GIE team

Secretary General

Boyana Achovski

Secretary General, Gas Infrastructure Europe

Boyana Achovski has been the Secretary-General of GIE since 2016.

Boyana started her European affairs career in the European Parliament in Brussels and led the Analysis and International Operations Division in Bulgartransgaz, later joining GIE in 2012 as the first secondment of the Bulgarian gas infrastructure operator to the European association. She also chaired the Steering Committee of GasNaturally twice, the coalition of Europe’s whole gas value chain.

Boyana graduated in International Economic Affairs, specializing in International Finance. She holds a master’s degree in finance and management of international Associations from the Solvay Brussels School. She also obtained a certificate in women’s leadership from the University of Oxford.

In 2023, Boyana won the award of the most influential Energy Women Leader of Central & Eastern Europe. Committed to advocating for greater gender equality and diversity in the energy transition, she is a Member of the Board of WiRA (Women in Renewables Alliance), a global network of professional women in the renewable energy sector and is part of WoNY, an alliance promoting gender diversity in the CEE-SEE region.

boyana.achovski@gie.eu

Click on the photos below to check out our team’s biographies.

Bogdan Simion
Data Analytics Manager

Bogdan Simion
Data Analytics Manager

Bogdan has more than 15 years of experience in the gas, oil and power industry.

He has been working for GIE since 2018, responsible for Data Analytics, Gas Transmission Europe and System Operation and Development Area, covering subjects like Security of Supply, Methane Emissions Management, Transparency and Digitalisation.

Backed by a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Physics from Iasi University and an Energy MBA from the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bogdan has previously worked for OMV Petrom as Business Developer and Project Manager in the Gas and Power Division, Gas Logistics, as well as Project Manager in M&A department.

bogdan.simion@gie.eu

Tobias Bühnen
Policy Advisor

Tobias Bühnen
Policy Advisor

Since February 2021, Tobias Bühnen has been working as a Policy Advisor in the Hydrogen Area within GIE, focusing on the current and future role of gas infrastructure operators in contributing to the REPower EU and EU Green Deal targets. In addition, he also works on topics related to Sector-Coupling and CCUS.

Before joining GIE, he worked on European affairs within the Regulatory & Public Affairs Department of the German Gas Transmission System Operator ONTRAS.

Tobias holds a Master’s degree in European Studies from Maastricht University and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Cologne.

tobias.buehnen@gie.eu

Malika Khalidi
Office Manager

Malika Khalidi
Office Manager

Biography expected.

malika.khalidi@gie.eu

David Defour
Chief Technology Officer

David Defour
Chief Technology Officer

As CTO, David is in charge of GIE’s REMIT reporting by gas infrastructure operators towards ACER, the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators. He also manages GIE’s Transparency Platforms and Inside Information Platform for Urgent Market Messaging (UMM). Covering both regulatory and technical aspects, this is further expanded with several data usage publications such as gas infrastructure maps and data reporting tools which are well recognised within the industry.

David has been with GIE since its inception in 2001. Prior to his activities within the gas infrastructure industry, he has worked for Unilever (1996-2000) as well as the maritime sector (Cast Terminal Europe, Zeebrugge and Ghent Port Authority) and several other dedicated IT projects.

David holds a Master in applied economics with international business specialization (University of Leuven, VLEKHO Business School, Campus Brussels) since 1994 and a PostGraduate in Maritime Sciences since 1995 (University of Ghent, Law department), focussed on port operations.

david.defour@gie.eu