At the ceremonial presentation of the XENA – Woman of the Year in Energy award, attended by over 170 guests, we honored women who are changing the industry and pushing boundaries with their work. The votes from the expert jury and the public were unanimous – this year’s winner of the XENA – Woman of the Year in Energy award is Sanela Carević from the KONČAR Group! 🔥
Sanela is a woman who has set high standards with her work and dedication. Her expertise, commitment, and leadership skills not only brought results to her team and company but also serve as inspiration to many who are just starting on this path. She is the true embodiment of XENA – a woman who not only makes important decisions but does so with understanding, expertise, and vision.
We congratulate our award winner Sanela, as well as all the other excellent finalists: Helena Kokot from E.ON Croatia, Nikolina Lukačić Petrović from INA Group, Sanja Svilković from Dalekovod d.d., and Ariana Vela from AVELANT, and all the nominated women who achieve outstanding results in their respective fields. Precisely because we are aware that they all contribute daily to the development of the energy sector with their work, we decided to award two additional recognitions to draw attention to women who are not in management positions but strongly shape the future of the energy sector with their knowledge, dedication, and work.
The first recognition, “Excellence in Project and Team Leadership,” was awarded to Margareta Zidar from the Energy Institute Hrvoje Požar for successfully leading a complex project to renovate the EIHP building, which became a national training center for nearly zero-energy buildings and is fully prepared for smart technologies.
The second recognition, “Technical and Operational Excellence,” was awarded to Martina Kufrin from KOER for operationally leading the control center of the virtual power plant at KOER, which significantly contributed to balancing the electricity system through aggregation services.
Last night’s event was a special moment for XEnergy as well, as we celebrated our 2nd anniversary! THANK YOU to everyone who is part of this story – our members, partners, and dear friends who support, inspire, and help us realize all our activities. What particularly delights us is the fact that XEnergy is not just a women’s initiative – our association includes both women and men, because we know that only teamwork and joint efforts can bring about real change. We are happy that our male colleagues are our allies and supporters, because gender equality is not just a women’s issue – it is a matter of progress and a sustainable society for all of us.
