Management Board

Graduated as Engineer in Industrial Chemistry (Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers), Thierry Cotelle has managed several SMIs (Small and Medium Industries) in the aeronautics sector for 25 years and is currently General Director of a Business Unit at Satys Aerospace.
In terms of political commitments, Thierry Cotelle has been Deputy Mayor of Toulouse in charge of employment, economic development, space and aeronautics between 2008 and 2014. Thierry Cotelle is Regional Councillor since 2016 and was previously President of the regional agency for renewable energies (AREC). Since 2021, he is First Vice President for the Commission “Economy, Employment, Re-industrialisation” and belongs to the following thematic commissions “Climate Emergency” and “Water and Risk Prevention”. Thierry Cotelle has been elected NEREUS President in December 2021. He is also a member of the Board of NEREUS-associate member Cité de l’Espace for 20 years.

Vito Bardi,  former Deputy Commander General of the Guardia di Finanza (Army Corps),  has been elected President of the Basilicata Region on 24/03/2019 with 42% of consensus.  He leads the regional government since 16/04/2019. He started his long military career in Guardia di Finanza . He was promoted Colonel in December 1995 and he commanded the Tuscany Region of Florence. He was appointed Brigadier General in January 2001 and Head of the 1st Department of the General Command. He was promoted Major General in January 2005 and he was assigned as Regional Commander of Campania. As General in the Army Corps, promoted in February 2009, he held the posts of Interregional Commander of Southern Italy and then Inspector for Educational Institutes. He was then appointed Deputy Commander General of the Corps (Guardia di Finanza) from 5/09/2013, until 4/09/2014. President Bardi holds a degree in economics, law, international and diplomatic sciences, financial economic security sciences .

 

Władysław Ortyl – Marshal of the Podkarpackie Region, Poland (elected in May 2013), member of the European Committee of the Regions and COTER commission. Degree in aviation construction at Mechanical Department of Rzeszów University of Technology in 1979. From 1992 to 1998 – Chairman of the Board of Mielec Regional Development Agency. From 2005 to 2007 – Secretary of State at the Ministry of Regional Development where he was responsible for the implementation of Integrated Regional Operation Programme and preparation of Regional Operation Programmes, as well as the Eastern Poland Operation Programme and transborder programmes cofinanced by the EU. From 2005 he was also the Member of the Senate where he chaired the National Defence Committee.

Constanze Wolf is a lawyer specializing in international and comparative law and economics. For over a decade, she was responsible for small and medium-sized enterprises, foreign trade and law in the cross-sectoral industry association of Baden-Württemberg before moving to the Forum Aerospace Baden-Württemberg. As network manager and acting managing director, she is now responsible for all matters relating to Baden-Württemberg’s aerospace sector. Since the summer of 2023, Ms. Wolf has also been contributing her expertise to the aerospace strategy of the state of Baden-Württemberg, whose office is provided by the Forum Aerospace. In addition, Ms Wolf also provides project management, legal advice and support for other cluster organizations on a part-time basis.

 

Vito Bavaro is in charge of the Digital Transformation Section at the Economic Development Department of Apulia Region since 2021. He holds a degree in electronic engineering from the University Federico II of Naples (2001), a Master of Science in aerospace systems from the Kingston University of London (2003) and a Ph.D. in electronic engineering from the University Roma Tre (2008). In 1995 he joined the Italian Air force Academy of Pozzuoli. From 2001 to 2009 he worked as avionic system test engineer at the Italian Air Force Flight Test Center in Pratica di Mare (Rome). In this period he has been involved in several experimentation campaigns and testing activities of avionics and communication systems. In 2002 he attended the 35th Aerosystems Course at the Royal Air Force College in Cranwell. Since 2009 he has been working at Apulia Regional Government. He was in charge of the Digital Systems, Technology and Infrastructures Section of the Healthcare Department until 2020. Today, within the framework of the smart specialization strategy of Apulia Region, his activity is focused on supporting the digital transformation of public local institutions and private companies and the regional aerospace sector.

Rozenn Maréchal is in charge of research and innovation, transport, and social affairs at the Delegation of the Brittany Region to the EU since 2020. She holds a Master in international management from Kedge Business School, France (1998) and a Master in European affairs from Louvain La Neuve University Belgium (2004). After starting her career in the IT sector in Belgium, she worked at the European Commission in the external relations directorate for 3.5 years. She then spent 15 years in public affairs/lobbying and marketing/communication for two European industry associations (EVA -vending; Orgalim- Technology industries incl. its consulting services), she was notably Secretary to the MSSI Electrical initiative and Deputy Secretary General of CEIR. Rozenn was also an ad personam member of EURAMET (metrology) Research Council. She is also a Board Member of the Kedge Business School Alumni Association and the coordinator of its alumni network in Belgium. In addition, she is a Board member and treasurer of the Bretons of Belgium association (UBB).

Dr. Josep Colomé is the director of the Catalonia Space Office at the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC). He holds a degree and PhD in Physics from the University of Barcelona (UB) and has been involved in space technology and research projects since 2002, when he joined the IEEC. He obtained a permanent position at the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC, IEEC) in 2007 and, since then, he has had different responsibility roles as project manager (Cherenkov Telescope Array, Warwick 1-m Telescope, CARMENES instrument) and unit director (Director of the Montsec Observatory at the IEEC, Head of the Advanced Engineering Unit at the ICE-CSIC, Head of the Knowledge Transfer Office at the IEEC). He is currently the Spanish national project manager for two missions of the European Space Agency (ESA) – Ariel and LISA –, and he is leading the Catalonia Space Office since 2022, one of the key instruments in Catalonia for the promotion of space sector and the implementation of the NewSpace strategy, in collaboration with other partners and under the leadership of the Catalan Government.

 

ART-ER Executive Director, former ASTER Director, she has an honor degree in statistics and economics. She has been in charge for 10 years of the Resource Center for Guidance and Employment promoted by the Ministry of Labour and the European Commission, through which she lead several initiatives concerning vocational training and development of human resources. In October 2020 she was elected member of the Technical Scientific Committee of APRE – Italian Agency for the Promotion of European Research. Since January 2020 she has been member of the EIC (European Innovation Council) and EIE (European Innovation Ecosystem) Shadow Program Committee as Italian Delegate Alternate designated by the Ministry of University and Research under the new European Horizon Europe Framework Program 2021-2027; in March 2021 she was confirmed as Full Member Expert in the National Task Force of the Italian Delegation. Since July 2022 she is Vice President of the ECOSISTER Foundation – Territorial Ecosystem of Innovation of Emilia-Romagna region focused on sustainable transition, established under Mission 4 – Component 2 – Investment 1.5 of the NRRP – National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

 

Perdita de Buhr is Head of Unit Economics, Energy, Transport and Housing at the Representation of the State of Hessen to the European Union since 2011 and has become a Member of the Management Board of NEREUS 2015. She grew up in the Netherlands and read law at the Universities of Passau as well as Münster. Once qualified as a German lawyer and additionally holding the legal doctorate in 1993, she started her professional carrier in the Saxon State Ministry of Science and Art, from where she moved to other positions related to Economics and Science, among them the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin.

 

Eugenio Fontán, has a MSC in Telecom at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. He is currently the General Director of Cooperation with the State and International Affairs in the Madrid Regional Government. In the last eight years, Mr. Fontán has been the General Director of Madrid Aerospace Cluster.

He has extensive experience in the fields of telecommunications, space industry and political management in these sectors, both as a senior consultant for European public administrations and private companies. He has held the Presidency and the Deanship of the public and private Spanish associations of telecommunication engineers and has been CEO of both private broadcasting operators and satellite communications companies. He was also the principal advisor of the Prime Minister of Spain Mr. Aznar for telecommunications, space and aeronautics.

He has been a partner and coordinator of a significant number of projects in H2020, Erasmus and Interreg calls.

Duarte Cota has a BEng degree in Computer Engineering and is currently finishing a MSc in Computer Engineering and Web Technology. He is a technical and scientific consultant for the Portuguese delegation of ESERO – European Space Education Resource Office of ESA – European Space Agency for several educational projects in the aerospace sector and a member of the Technical Evaluation Board of EuRoC – European Rocketry Challenge, an initiative of the Portuguese Space Agency. He has two decades of experience teaching high school students. Since 2022 he is a member of the Azores Mission Structure for Space that has the main role of implementing the Azores Space Strategy and is also a member of the executive board for RIS3 Azores (Research and Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialization in the Azores) for the strategic sector of Space.