Starting November, PPC Romania is strengthening its leadership team by promoting and expanding the portfolios of key-members.
George Agafiței will take up the new position of Director of Institutional and Regulatory Affairs. Iustina Neagu is promoted to Director of Sustainability and Environment, reinforcing the company’s commitment to responsible practices, while Andreea Lăzăroiu takes on extended responsibilities in her new role as Director Supply Chain and Facility Solutions.
Iustina Neagu has been promoted to Director of Sustainability and Environment, after leading the company’s sustainability office for four years. Iustina has an interdisciplinary training and consulting background in social change and process innovation. She joined the company in April 2018 in the role of Idea Hub Coordinator, running solution design projects that resulted in 14 locally transformed processes. In her previous roles, she has coordinated over 70 workshops and training programs for approximately 400 participants from 20 countries on topics such as community consultation and engagement mechanisms, participatory social change methodologies and strategic planning. In addition, it facilitated the development of numerous action plans for over 30 civic groups and organizations on a wide range of topics, including education, diversity and inclusion, community development, social justice, among others. Starting November 1, as Director of Sustainability and Environment at PPC Romania, Iustina is responsible for strengthening the sustainability strategy at the local level, monitoring ESG performance in line with the relevant regulated frameworks and co-creating an internal ecosystem that can support the development and integration of sustainable practices and solutions into day-to-day operations. From this role, she will develop shared value creation (CSV) programs in line with the UN principle of “leaving no one behind”. These will aim at equitable access to sustainable energy resources for all communities and positive impacts on the environment and especially on the climate.
Andreea Lăzăroiu becomes Supply Chain and Facility Solutions Director. Her professional experience is linked to the Enel Group, where she has been working since 2008, after graduating from the Faculty of Marketing at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest. She has steadily advanced within the company, occupying in turn the positions of buyer (2008-2011), procurement specialist (2011-2013), Procurement Manager Services Unit (2013-2016) and Procurement Manager Retail, Staff & Services and Digital Solutions (2016-2023). As of November 1st, in addition to coordinating acquisitions across the group of companies in Romania, Andreea will also become responsible for general services and facility management, as well as for maximizing the value of the real estate portfolio at country level and ensuring its rationalization, ensuring that the real estate needs of the business are met.
George Agafiței leads starting October 2023, the Institutional Affairs department and, together with his team, is representing the company in the public policy process in Romania. Starting November 1st, as a Director of Institutional Affairs and Regulatory, his area of responsibility will extend to defining, representing and promoting the company’s position on regulatory issues and competition law provisions. He will also be responsible for identifying trends in regulation to assess the economic and financial impact of regulations on local business lines, as well as managing regulatory and antitrust issues and relations with relevant stakeholders, ensuring and monitoring compliance of local business lines and defining the optimal strategy at local level. He started his career in the private sector, while in the last 11 years he activated in the public one. In the Romanian Government, he was, since 2016, Personal Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Advisor to the Minister of National Defense, as well as State Advisor for the economic and energy sector in the Prime Minister’s Chancellery.
At the same time, Valeriu Binig will act as Strategy Principal within the Strategy Department, at Group Level. Valeriu Binig is one of the leading specialists in the energy market in Romania, with over 35 years of professional experience in the sector, in various roles ranging from technical and academic to M&A and finance raising advisory.
Prior to joining Enel Romania, in 2019, Valeriu Binig held leading positions in consultancy firms like EY Romania and Deloitte, and was also a director within an investment banking and investment fund management team. Before that, he undertook roles in the transformative process of the local energy market, in management positions of energy distribution and generation companies, prior to the unbundling process in the Romanian electricity sector.
He was (Co)Chairman of the AmCham Energy and Environment Committee (2013-2017) and member of Amcham Romania Board of Directors (2013-2014); Chairman of the Energy Task Force of the Coalition for Developing Romania (2015, 2017) and the Engagement Partner for assistance to the Romanian Ministry of Energy in quantitative modelling for the elaboration of the National Energy Strategy (2016). He is currently a member of the Advisory Board of the Energy Policy Group.
Binig graduated from the Power Engineering Faculty of Bucharest, Politehnica University. He holds a PhD degree in Reliability of Power Systems after two years of Doctoral School at The Compiegne University of Technology.