EIT Water – Appointment of Inaugural Supervisory Board

EIT Water appoints Supervisory Board to guide Europe’s newest water innovation community

The Supervisory Board members announced are:

Chair

• Hedwige Nuyens (Belgium) – Chief Executive Officer, International Banking Federation. Chair of European Women on Boards and Chair of the climate change think tank E3G. Former Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer at major European banks.

Members

• Dr Ger Bergkamp (Netherlands) – President and CEO of ARCOWA, an impact advisory firm specialising in water, climate adaptation and innovative financing. Former CEO of the International Water Association and Director General of the World Water Council. Co-Founder and COO of Nature Analytics, an AI-driven natural hazard risk start-up.
• Dr Laura Burke (Ireland) – Former Director General of the Irish Environmental Protection Agency, where she led the organisation for fifteen years, growing staff from 324 to 550 and was accountable for a budget of €93m. Former Chair of the European Environment Agency board across 33 member countries and former President of Engineers Ireland. Chartered Director.
• Astrid Nørgaard Friis (Denmark) – Group Vice President, Corporate Affairs at Grundfos, bringing experience in water, governance, sustainability and public policy. She has helped advance Grundfos’s water stewardship agenda and build partnerships across the European water ecosystem, with a focus on stakeholder alignment, institutional collaboration and long-term impact.
• Senida Mesi (Albania) – International consultant for GIZ, OECD/SIGMA and the Council of Europe. Former Deputy Prime Minister of Albania, where she chaired the Water and Dam Management Board and the National Civil Protection Committee. Former Member of Parliament and founder of the Subcommittee on Sustainable Development.
• Angela Schultz-Zehden (Germany) – Managing Director of the SUBMARINER Network, which she has built into a European organisation with over EUR 260 million in project volume, with a leading role in the EU Mission Ocean & Waters. Member of the European Ocean Board, the High-Level Expert Group advising the European Commission on the European Ocean Pact. Former member of the EIT Water Steering Committee.
• Professor Efstratios Stylianidis (Greece) – Professor and Board Member at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Former Vice Rector for Research and Lifelong Learning. Coordinator of 12 EU-funded research projects and currently leading three EIT HEI Initiative projects. Former Member of the EIT Water Steering Committee.

 

Two further Board members will also be confirmed in the coming weeks.