Who Is Luciana Lixandru, the Romanian Added by Mario Draghi to the EU’s Elite Economic Future Group

Luciana Lixandru, a Romanian partner at venture capital firm Sequoia, has joined the Rhine Group as it works on Europe’s economic competitiveness. She is one of four new members named on the organization’s official website.

The other additions are Iryna Terekh, chief executive and chief technology officer of Ukrainian defense company Fire Point; Harvard political economy professor Stefanie Stantcheva, who was born in Bulgaria; and Piotr Dąbkowski, co-founder of Polish artificial intelligence company ElevenLabs.

Rhine Group describes itself as an independent and nonpolitical association bringing together people from economics, finance, research, industry, technology and politics. Draghi and Irish businessman Patrick Collison founded it as co-chairs. Spanish economist Luis Garicano, a professor at the London School of Economics, serves as executive director. France and Germany have the largest representation, followed by Italy, Britain and Spain.

The group emerged as a continuation of Draghi’s 2024 report on European Union competitiveness and reforms. That report highlighted European bureaucracy and the difficulty of attracting foreign capital. It called for European investment in infrastructure, a modernized energy network, coordinated military procurement and a unified financial sector capable of directing capital to European technology startups.

The European Commission adopted some of the recommendations, but Draghi has argued that change is moving too slowly. Lixandru, 41, grew up in Buzău and moved to the United States after receiving a Georgetown University scholarship. She studied economics and mathematics, then entered technology investment after receiving an offer from an investment firm. She joined Accel in 2011 and worked there for eight years.