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.

Before joining IRENA, Dolf 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.

Dolf 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.

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.