Dr. Rob Stephen was born in Johannesburg South Africa. He holds B.Sc., M.Sc., MBA degrees as well as a Ph.D. in overhead line design. He retired from Eskom in 2020 where he held the position of Master Specialist in the Technology Group responsible for distribution and transmission technologies of all voltages covering both AC and DC. He is Past Chairman of CIGRE Study Committee B2 on overhead lines and has held positions in CIGRE of Special Reporter and Working Group Chairman (including that for compact AC lines) and has authored over 100 technical papers. He was International President of CIGRE from 2016-2020. He is Fellow of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers and was awarded the President’s award in 2016. He is currently Academic Specialist Consultant at the University of Kwa Zulu Natal, Durban.Javier Iglesias was born in Madrid, Spain. He holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from the “Universidad Pontificia Comillas – ICAI”, as well as other postgraduate programs on Project Management and Executive Management. He has over twenty-five years’ experience in transmission lines, from different positions and companies. In 2002, Javier joined Red Eléctrica de España, where he now is responsible of projects for the transmission system in Spain (400 and 220 kV lines and substations), being in charge of the coordination, engineering, environmental studies, construction works, supplies, permits, authority licenses and commissioning. He has co-authored over twenty technical publications related to transmission lines, has been Convener of two CIGRE Working Groups and has participated actively in more than fifteen. In CIGRE, he has held positions of National Representative for Study Committee B2, Special Reporter at the Paris Session 2016 and Chair of various conferences and workshops. He received the Technical Council Award in 2018. Now, he is Chairman of the Technical Advisory Group on “Electrical aspects of overhead lines”, President of the Spanish National Committee and Member of the CIGRE Steering Committee.
