Our structure

His strong belief in Sustainable Mobility motivated Eric-Mark Huitema to share his international experience as Director General and CEO, to join AVERE. He now leads the AVERE Vehicle Branch as the Director-General Vehicles. His goal is to create synergy between future-oriented vehicle manufacturers, focus on electromobility, and the respectful association AVERE is for the benefit of electric vehicle users. Eric-Mark is comfortable leading and transforming start-ups and global executive teams, motivating while managing. His experience in the Automotive, Travel & Transportation, IT Services, and the Internet industry, as well as automotive associations, will help him to create a strong Vehicle team with the members at AVERE. Before his AVERE appointment, he was the Director-General at ACEA. He was the Global Smarter Transportation Leader at IBM, focussing on optimised mobility solutions for governments, smart cities, and the private sector. He is a Dutch national and studied technical chemistry at Delft University of Technology and business and sales administration at INSEAD

Romain Denayer started as a part-time coordinator at AVERE (and EV Belgium) and supports the AVERE team in all activities related to electromobility deployment. He has two years of experience in public affairs and communication. He worked as a reputation and crisis communication consultant for companies active in the mobility, energy and health industries. Born and raised in Belgium, Romain graduated from the Institute for European Studies (ULB) and has a master’s in Political Science and a master’s in Interdisciplinary EU studies. After a brief internship at the Belgian Federal Parliament, he completed an internship at the EU federation for medical technology in Brussels. He is fluent in Dutch, French and English.

With great technology and brilliant people, Philippe Vangeel found his way as Secretary General in one of the fastest changing and growing technologies: e-mobility. In electronics by background, Philippe has always worked as a manager in the sector. Strong of 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur, he brought a practical outlook to the association that enabled it to seize the moment: his vision is to make AVERE a protagonist in the growth of the e-mobility sector. In his five years, the AVERE’s membership grew significantly, while the association affirmed itself as the go-to expert for e-mobility in Europe. As part of his broader approach, he also ensured that the entire e-mobility value chain would get visibility through AVERE. He made it the potential home of every player in the sector, from companies extracting the materials to build EVs, to vehicles manufacturers, charging point operators and final consumers. His native language is Flemish, he is fluent in English and French, and is happy to help you in Norwegian and German.

Vittoria Montanaro is AVERE’s Project Officer . Her work focuses on the association’s role in multiple EU-funded Projects aiming to foster e-mobility across Europe. She has worked for both profit and non-profit environments in EU funding Project Management, especially in Cohesion Fund, Interreg, Erasmus + and Horizon 2020. Vittoria graduated from the University of Bologna (Alma Mater Studiorum) as a Programming Expert in Development Projects in 2020. She then attended a post-graduate Master in Advanced European Studies at Centre International de Formation Européenne (CIFE), where her EU funding project management expertise met EU policy advisory skills. To pursue her career and academic growth, she has been living in France, the Czech Republic, Germany and Turkey. She speaks English and French fluently, but also some basics of Russian and Turkish.

Raphael is a Policy Officer at AVERE where he works on all EU policy developments regarding the deployment of electromobility. He has two years of experience in Brussels, where he worked as public affairs consultant in charge of Transport, Energy and Climate-related issues. Originally from France, Raphaël has studied and worked in six countries. He notably pursued his Bachelor in International Relations at the Université de Montréal in Canada. An EU enthusiast, Raphael decided to come back to the old continent for his first Master’s which focused on European Studies at the Institute for European Studies (ULB) in Brussels. On top of that, Raphael graduated from the College of Europe in Natolin where his studies focused on European energy policy and the European Neighborhood Policy. He speaks French, English and Italian and he is learning Spanish and Dutch.

George van der Hilst is the lead in connecting the network in electromobility for AVERE. With an extensive background in commercial diplomacy and demonstrated history of working with foreign and public affairs George brings the international relations for AVERE to the next level. George has been a Strategic Advisor for the last years for i.a. cities, European regions and ministries. As part of the Economic Board, he was responsible for the stimulation of trade, innovation and cooperation between companies, knowledge-based institutions and governmental organizations. Before George worked as a Commercial Diplomat. George developed a broad knowledge of the e-mobility aspects and its challenges.