CIGRE 2026

Florian Hanisch was born in 1974. After studying physics in Germany (TU Darmstadt) and Spain (Universidad de Salamanca) he worked in several high-tech industries like automotive, wind power, and factory automation before dedicating himself to electrical grids in 2020. He combines extensive background in engineering management, production/plant management and strategy.  In recent years he dealt with global growth-initiated activities like factory expansions as well as upgrading the product portfolio of Siemens Energy Grid Technologies towards the necessities of a rapidly changing energy landscape. Florian lives and works in Stuttgart.

Mark Kuschel was born in 1969 and studied electrical engineering at the Technical University of Berlin where he obtained his diploma in 1994 and his doctorate in 1999 in the field of diagnostics for thermoplastic-insulated medium-voltage cables. In 1996, he was awarded the Herbert Kind Prize of the ETG in VDE, with which he carried out a research project in the USA lasting several months. After his doctorate, he worked as a development engineer at the Pirelli cable factory in Berlin. Since mid-2001, he has held various global technical and management positions in the high-voltage products and gas-insulated switchgear divisions of Siemens and Siemens Energy in Berlin and Erlangen.

Dr. Karthik Reddy Venna is Global Product Portfolio Manager for high-voltage air-insulated switchgear at Siemens Energy. In this role, he leads the transition from SF6-based to f-gas-free switchgear technologies, driving the development and commercialization of sustainable solutions that support the decarbonization of power infrastructure. He is responsible for portfolio strategy across R&D, manufacturing, and commercial functions, ensuring alignment between technology development, customer requirements, regulatory demands, and production capabilities.

Dr. Venna holds a master's degree in electrical power engineering from the Technical University of Cottbus-Senftenberg and earned a doctorate in 2015, specializing in high-voltage vacuum interrupters and circuit breakers.

Before joining Siemens Energy, Dr. Venna worked at Siemens AG as Product Lifecycle and Sustainability Manager for medium-voltage gas-insulated switchgear, where he was responsible for long-term product growth strategy, product profitability and Factory forecast alignment. Earlier, he was Head of R&D for generator breaker technologies and contributed to international standardization efforts through CIGRE and IEC working groups.