New CEO Jean François Gahungu

28 October 2016

Jean-François Gahungu is Coreso’s new CEO.

Patrick De Leener stepped down as CEO on October 28. He handed over to Frenchman Jean-François Gahungu, whose career as an engineer with the French high-voltage transmission system operator (TSO) RTE has given him considerable expertise in the energy world.

Patrick De Leener is returning to the Belgian TSO Elia, where he will take up a position as head of the Customers, Market & System entity.

Patrick De Leener said :

“Coreso has come a long way since its creation in 2008. What started as an voluntary initiative between a few TSOs who wanted to ensure regional operational coordination is now fully integrated and recognised by Europe and ENTSO-E and institutionalised as Regional Security Centers (RSCs), which provide operational coordination services to TSOs.

When I first joined Coreso, the future of our RSC was still in some doubt. But now those doubts have been dispelled as a place for RSCs has been carved out in the energy landscape. That said, there are still plenty of debates and developments underway, which is what makes working at Coreso so exciting. Complementary services and roles, in particular, are hot topics. It goes without saying that Jean-François will have plenty of challenges to deal with in the coming years!

I would like to thank Coreso’s staff: Coreso owes its increasingly important role on the energy landscape to them. I would like to offer them my most sincere thanks for their professionalism and their dedication to all of our company’s activities. We arrived at a stage with more and more international cooperation in which Coreso collaborates fruitfully with other RSCs and ENTSO-E. Such cooperation enables us to develop a shared vision and a consistent approach, which benefits the national transmission system operators we work for.

I would like to wish Jean-François every success and every happiness as he goes about further strengthening this young, dynamic company with its team of talented international professionals.”