As of July 2022, energy policy expert Frauke Thies heads Agora Energiewende as Executive Director and in a dual leadership with Markus Steigenberger. Thies is an expert of European energy and climate policy and therefore strengthens Agora’s European profile.
Frauke Thies was previously responsible for the climate portfolio of the Open Society Foundations in Europe. Prior to that, she worked in European associations for eight years, including as Executive Director of the European business association for digital and decentralised energy solutions, smartEn, from 2015 to 2020, and as Policy Director at SolarPower Europe from 2012 to 2015. Thies started her career at the environmental organisation Greenpeace, where she held various positions in EU energy policy from 2005 to 2012, with secondments to the USA and India. Thies holds a Master of Environmental Sciences from the University of Lüneburg and a Master of Business Administration from Vlerick Business School in Belgium.