José Achache is the Executive Director of GEO since 2005. Of French nationality, Prof. Achache graduated from the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. He obtained a doctorate in geophysics in 1979 and a doctorate in physical sciences in 1984. He was a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University from 1979 to 1980. José Achache began his career at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris. In 1989, he became a Professor and created the Department of Space Studies. In 1996, he joined BGRM, the French Geological Survey, as Chief Scientist. In 1999, he joined CNES, the French Space Agency. In 2000 he became Deputy Director General. In 2002, Prof. Achache becamed Director of Earth Observation at ESA, the European Space Agency, where he designed the GMES programme.
José Achache is the author of “Les Sentinelles de la Terre” on the benefits of Earth observation for adaptation to environmental changes and informed decision-making. He has published more than 70 scientific papers.

Dr. Wilco Hazeleger leads the Global Climate Division of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI). He studied meteorology at Wageningen University (NL) and Reading University (UK). He received his PhD in 1999 in physical oceanography from Utrecht University, after which he went to Columbia University in New York (USA) to study decadal climate variability. Since 2002 he is back at KNMI. He is interested in climate dynamics, development of climate and sea level scenario's and earth system modelling. He specialises in dynamics of the atmosphere and oceans on time scales of months to centuries. His climate and sea level scenario work is directed toward climate adaptation issues. He initiated and leads the EC-Earth project, a European consortium of around 20 research institutes, high-end computing centres and universities that develops an earth system model based on numerical weather prediction model of ECMWF. He is involved in the CLIVAR project of WCRP and serves on a number of international and national science committees. He is involved in a large number of national and European science projects on climate modelling, climate change and climate adaptation.

Andi Eka SAKYA, M. Eng., Dr. Eng., an Aeronautical Engineering by education and Civil Servant by background joined the Agency for Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics of Indonesia (BMKG) since January 2006.
As the Executive Secretary of the Agency, he has been actively engaged on, among others: National Law on Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics; re-structuring the BMKG’s organization; accomplish-ing the foundation of Non-Tax State Revenue Regulation within BMKG related to Weather, Climate and Tsunami Potential information services.
His attention and interest on the early warning systems for weather, climate and tsunami has led to some publications of his opinion about various subjects ranging from tsunami early warning to Climate Change from the perspective of Innovation and Technology, among others: Capacity Development – Supporting Disaster Mitigation Activity in Indonesia (Journal of Societal Dynamics, 2007), Tsunami Early Warning System – Domestic Achievement (Media Indonesia, 2008), The Technology for Climate Change Mitigation (Jurnal Indonesia, 2009).

Stephen Anthony Briggs is the Head of the Earth Observation Science, Applications and Future Technologies Department of the European Space Agency (ESA). From 1994 to 1999, he was the Director of Earth Observation for the British National Space Centre and Head of the Earth Observation for the National Environment Research Council (NERC), United Kingdom. From 1986 to 1994, he was the Head of the Remote Sensing Applications Development Unit, NERC/British National Space Centre. From 1983 to1986, he was a senior scientist with NERC Thematic Information Systems. From 1982 to 1983, he was a lecturer at the Department of Physics, Queen Mary, University of London. Stephen has chaired the Centre for Terrestrial Carbon Dynamics in Sheffield, United Kingdom, and the ESA Earth Observation Programme Board. He was a visiting lecturer for a variety of universities, including JRC, Cambridge, Svalbard, Sheffield, Leicester and University College London. Stephen holds a bachelor’s in astronomy and a doctorate in astrophysics from the University College London. In 2006, he was elected Fellow of the University College London. He has authored more than 70 papers in journals, proceedings and books.

Mr Rattenborg’s interest and expertise in meteorology began with his studies at the University of Copenhagen, where he earned a master degree in physics and meteorology in 1986. Responding to the needs of the operational meteorological community and providing efficient and reliable high quality operational services are two pivotal goals for Mr Rattenborg, who was appointed Director of Operations at EUMETSAT in July 2001. During his time as Director of Operations, Mr Rattenborg personally defined EARS, the EUMETSAT ATOVS Retransmission Service (EARS) and maintained a leading role in its development. EARS provides polar satellite data from the EUMETSAT Metop and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites with a timeliness suited to the needs of European operational short range regional numerical weather prediction models. Mr Rattenborg was also instrumental in the development of the EUMETCast dissemination system for next-generation satellites. EUMETCast was a key part of the successful start of operations for the first Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellite, which was declared operational in 2004 and for Metop-A, Europe’s first operational polar satellite which was launched in 2006 and started routine services in May 2007. Before being named Director of Operations, Mr. Rattenborg worked for EUMETSAT as the Operations Manager of the Meteorological Products Extraction Facility (MPEF) for the Meteosat Transition Programme. He was responsible for the successful operational introduction of MPEF products in late 1995, shortly after joining EUMETSAT on 1 January 1995. He also oversaw the operational validation of MPEF, routine operations and the evolution of MPEF products and algorithms.
Prior to EUMETSAT, starting in 1987, Mr Rattenborg worked for computer company UNISYS in Copenhagen. In 1990, he was transferred to Germany and became responsible for systems software development for high-volume transaction processing systems for Lufthansa, Amadeus and other major German customers. A Danish citizen, Mr Rattenborg’s first professional post was at the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI). It was here that he developed the first Danish Limited Area Numerical Weather Prediction Model, the precursor for the High Resolution Limited Area Model (HIRLAM) system used for Numerical Weather Prediction in a number of European countries. His career then moved gradually towards the computer-systems side, and he became responsible for the operational implementation of the first supercomputing system at DMI, including the adaptation of the Limited Area Model to this system.

Born in 1944 in Denmark, Dr Lars Prahm studied physics and earned a Master of Science degree in 1971 from the Technical University of Denmark. In 1979, Dr Prahm received a doctor of science degree from the University of Copenhagen’s Institute of Theoretical Meteorology. Dr Prahm’s interest in meteorology began in 1972 with his first job at the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI). He spent five years researching air quality, contributing with numerical methods and remote measurement to a European-wide study on the causes of acid rain. In 1990 the three Danish Weather Services - Civil Aviation, Military and General Public were unified to one service and Dr Prahm continued as the head of this new institution. In the following 10 years at DMI, he focused on research and development, information technology constantly improved services to the users and cost effectiveness. Since 1 August 2004 Dr. Prahm is Director General at EUMETSAT.
Dr Prahm’s involvement with satellites dates back to his work on various national and international scientific-technical councils. He served as President of the ECMWF Council and Chairman of the Danish Space Research Advisory Board. Dr Prahm was influential in Denmark’s orsted satellite project. The satellite and its scientific database are operated from the DMI in Copenhagen together with Danish research institutions, the space industry and space agencies from Europe (CNES) and the United States (NASA). Dr Prahm has published scientific papers on numerical methods for air quality dispersion calculations, and on remote air quality measurements.