Samarth Deo
Chair – Sweden Section
Head of MACH Control & Protection, Hitachi Energy Sweden
Samarth Deo works at Hitachi Energy in Sweden as the Head of MACH Control and Protection design organization. He began his career as an R&D Software Engineer at ABB AB in 2014. He has held multiple management and leadership positions since 2018, and in his current role leading teams in Sweden, Poland, and India. His teams are responsible for developing a high-performance control platform integrating hardware, embedded software, and FPGA systems—delivering mission-critical solutions for HVDC and renewable grid applications. He has also held multiple leadership roles in IEEE, including Chair of the EPICS in IEEE committee and IEEE Sweden Section in the past. He is appointed as the Chair of the Humanitarian Activities Committee within Region 8 for 2025.
Theodoros Chatzinikolaou
Past-Chair – Greece Section
Chair, IEEE R8 SAC
Researcher & PhD(c), DUTH
Theodoros is a researcher and PhD Candidate in the ECE Dept of the Democritus University of Thrace, where he has received his Engineering Diploma with Integrated Master. His research interests focus on future and emerging computing systems and cutting-edge technologies with a focus on memristive circuits. As an active volunteer, he is currently serving the IEEE Region 8 as Vice-Chair, Student Activities, SAC Chair and HTAC Past-Chair. He has served various IEEE units, including MGA SAC, Region 8, and his local Student Branch. He has received the IEEE MGA Young Professionals Achievement Award, the IEEE CASS Pre-Doctoral Grant, and the IEEE MGA Larry K. Wilson Regional Student Activities Award, among others.
George Papadimitriou
Member -Switzerland Section
IT Product Owner Cloud Network & Security, Hilti Switzerland
Georgios (George) Papadimitriou studied at the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at the National Technical University of Athens. Currently, he is working for HILTI, Global IT in Switzerland as an Enterprise Network Engineer. Previously he worked for Nokia Research & Development at their Technology Center in Athens, Greece. Since 2012, he volunteered as the Chair of the National Technical University of Athens IEEE Student Branch, the IEEE Greece Section’s Student Representative and the Region 8 Projects and Initiatives Coordinator fostering student collaboration and leading fruitful projects across the Region. In 2018 he was appointed to his second role in the Student Activities Committee as the Regional Student Representative and as a member of the Region 8 Strategic Planning Committee.
Lucija Brezočnik
Slovenia Section
Vice-chair, IEEE Slovenia Section
Researcher, PhD, University of Maribor, Slovenia
Lucija Brezočnik received her PhD degree from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of the University of Maribor, Slovenia. She is a teaching assistant, works on various industry projects, and is the author of several journal papers, more than 30 conference papers, and two book chapters. She is also a reviewer for over 60 recognized peer-reviewed journals. Her research interests include machine learning, computational intelligence, data science, swarm intelligence, bioinformatics, software engineering, and agile software development. For her work, she received several international and local awards and grants for her research activities. She is also an IEEE Senior Member, the current Vice Chair of IEEE Slovenia Section, and a past Chair of IEEE WiE Slovenia.
Omar Salameh
Member – Jordan Section
Product Application Engineer, Schneider Electric UK
Omar has been an active IEEE member since 2016. He has held several leadership roles, including Chair of major IEEE congresses and founder of his branch’s SIGHT Group. He joined the IEEE Region 8 HTAC in 2023 and became a full member in 2024. He also contributes to climate advocacy through YOUNGO and UNFCCC youth initiatives.
He holds a BSc in Electrical Power Engineering from Al-Balqa Applied University and an MSc in Electrical Engineering and Renewable Energy Systems from the University of Leeds. Passionate about energy transition, he is committed to enabling technologies that support net-zero goals.
Professionally, Omar is an electrical engineer with 8 years of experience in power systems and generation, currently working at Schneider Electric UK as a Product Application Engineer. He focuses on designing MV switchgear and supporting the digitalisation of distribution networks to drive sustainability.
Fayrouz Fattoum
Corresponding Member – France Section
Project Manager, Oil & Gas
Amira Ouerfelli
Corresponding Member – Tunisia Section
Electrical Engineer | AI & Robotics Researcher
Amira is an electrical engineer specialising in robotics, embedded systems, and artificial intelligence. She holds a master’s degree in Information Systems Technologies from ENIT and is deeply committed to creating sustainable impact through technology. She was recognised with the Best Performance Sustainable Project Award at IEEE PowerAfrica 2024. Under her leadership, the IEEE SIGHT Tunisia Section received the Outstanding SIGHT Section Award for Region 8 (2025).
She currently serves in several leadership roles: IEEE MGA Representative in HTB (2026), IEEE HTB SIGHT Chair (2026), IEEE HTAC Region 8 Corresponding Member (2026), IEEE SIGHT Tunisia Section Chair (2025–2026), Humanitarian Technologies Coordinator, IEEE Tunisia Section (2025–2026), IEEE Smart Village Volunteer (since 2021), Co-Chair, Implementation Committee for Education, IEEE Smart Village Global (2025–2026), and IAS WIE Region 8 Representative (2025–2026)
Beyond IEEE, Amira chairs the Disaster Response Team at the National Tunisian Red Crescent (since 2020), with a strong focus on disaster risk reduction and strengthening community resilience.
Vasiliki Sula
Corresponding Member – Switzerland Section
Airline System Analyst at Swiss International Air Lines
Vasia has a background in Mechanical Engineering, and she currently works as a Full-Stack Engineer and Business Intelligence expert in the airline industry. Previously, she served as a Product Owner for a data team in the reinsurance sector, and she has earlier experience in marketing and social media, which she now pursues as a personal interest.
Within IEEE, I began as the Chair of Women in Engineering at my Student Branch, and later contributed to Student Activities in Region 8.
Kai Goodall
Corresponding Member – South Africa Section
Committee Member, EPICS in IEEE
AI Researcher at University of Cape Town
Ex-officio from the IEEE Humanitarian Technologies Board
Past Committee Members
2023-24 Committee Members
- Chair: Theodoros Pananagiotis Chatzinikolaou (Greece)
- Past-Chair: Abdulateef Aliyu (Nigeria)
- Members:
- George Papadimitriou (Switzerland)
- Lucija Brezočnik (Slovenia)
- Omar Salameh (Jordan)
- Lavender Ndunya (Kenya)
- Corresponding members:
- Miriam Cunningham (UK & Ireland)
- Neemat Abdelrahim (Sudan)
- Nour Sbaoulji (Tunisia)
- Jan Verveckken (Benelux)
- Ex-officio from IEEE Humanitarian Technologies Board:
- Lwanga Herbert (Uganda)
- Simay Akar (Turkey)
- Magdalena Salazar-Palma (Spain)
- Mohamed Essaaidi (Morocco)
- Maxwell Addison (Ghana)
2021-22 Committee Members
- Chair: Abdulateef Aliyu (Nigeria)
- Past-Chair: John Funso Adebayo (Nigeria)
- Members:
- Lavender Ndunya (Kenya)
- Fairouz Fattoum (Tunisia) (SAC Liaison)
- Corresponding members:
- Manuel Ballesteros (Spain)
- Heba Qadoomi (Jordan)
- Miriam Cunningham (UK & Ireland)
- Walid Bin Habib (Germany)
- Ex-officio from IEEE Humanitarian Activities Committee:
- Simay Akar (Turkey)
- Lwanga Herbert (Uganda)