Management Council

The SEFE Group's operational and strategic leadership

Alt-TExt — Management Council

From left to right: Götz Görgen, CIO | Hamead Ahrary, CSO | Dr Egbert Laege, CEO | Dr Christian Ohlms, CFO | Frédéric Barnaud, CCO

Dr Egbert Laege, CEO

Dr Egbert Laege was appointed Managing Director of SEFE in June 2022, and has served as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) since February 2023.

Between April and November 2022, he was also trustee of the German Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) for SEFE.

Egbert has been active in energy and commodity trading for 25 years and has held multiple senior and executive positions in power and gas trading, asset optimisation, strategy and commodity exchange business. Before joining SEFE, he was a senior advisor for the energy sector at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Further career stations have included the European Energy Exchange (Member of the Management Board), with responsibility for the gas exchange POWERNEXT (President and CEO) and EEX Asia in Singapore (CEO), as well as several leading positions with E.ON, most recently as board member of Ruhrgas as well as E.ON Global Commodities.

In recognition of his long-standing efforts as a board member of the European Federation of Energy Traders (EFET), Egbert is an honorary board member of EFET.

He holds a degree in Energy Engineering and Energy Economics from the University of Stuttgart, Germany and the University of Arizona (USA) as well as a PhD in Energy Economics.

Dr Christian Ohlms, CFO

Dr Christian Ohlms has been Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of SEFE since January 2024.

Christian has almost 25 years of international finance experience, having held senior management positions in energy and commodity trading companies, as well as investment firms.

Before joining SEFE, he was a Senior Vice President at E.ON SE, responsible for group accounting, controlling and risk. Prior to this, he served in various senior management positions, among others as Senior Vice President or Chief Financial Officer for the Energy Networks and Infrastructure segments of E.ON SE and Innogy SE, at RWE Supply & Trading, and at an investment fund in New York. He started his professional career with McKinsey in Frankfurt and New York.

Christian has held several Supervisory Board mandates. From 2020 to 2023, he was Head of the Supervisory Board of MITGAS, one of the largest regional gas retailers and gas distribution system operators in eastern Germany.

He holds degrees in Industrial Engineering from the University of Darmstadt, Germany, and in Electrical Engineering from École Supérieure d’Electricité, Gif, France, as well as a doctorate in business administration.

Frédéric Barnaud, CCO

Frédéric Barnaud has been Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of SEFE since February 2023.

Since September 2021, he has also served as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SEFE Marketing & Trading.

Frédéric Barnaud has more than 30 years of experience in the oil and gas sector and has served as Group CEO and CCO for various global energy and trading companies. He was acknowledged by the industry as LNG Executive of the Year 2019.

Before joining SEFE, he served at Mercuria Energy Trading in Geneva (Group Chief Strategy and Commercial Officer), and prior to that at Pavilion Energy Group in Singapore (Group CEO).

He holds a master’s degree equivalent from the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris and was a research fellow at Oxford University’s Institute for Energy Studies. He is a member of the Singapore Institute of Directors and INSEAD International Directors Programme.

Hamead Ahrary, CSO

Hamead Ahrary has been Chief Sales Officer (CSO) of SEFE since August 2024.

Hamead began his career at SEFE Energy GmbH (former WINGAS) more than 20 years ago, first as Sales Manager and later as Head of Sales & Business Development for several European countries. In this role, he was instrumental in building up SEFE Energy’s Central European business and most recently headed up the company's European activities.

Further career stages took Hamead to BASF SE, where he was responsible for global natural gas purchasing, and most recently to the Austrian VERBUND AG, where he was responsible for the company's hydrogen business as division manager and as managing director.

He studied Energy Economics and Marketing at the University of Essen, Germany.

Götz Görgen, CIO

Götz Görgen has been Chief Information Officer (CIO) of SEFE since November 2023.

Götz has more than 25 years of experience in the IT and digital sectors and more than 20 years in the energy sector, having served as IT Director and CIO for various international energy companies, including lean and digital transformations and major IT programmes. Before joining SEFE, he served at RWE, Innogy and TenneT in CIO roles. Prior to his career in the energy sector, he developed software for mobile telecommunications, insurance and print media.

He holds a diploma of Business and Economy from the University of Wuppertal, and was Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Relined B.V.

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