DDD Foundation: Dialogue for Democracy and Development

Biography

Corneliu Bodea is Chief Executive Officer of Adrem, one of the largest Romanian entrepreneurial businesses in the energy services field, and President of the Romanian Energy Center (CRE). A shareholder of the international ABBC Group, he leads more than 1,000 employees working across Romania through three companies — Adrem Invest, Adrem Engineering and Adrem Link — which provide utility network services and smart metering, industrial automation and energy infrastructure digitalisation, and energy efficiency solutions.

Adrem Invest was launched in 1992 by his brother Adrian, and Corneliu joined the venture soon afterwards — making the brothers part of the first generation of Romanian entrepreneurs to build a business after 1989. Starting as an engineering company serving Romanian industry, Adrem grew over three decades into a group delivering energy infrastructure projects across the country, and in 2014 became part of the international ABBC Group. Bodea stepped back from the company's executive leadership in 2012 and returned to the position of Chief Executive Officer in 2016.

Since 2014 he has served as President of the Romanian Energy Center (CRE), a non-governmental organisation active in both Romania and Brussels that represents the interests of the main stakeholders on the Romanian energy market and provides a European platform for dialogue for the energy industry. In this capacity, and as a frequent commentator on energy policy, he advocates for a sustainable energy transition, the digitalisation of energy infrastructure and greater investment in electricity generation as a foundation of Romania's energy security.

An engineer by training, Bodea complemented his technical education with management studies, earning a Diploma in Management and an MBA from The Open University in the United Kingdom, and completing the Board Director's Programme at Henley Business School. He is a member of the Aspen Institute Romania and an Aspen Seminar alumnus, and is active in Romanian Business Leaders, ReThink Romania, CEO Clubs Romania and the Leaders Foundation.