Management

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Stefan Kapferer has been the Chief Executive Officer of 50Hertz since December 2019 and is member of the steering committee of the Belgian-German Elia Group. For several years, he acted as State Secretary in different departments at both the state and national level, including the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs as of 2011. From 2014 to 2016, he was Deputy Secretary-General of the OECD in Paris. From 2016 to 2019, he managed the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (Bundesverband der Deutschen Energie- und Wasserwirtschaft, BDEW).

Chief Operations Officer (COO)

Dr Dirk Biermann is the executive director responsible for the Operations Department at 50Hertz. Between 2012 and 2023, he held the position of Chief Markets and System Operations Officer. Before joining the management team, he acted as proxy for the company and was Head of Energy Management at 50Hertz. As such, he was responsible for the company's energy trading activities, which also includes ancillary services, EEG affairs and balancing group management as well as market development and congestion management. In 1999, Dr Biermann joined VEAG, as it was called at the time. He later moved on to the Vattenfall Europe Holding in 2002, where he took up a leading position in the Grid Strategy Department in 2004.

Chief Financial and Grid Development Project Officer (CFO)

Marco Nix is 50Hertz’s executive director for the Grid Development Project and Finance Departments. Between 2015 and 2023, he fulfilled the role of Chief Financial Officer, and since November 2023, he has also acted as the interim Chief Financial Officer of parent company Elia Group. From 2014 to 2015, he also occupied the role of Chief Corporate and Financial Officer of Elia Grid International in addition to his activities as Head of Controlling. Prior to joining 50Hertz, the Berlin native held leading positions within the Finance Department of the Vattenfall Group. He began his professional career in the energy industry in 2001 at energy supplier Bewag.

Sylvia Borcherding, Arbeitsdirektorin — Sylvia Borcherding. Photo: Jan Pauls

Chief Corporate Services (CCO)

Sylvia Borcherding is the executive director responsible for the Corporate Services Department, with a focus on Human Resources, Corporate Governance, Facility Management, Nature Protection and Permits as well as Engineering and Implementation. She furthermore acts as the go-between for the Elia Group function of Purchasing.[HA1] Since 2019, she has been Chief Human Resources Officer at 50Hertz, and since 2020, an official member of the management team as well. In years past, she held different leading positions within the group and in various SMEs. Most recently, she worked as a freelance organisational consultant.

Chief Digital and IT Officer (CDIO)

Michael von Roeder has been responsible for IT and the digital transformation of the Belgian-German Elia Group since 2019, in his capacity as member of the Executive Management Board and of the steering committee of the Group. Prior to that, he was the CEO of Sensorberg. Until mid-2016, he was responsible for Vattenfall’s IT Department. From 2009 to 2010, he headed the iconmobile group as COO and executive director. Michael von Roeder held leading positions at Vodafone and Accenture in London, Tokyo and Düsseldorf. He studied Technology Management, Organisation and International Business in Stuttgart and Lausanne.