Having begun his career as Assistant to the Permanent Representative in Brussels for Aérospatiale Matra (Airbus), Mr Maillard joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2002 as Head of the India section, before joining the EU constitutional treaty task force. He was posted in several countries abroad including at the French Embassy in Beijing (China) and in Rome (Italy) as Deputy Head of mission. 

Building on these first successful international experiences, Mr Erkki Maillard was appointed adviser to the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs (2009-2010) before being promoted as Chief of staff of the Minister of European Affairs (2010-2011) and Chief of staff of the Minister of Higher Education (2011-2012). 

In 2016, Mr Erkki Maillard, joined EDF Group as Senior Vice-President International Relations and Diplomatic adviser to the CEO Jean-Bernard Lévy. In November 2019, he was also appointed Senior Vice President for EU affairs. 

Mr Maillard, holds a Bachelor in Modern History (1995) he graduated from ENA « Ecole Nationale d’Administration » in 2002 and holds a Master Degree in Law and Economics from Sciences Po Paris as well as in Marketing at the European School of Management (ESCP) 

On his free time Mr Maillard is supporting Chemins d’avenirs, a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion and the mentoring of young people living in the French countryside. Together with Mrs Salomé Berlioux he wrote an essay on this topic “Les Invisibles de la République” (2018, Robert Laffont publisher). He has also published op ed in several media (Le Monde, Les Echos). 

Frank Grewe completed his studies in mechanical engineering at the beginning of 2007 and started his career at 2G Energietechnik GmbH. He passed through several positions in the company during his career and is now CTO and member of the board of 2G Energy AG, responsible for R&D and service. 

Javier Iriarte has been appointed the CEO of Solaris Bus & Coach sp. z o.o. since 1 January 2023.  

Javier Iriarte was Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Solaris from 2018 to the end of 2022 and was responsible for the area of strategy development and transformation of Solaris. He was appointed CEO of the company at the beginning of 2023. 

Javier Iriarte has a broad business experience across transport sectors, including automotive, aerospace, shipbuilding and rolling stock industries. Javier Iriarte was Associate Partner at McKinsey  
& Company. His experience includes strategy, commercial excellence and organizational transformation, mainly in Europe.  

Javier Iriarte holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from IESE Business School (Barcelona) and a M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from TECNUN – Universidad de Navarra (Donostia - San Sebastian). He also studied at UC Berkeley (CA) and University of Washington (Seattle, WA). 

He is married and has two children.  

Javier practices many sports (soccer, tennis, and hiking) and loves gastronomy and travelling.