Brussels, 13th April 2010. On the occasion of its General Assembly held in
Edinburgh, T&D Europe1
has elected Dr. Oliver Blank as its new Secretary General
for a period of three years.

1 1T&D Europe (www.tdeurope.eu) is the European Association of the Electricity Transmission
& Distribution Equipment and Services Industry, which members are the European National
Associations representing the interests of the electricity transmission and distribution
equipments manufacturing and derived solutions. The companies represented by T&D Europe
account for a production worth over € 25 billion EUR, and employ over 200,000 people in
Europe.

Oliver Blank is Director European Affairs with ZVEI – the German Electrical and
Electronic Manufacturers' Association. He has previously worked as Managing Director
for EICTA (now DIGITALEUROPE) setting up their operations in Brussels, and with
VDMA, the Frankfurt-based German machinebuilding association. Oliver Blank is a
political scientist with a strong international and European network. He is a member
of the Board of COCIR, the European Coordination Committee of the Radiological,
Electromedical and Healthcare IT Industry and chairman of the BUSINESSEUROPE Task
Force for Industrial Policy.

Dr Blank will be supported by Nigel Grant, Technical Operations Director, providing
his electrical technology expertise to T&D Europe’s working groups and Executive
Committee, and Pierre Lucas, Operations Director, in charge of running the T&D
Europe Secretariat and monitoring the European Union’s activities of relevance for
the association, as well as liaising with its institutions.

A Chartered Engineer, Nigel Grant is the Power Directorate’ Director of BEAMA Ltd,
the British member of T&D Europe and its representative in the Association. He has
served as UK National Association representative on numerous committees of CAPIEL
HV and COTREL the two associations at the origin of T&D Europe, including as
Secretary General of COTREL from 2004 to 2008. Before joining BEAMA, Nigel was
Business Development Manager, Power Systems, in the UK office of a leading
Japanese Trading Company. He previously held marketing manager and engineering
positions at power companies and consultancies

Pierre Lucas is Senior Adviser at Orgalime, the European engineering industries
federation where he serves a number of sector committees as part of the Orgalime
Bridgehead team. Trained at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris, Pierre
specialised in EU affairs at the College of Europe. He brings twenty years experience
of EU lobbying and European association management, essentially in the electrical
and electronic branch.

Commenting the election, the President of T&D Europe Ralf Christian, CEO, Power
Distribution Division of Siemens, said: “with his knowledge of the electrical
engineering industry and his experience of the Brussels actors and procedures,
Oliver Blank will strategically position T&D Europe as a major stakeholder in the EU
energy debate and policy shaping, and thus support the development of our
industry. The technology, policy and administrative support of Nigel Grant and
Pierre Lucas will adequately complement his action.”

Ralf Christian also paid tribute to the departing Secretary General Nadi Assaf, “who
was instrumental in the creation and the launch of T&D Europe in 2008 on the basis
of former associations COTREL and CAPIEL HV, and who - as we know him- will
continue to very actively serve T&D Europe in his role of representative of Gimélec,
the French association member of T&D Europe”.