities also include the funding and financing instruments that are transport related, notably the Connecting Europe Facility, Horizon Europe, InvestEU, ESIF and RRF.
Director of ‘European Research Area & Innovation’ at the Research and Innovation (RTD)
Anna Panagopoulou is Director of ‘European Research Area & Innovation’ at the Research and Innovation Directorate General of the European Commission. She is responsible together with her teams to co-create with Member States and stakeholders policies to shape a globally competitive European research and innovation system that is open, performant, cohesive and conducive to transformative innovation for a sustainable future. She has been working in the Commission in various policy and management roles for 24 years. She holds a master degree in electrical engineering and has a long professional experience in private and public sector.
Director for Policy, Strategy and Outreach (DG Connect)
Thibaut KLEINER is the Director for Policy, Strategy and Outreach at DG Connect. He has worked since 2001 at the European Commission. The first ten years of his career in the Commission were spent in the area of competition policy (merger, antitrust and State aid). He was notably member of the cabinet of Neelie Kroes, Commissioner for Competition, in 2007-2010 and head of unit for State aid coordination in DG Competition. In September 2011, he moved to the digital policy area, as advisor of Vice-President Neelie Kroes, in charge of the Digital Agenda, and supervised Internet policies at large (Internet Governance, cybersecurity, cloud, data). From January 2014 to June 2016, he was head of unit in charge of network technologies (5G and Internet of Things) in DG Connect. From June 2016 to December 2019 he was the deputy head of cabinet of Commissioner Oettinger, in charge of Budget and Human Resources and he then came back to DG Connect to head the unit in charge of Research Strategy and Coordination. An economist by training, Thibaut holds a Master from HEC Paris and a PhD from the London School of Economics.
Deputy Director General of Projects Directorate
Christoph Kuhn is Deputy Director General of the EIB’s Projects Directorate, which is responsible for the Bank’s technical and economical project assessment and advisory. In his role, Christoph also oversees the Bank’s lending policies for climate, social and environmental investments. Christoph has been with EIB for more than 19 years in various banking functions. Before that, he had various positions in corporate and investment-banking. He holds two Master degrees in Business Administration and Finance from E.M. Lyon and Cranfield University.
Hristo is the Director of Advisory Services and Mandate Management department in the EIB.
Prior to this position, Hristo lead the EIB’s Venture Debt, Equity, and EIC Fund Investment Advisory activities. Hristo joined the front office operations of the EIB in 2007 where he worked on various innovation finance operations, including under the original Risk Sharing Finance Facility mandate between EC and EIB.
Before joining the EIB, Hristo held investment banking and finance positions in Canada, the US and Bulgaria. Hristo holds an MBA degree from York University, Toronto.
Director - Head of Strategy and Business Development Department – Mandate Management
Laurent Braun is in charge of EIB and European Commission mandates in the EIF. Prior to that, Laurent held positions in risk management, restructuring and investment in both EIB and EIF.
Paweł Chorąży is Managing Director for EU Funds and Development aid in the Polish Development Bank: Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK). He is responsible for a large and sectorally diversified portfolio covering loans, guarantees and equity supported by the EU and Polish public authorities at national and regional level. Since Poland’s EU accession Paweł Chorąży held several senior positions in the ministries dealing with EU funds (2004 – 20015 as a Director, 2015-2018 as an Undersecretary of State) and was responsible for management and implementation of the EU programmes.
Chief Executive Officer
Michel Casselman has been CEO of PMV since 2014. PMV is the Belgian promotional institute responsible for Flanders, with own assets and assets under management/advise totalling EUR 1.5 billion. PMV provides equity, (subordinated) debt and guarantees to companies and projects in its region, with a focus on both societal and financial return for its investments. Within the Steering Board, Michel Casselman represents the group of smaller NPBIs.
Expert appointed by the European Parliament
Alain Lamassoure is a former Magistrate of the French Court of Auditors, Mayor of Anglet, France, Member of the French National Assembly, Minister for European Affairs, Budget Minister and served five terms as Member of the European Parliament. In his capacity as MEP, he was Chairman of the Budgetary Control Committee (CONT), the Budgets Committee (BUDG) and the Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect (TAXE 2).