team

Alexandre Garèse is a French entrepreneur and businessman. He founded Kouros and Enerxia, two companies dedicated to energy transition and innovative technologies, in 2016.

He has worked as an international lawyer in Moscow for 25 years. In 1995 he established the Seeberg, Stabreit, and Garese law firm. There he had the opportunity to work on restructuring of Russia’s energy companies and, later, the privatization of energy companies in Ukraine in the 2000s.

He is an investor in a number of different fields mainly related to environmental protection and sustainability on a global scale, from healthy food to energy.

Alexandre is a keen polo player and a lover of nature and art.

In Kouros France, Alain Rossignol manages the team in charge of projects identification and acquisitions in the frame of the global business strategy and development for Kouros and Enerxia.

Over 25 years, Alain has built extensive international energy business management experience. Alain led major M&A projects in E&P in Africa, the Caspian Sea, Asia, Australia and Europe for ENGIE. He held senior management positions in European entities of Gaz de France, notably in natural gas storage in Central Europe, for Nafta (Slovakia) and MND (Czech Republic) and in energy trade for GDF SUEZ FH (Hungary). He headed up natural gas origination & portfolio management in Eastern and Central Europe, including negotiations for long-term Russian gas supply contracts.

Alain graduated from the Economics and Management at the IFP (French Petroleum Institute) having previously studied Mechanical Engineering at ENSEM (Nancy, France) and at Bath University (England). He speaks French, English, Russian and Slovak.

Florent Bergeret is responsible for Strategy and Portfolio Design & Management in Kouros France. Florent oversees the Power, Hydrogen and Tech sectors. He is a board member of NAWATechnologies, Ergosup, Powerhive, STEP/Hype and HysetCo.

Before joining Kouros, Florent held several executive positions in Gaz de France and ENGIE in the energy sector (R&D, energy operations, business development) and in innovative products & services for B2C. He worked closely with startups and partners in IOT and big data. He invented and launched HOMNI, a budget-control smart thermostat which picked up awards at CES 2016 in the ‘Smart Home’ and ‘Tech for a Better World’ categories.

Florent holds a Degree in Engineering from ENSTA Paris Tech and a Master’s Degree in Energy Economics from the IFP (French Petroleum Institute). He speaks French and English.

Joost Mees has been Managing Director of Kouros SA in Luxembourg since October 2016.

He currently holds several independent board positions with unregulated entities in Luxembourg. In 2013, together with three other partners, he founded Exequtive Partners S.A., a boutique corporate services firm which combines the experience and sophistication of a large firm with a personalized approach.

Previously, in 2007, he moved to Luxembourg and worked in several roles within TMF Luxembourg, including head of business development for the Benelux region.

Joost began his career in the financial services industry in Curacao, Netherlands Antilles in a legal and commercial role with ABN Amro Trust in 2003.

Joost holds a Master’s degree in Dutch Corporate Law from Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Florence is the General Counsel of the group, in charge of the legal matters of Kouros SA and its participations.

Prior to joining Kouros, Florence worked as a business lawyer in some of the leading law firms in the green energy sector. She was also the general counsel of a French wind electricity producer listed on Euronext.

She was admitted to the Paris Bar as a qualified lawyer in 2005, holds two Masters in European Business Law as well as in Public Business Law and studied International Management in the French Business School ESSEC.

She speaks French, English and Italian.

Laurent Desflans is responsible for the analysis of project investments in Kouros France.

He joined Kouros in 2019 after working as a commercial engineer for ENGIE Cofely and Private Equity Analyst for NextStage AM.

Laurent holds a Dual Degree in Engineering and Finance from the Arts et Métiers School (Icam, Nantes) and Audencia Business School where he specialised in corporate finance. He speaks French, English and Spanish.

Matthieu BARBIER is responsible of technical projects developed by Kouros with partners. He is supporting Investment team with specific vision related to product development, process risk analysis and industrialization.

Before joining Kouros, Matthieu worked at Plastic Omnium, a French innovative company in the automotive sector. He developed practical skills helding positions as Production Manager, and Industrial Project Manager on the last 4.0 plant launched by the group.

Matthieu holds a Master Degree in Mechanical and Industrial engineering from Arts et Métiers Paristech. He speaks French, English and Spanish.

In Kouros France, Daria Smetanina is responsible for financial reporting and investment performance monitoring. She guarantees the financial vision of investment portfolio and projects developed by Kouros.

Prior to joining Kouros, Daria worked as a senior consultant in Accenture where she was in charge of several missions for TotalEnergies, with the focus on Low Carbon activities development. She brings audit experience after spending 4 cumulative years in Deloitte France and Deloitte CIS. She served as a referral auditor and as a component auditor on engagements with multi-national operations and provided audit services to a variety of clients both French and international.

Daria holds two Master’s and one Bachelor’s degree in Finance: from Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris and Finance University in Moscow. She is CFA Exam Level III Candidate.

Daria speaks Russian, English and French.