Speaker Biographies
Full speaker biographies will appear here shortly, please check back regularly for updates.
Speakers
Michael Cramer
Member, European Parliament
Michael Cramer was born on June 16, 1949 in Gevelsberg (Germany). Between 1989 and 2004 he was a member of the Berlin city parliament and served there for the Green Party as the spokesperson for transport policy. In July 2004 Michael Cramer was elected to the European Parliament. There, he continues his previous work on a European level in the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) and serves as the TRAN coordinator for the Greens/EFA group.
As a Member of the European Parliament he initiated the project "Iron Curtain Trail", which transferred the concept of experiencing history by bike from the 160-km long "Berlin Wall Trail" to the European level. The "Iron Curtain Trail" now leads on more than 7 000 km through 20 countries along the length of the former Iron Curtain. The project is supported by the EU as a model for sustainable tourism.
Brian Simpson
Member, European Parliament and Chair of the Committee on Transport and Tourism
Brian was first elected to the European Parliament in June 1989 and is presently the Chairman of the Parliament's Transport and Tourism Committee.
He comes from Golborne, near Wigan and has represented his home region the North West of England in the Parliament for 18 years. Brian was the spokesperson on Transport for the Parliament's Socialist Group, before being made Committee Chair in 2009. He is also a Member of the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee, where he acts as Labour Party Spokesman; and the European Parliament's delegation for relations with Australia and New Zealand.
Brian is a lover of most sports, above all Rugby League and his home team the Wigan Warriors. He also has a keen interest in Heritage Railways and military history, and is particularly well read on the American Civil War. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and is Vice President of the Heritage Railways Association. Brian also holds various offices with a number of local community groups and animal welfare groups.
Klaus Bondam
Director, Danish Cultural Centre in Brussels
Klaus Bondam is 49 years old and originally trained as an actor. He successfully played the german toastmaster in the well-known Danish Dogma movie ‘Festen’. He has also been the manager of two major theaters in Copenhagen and the vice-president of The Danish Actors association.
From January 2002, Klaus Bondam was elected to the City Council in Copenhagen, Denmark. Between 2006 and 2009 he was the Mayor for Technical and Environmental administration and got known as 'The Bicycle Mayor'. In 2010 he changed office and became Mayor for the Employment and Integrations administration. Klaus Bondam has been a member of a number of boards and been involved in different kinds of organisations on national and European level. He has been the chairman of Eurocities Mobility-forum (2007-2008) and of their Climate working-group (2009). Klaus left politics and moved to Brussels in January 2011 when he was appointed director of The Danish Cultural Institute/Benelux. See www.bondam.dk or www.dkibenelux.org.
Henk Lubberding
Ex-Professional Cyclist
Henk Lubberding is a Dutch ex professional cyclist. Twice he became Dutch Champion and he also won Gent-Wevelgem. He participated no less than 13 times in the Tour de France where he won 3 stages as well as the white jersey. He rode in the yellow jersey and finished 3 times among the first ten in the final classification. Lubberding was a cyclist for 28 years. Early 2013 he was appointed leader of the BOVAG Electric Cycling Team.
Johannes Hartwig
Researcher, Fraunhofer Institute Systems and Innovation Research ISI
Johannes studied Business Administration at the Berufsakademie Mannheim with a semester abroad in Luxemburg as well as System Dynamics at the University of Bergen. He has professional experience as assistant to the managing director, Service Innovation Group, Ettlingen. Since September 2011 Johannes is researcher at Fraunhofer ISI in the transport group analysing sustainable and climate-efficient transport policies including transport demand developments, systemic analysis of economic growth paradigm and economic impact assessment. He works with macroeconomic System Dynamics models.
Robert Donkers
Coordinator Urban Environment Policy, DG Environment, European Commission
Since 1 June 2013, Robert Donkers is the Coordinator of Urban Environment Policy in the Directorate General Environment of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium.
From September 2007 until 1 January 2013 he was Minister Counsellor for Environment at the Delegation of the European Union to India. He was posted in New Delhi and also covered Bhutan and Nepal.
From October 2003 until September 2007, he was First Counsellor for Environmental Affairs at the Delegation of the European Commission in Washington, DC, USA.
From 1999 until October 2003, he was Head and Deputy Head respectively of the Chemicals Department in the Directorate General Environment of the European Commission in Brussels, inter alia responsible for the development of the new EU chemicals policy and legislation REACH. He also was Chief EU negotiator for the 2001 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).
He is co-author of the EU 5th Environment Action Programme (1993-2000) and was responsible for its review in 1995.
Before joining the European Commission in 1990, Robert worked for the Government of the Netherlands and was inter alia Deputy Director International Environmental Affairs in the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment.
He holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Economics and a Master’s degree in Public and International Law from the Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Preslav Borissov
Member, European Parliament
Master's degree in agronomy, University of Forestry, Sofia, Bulgaria (1995-2000); Master of Business Administration, University of Buckingham, UK (2005). The Grain and Feed Trade Association's Continuing Professional Development Programme: Varna, Bulgaria (2000); Cambridge, UK (2001); Rotterdam, Netherlands (2002); Singapore (2009). Allianz Bulgaria plc, Regional Director, Kavarna (2000-2001); DEFCO Ltd, Managing Director, Sofia (2001-2004); Agri-Lloyd International Ltd, Sales Manager, Leominster, UK (2006-2008); DEPAS Ltd, Managing Director, Sofia (2008-2009, 2010-2012).
Member of the CEDB's Agricultural Advisory Group (2007-2009).
Deputy Minister at the Bulgarian Ministry for Agriculture and Food (2009-2010).
Keith Taylor
Member, European Parliament
Keith Taylor is the UK Green MEP for the South East of England.
In his role as an MEP, Keith sits on the European Parliamentís Committee on Transport and Tourism, and the Committee on Development. He also sits on the Committee on Petitions which gives EU citizens the opportunity to challenge the EU on how laws are being implemented in EU member states.
Keith is a member of the European Parliamentís delegation to the Palestinian Legislative Council which works to forge greater links between MEPs and parliamentarians in Palestine.
Keith is also Vice President of the UKís Local Government Association Group in the European Parliament and a member of the parliamentís Intergroups on LGBT Rights and animal welfare.
Political background
Keith was a Green Party councillor for St Peterís & North Laine ward in Brighton and Hove for 11 years, having been first elected in 1999. He served as leader of Brighton & Hove councilís Green group from 2001, and on the councilís planning committee for two years. In the 2005 general election, Keith stood in Brighton Pavilion where he got 22% share of the vote ñ a then-record for the party.
In his role as a councillor, Keith worked on a huge range of campaigns and case work. He was instrumental in the successful campaign to secure the release of Brighton resident Omar Degayes from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. He was a representative for Brighton and Hove on the UN Peace Messenger City project and the cityís representative to the Local Government Association. Keith also helped to secure a High Court victory for families with severely autistic children ñ overturning a council decision in the process.
Keith was a Principal Speaker for the Green Party of England & Wales between 2004 and 2006, before the party adopted a single leader structure. He has been a Green spokesperson on planning and regeneration, led the development of the partyís manifesto, and has a history of outstanding performance in local and European Parliament elections.
Keith is passionate about developing sustainable means of transport, and this ties into his work to tackle air pollution. Air pollution is a major concern in Keith's constituency, and Keith has spent considerable time campaigning for urgent action on this problem.
Logistics
When
Wednesday 18 September, 2013
08.00 to 15.30
CET
Where
Esplanade of the European Parliament
Rue Wiertz 60
1047 Brussels
Downloads
Press Release - Sustainable2Wheels
