s.Pro Team
Angela Schultz-Zehden
Founder and Managing Director
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Angela Schultz-Zehden (MBA, MSc European Studies, BSc Economics) is manager-owner of s.Pro - sustainable-projects GmbH. She is highly experienced in the development and management of complex international cooperation projects and strategic project pipelines covering the whole spectrum of sustainable development. She has been involved in the development of Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) and Integrated Maritime Policy since 2001. In this time, she has developed and led a whole string of projects related to MSP and sustainable use of marine resources in the Baltic Sea Region and beyond. She also acts as managing director of the pan-Baltic
SUBMARINER Network, whose secretariat is hosted by s.Pro.
Ivana Lukic
Senior Consultant
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Ivana is working on the projects related to maritime economies, stakeholder engagement and maritime spatial planning (MSP). Her professional background includes work on the regional offshore renewable energy aspect of the Rhode Island Ocean Special Area Management Plan. Ivana also has extensive international experience with industry engagement as the leader of the World Ocean Council MSP Working Group. Ivana holds an international master diploma in MSP and quality engineering, and research experience at the Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources (Portugal).
Efthalia Arvaniti
Senior Consultant
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Efthalia is a community builder and curates ideas and concepts with an impact. She develops sustainable blue/green value chains, that can improve people's lives, reduce waste and protect the marine environment.
Efthlia holds a PhD in biorefining for production of chemicals and fuels, an MSc in environmental sciences and a BSc in chemistry. She is also certified expert in Promoting Innovation by Climate-KIC.
In the last 14 years Efthalia has worked with numerous cross-disciplinary and cross-functional teams in 5 EU countries.
Pedro Brosei
Senior Consultant
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Pedro is an international consultant on local, rural and fisheries development. He graduated in Law from the Free University of Berlin (Freie Universität Berlin), and also holds certificates in European Studies and in the Management of European Administration. Before he joined s-pro and the secretariat of the SUBMARINER network he was thematic & territorial coordinator in the FARNET support unit, animating the European Network of Fisheries Local Action Groups. He also worked as a Policy Officer in DG AGRI of the European Commission and the European LEADER+ Observatory for Rural Areas.
Frederick Bruce
Consultant
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Frederick is involved primarily in the administration of SUBMARINER’s Blue Growth projects such as GRASS, with an avid interest in IMTA, RAS and low-trophic species, particularly macroalgae. Prior to working at s.Pro, Frederick set up his own business to raise awareness for environmental causes and support local SMEs through seaweed-based health foods, cosmetics and artwork. He holds an Undergraduate Certificate in Sustainable Aquaculture and is working towards a Master’s degree in the same field. Frederick is fluent in English and German, with basic knowledge of French and Spanish.
Katharina Kurzweil
Junior Consultant
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Katharina applies her communication skills in ocean multi-use projects and supports the development of the Submariner Catalogue listing sustainable businesses in the Baltic Sea Region. Katharina holds a B.A. in Sustainable Business Management and an international Master’s degree in Environmental and Resource Economics. She is familiar with economic topics related to coastal and marine ecosystems such as monetary valuation of ecosystem services and blue carbon. She is fluent in German and English, with basic knowledge of Spanish.
Anne Kierkegaard
Project Administration
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Anne (M.Litt. Creative Writing, MSc Public Administration, BSc EU Studies) supports the s.Pro team on administrative tasks. Anne has experience with project administration from social and cultural organizations in Denmark, the Middle East, and Germany. She also has a great interest in the role of the ocean in contemporary literature.
Anne is a native speaker of Danish. She is fluent in English, has a very good command of German, and basic knowledge of Italian and French.
Joanna Clarkson (maternity leave)
Project Coordination and Communications
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Joanna (MSc European Studies) has extensive experience of EU project and programme management. At s.Pro, she applies her organisational and communication skills to Interreg projects in the areas of Integrated Maritime Policy and Resource Efficiency and Blue Growth, as well as undertaking editorial work for online and print publications. Previously, Joanna worked both directly and as a contractor for the European Commission in programme management and editorial roles. She is a native speaker of English and German and has a good command of French.
Irina Goryunova (maternity leave)
Project Coordination and Communications
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Irina holds a B.A. in International Relations and an M.A. in Global Politics & Economics. Previously, she gained experience as a consultant on energy policy and communications within German and international entities in sustainability sector. She is currently aspiring a doctoral degree in Environmental Governance at the Free University Berlin. Her research looks into coordination challenges of cross-border environmental projects. Irina is fluent in English, German, Russian and has a basic knowledge of Finnish.
External consulting experts
From studies to technical assistance and interactive project work, s.Pro has a long history of fruitful cooperation with external experts on a freelance basis. You can find here the profiles of a few of our most long-term, trusted partners. Looking for the opportunity to join a dynamic team for concrete assignments, missions and more while keeping the flexibility of self-employment and remote working? We are always happy to add qualified and motivated individuals to our pool of trusted external expert consultants, e.g. in the area of technical assistance. If you have the required skills and experience, please get in touch! Please send your enquiry with your CV attached to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Kira Gee
Kira is a project expert who has worked with s.Pro GmbH – sustainable projects since its foundation. Kira has 20 years of experience working in the field of ICZM and MSP in the UK and Germany covering the Baltic and North Sea as well as the European Atlantic. She has been a government consultant in Germany developing a national ICZM strategy and preparing advice on transboundary MSP. She has been involved in numerous MSP projects including PlanCoast, BaltSeaPlan, KnowSeas, PartiSEApate and TPEA (Transboundary Planning in the European Atlantic) and has co-authored a number of key guiding documents such as the PlanCoast MSP handbook, the BaltSeaPlan Vision 2030 and the PartiSEApate recommendations on transboundary MSP governance.
Jacek Zaucha
Professor Jacek Zaucha is a project expert who has worked extensively with s.Pro since its founding. Prof. Zaucha is member of the faculty of the Economics Department of the Gdañsk University (since 1994), and also associated with the Maritime Institute in Gdańsk (since 2007). He served in several public bodies active in the field of his research interests, such as a member of the Committee on the Spatial Development in the Baltic Sea Region of VASAB (1994 - 2008) and Chair of VASAB (2015-2016), and as member of the Senior Officials Group (SOG) of the Baltic Agenda 21 (1997 - 2007). He is also a member of HELCOM-VASAB MSP Working Group (since 2010).
Prof. Zaucha is currently responsible for drafting the first official maritime spatial plan in Poland. He serves as the Main MSP Expert for the Baltic Sea Region for the EU MSP Platform, and has provided his expertise at multiple MSP conferences and workshops. He has published more than 110 scientific publications and contributed to several MSP related scientific projects: ARCH (FP7), MUSES (HORIZON 2020), BaltSpace (BONUS) and many others. Prof. Zaucha is a native Polish speaker and is fluent in English.
Bernhard Heinrichs
Bernhard Heinrichs is currently the team leader of the s.Pro team in the MARISMA project in Angola, Namibia and South Africa. This GiZ funded project is dealing with the Marine Spatial Management and Governance Programme for the Benguela Current. Bernhard Heinrichs is one of the first maritime spatial planning (MSP) practitioners in Europe. For nearly 20 years he was the General-Director of the State Planning Department (Ministerialdirigent) of Mecklenburg – Vorpommern (Germany), where he introduced MSP on the regional level. Furthermore he was the Lead Partner of 5 transnational projects funded by the EU Community Initiative Interreg - three of them dealing with maritime spatial planning (BaltCoast, PlanCoast, SuPortNet) where he closely worked together with s.Pro.
