Before joining IRENA, Mr. El-Farnawany represented Egypt as Minister Plenipotentiary and Deputy Chief of Mission in Paris. Prior to this assignment, he held a number of positions in his Government and its diplomatic service, including Political and Economic Officer in the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Congressional Liaison in Washington, D.C.

He served in New York as Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Egypt to the United Nations, where he actively participated in the 2005 World Summit, as well as other negotiations including financing for development, South-South co-operation and funds and programmes. He later worked in the UN Secretariat as Senior Officer in the Secretary General’s High-level Panel on UN System-wide Coherence in the areas of development, humanitarian assistance and the environment.

Earlier in his career, Mr. El-Farnawany was a Teaching and Research Assistant in international relations and development studies at the American University in Cairo and International Coordinator at the Arab Organization for Human Rights.

Mr. El-Farnawany holds a Master’s of Philosophy in International Relations from the University of Cambridge, U.K. He graduated from the Diplomatic Institute, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cairo, and has a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a minor in Economics from the American University in Cairo.

She worked in both public and private sectors, including with governments in the Middle-East and North Africa, energy companies in the Mediterranean region and the GCC, and international institutions. Dr. Ferroukhi holds a Master in Applied Economics and a Ph.D. in Economics from the American University in Washington DC.

Before joining IRENA, Mr. Gielen was Chief of the Energy Efficiency and Policy Unit at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Vienna. In that capacity, he managed a number of large projects involving energy efficiency and renewable energy (including those in Sri Lanka, Ukraine and India). Previously, he was a Senior Energy Analyst in the Energy Technology Policy Division of the International Energy Agency, Paris.

Mr. Gielen has a PhD in Energy and Materials Modelling from the Technical University of Delft. He graduated with an MA in Environmental Sciences at the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Mr. Gonul joined IRENA in 2014 as Head of Regions Unit. Formerly, he worked as Senior Energy Economist of the Islamic Development Bank between 2010 and 2014, where he led the work for the development of an Energy Sector Policy for the Bank as well as the processing of complex loan and technical assistance projects in Africa and Asia. Between 2004 and 2010, Mr. Gonul served as Senior Expert at the Energy Charter Secretariat in Brussels, where he spearheaded policy analysis, sectoral in-depth reviews, regional / country reviews concerning energy investments, trade and transportation. He also held positions in the EU Commission’s Delegation in Ankara and Turkey’s Ministry of Energy since 1993.

Mr. Gonul holds Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees in Oil and Gas Engineering from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara.

He has more than 30 years of experience in administrative operations with both for-profit and non-profit entities in the Middle East, Europe and the United States.

Mr. Neese has a Bachelor of science degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point and a Master of Business administration from the University of Oklahoma in addition to his financial certifications as CPA, CMA, CTP and qualified financial advisor.

Ms. Press joined IRENA in November 2010 and was a member of the team that led the transition from the Preparatory Commission to becoming a full-fledged Agency in April 2011. Prior to joining IRENA, Ms. Press had some 18 years of international experience, mainly with the United Nations, in the field of development, humanitarian assistance, rule of law and political affairs. She has served in HQ duty stations in New York and Geneva, as well as in different field locations, including Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi, DRC, Cambodia, and Kosovo. Ms. Press holds an MA in Public Administration.

Prior to that, Mr. Abdel-Latif served as Chief of the Office of the Director-General. He joined IRENA in November 2015 as Special Assistant for Policy and Programme in the Office of the Director-General.

Before joining the Agency, he was Senior Programme Manager for Innovation, Technology and Intellectual Property at the Geneva-based International Center for Trade Sustainable Development (ICTSD) from 2007 to 2015. As a career diplomat, he worked at the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was posted to the Permanent Mission of Egypt to the United Nations and the World Trade Organization in Geneva from 2000 to 2004.

Mr. Abdel-Latif holds an LLM in Public International Law from the London School of Economics (LSE), a BA in Political Science from the American University in Cairo (AUC) and the Diplôme of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po Paris).