Omer Ceylan is responsible for business development and project management at STELLA.

Mr. Ceylan is an Environmental Engineer from Istanbul Technical University (ITU) and holds an Master of Science in Environmental Management from Aalborg University (AAU), Denmark.

Mr. Ceylan has six years of experience in developing and managing EC co-financed projects in the environment, energy and sustainable development fields. He has a proven track record in developing project proposals and managing projects financed under EU funds/programmes (pre-accession funds, EuropeAid tenders, Community Programmes, etc.) and International Financial Institutions (IFIs) such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Before joining STELLA, Mr. Ceylan spent three years in Budapest, Hungary, where he was responsible for developing and managing environmental projects funded mainly under the Community Programmes (FP6/7, LIFE, Life-long Learning Programme, CIP, etc.). He has considerable experience as a trainer and moderator of workshops on EC project development and management, assisting individuals from all types of organisations throughout and beyond Europe in achieving a better understanding of EU funding mechanisms and EC projects. He assisted in the conceptual design and development, and content building and management of the 2007-2013.eu website, a non-profit information source facilitating the understanding of European stakeholders in new EU programmes and policies in the 2007-2013 budgetary period.

Omer Ceylan co-authored the "Handbook on EU Funds 2007-2013" and contributed to several other publications and articles on EU funds, programmes, and projects. He is a member of the EU-Turkey Cooperation Association (TURKAB) and Junior Chamber International (JCI). In addition to his mother tongue Turkish, he is fluent in English, understands and speaks basic French, Danish, and Italian.

Joanna Pachucka is responsible for organising annual Information Workshops on the LIFE+ Programme in the 27 EU Member States.

Ms. Pachucka holds a Degree in Geology (-Specialisation in Geochemistry and Mineralogy-) from the University of Silesia in Poland and a Master's II in Geo-Environment (-Specialisation in Geo-Materials and Environment-) from the University of Paris-Est in France.

Ms. Pachucka has academic and practical experience in geo-environmental issues, including soil decontamination and recycling applications of thermally treated soil. Currently, Ms. Pachucka is supporting the European Commission's DG Environment in organising annual Information Workshops on the LIFE+ Programme in the 27 EU Member States. In particular, she is responsible for ensuring the satisfactory organisation of 28 workshops, including logistical aspects (venue, catering), the content of the workshops (PowerPoint Presentation, question and answer session), and the performance of the experts making the presentations in 21 EU national languages.

Before joining STELLA, Ms. Pachucka worked for Lisbon's Museum of Geology and Mineralogy in the frame of the "e-Geo" project. She was responsible for the recuperation and scientific valorisation of the foreign collections, and the organisation of awareness raising activities.

Ms. Pachucka has published several technical papers, including "Recycling applications of thermally treated soil" she has practical experience of technical IT applications, and the creation and management of web sites. She has mother tongue Polish, fluent French, English and Portuguese, and a basic knowledge of Spanish.

Mr. Arian Shuku is the Technical Coordinator of the USAID-funded project “Kosovo Water Institutional Sector Reform” (K-WISER) supporting the financial and technical sustainability of Kosovo’s Regional Water Companies. He provides technical leadership and coordination for consultants and field staff, in addition to liaising with government officials, donors and other key stakeholders in the water supply and sanitation sector.

Mr. Shuku is a Civil Engineer who holds a MSc. in Water and Environmental Management from the University of Prishtina, Kosovo.

Mr. Arian Shuku is a Senior Engineer with 10 years of experience in the water supply, wastewater treatment, irrigation and solid waste management sectors, as well as in civil engineering.

Before joining STELLA Consulting, he served as the Water and Wastewater Advisor for the Coaching Support Project to the Southeast Kosovo Regional Water and Wastewater Companies. While implementing this project funded by the Swiss Government through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Mr. Shuku successfully trained the water utilities in how to improve their overall performance and cooperation with stakeholders at the local and central levels.

For a project funded by the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR), he served as the Municipal Environmental Advisor to the Association of the Municipalities in Kosovo (AKM) and established AKM’s Collegium for Environment, with representatives of the municipalities of Kosovo. He prepared the “roadmap” containing the mission statement, goals and objectives, as well as the 2008-2009 Work Plan; he drafted the working protocol, reviewed the main regulations affecting the sector and suggested future activities for AKM’s Collegium for Environment.

As the Waste Management Expert for the EAR-funded project Further Institutional Support to Solid Waste Utilities of Kosovo, he assessed the waste management capabilities of the seven biggest municipalities and their level of implementation of waste and other environmental laws. He also identified the gaps in waste management among the municipalities and developed a technical assistance programme to fill in these gaps. He also organised a pilot project to collect revenues from the municipalities by implementing a Cost Recovery Strategy.

As Head of the Water Sector within the Water and Waste Regulatory Office (WWRO), Mr. Shuku developed the policy, strategy, practices, and procedures that WWRO used to regulate the Water sector. He also prepared periodic and annual reports monitoring the operational, financial, and customer service performance of the regulated water, wastewater and irrigation service providers.

As Head of the Waste Sector for the Kosovo Trust Agency (KTA), he supervised the technical and commercial performance of Regional Waste Companies (RWC), making appropriate interventions to achieve adequate operational, customer service and financial performance. He also participated in consolidating the 30 municipal waste utilities into seven regional utilities in accordance with the KTA strategy for consolidating the water and waste utilities into sustainable and financially viable companies. He also managed the budget of KTA’s Waste Sector, ensured good relationships with key stakeholders and coordinated donor meetings.

Mr. Shuku has mother tongue Albanian and speaks fluently Macedonian, Serbian and English, and speaks basic Turkish.

Catherine Stoneman is responsible for the coordination of STELLA's activites. She is also the Team Leader for the organisation of LIFE+ Information Workshops in 27 EU Member States.

Ms. Stoneman holds an MPhil in Anthropology from University College London.

Catherine Stoneman has more than 16 years of experience in promoting social and environmental issues in development cooperation policies. She has a unique track record in liaising with environmental agencies, donor organisations and beneficiaries in Europe and developing countries. She has implemented three different contracts for European Commission DG Environment contracts:

• 1. As Team Leader for a European Commission DG Environment contract, Ms. Stoneman is currently organising annual Information Workshops on the LIFE+ Programme in all 27 EU Member States. Ms. Stoneman is leading a consortium consisting of 38 external experts across the EU.


• 2. Previously, she was Coordinator of the external communications team responsible for the communications of the LIFE Programme, including the LIFE website, Focus publications, the Natura 2000 newsletter and the electronic newsletter LIFEnews.


• 3. From 2001 to 2005, she was Coordinator of the external monitoring team of the LIFE Third Countries Programme, assisting DG Environment in evaluating and monitoring the implementation of over 70 projects in more than 15 countries in the Mediterranean and Baltic regions. Most projects focussed on capacity building in a variety of environmental issues, from pollution control or solid waste management to coastal zone conservation and environmental regulation.

For DG Development, Ms. Stoneman carried out successful assignments in other parts of the world, including Botswana, Cameroon, Gabon, Peru, Senegal and Sri Lanka. Familiar with multidisciplinary and multicultural teams, Ms. Stoneman relies strongly on a participatory approach to the environment and has facilitated several international seminars and workshops in developing countries and Europe.

Before joining STELLA, Ms. Stoneman specialised in the elaboration of environmental policies, practical guidelines and awareness-raising activities, focusing primarily on natural resources and biodiversity. For example, with the World Conservation Union (IUCN), she helped the European Commission integrate biodiversity into EC development cooperation. Her work involved marrying existing EC policies, commitments to the UN Convention on Biodiversity, and the views and experience of partners in developing countries; her work contributed directly to the EC Biodiversity Action Plan for Development Cooperation. In addition, this work was a model for consultation and participation of EC partners in the development of EC policy, including identification of best practice and lessons learned.

Ms. Stoneman has published a number of papers on biodiversity, tropical forests, and sustainable development, including a chapter in the EU Tropical Forestry Sourcebook in 1998 and Guiding Principles for Biodiversity in Development: Lessons from Field Projects in 2001. She has mother tongue English, fluent French, and some knowledge of Spanish and Dutch.

Valentina Villoria is responsible for business development and project management at STELLA.

Ms. Villoria is a Geophysics Engineer from the Universidad Simón Bolivar, Venezuela, and holds a joint MSc. in Water and Coastal Management from the Universidad de Cádiz, Spain, and the Universidade do Algarve, Portugal. She also has a postgraduate degree in Communication and European Affairs from the Institut des Hautes Etudes des Communications Sociales, Belgium.

Ms. Villoria has experience in various EU-funded environmental projects and EC policies in the fields of biodiversity and nature conservation, climate change, coastal management and forest governance. She has worked and studied in Venezuela, Sweden, Chile, Spain, Portugal and Belgium.

Before joining STELLA, Ms. Villoria worked at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Regional Office for Pan-Europe, Forests and the European Union Resource Network (FERN), Sea Alarm Foundation and was a trainee in the Environment Unit of the EuropeAid Co-operation Office of the European Commission. In Chile, she developed Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project activities in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). For her Masters studies, a joint programme between Universidade do Algarve, Portugal; Universidad de Cadiz, Spain; Bergen University, Norway; and Plymouth University, UK, the European Commission awarded Ms. Villoria an Erasmus Mundus scholarship. Her Masters thesis reports on the sediment quality of a coastal area in Venezuela. During her post-graduate studies in Belgium, she studied how to improve the communication within IUCN.

In addition to her mother tongue Spanish, Ms. Villoria speaks fluent English and French, and has basic knowledge of Dutch and Italian.