The European Electrotechnical Committee for Standardization is one of three European Standardization Organizations (together with CEN and ETSI) that have been officially recognized by the European Union and by the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) as being responsible for developing and defining voluntary standards at European level.
A trained Engineer, Mr Wolfgang Niedziella has been Head of Digital Safety Centre of Competence at VDE, the German Association for Electrical Electronic & Information Technologies since its establishment in 2019 and Chair of IEC System of Conformity Assessment Schemes for Electrotechnical Equipment and Components (IECEE) since 2016. Mr Niedziella began his career in 1987 at the VDE Testing and Certification Institute GmbH in Offenbach. From 1991 to 2001, he was Manager for standardization projects in the field of electrical components at the DKE and served from 2001 to 2003 at Commerzbank AG as a change manager in the transaction banking division. In 2003 he returned to the VDE Testing and Certification Institute as head of the Components, Household, Trade and Industry Department. From 2011 to 2019 he was Managing Director of VDE Testing and Certification Institute and from 2012 to 2015 he managed in parallel the subsidiary VDE Global Services GmbH with its eight Asian companies. He was also the Chair of IECEE/CTL (IECEE Committee of Testing Laboratories) from 2010 to 2015. In June 2020, Mr Niedziella was elected as the next President of CENELEC (2022-2024). His mandate as President started in January 2022.
Riccardo Lama is in charge of Optic Fiber and Electric Mobility within e-distribuzione, the largest distribution operator in Italy, since 2022. Graduated with honor in Electrical Engineering in the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, he has been working in the electrical energy sector for the last 35 years, performing managerial roles within Enel Group both in Europe and in Latin America. Over the course of his career, Mr. Lama has built a strong experience in the fields of network planning and development, components’ standardization, work methodologies, management services and organization, health, safety and environment, quality systems and processes. He is serving as President General of CEI, the Italian Electrotechnical Committee, since 2019. Furthermore, he is part of the Technical Committee of CIRED (International Conference on Electricity Distribution) since 2009. In June 2023, Mr. Lama was elected as the next President of CENELEC (2025-2027), and his mandate as President-elect started in January 2024.
Mr Frédéric Vaillant is Vice-President for Energy Management Standardization at Schneider Electric. In this position for 6 years, he has been actively involved in national, European and international electrotechnical standardization. He also manages a standardization team involved in various positions in IEC, CENELEC and several national standardization bodies, himself being engaged on electrical installation rules. Over the course of his career, Mr Vaillant has built a strong experience in the management of engineering, technical, upstream marketing and innovation teams first at Saint Gobain, Merlin Gering and then at Schneider Electric. He was also a member of the board of the Physics Department at the Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble and chaired the strategic orientation council of the Carnot Institute “Energy of the Future”, a lab association gathering 1400 public researchers. To his managerial career Mr Vaillant adds his multiannual activity as a part-time teacher at the continuing education centre for adults, at the Grenoble electronic engineering school and at the Grenoble university. Mr Vaillant holds a degree from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and a PhD in Physics from the Grenoble University. Mr Vaillant was elected CENELEC’s Vice-President Technical for a two-year mandate starting in January 2021. He has been re-elected for another two-year mandate (2023-2024).
Mrs Ewa Zielińska has a Master’s degree in Sociology from Warsaw University and a Postgraduate degree on European Affairs from the same university. She has served at Vice-President in charge of external relations and sales at PKN, the Polish Committee for Standardization since 2019. Before that, she built her career in the organisation’s External Relations Department, where she started working in 2000: she was appointed as Head of Unit responsible for foreign issues in the External Relations Department from 2010 to 2012, and since 2012 she was the department’s Director. In doing this, she also acquired extensive experience in European and International standardization, serving in different positions in IEC and CENELEC’s Boards and technical bodies. Mrs Ewa Zielińska was elected CENELEC’s Vice-President Policy for a two-year mandate starting in January 2022. She has been re-elected for a second two-year mandate (2024-2025).
Mr Karl-Heinz Mayer is Director Innovation, Codes and Standards & Program Management in Eaton’s Industries EMEA Power Distribution Division (PDD) and member of the extended Management Board. In this position since 2009, he has been actively involved in national, European and international electrotechnical standardization. He also manages the standardization team of PDD which contributes to various national and international technical standardization committees. Over the course of his career, Mr Mayer has built a strong experience in the management of Research & Development, Innovation, Program Management, Quality and Standardization teams starting at Felten & Guilleaume AG, continuing at Moeller Gebäudeautomation GmbH and followed then by Eaton Industries (Austria) GmbH. He is board member of the private foundation ESF. Mr Mayer holds a degree in industrial engineering and is certified as manager for quality. He has been CENELEC’s Board Member from 2021 to 2022. He was elected as CENELEC Vice-President Finance for a two-year mandate starting in June 2022. He has been re-elected for a second two-year mandate (2024-2025).
Mr Ivelin Burov has an extensive experience in standardization. An engineer by training, with 40 years of professional experience, he has worked for 23 years at BDS, the Bulgarian Standardization Body. He has been Chairman of BDS’s Governing Board since 2006. Previous to that, he was BDS’ President from 2002 to 2006. He was Vice-President of the Committee for Standardization and Metrology (CSM) and State Agency for Standardization and Metrology (SASM), the Bulgarian standardization organisations before BDS, between 1997 and 2001 and President of SASM from 2001 to 2002. He also served for 6 years as member of the National Accreditation Council to the Bulgarian Accreditation Body – Executive Agency “Bulgarian Accreditation Service (BAS)” and was the Bulgarian representative in international (ISO & IEC) and European (CEN & CENELEC) standardization management bodies. Mr Burov is also Chairman of TÜV Rheinland Bulgaria’s Committees of impartiality to the Product Certification Body and Management Systems Certification Body. He has been CENELEC Board Member since January 2021.
Mr Pambos Kammas holds a BBA in Management from Cyprus College, in Nicosia, and an MBA in Marketing from the University of New Haven in the USA. Mr Kammas has been the Director of Standardization for the Cyprus Organisation for Standardization (CYS) since 2006. In this position, he has represented CYS in the CEN and CENELEC General Assembly since 2007. He is also the Director of CYS Vocational Training Center. Before this, from 2004 to 2006 Mr Kammas was Director for Certification at the Cyprus Certification Company, where he started working after more than a decade at OEB, the "Cyprus Employers' and Industrialists' Federation".
At the European level, he has covered a series of roles: among others, Mr Kammas was an elected member of CEN's Administrative Council (CA) for 2 consequent 2-year terms(2014-2017), and Chair of CEN's Certification Board from 2015 to 2017 and member of CENELEC's CA on 2011-12. Furthermore, he was a member of the CENELEC Technical Board (BT) from 2006 and 2008 and of CEN BT from 2007 to 2014. He has been elected CENELEC Board Member for a two-year mandate starting in 2024.
Mr Enda McDonnell is Head of Standards at NSAI, the National Standards Authority of Ireland, taking on this role from January 2016. From 2012 to 2015, Enda helped to build up the Standardization Services arm of QCC, the Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council - a powerful force in helping Abu Dhabi achieve its Economic Vision by underpinning the local Quality Infrastructure. Prior to 2000, Enda was involved in standardization as a technical expert, chairman of a national mirror committee, secretary of a national trade association and delegate in an international working group. This was mainly on the Electro-Technical side, as he previously worked in the electrical cable manufacturing industry. He has two Masters Degrees (MBA – Masters in Business Administration and MIE – Masters in Industrial Engineering) and a primary Engineering degree. Enda McDonnell is a Fellow of Engineers Ireland. He was a Board Member of CEN from 2018 to 2020 and has now been elected as CENELEC Board Member since January 2022.
Mr Ingars Pilmanis has been the Head of Latvian Standard (LVS) since 2008, first as Director and now Board Member. Mr Ingars Pilmanis holds a Master degree in Business Administration and Information Systems from the University of Latvia, and has given lectures for a number of years in the Riga Technical University on quality infrastructure and assurance. Before moving to LVS, he held numerous responsibilities in the Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia. At different times, as Director of the Department he was in charge of policy in the field of standardization, accreditation metrology as well as construction worked with approximation of national legislation with the EU in field of free movement of goods. He was also the President of the Latvian Quality Association. He has been CENELEC Board Member since 2021.
Óscar Querol is the Technical Manager at the Spanish Electrical Equipment Installation Manufacturers Association, AFME, since 2007, and the Secretary General of CECAPI, the European Electrical Equipment Installation Manufacturers Association, since 2016. Mr Querol is an expert advisor in standardization, conformity assessment, legislation and market surveillance for the electrotechnical sector. He is a member of the UNE Managing Directors Board since 2007 and, since 2018, he also serves as the President of the UNE Electrotechnical Commission. Furthermore, he is serving a second mandate (2021-2023) in the IEC Standardization Management Board (SMB) representing UNE. Throughout his career, Mr Querol has been involved in standardization activities since 2000, when he joined AFME and acted as secretary of many sectorial Technical Committees (TCs) at national level (UNE) and participated as Spanish representative and expert in the mirroring CENELEC and IEC TCs. An electrical engineer by training, Mr Querol also obtained a Program for Managing Director by IESE Business University of Navarra. Mr Querol has been serving as a CENELEC’s Board Member since January 2023.
Amanda Richardson is the Head of international Policy at BSI. In this role, she is responsible for BSI's external policy activities, leading the development of BSI policy and strategies for influencing the International (ISO, IEC) and European (CEN, CENELEC, ETSI) environments. This includes responsibility for ensuring the implementation of the policy decisions agreed by those organizations. This activity covers a broad range of policy areas, from detailed technical policy through to the strategic direction and governance of the European and International organizations, and it includes engaging with the UK government on policy development. In addition to this, Mrs Richardson is the BSI representative to the ISO Technical Management Board and in this capacity is Chair of the ISO/IEC/ITU-T Standards Programme Coordination Group (SPCG). Amanda Richardson has been serving as CENELEC’s Board Member since January 2023.
Mr Anders Richert is Technical Director and deputy General Director at the Swedish National Electrical Safety Board (Elsäkerhetsverket). He is also vice chairman of the board in SEK Svensk Elstandard. After graduating from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Mr Richert held numerous positions in Vattenfall. In the early 1990s, he was seconded to Unipede (EURELECTRIC) in Paris, dealing with electricity supply and standardization issues on a European level in cooperation with CENELEC. His career then took him to the Middle East working with transmission projects. Mr Richert was a Board Member of SEK Svensk Elstandard, representing the electricity industry, before joining the Safety Board and is now a member of the SEK Electrotechnical Committee and TK8. Mr Richert has been serving as CENELEC Board Member since January 2022.
Mrs Anna Tanskanen has been the Managing Director of SESKO, Finland’s National Electrotechnical Committee, since January 2021. Before that, she made a career in the electricity and electrotechnical private sector for Eltel Networks Corporation (2004-2010), Fortum Distribution Ltd (2010-2014) and Caruna Ltd (2014-2020), first as business development manager and then as Automation Manager. In this position, she also participated in standardization work at the national and international level, as a participant to the IEC’s Young Professionals-programme and as a member of SESKO SK 8 committee. Mrs Tanskanen holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Lappeenranta University of Technology, where she obtained also her Master’s degree. Mrs Tanskanen was elected as a CENELEC Board Member since January 2022.
Mr Ivano Visintainer is the Technical Director of CEI, the Italian Electrotechnical Committee, since 2018. He is member of CENELEC's WG Policy since 2018, and represents Italy at IEC as a member of its SMB (Standardization Management Committee) and FINCOM (Finance Committee). Mr Visintainer has an extensive career in the electrotechnical sector: before his current role, he was General Manager in an electrical utility company for energy distribution and covered various positions of responsibility in IMQ (the Italian Institute of Quality Marking) from 2000 to 2008. Previously to this, he worked for CESI, the Italian Experimental Electrotechnical Centre, from 1991 to 1998. He has also been the President of the National Institute for the Qualification of Electrical Installation Enterprises, and acting as Chairman for a variety of CEI Technical Committees. Mr Visintainer is a Member of CENELEC's Administrative Board since 20th June 2024 and has been appointed by CENELEC as member in the Membership Relations and Monitoring Committee (MRMC) as of 16th July.