Core Team

KATALIN SZOMOLÁNYI, CEO, strategy director

Founder of Planet Fanatics’ Network. She has been in charge of elaborating Magyar Telekom‘s sustainability strategies and their coordination on Group level, through which different forms of outstanding recognition have been achieved, including top rankings in the industry by responsible investors in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. Parallel to her management position heading Telekom’s Sustainability Center, she also managed ETNO-WWF’s European “Saving the Climate @ Speed of Light” project, and for four year was the editor-host of “The Day after Tomorrow”, Hungary’s first radio show on sustainable development aired by Radiocafé 98.6. In 2008, she came up with the idea of Sustainability Day events, since when she has also been their lead organizer each year. She created and coordinated the Jövő/Menő program, which was not only a corporate volunteer program, but also an effective vehicle to help specific disadvantaged regions to accelerate their development.

In 2015 Magyar Telekom Group became carbon neutral under her management, being the first among Hungarian large enterprises and one of the first in the international arena to do so, as well as adopted long-term emission decrease targets, which were approved by Science Based Target initiative in the beginning 2019, too.

She is Supervisor Board member of Patrónus Ház, and a Board of Directors member of WWF Central and Eastern Europe and WWF Hungary.

MELINDA VIDA, sustainability project manager

Melinda is a certified communication and media expert, economist, desktop publishing graphic designer. In her capacity as Magyar Telekom’s Sustainability Manager, she has been responsible for the communication of the company’s sustainability activities and achievements, as well as the organization of the sustainability events for the past four years.
Between 2014 and 2016, she had worked as a Project Communication Expert for Türr István Training and Research Institute, and later as Event Management and Communication Subproject Manager.
She supported the work of NaTe in a Communication Expert capacity, and took part in designing the PR communication for and in implementing the Girls’ Day program. In 2012, she took part in GE’s regional Corporate Communication and Public Affairs Mentor Program. In course of her communications studies, she was President of KommON BME Advanced Communications Study Group and a lead organizer of several national conferences. She has played a major role in organizing the Sustainability Day events of the recent years.

NÁNDOR PÁLFI, junior sustainability rating manager
Nándor is a certified environmental manager and geographer. He got his degrees from ELTE Faculty of Science and Corvinus University of Budapest Faculty of Economic Science. During his student years he managed to get experience working for international companies. At one of the biggest domestic banks he participated in introducing a selective waste collection system throughout the hungarian network. He considers climate protection of importance, also providing credible information to the wider layers of society. Therefore he undertook the duty of managing Másfél fok’s Instagram account. He speaks advanced English and intermediate German.

KLÁRA TARCZAY, climate strategy expert

Graduated as meteorologist with research interest on environmental problems. She was engaged in modelling the atmospheric CO2 balance and atmospheric CO2 measurements in the framework of research projects at the university. She has been conducting expert work on greenhouse gas and air pollutant inventories on country level for more than 10 years. She values the importance of awareness raising and thus has been presenting the emission inventories and acid rain at the program series of Museums Night at the Hungarian Meteorological Service in 2017 and 2018. She has participated at the review of the IPCC emission inventory guidelines. She has also worked at the Ministry for Innovation and Technology as expert, dealing with domestic climate policy issues – including the industrial chapter of the long term climate strategy and the design of the National Greenhouse Gas Database as well as international reporting.
She is valuing both emission reduction and adaptation in her private life, thus she lives in an active house with her family. She is facing first hand with the challenges of adaptation to climate change in the apiary of the family.
She has served as the secretary of the Hungarian Meteorological Society earlier and now acts as the secretary of its Section on Environment (air).

JUDIT SZILÁGYI, intern
She is an Internatioanal Business Economics student at Budapest University of Technology and Economics. She has joined the team of Planet Fanatics’ Network in August 2022. The protection of the globe is one of her main goals, she would like to do her best to reduce the harms it had to endure. In her free time she loves volunteering, she volunteered at KórházSuli, Walk The Wish and in a private kindergarten, where she helped organizing a summer camp and assisted with everyday tasks. She speaks advanced English.