PHILIPPE PIRON

President & CEO Grid Solutions & Power Conversion

Philippe Piron leads the Electrification segment of GE Vernova, composed of Grid Solutions, Power Conversion and Hybrids businesses.

He is President & CEO of GE’s Grid Solutions and Power Conversion, two worldwide systems providers contributing to the electrification of the world.

He is responsible for steering the companies' strategies and for continuing to develop the businesses across multiple energy-intensive industries, contributing to the decarbonization of their footprint and building the grids of the future, while driving commercial and operational excellence. Grid Solutions provides power utilities and industries worldwide with integrated systems, and services to bring power from distributed energy resources, reliably and efficiently from the point of generation to the point of consumption. Power Conversion is an energy conversion systems provider for mission-critical applications (Marine, Oil&Gas, Power, Industry). It enables the decarbonization of fossil-energy intensive end-uses through electrification and helps to drive the electric transformation of the world’s energy infrastructure.

Hybrids are a leading technology player, providing solar inverters and grid-scale battery energy storage systems, complementing Grid Solutions and Power Conversion ranges of systems. It aims to the integration of hybrid power generation sources enabling a dispatchable, reliable and grid-stable clean energy future.

Graduated (PhD) of Ecole Polytechnique in France, Philippe has more than 25 years’ experience developing and transforming high-tech and industrial companies with a global footprint. He has been deeply involved in the fields of Energy, Aerospace & Defense, Marine, Telecoms and Digital.

Philippe joined GE in November 2020 as President & CEO of GE Power Conversion. Prior to this, he was President & CEO of Alcatel Submarine Networks (Telecom, Oil & Gas, Defense), having previously been CEO at GEA Group (Oil & Gas, Power, Renewables) and Roxel Propulsion Systems (Aerospace & Defense, Energetics).

Philippe is also Chairman of the Board of GE France and has been distinguished as Knight of the Legion of Honor by the French Republic Presidency.

Prakash Chandra

CEO, Renewable Hybrids, GE Renewable Energy

Prakash Chandra is the Renewable Hybrids Leader for GE Renewable Energy since April 1st, 2019. In his role, Prakash Chandra drives the growth strategy for the renewable hybrid initiative that combines solar inverters, energy storage and renewable hybrids capabilities.

Since October 2017, Prakash was Chief Financial Officer for GE Renewable Energy’s Hydro business. Previously, Prakash was the global CFO for the GE Boilers business, within GE Steam Power Systems. Since 2014, Prakash held a dual role as CFO for GE Power in Asia Pacific and Regional CFO for GE in South East Asia (ASEAN).

Prakash started his career with GE in India as part of the Financial Management Program and then joined the Corporate Audit Staff. His experience on these leadership programs over 6 years included financial, compliance, M&A and risk management work across Healthcare, Energy, Media, Commercial Finance, Capital Markets, Consumer Finance and the Reinsurance businesses in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific markets. Over the following 5 years, Prakash held various roles in GE’s Financial services businesses in Asia based in Tokyo and then subsequently in Singapore where he was the CFO for GE Capital in the South East Asia region before moving to his Regional CFO role in GE ASEAN in 2011.

Prakash graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Bangalore, India. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

PASCAL RADUE

President & CEO, Hydro, GE Renewable Energy

Pascal Radue is the President & CEO of GE’s Hydro Solutions for GE Renewable Energy, based in Paris, France.

Pascal Radue joined from Steam Power where he led both the Clean Combustion Product Line (Boilers & Air Quality Control Systems) and the Asia Pacific Region for GE Steam Power.

Pascal Radue is a seasoned leader that brings a wealth of strategic thinking and an intense focus on execution. He has a passion for the energy industry in which he has developed a profound experience in project and general management.

He started his career with Alstom Power in Belfort, France, in 2001. He then held several leadership roles for Alstom and then for GE Power, in Australia, Switzerland, Thailand, and Malaysia. He has a proven track record of delivering complex projects in a global environment, as well as developing and implementing global transformation strategies that support business growth.

Pascal Radue is passionate about working in and building multinational collaborative teams, as well as establishing strong relationships with customers and stakeholders.

Pascal Radue holds a Master of Engineering (Hons) degree in Naval Architecture from Southampton University in the UK. 

OLIVIER FONTAN

President & CEO, LM Wind Power

Olivier Fontan is the President and CEO of LM Wind Power a GE Renewable Energy business. LM Wind Power is a world leading designer and supplier of rotor blades for wind turbines. Olivier is a GE Company Officer.

Prior to this new role, he was the Vice President of Global Supply Chain for GE Renewable Energy. In this position, he was looking after the entire supply chain, including Manufacturing and Sourcing, of this $10b business.

Before joining the GE Renewable Energy business, Olivier spent more than 10 years in Asia as the Vice President Asia Manufacturing and China Sourcing where he developed, grew and lead a supply chain footprint with up to 30 plants and $5b buy. Earlier he was Operations Manager for GE Power in Hungary in a green field plant, dedicated to Gas Turbines components, he participated to set up, grow and lead.

Before joining GE, Olivier worked as Manufacturing Leader in the car industry and worked for the global sourcing organization of Alstom.

He is a Master Black Belt certified.

Olivier graduated with M.S degrees in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering.

Jan Kjærsgaard

President & CEO, Offshore Wind

Jan Kjærsgaard is CEO of GE Renewable Energy’s Offshore Wind business.

He has built a 20-year career in the wind sector with companies like Bonus Energy, Siemens Wind Power and Bladt, Kjærsgaard joined GE in June 2021 with a goal to continue scaling up its offshore wind business. Today, GE is established as a leading offshore wind equipment supplier with its Haliade-X platform, totaling 5.7 GW of commitment backlog.

Prior to joining GE, Jan was CEO of FLSmidth’s cement business, including full EPC turnkey plants, products businesses and aftermarket services, from 2017 to 2020. From 2014 to 2017 Kjaersgaard was CEO of international steel contractor Bladt Industries and continued to gain expertise in the offshore wind sector.

He previously served as VP Global Sales of Siemens’ onshore and offshore businesses before becoming CEO of Siemens Wind Power Americas and later on CEO for Siemens Wind Power EMEA. He came to Siemens from Bonus Energy, where he led the organization’s commercial team and was involved in some of the first utility-scale offshore wind projects in European waters before the company was acquired by Siemens in 2004.

Jan holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Aalborg University.

VIC ABATE

Senior Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, GE CEO, Onshore Wind

Vic serves as chief executive officer for Onshore Wind where he leads collaboration, innovation, manufacturing, and servicing of GE’s onshore wind turbine offerings.  As senior vice president and chief technology officer for GE, Vic also leads a global team of scientists and engineers who turn cutting edge research into impactful realities. He is at the helm of GE Research, guiding a diverse technology portfolio that’s changing the landscape for GE’s nine industries, U.S. government agencies, and several commercial and academic institutions.

Since joining GE in 1990, Vic has held several leadership roles in engineering, services, production, and quality. He served as president and CEO of GE Renewable Energy from 2005 to 2013, focusing on the business’s differentiated product leadership in onshore and offshore wind. From 2013 to 2015, Vic served as president and CEO of GE Gas Power Systems where he oversaw the business’s launch of the world record-breaking HA gas turbines. Vic assumed his current positions in September 2015.

Prior to joining GE, Vic led mechanical drive technology and new product development for Allied Signal and Zurn Industries.

Vic is a member of the Board of Directors of UI Labs and previously served as president of the Board of Directors of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).

Originally from Williamstown, Massachusetts, Vic holds a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Union College and a Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Vic and his wife, Karen, have four children and reside in Saratoga Springs, New York.