Liam NOLAN

President

Liam Nolan is the President of MARCOGAZ since 14 of June 2022, after holding the office of Vice-President since 2020. He is Head of Technical Competency & Standards at Gas Networks Ireland, which owns, operates and develops the national gas infrastructure in Ireland.

Liam Nolan is the Chair of the Gas Central Committee of the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI), responsible for overseeing the national gas infrastructure and gas utilisation standardisation committees covering natural gas, renewable gas and hydrogen. He is also board member of the Register of Gas Installers of Ireland (RGII) and the Chair of the Pipeline Industries Guild, Irish Branch. He represents Ireland on the International Gas Union (IGU) Council.

A Mechanical Engineer, Liam Nolan has 30 years’ experience in the gas sector and has worked in many areas including gas distribution, network design, construction, operations, market opening and health & safety.

Alexander SCHWANZER

Vice President

Alexander Schwanzer, Member of the MARCOGAZ Board since 2008, and Vice-President of MARCOGAZ since June 2022.

In Austria, he is head of the Certification Body at the Austrian Association for Gas and Water (ÖVGW), for products, people and companies in the gas, water, and electricity sector, as well as the representative for European Gas Affairs.

Active in the industry for more than 25 years, Alexander Schwanzer is an experienced strategist with an extensive network and wide-ranging expertise in the gas and water sector.

He serves on several Standing Committees and Working Groups at the ÖVGW, Austrian Standards, CEN, and MARCOGAZ.

Alexander Schwanzer also organized the MARCOGAZ EGATEC 2015 in Vienna.

His education includes a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering, Building Technology and Supply Business.

“As a technical organization serving the European gas industry, MARCOGAZ supports the necessary diversification and decarbonisation of Europe’s energy supply. It is a special honour for me to have been tasked with accompanying this process over the coming years”, stated Alexander Schwanzer.

Manuel COXE

Secretary General

Manuel Coxe is the Secretary General of MARCOGAZ since 2020, where he steers the works of the Association in close collaboration with the Executive Board members and technical committees, while managing a small-sized secretariat.

With more than 20 years of professional experience in the energy sector including hydrogen, natural gas and power, Manuel held different management and technical positions before joining MARCOGAZ. Previously Manuel was Head of Unit at IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency), Secretary General of Europex (European power exchanges), Secretary General a.i. at European electricity TSOs (currently ENTSOE), as grid operator at the Portuguese electricity and gas TSO and academic researcher on power electronics and motion control, spanning different countries, including Portugal, Germany, United Arab Emirates and Belgium.

System operation and management for electricity and gas networks (including hydrogen, biomethane and natural gas), energy policy and energy markets are among his interests and expertise.

His education background includes Energy Systems Engineering (MEng.), Business Administration (MBA) and Economics (PhD Program) and executive education in Management Law, Communications, and Psychology; obtained, respectively, from University of Lisbon, University of Durham Business School, Université Libre de Bruxelles, University of Harvard Law School, Ivey Business School at University of Western Ontario, and University of Oxford.