Laurent Schmitt is ENTSO-E’s Secretary General since January 2017.

Before joining ENTSO-E, Laurent was Global Smart Grid Strategy Leader at General Electric Grid Solutions, a General Electric / Alstom joint venture.

Laurent started his career in power generation for Alstom in North America before moving to the transmission and distribution division specialising in strategy, innovation and smart grids solutions. Apart from the United States, Laurent also worked in Asia and Europe.

Laurent describes himself as a smart grid ‘’evangelist’. He is the author of several scientific papers on smart grids, smart cities and the integration of distributed energy sources. He is a member of several strategic industry committees on smart grids in CIGRE, IEC, EPRI and the European Smart Cities Platform. He took part in several expert task forces of the European Commission and the International Energy Agency.

In 2015, Laurent was named one of the most 40 influential people in the European Smart Grid by the Metering & Smart Energy International Magazine. Laurent is also one of the largest e-vehicles drivers in France.

Laurent is a French national, born in 1972 and graduated in Power System Engineering at Supélec, Paris, France and holds an Executive MBA from INSEAD.