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Joaquim Nunes de Almeida
Director for Mobility and Energy Intensive Industries
European Commission
Joaquim Nunes de Almeida is director in charge of “Mobility and energy intensive industries” at the European Commission in the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) since March 2021. This includes raw materials, renewable energy industries and alliances such as hydrogen and solar energy as well as green and circular economy and sustainable product design. Before that, he was director in charge of single market policy (since 2016). Joaquim started his career at the European Commission in 1995 and has extensive experience in policies related to the internal market and home affairs (police cooperation, terrorism, law enforcement, asylum and immigration). He studied law and worked as a lawyer at the Bar of Lisbon, Portugal, from 1989 to 1994, dealing mainly with anti-trust law as well as commercial and civil law.
Julia Poliscanova
Senior Director, Vehicles & Emobility
Transport & Environment (T&E)
Julia joined T&E in June 2015 and now leads the organisation's vehicles, electrification and supply chains work across Europe. This includes policies regulating vehicle emissions, such as the EU car CO2 standards, sustainable batteries and critical raw materials. Julia also represents T&E on the board of the Global Battery Alliance, and is an unpaid advisor to the board of Vulcan Energy Resources. Julia previously worked as senior EU environment expert for the Mayor of London and, as an advisor to an MEP, followed legislation on renewables, energy efficiency and sustainable transport. Hailing from Latvia, Julia studied European politics and French at Goldsmiths, University of London, and holds an MSc in energy from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, specialising in batteries and fuel cells. She speaks English, French, Latvian and Russian, and loves swimming, reading and travelling in her spare time – as well as good red wine (with emphasis on oenology, not drinking, of course).
Chad Blewitt
Managing Director – Jadar Project
Rio Tinto
Chad is Rio Tinto’s Managing Director of the Jadar project and Critical Raw Materials Europe spokesperson. Chad has over 20 years’ experience in global roles within the resources sector. He has worked on capital projects and operations in 6 continents across a wide range of commercial disciplines. Chad’s strengths lie in creating direction in ambiguous environments; leading high-performance teams; and developing and implementing business strategies. His expertise includes negotiation, strategy, finance, taxation, business valuation, stakeholder engagement, procurement, studies, ESG and change leadership.
Daphne Peres
Lead Buyer Battery Raw Materials
Volvo Trucks
Daphne Peres is leading the Volvo Group purchasing strategy on battery raw materials. After some years in raw materials sourcing in the steel industry, Daphne joined the automotive industry to work on battery raw materials and find fossil free alternatives and support the Volvo Group manufacturer in its towards a net zero value chain.
Hannu Hautala
CEO
Keliber
Hannu Hautala is an experienced leader in Metals, Mining, Electronics Manufacturing Services and Logistics. Currently Chief Executive Officer at Keliber and Board Member at Luxmet. Keliber is the most advanced battery grade lithium project in Europe. Luxmet provides unique Electric Arc Furnace control technology, based on physical spectrum of light helping steel industry to reduce CO2-emmissions. Before Keliber, as a Chief Executive Officer at Nordkalk and before that in various senior management positions, e.g. Executive Vice President, at Outokumpu. Beside Finland, Hannu Hautala lived and managed business nine years in Germany, four years in Hungary and, also in Estonia.
Anita Natesh
Commercial Vice-President – North America, Europe, Middle East and India for Energy Storage
Albemarle
Anita Natesh is Commercial Vice President of North America, Europe, Middle East and India of the Energy Storage global business unit of Albemarle Corporation, a global leader in transforming lithium and bromine into critical ingredients for mobility, energy, connectivity, and health. Natesh joined Albemarle in September 2019 as Global Vice President for Lithium and Specialties. Prior to joining Albemarle, Natesh served as Global Key Account & Sales Excellence Director for Eastman Chemical Company, where she worked for 11 years. While at Eastman Chemcial, she served in a number of leadership roles, including investor relations, commercial, and business management. Natesh has 30 years of experience working in both the chemical and consumer goods industries. Natesh earned a Master of Business Administration from Rice University, and both a chemical engineer degree and a minor in environmental engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). Natesh has served on the board for the Children’s Hands on Museum and was also Vice-Chair for Ashley Academy, an independent school, both located in Northeast Tennessee.
Tobias Abt
Manager Raw Material Procurement and Strategic Market Development
Mercedes-Benz AG
Tobias is Manger for Raw Material Procurement and Strategic Market Development at Mercedes-Benz AG. Tobias has over 10 years’ experience in global roles within the automotive industry. He has worked on projects and operations in Germany, Japan, China and the US across a wide range of commercial disciplines. He leads a team which plays an essential role of the transformation in the context of raw material security at Mercedes-Benz. Furthermore he is responsible for the internal market intelligence with regards to all relevant raw materials within the company. Tobias holds a Bachelor Degree in Industrial Engineering and a Master of Science Degree in Management of Innovation and Business Development, Strategic Management and Leadership.
Wim Geens
Business Head – Lithium & Manganese
Umicore
Wim Geens is leading the lithium and manganese sourcing activities for Umicore’s Battery Materials division since 2022. Wim joined Umicore in 2003 where he started his career in the business unit Electro-Optic Materials, covering a wide variety of roles managing R&D, operations and commercial teams. During his time at EOM he spent 4 years in the USA to start up a new production line for germanium substrates. Wim was also member of the EOM management team from 2016 until 2020. Prior to his current role he worked as Senior Innovation Director in Umicore’s corporate New Business Incubation team, developing strategies for Electronics materials and applications. Wim has a Master’s degree in Physics and completed a PhD at the Interuniversity Microelectronics Center IMEC in Leuven.
Cormac O'Laoire
Managing Director
Electrosis
Co-founder of Electrios Energy, Cormac O’Laoire, is one of the leading experts in the lithium-ion battery industry with a proven track record of success. He has been at the forefront of providing comprehensive solutions to complex challenges within the battery sector. With over 20 years of experience, Cormac commands a deep understanding of the industry’s intricacies, from supply chain optimization to gigafactory development. He is also well-versed in the intricacies of the Chinese battery industry ecosystem. His expertise is sought after by a diverse clientele, including mining and chemical companies, battery and automotive manufacturers, arbitration and litigation cases, consumer electronics firms and conferences.
Nicolo Campagnol
Battery Insights Manager
McKinsey & Company
Nicolò is the director and co-founder of Battery Insights, a McKinsey solution (subsidiary) dedicated to support clients and develop insights for the battery industry. He earned his PhD in electrochemistry between KU Leuven (Belgium) and MIT (USA), in the groups of Prof Fransaer and Dinca respectively, and he currently still active in academia working as scientific collaborator at UC Louvain (Belgium) in the group of Prof Vlad. As director of Battery Insights he manages a team of 15 people, spread in 3 continents, fully dedicated in maintaining the battery knowledge for McKinsey and support serving 300+ clients every year
Robert Searle
Analyst – Battery Raw Materials
Fastmarkets
Rob has been with Fastmarkets for two years as an analyst working in the Battery Raw Materials Team. His focus has been on covering the cobalt and high-purity manganese markets, developing the company’s long-term supply and demand forecast and authoring the weekly analysis within the Fastmarkets’ battery raw materials tracker. Rob previously worked as a petrochemicals analyst at price reporting agency ICIS as a global coordinator for methanol, acetates and chlor-alkali markets. He graduated from Imperial College London with an MEng in Chemical Engineering.
Philipp Wunderlich
Senior Manager – Battery Technology Consulting Lead
Accenture Industry X
Philipp Wunderlich has a background in materials science, commencing his academic journey at RWTH Aachen University. In 2014, he embarked on a career in battery research in California, focusing on the investigation of electrode materials for cutting-edge battery technologies. Over the years, he honed his expertise and undertook research work in the development of high-energy carbon electrodes for post-lithium-ion batteries during the pursuit of his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry and Electrochemistry. Following the successful completion of his doctoral studies, Philipp transitioned to a postdoctoral role within the Battery Components & Recycling group at the Chair of Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components at RWTH Aachen University. In 2020, he assumed the role of Project Manager at umlaut, a consortium of consultancies and engineering firms, which was later acquired by Accenture, a global leader in professional services renowned for its expertise in digital and consulting. Today, Philipp holds the position of Senior Manager at Accenture, serving within the Industry X Infrastructure and Capital Projects division. In this capacity, he takes the helm in leading the battery technology consulting team, specializing in the provision of technical advisory and engineering services to the battery industry. His focus areas encompass crucial topics such as battery industrialization in Gigafactories, energy storage solutions, circular economy practices, and digitalization within the battery value chain. Philipp has consistently demonstrated his thought leadership in the field, serving as a featured speaker at numerous international industry events and conferences. In these forums, he has shared valuable insights on the future of cell chemistries, competitive battery product strategies, and the implementation of smart battery production processes.
Robert Baylis
Portfolio Manager
InnoEnergy
Robert Baylis is Portfolio Manager at the European Battery Alliance (EBA) Strategic Battery Materials (SBM) Fund, a joint venture between InnoEnergy and Demeter. Robert joined InnoEnergy in 2022, responsible for the EBA SBM Fund setup, strategy and scouting. Before moving to InnoEnergy, Robert worked on raw material strategy for Johnson Matthey Battery Materials (JMBM). Prior to JMBM, he was Managing Director of Roskill (now part of Wood Mackenzie), where after first researching the lithium and cobalt markets in the late 2000s the battery market became a strong focus of Robert and Roskill’s research and consulting activities in the 2010s.
Matt James
Euro Manganese
Matt James is a highly experienced corporate executive in both established global industrials and small growth companies, with extensive experience in developing successful businesses within the natural resources, chemicals and environmental industries. Matt joined Euro Manganese as President and CEO in December 2021. His previous executive roles include: Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Co.; Vice President, Strategy & Corporate Communications at Lynas Corporation, a specialty metals company; founding Managing Director of Rutila Resources; and Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, Harsco Corporation. Matt received a B. Eng. (Hons) degree in Ceramic Engineering from the University of New South Wales, Australia and a Ph.D. in Material Science and Engineering from Queens’ College at the University of Cambridge. He is a Graduate member of the Australian Institute of Directors and a classic car enthusiast.
Charles-Olivier Tarte
Chief Financial Officer
Nouveau Monde Graphite
Charles-Olivier Tarte is a senior executive focused on financial management, strategic planning, administration, and technologies, with over 10 years of operational experience in the graphite industry. Charles-Olivier join Nouveau Monde Graphite as their chief financial officer in 2016, NMG is developping a fully integrated source of Natural Graphite active anode material. Charles-Olivier played a pivotal role in listing NMG into the New York Stock Exchange and more recently, announcing multiyear offtake agreements and investment agreements with Panasonic Energy and General Motors.
Andrew Leyland
SC Insights
Andrew advises leading OEMs and Oil & Gas companies on how to react to the rapid growth in Li-ion battery deployment, both in electric vehicles and energy storage systems. This includes advice on contract structures, commercial terms and direct investment into the sector. He has over 20 years of experience in the metals, mining and chemicals industry as an analyst and consultant and has held roles as Head of Forecasts & Consulting at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, Director at Wood Mackenzie, and Associate Director and Senior Commodities Analyst at VTB Capital. Supply Chain Insights maintains industry-wide models and forecasts, providing both data and advisory solutions to those involved in and looking to invest in the battery sector. This includes input to Lenders Market Reports, Due Diligence Projects, and Feasibility Studies. He holds a MA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Oxford.
Susannah McLaren
Head of Responsible Sourcing and Sustainability
Cobalt Institute
Susannah is Head of Responsible Sourcing & Sustainability at the Cobalt Institute – the global trade association representing the cobalt industry. She has over 20 years' in-house and advisory experience across numerous sectors and markets. Susannah is a Board member of the Global Battery Alliance and sits on the Women in Mining UK Policy Committee. She also represents the Cobalt Institute on several prominent platforms, including ICMM, Fair Cobalt Alliance, Drive+ and Eurometaux. Susannah previously managed the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) Responsible Gold Programme, which is an OECD-aligned standard mandatory for all Good Delivery Refiners. She also spent a period working for Shift – the leading centre of expertise on the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights – where she advised progressive global companies on human rights. Prior to this, Susannah spent ten years employed with a global engineering contractor to the extractives sector, latterly as the Global Head of Social Sustainability.
Elewout Depicker
VP, Commercial & Corporate Development EMEA
Li-Cycle
Mr. Depicker oversees the execution of Li-Cycle’s commercial activities and corporate development strategy for the Europe, the Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”) regions. Before joining Li-Cycle, Elewout Depicker was Business Head Lithium, Manganese, Additives and Supply Chain Management at Umicore’s Rechargeable Battery Materials division. At Umicore, he was in charge of growing the global sourcing portfolio of battery raw materials going into Umicore’s PCAM and CAM products.Elewout has extensive experience in the marketing and commercialization of battery specialty chemicals. Mr. Depicker holds his Master of Commercial Engineering from Ghent University in Belgium.
Jonathan Lafontaine
Strategic Advisor
Quebec's Ministry of Natural Resources
Mr Jonathan Lafontaine started his current role as the Mining exploration activity monitor for the ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts in August 2020. Mr Lafontaine graduated with a B.Sc. in geology from Laval University in 2001 including an academic exchange with the University of Alberta, and graduated with a M.Sc. in geology from the University of New Brunswick in 2007. He began his professional career in Saskatchewan for a uranium exploration and mining company and pursued professional interests as a geologist in New Brunswick, Quebec and Saskatchewan. Among his successes, he contributed to the discovery of the Matoush project, Quebec’s discovery of the year in 2008, which helped him convince the IAEA to now recognize it as a new deposit type. Between 2013 and 2020, he has assumed several different roles in the fields of corporate development and mining investments, and he managed technical committees in the field of hydrogen standardization at both the international and Canadian levels for ISO and SCC respectively, with hydrogen a significant path in the field in electrification. Since the beginning of his career, he has been involved with several commodities and numerous projects representing the entire mineral development process. Mr Lafontaine is a registered professional in Québec, du New-Brunswick and Saskatchewan.
Sean Sargent
Green Lithium
Sean joined Green Lithium as Chief Executive Officer in January 2021. He trained as a Maritime Civil Engineer and is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Sean has worked in process and infrastructure programmes, predominantly in the nuclear industry, for the last 30 years. During this time, he was the Site Director at Berkeley Nuclear Power Station and Programme Director for a programme to retrieve, process and store intermediate level radioactive waste. For many years, Sean has worked for Jacobs Engineering where he led the nuclear new build business, the defence business and post-acquisition integration teams.
Jessica Fung
Head Strategist
Pala Investments
Jessica is Head Strategist at Pala. Her focus is on investigating emerging technologies such as electric vehicles, renewables, recycling and blockchain, and forecasting the impact these trends will have on commodity markets and how investors will finance the future economy. She also leads Pala’s ESG due diligence process. Prior to joining Pala, Jessica was Commodities Strategist and an Equity Research Analyst at BMO Capital Markets – a member of their top-ranked Metals & Mining global research team – where her in-depth analysis and integrity gained the trust of asset management and industry clients around the world.
Przemek Koralewski
Global Head of Market Development
Lucy Crane
ESG & Sustainability Manager
Cornish Lithium
Lucy is a geologist with a background in grassroots exploration. She holds an MSc in Mining Geology from Camborne School of Mines and a Master’s degree in Earth Sciences from the University of Oxford. Prior to joining Cornish Lithium, she worked as an exploration geologist for Altus Strategies, planning and implementing exploration strategies for base and precious metals projects up to drill stage in Africa. She is now applying these skills to Cornish Lithium’s exploration programme. Part of her role at Cornish Lithium is to foster collaboration with other industry and academic partners to accelerate the exploration programme and test new concepts. Lucy has a keen interest in furthering the interests of young mining professionals and in promoting the mining industry to students, and sits on the committee of both Young Mining Professionals and Women in Mining (UK).
Francisco Carranza
Basquevolt
Francisco Carranza is the Chief Executive for BASQUEVOLT, a battery cell and energy storage cutting edge startup that aims to become a world leader in solid state batteries. Before joining BASQUEVOLT, Francisco has developed a career in the automotive sector for more than 20 years holding several positions in multinational companies. Before joining this company, Francisco was a member of the Executive Committee for battery cell producer ACC Automotive Cells, a venture between Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz and Saft. He also was Managing Director of Energy, Strategic Partnerships& Projects Leader and New Business Development Manager at Nissan Motor Corporation since 2008. Francisco owns an extensive experience in managing new business opportunities regarding connected services, electric vehicle grid integration (V2G, smart charging), renewable energy generation and stationary energy storage using second life vehicle lithium batteries. Francisco has two engineering degrees (Sevilla Engineering School and IFP School) and two MBA degrees (EM Lyon and Cranfield School of Management).
Paul Lusty
Head of Battery Raw Materials Research
Paul Lusty is head of battery raw materials research at Fastmarkets, where he leads a global team of analysts that provide market analysis, short- and long-term forecasts, cost assessment and consultancy on lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel, manganese, copper, recycling and black mass, and battery manufacturing and cell costs. Paul’s focus is on understanding and forecasting these markets to help our customers navigate volatility and provide them with a strategic advantage. With extensive experience in economic geology, the mining and metals industry and critical mineral supply chains, Paul spent much of his career at the British Geological Survey, holding the roles of Head of Critical Raw Materials, and most recently Director of the UK Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre, where he advised government and industry on assessing and building mineral supply chain resilience.
Raju Daswani
Raju Daswani is the CEO of Fastmarkets – a global cross-commodity Price Reporting Agency (PRA). Fastmarkets, which incorporates the businesses formerly known as Metal Bulletin, AMM, AgriCensus and RISI, is headquartered in London but has over 400 employees located across 14 global offices, including London, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, Sao Paulo, Chicago, Boston, New York and Ukraine. The business has expanded rapidly since 2014 through organic growth and a number of important M&A deals that have been transacted successfully. Fastmarkets publishes over 5,500 commodity price benchmarks for the metals, mining, agriculture and forest products markets, many of which are used as financial benchmarks for derivative contracts on the world’s largest exchanges, including the SGX, CME and the LME. Fastmarkets prices are supported by its highly-regarded market commentary, forecasts, research, and a portfolio of over 25 leading industry conferences each year. Raju joined Fastmarkets (formerly known as Metal Bulletin) in 1995 as a commodities economist prior to which he spent three years at Rio Tinto as a business and marketing analyst. He graduated in 1991 with a B.Sc. in Economics with Accounting & Finance from the London School of Economics.
William Adams
Head of Base Metals & Battery Research
William has been involved in the metals markets since 1986, he focuses on the base and battery metals research at Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets Research aims to provide a clear and focused understanding of the metals markets. Prior to working for Fastmarkets, William worked with Rudolf Wolff & Co Ltd, which was one of the founding members of the London Metal Exchange, where he gained broad insight into all aspects of the base and precious metals markets, working in their London, New York and Tokyo offices.
Olivier Masson
Principal Analyst
Olivier Joined Fastmarkets in December 2022, covering battery raw materials, particularly nickel. Olivier's prior experience includes aluminium, stainless steel and nickel analysis at CRU. Following this Olivier joined Roskill, where he was responsible for the company's nickel, stainless steel and molybdenum analysis. At Wood Mackenzie, Olivier covered the molybdenum and aluminium markets.
Phoebe O'Hara
Energy Storage Lead Analyst
Phoebe leads the Energy Storage System (ESS) and Battery Demand team at Fastmarkets, which involves organising the production of EV and ESS content and forecasts to understand the implications on global battery and metal demand. Phoebe also runs the Inclusivity Forum, seeking to improve the diversity of the broader renewables industry.
Thomas Beck
Chief Commercial Officer
Thomas Beck (M.Sc., Chemicals) is the Chief Commercial Officer at Keliber. He joined the company on May 1, 2022. Previously, he worked at Albemarle, where he was responsible for lithium salts product sales since 2016. Prior to that, he held commercial positions at Rockwood Lithium from 2008 to 2015 and at Clariant International from 1998 to 2008. As Chief Commercial Officer, he´s responsible for revenue growth, off-takes, sourcing and customer experience.
Peter Hannah
Global Product Pricing Manager
Peter joined Albemarle in 2023, where he is responsible for shaping the pricing strategy of the Energy Storage business. Since joining, he has played a pivotal role in advancing the company’s bidding event initiative, aimed at fostering more transparent price discovery. Prior to Albemarle, Peter spent a decade at Fastmarkets, gaining extensive experience developing pricing mechanisms across a diverse array of commodity markets. He has a background in geology, with degrees from Bristol University and Camborne School of Mines, and began his career as an exploration geologist in Tanzania.
Francesco Gattiglio
Vice President External Affairs – Europe
Francesco Gattiglio is Vice President External Affairs, Europe at Albemarle, a global specialty chemicals company with leading positions in lithium, bromine and refining catalysts. He joined Albemarle in 2022. Before joining Albemarle, he worked as Director EU Affairs & Policy at EUROBAT, the Association of European Automotive and Industrial Battery Manufacturers, since 2014. At Albemarle, he follows the EU legislation on sustainability, due diligence, decarbonisation and electrification of transports. He has a background in International Relations (University of Florence) and International Political Economy (University of Warwick).
Kirstyn Petras
Senior Price Reporter
Kirstyn Petras is a Senior Price Reporter at Fastmarkets, where she covers nonferrous recycled materials including, aluminium and copper scrap, as well as reporting of battery materials and battery recycling markets, such as black mass. Prior to joining Fastmarkets in 2021, she covered petrochemical and uranium markets and previously worked writing news briefs for MGOs and MNCs.
Adele Rouleau
ESG & Critical Minerals Lead
SFA Oxford
Christian Barbier
Founder & Director
CRB Resources
Christian Barbier has over 25 years of experience in leading resources and industrial MNCs, holding board directorships with unlisted companies and senior management positions with global scope based in Europe, Asia and Australia. His core expertise is in critical and industrial mineral supply chains, in strategy, technical marketing and business turnarounds, with successful P&L responsibilities both in growth and in restructuring situations. Christian is currently managing CRB Resources, an advisory and consultancy firm he founded in 2015, focusing on strategy, market approach and partnerships in the critical and industrial minerals sector. Prior to this, Christian was Chief Sales & Marketing Officer on the Executive team of Allkem Ltd, a lithium miner and chemical producer, which under his tenure grew into a global leader in the industry until its merger into Arcadium Lithium, combining Allkem 56% share of the combined entity with the 44% share of Livent, one of the 3 legacy lithium players. Before that, Christian was Head of Sales & Marketing at Iluka Resources, the world's #1 zircon and rutile producer and an emerging player in the rare earth minerals supply, an Executive Committee member reporting to the CEO and Board. Until 2015, Christian was President Markets at Sibelco Asia, one of the world's leading industrial minerals groups, overseeing marketing, communication and sales of the 8 mining and processing country subsidiaries in Asia – 2 of which inside China, turned around acquisitions in Korea, India and Japan, managed a 70/30 j/v with a Japanese partner. Christian arrived in Asia in 2004 as Managing Director of Alcan International South East Asia & Australia till 2007, where he restructured the subsidiaries incorporated in Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Australia, with Board responsibilities in each legal entity. Christian started his career in 1988 in Pechiney, where he worked in France, Spain and Australia, within the Aluminium Metal Division, in Sales and in Financial Control, and within the International Trade Division in General Management positions, until Pechiney was acquired by Alcan in 2003.
Vlad Olteanu
Senior Counsel EU Law & Policy
Loyens & Loeff & Strategic Advisor, RECHARGE
Vlad is an effective, trusted and creative public and regulatory affairs professional with 20+ years of EU policy-making and legal experience, working closely with the European institutions to advance public and private business interests. Vlad has successfully represented the interests of both global large companies (active in the energy, IT/digital, banking/financial and healthcare sectors), medium sized European companies and European business associations. Prior to joining the firm, Vlad created and managed leading EU Law & Policy functions for other top-tier law firms (including two American and a "magic circle").
Kinga Timaru-Kast
Director for Public Affairs and Communication
RECHARGE
Kinga Timaru-Kast is Director for Public Affairs & Communications at RECHARGE – The Advanced Rechargeable & Lithium Batteries Association. She holds a Masters degree in Political Sciences, with studies in Mainz, Germany and Strasbourg, France. She started her public affairs and communications career in Brussels at SolarPower Europe in 2006 where she stayed nine years. She has furthermore worked as the Heads of Communications at EuroCommerce, Grayling Public Affairs Brussels and EUFORES (a parliamentary network promoting renewables and energy efficiency policies) before joining RECHARGE in 2021. At RECHARGE she is running the PA related workstreams, with a focus on the Batteries Regulation, as well as the communication activities of the association.
Henrik Sylve
Director of Commercial Recycling
Northvolt AB
Henrik Sylve is since 2021 Commercial Director at Northvolt Materials, that is the business unit within Northvolt group that handle recycling and production of active material. Today sourcing of black mass and trade in other recycled battery materials connected to Revolt 1.1 is part of his responsibilities. Northvolt Materials site Revolt 1.1 in Skelleftea Sweden is the first battery recycling plant in Europe, that is fully integrated with a battery manufacturer. Before joining Northvolt he has been in the metal recycling industry for more than 25 years and with experience in setting up metal recycling plants and been active in global trade in Non-ferrous and special alloys, have worked with companies such Remondis, Veolia and Hans Andersson group in Sweden. He has a degree in Industrial Marketing from Uppsala University.
William Labat-Labourdette
Managing Director – Transition Minerals, Metals & Batteries
BNP Paribas
William has over 15 years of banking experience in Europe and the Americas. He joined BNP Paribas in 2009 and since 2015, has been part of the Transition Minerals, Metals & Batteries team in the Low Carbon Transition Group. He is a Managing Director in charge of developing the bank’s activity on the full battery value chain from battery raw materials, cell components, battery manufacturing up to recycling. William has extensive experience in originating, structuring and executing debt and capital structure advisory as well as debt arranging transactions.
Vincent Veron
Low Carbon Transition Group
Vincent is heading the EMEA Transition Minerals, Metals and Battery industry team within BNP Paribas’ Low Carbon Transition Group (LCTG). The team has built a unique expertise with established companies and startups in the industry with a multi-product approach including advisory, debt arranging and private placements. He has over 20 years of international banking expertise. Vincent graduated from HEC and is a CFA charterholder.
Wang Can
Overseas Business Manager
Sunrise SNE
Wang Can joined Sunrise SNE in 2022，she plays a critical role in its overseas business and has been acting as one of the key participants in major overseas projects. With her global perspective and linguistic capabilities (Chinese, English and Korean), she has developed a deep understanding of the hard rock lithium extraction industry, from PFS all the way to production.
Anna Chadwick
Head of Battery Metals
Freight Investor Services (FIS)
Anna is Head of Battery Metals at FIS, leading a team of brokers across offices in the UK, the US and China. Under her tenure, the Desk executed two market firsts for battery metals: the first cleared Cobalt option trade and the first Cobalt Hydroxide futures trade and has considerably grown the business. The FIS Battery Metals Desk maintains a leading market share in Cobalt, Lithium, and other battery metals.
Bozorg Khanbaei
Policy Officer
Batteries European Partnership Association (BEPA)
Bozorg Khanbaei is the Policy Officer for BEPA, representing the battery stakeholders in the Batt4EU Partnership. The Batt4EU Partnership provides the R&I funding needed to build a globally competitive and sustainable battery value chain in Europe. Before his time at BEPA, Bozorg was a researcher in the field of battery techno-economics.
Sarah Montgomery
CEO & Co-Founder
Infyos
Sarah Montgomery is the CEO and Co-founder of Infyos. The digital platform that helps energy, automotive and battery companies manage their battery supply chain sustainability. Sarah has been recognised as a one of the world’s most impactful leaders on Forbes 30 Under 30 and has been featured in publications including Financial Times, Sifted and Business Insider. Sarah is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Battery Alliance and IRMA’s Working Group on Circular Economy. Sarah speaks Chinese and has previously built the China expansion at the supply chain technology scale-up Everledger backed by Tencent.
Srinivas Popuri
Battery Consulting Partners
Srinivas Popuri is the Managing Director at Battery Consulting Partners (BCP), a UK-based firm known for its expertise in advisory and consulting services across the entire battery value chain. BCP’s services encompass active materials manufacturing, recycling, and facilitating strategic partnerships development services, addressing the critical needs of the rapidly evolving battery industry. Before founding BCP, Srinivas played a pivotal role in numerous high-impact projects, leveraging his more than decade of experience and knowledge to bridge the gap between cutting-edge research and practical application in the battery sector.
Georgi Geogiev
Battery Raw Materials Analyst
Georgi is an Analyst at the Battery Raw Materials team, covering the Anodes and Graphite markets. Georgi’s role includes the performance of overall market analysis, development of demand and supply models for our short- and long-term forecasts and consultancy projects. Prior to joining Fastmarkets, Georgi was a transfer pricing analyst at Deloitte and KPMG. His previous role was focused on market research, as well as functional and economic analysis of intercompany transactions for multinational enterprises from various industries including the copper and steel sectors. Through his consultancy experience, Georgi developed an understanding of different value chain models. Georgi holds a Bachelor's degree in International Economic Relations from UNWE, Sofia.
James McKeigue
Base Metals Editor – Europe
James is the Europe base metals editor, leading a team of reporters that cover copper, aluminium, nickel, zinc, lead and tin. He has a particular emphasis on how these metals will enable the energy transition. His career as an investment journalist began in 2008, covering the European equity markets for Forbes. That was followed by two years spent in Asia, Africa and Latin America writing about commodities for US B2B magazines, such as Oil & Gas Investor and Engineering & Mining Journal. He returned to London in 2010 to write for MoneyWeek, before founding LatAm INVESTOR – the UK's only Latin America-focused investment magazine in 2013. During more than ten years as editor, he interviewed presidents, CEOs and central bank governors. Because Latin America is a major commodity exporter, there was a constant focus on metals and mining. His time at LatAm INVESTOR involved visiting mines, taking part in the region's largest mining conferences and moderating debates between government officials and industry insiders.
Mark Mistry
Senior Manager, LCA & Sustainability
Nickel Institute
Mark is responsible for life cycle management and sustainability issues in the LCA & Sustainability team. He monitors regulatory developments likely to impact the nickel industry and identifies opportunities to contribute to the academic and scientific debate on life cycle assessment and the benefits of using and recycling nickel. He is moreover involved into the development of global sustainability standards. Mark is based in Brussels. Prior to joining the Nickel Institute in 2008, Mark worked as REACH Coordinator at Aurubis, the integrated copper group and copper recycler and as Environmental Manager at Eurometaux, the European non-ferrous metals association. As German citizen, Mark holds a degree in Economic Geology and has a PhD in Mining Engineering both from Aachen RWTH Technical University (Germany).
Guillermo Espiga
VP & Head of Business Development
Nth Cycle
Guillermo has more than 25 years of experience in the execution of large energy and infrastructure projects. He has been a project finance banker and infrastructure developer with successful development companies. He has an engineering background with a master degree in finance. He has developed and delivered projects in excess of $4 billion domestically and internationally. He is passionate about sustainable infrastructure and circular economy. He is the Head of Business Development for Nth Cycle and responsible for building partnerships and deploying Nth Cycle revolutionary metal refining technology.
Solomon Cefai
Solomon is a London-based senior price reporter on Fastmarkets Technology and Energy Metals team. Along with a range of minor metals – both mainstream and exotic – he covers graphite and silicon in Europe. Recent areas of coverage include China’s export controls on graphite, gallium, and germanium, whether the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) can support graphite production in Europe, and whether the region’s investment in silicon-based anode production is lagging behind China and North America’s.
Alex Cook
Alex is a senior pricing reporter, having been at Fastmarkets for three years, he focuses on the cobalt and fluorspar markets.
Pieter Verhees
Techno-Commercial Manager, Battery Recycling Solutions
To follow
Bansri Shah
Head of Production
Ana Cabral
Co-Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer
Sigma Lithium
Ana Cristina Cabral has over 20 years of experience as a senior banker at global investment banks in New York, London and São Paulo. Ms. Cabral is a former Head of Lat. Am. Capital Markets at Goldman Sachs in New York and a former Managing Director at the firm. Ms. Cabral has been involved in a large number of transactions over her career, totaling more than US$100 billion, five of which won the prestigious IFR “Deal of the Year” award, including the privatization of Vale in 1996 and the acquisition of Inco by Vale in 2006. Ms. Cabral has an MBA degree from Columbia Business School and a Master in Finance degree from London Business School. Ms. Cabral serves on the Advisory Board of Columbia University Global Centers and is a CCEC board member of The American School of São Paulo.
Andre Cortesao
Research Analyst – Battery Raw Materials – Recycling
Rohit Kumar
Director – EV and Battery Sector
Standard Chartered
Rohit is the Director for EV, Energy Storage, and Battery value chain at Standard Chartered for Investment Banking and Transition Finance function. Prior, he served in corporate strategy at Johnson Matthey in Battery Materials, and Battery Recycling businesses in the UK. He also served in strategy and operations roles at Bosch Mobility Solutions in China and India and in consulting for EV and Battery sector. He is driven by impact and is passionate about his role of mobilising capital in the energy transition.
Bram Sprangers
Investment Manager – Climate Tech & Energy
Invest-NL
Bram Sprangers is an Investment Manager at Invest-NL, where he contributes to the Energy Transition team of the Dutch National Promotional Institute (NPI). Bram is passionate about pioneering hardware innovations that are transforming the future of energy. His focus spans across three key areas: the generation of clean energy, cutting-edge energy storage solutions, and the efficient consumption of energy. With investment tickets ranging from €5 to €50 million, Bram manages a portfolio that includes companies in the Battery Materials and Long Duration Energy Storage sectors. He holds an MSc in Finance from ESADE Business School in Barcelona, which equips him with a solid foundation in financial strategy and investment.
Karel Vratny
Thermal Solutions and Battery Materials – EMEA
Veolia
Karel Vratny is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience in the water industry. As a domain expert, he specializes in thermal and integrated flowsheet solutions, with a particular focus on battery material fields (mining, refining, pCAM, battery recycling). Karel's expertise lies in positioning complex projects that address industrial challenges, such as the management of sodium sulfate. With a deep understanding of the intricacies of industrial processes, Karel has built a reputation for providing innovative solutions that optimize operations and enhance efficiency. His extensive knowledge of thermal technologies, integrated flowsheets, and battery material applications allows him to offer tailored solutions that meet the unique needs of his clients.
Roland Chavasse MBA
Secretary General
International Lithium Association (ILiA)
Roland Chavasse MBA is the Secretary General of the International Lithium Association (ILiA), the global industry body representing the lithium value chain, which he co-founded with Anand Sheth in 2021. Roland has a wealth of experience with rare and critical elements, including a decade of commercial experience working with tantalum, rhenium, cobalt, niobium and nickel-based superalloys. Since 2016 he has specialized in proactive metals association management, hosting conferences on four continents, managing responsible sourcing programs, editing trade journals and advocating for members’ interests. He has previously lead the Tantalum-Niobium International Study Center (T.I.C.) and the Minor Metals Trade Association (MMTA). He is based in London, UK.
Emanuel Proença
Savannah Resources
Emanuel Proença is Savannah Resources’ Chief Executive Officer since 2023. His focus has been advancing the Barroso Lithium Project, the most significant spodumene project in Europe, to initiate production by the end of 2026. This project, fundamental to Europe’s energy transition, will produce an average of 191 kt/annual spodumene concentrate (5.5% Li2O) that will supply sufficient lithium for approximately 0.5 million to 1 million vehicle battery packs per annum. Emanuel has been instrumental in driving the company and the project’s strategic vision and development, growing the team and leading new partnership agreements. Emanuel is also a member of Savannah’s Board of Directors. With extensive experience in energy, green fuels production, market development and electric mobility, Emanuel has held various leadership roles in well-established corporations, namely with PRIO, the largest producer of biofuels in Portugal and one of the largest European producers of biodiesel from waste raw materials. Emanuel holds a Master’s in Industrial Engineering and Management from Instituto Superior Técnico and an MBA from INSEAD and The Wharton School. Beyond his professional endeavours, Emanuel is the father of three young girls and is an avid outdoors explorer with a particular appreciation of his native Portugal’s natural beauty.
Iveta Zagorova
Manager – Research Analyst
Iveta leads the research analyst team at Fastmarkets, where she is responsible for overseeing the collection, organization, and validation of data and information that form the foundation of Fastmarkets' analyses and forecasts. Currently, Iveta is engaged in research on gigafactories, focusing on understanding and quantifying the relationships among all participants in the battery raw materials value chain. With a diverse background in advisory roles, Iveta has held numerous analytical positions across the IT and publishing sectors, including at Dow Jones Indexes, The Wall Street Journal, IBM, and VMware. She holds an MBA from Pennsylvania State University and a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Computer Information Systems from the University of St. Elizabeth.
Chris Doornbos
Founder and CEO
E3 Lithium
Chris Doornbos is the founder, CEO and Director of E3 Lithium, listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV: ETL). He is an innovator and entrepreneur, an aviator and a founder of emerging ideas and technology. He is passionate about collaboration and progressing innovation. Chris has a broad range of experience in capital raising and M&A. At E3 Lithium, Chris emphasizes risk management, developing and managing an exceptional technical team and well-strategized project development; with a clear focus on creating and capturing value for shareholders. Chris has successfully led E3 Lithium from the foundation of a private company with a handful of permits to what is now a public company with a global scale lithium resource. Chris is a co-founder of the Battery Metals Association of Canada and the former Chair of the Canada ISO mirror committee for TC333 (lithium standards). Previously, Chris was the CEO of Revere Development Corp and VP Exploration of MinQuest. He has held a variety of technical positions with mineral and oil and gas development companies including Avalon Minerals (AUS), Suncor, Petro-Canada, Meridian Minerals and NovaGold Corp.
Kamila Slupek
Sustainability Director
Eurometaux
Kamila joined Eurometaux in 2017 and she oversees the Sustainability Department. She has started her professional career in the environmental consultancy (eko-net.pl) advising on the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS). In 2006 Kamila joined APPLiA, representing household appliance industry, where she dealt with energy efficiency, e-waste and chemicals. Later on, she moved to the machine tools industry association, CECIMO, and was responsible for ecodesign, technical dossiers and EU funded projects.
Emilie Bodoin
Pure Lithium
Thibault de Saint-Vaulry
Regional Sales Manager – Europe
Geolith
Thibault manages commercial activities in Europe for Geolith. Having spent a significant part of his career in a French mining group, he is now responsible for business development and the commercialization of Li-Capt(r) technology in Europe
Marco Koch
Associated Partner
Chem4Batteries GmbH
Marco has four years management consulting experience from Roland Berger and overall 10 years battery industry experience. During his studies he was researching on batteries at RWTH Aachen University, Tsinghua University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Marco holds a M.Sc. Business Administration and Mechanical Engineering from RWTH Aachen University, a M.Sc. Power Engineering and Engineering Thermophysics from Tsinghua University, and an MBA from Collège des Ingénieurs.
Research Analyst, Battery Raw Materials – Recycling Based in Sofia, Bulgaria With a background in Geosciences and Environmental Engineering from the University of Coimbra, André gained valuable experience working at the Coimbra Science Museum as a guide in the Palaeontology and Mineralogy galleries during his time at the university. After graduating, he worked in a tungsten mine in northern Portugal. Afterwards worked has a foreign language instructor (Portuguese and English) in Jakarta, Indonesia. André also has experience as a team leader at a BPO company specializing in delivering technical support to leading tech clients. Since 2023, André has been working as a battery recycling research analyst at Fastmarkets, where he is responsible for the quarterly Battery Recycling Outlook and actively participates in battery recycling conferences and events. He enjoys activities such as tennis, hiking, cycling, playing board games, and fossil hunting.
Wolfgang Bernhart
Senior Partner
Roland Berger
Dr. Wolfgang Bernhart has been a Partner at Roland Berger’s Stuttgart office since 2007 and is an expert for automotive topics. He has carried out numerous strategy projects and transformation programs around the world. He helps clients across the whole automotive mobility ecosystem to boost growth and leverage technology and business model innovations around digitization and eMobility. He began his career as a Project Manager for Diebold Deutschland, then joined a major international consulting company in 1996, where he became Associate Director in 1999 and Co-Head of the Automotive Practice in 2001. In 2002, he joined COVISINT Europe as Key Account Director for a big German automotive OEM before returning to consulting in 2003. Wolfgang studied Production Engineering at the University of Karlsruhe. He completed his PhD in 1993 at the Institute for Machine Tools and Operations Technology, also in Karlsruhe, where he was an Assistant Professor.
Lydia Bridges
Senior Sustainability Consultant
Minviro
Lydia is a Senior Sustainability Consultant at Minviro, a company offering industry-leading life cycle assessment (LCA) expertise, a robust database, and innovative software solutions. She has a background in geology, graduating with a first class Masters in Geology from the Camborne School Mines, where her dissertation work focused on progression towards sustainable terrestrial resource production. At Minviro she specialises in LCA for anode materials and wider battery supply chains and has completed numerous studies covering global production of natural and synthetic anode materials, and the influence of raw material supply chains on environmental impacts of battery manufacturing, use, and end-of-life treatment.
Jose Ramos
Business Development Manager – Inorganics Technology Solutions
KBR
José Ramos is a Business Development Manager for KBR’s Inorganics Technology Solutions based in Germany. He is responsible for crafting delivering and pursuing value-adding business propositions to customers worldwide. José is a Chemical Engineer with a master’s degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering. He has +10 combined years’ experience as a process engineer commencing his career working in Saudi Arabia’s oil refineries, and in developing his own biofuels business: Vísel Biofuels. From this experience and learnings in the oil industry and as a renewable energy entrepreneur, he transitioned his mindset, interest, and ambition from purely technical towards a people-centric and business orientation. Prior to joining KBR in 2022, José worked for Avantium in the Netherlands as Business Development Manager in charge for the Middle East region.
Andrea Hotter
Special Correspondent
Andrea Hotter is the New York-based special correspondent at Fastmarkets and has over 25 years’ experience in the metals and mining sector. Her expertise spans commodities and encompasses materials essential for the energy transition, including battery raw materials such as copper, nickel, lithium, cobalt and aluminium. Andrea’s responsibilities include producing insights for Fastmarkets’ customers across all markets to develop users' understanding and effectiveness, and to build Fastmarkets' reputation as a leader at the heart of the metals industry. She acts as a brand ambassador for Fastmarkets globally, through conference chairing and hosting, web seminars, podcasts, social media and other platforms and media. She also works to connect Fastmarkets to industry leaders and position the company as the prime source for market intelligence. Before joining Fastmarkets in New York in 2012, she was the assistant managing editor at Dow Jones Newswires on its energy and commodities desk in London. In this role, she was responsible for markets and equities coverage of metals, agriculture (grains, cocoa, coffee, sugar) and energy (oil, gas, power, renewables) for EMEA. Prior to this, Andrea was on the metals desk for Mitsui Bussan Commodities in London and was a senior correspondent and head of metals for Bridge News.Andrea graduated from Kings College, University of London, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature & Language.
Samuel Moore
ILiAD Technologies
Prior to leading ILiAD Technologies, Sam was Chief Commercial Officer at EnergySource Minerals having previously been a member of its Board. Sam has over 25 years of experience from the energy sector overseeing investment in capital projects and M&A.
Callum Perry
Strategic Markets Editor – Energy Transition
Callum is the strategic markets editor for Fastmarkets based in London with oversight over all of Fastmarkets key battery raw materials prices including lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite. Callum is responsible for developing strategic content as well as the launch and review of prices critical to the energy transition space. Callum has been at Fastmarkets for 5 years now and has covered a broad spectrum of markets from base metals to battery raw materials, most recently leading Fastmarkets spodumene price assessments and initiatives.
David Deak
Chief of Strategy
Dr. David Deak is an entrepreneur whose expertise spans across lithium mining development, battery supply chain developments, energy storage, renewable energy, and electric vehicles. He is CDO at ILiAD Technologies LLC, was formerly the CTO and SVP of Lithium Americas Corp., and is an alum of Tesla Inc., Ambri Inc. (MIT start-up), Lux Research Inc., and Siemens Wind Power. He was educated at the University of Toronto and Oxford University.
Tony Sage
Critical Metals
Over 40 years’ continuous employment at management level. Over 35 years’ experience in the fields of corporate advisory services, funds management and capital raising. Exposure to a variety of industries including mining, exploration, media, health and fitness, professional sporting teams, fashion, tourism, and entertainment
Jon Stibbs
Europe Technology and Energy Metals Editor
Jon Stibbs is Fastmarkets’ London-based Europe Technology and Energy Metals editor and has been with the company since 2018. He has a strong price-reporting background with a focus on the anode side of the battery, as well as considerable experience on several other technology-related metals. Additionally, he arrived with a price reporting agency background covering the electricity sector.
Stina Torjesen
Vice President – Sustainability
Morrow Batteries
Dr Stina Torjesen is positioning Morrow Batteries to be a sustainability champion in the battery sector by building sustainable and circular battery value chains. She has worked on sustainability related issues for over a decade and is a specialist on European and global battery policies. She is educated at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge and holds considerable experience from the worlds of business, policy making and international organisations, including from the United Nations. Stina Torjesen joined Morrow in June 2022 and holds a BA (Hons) from the University of Cambridge and an MPhil and DPhil from the University of Oxford. She maintains a part-time position as Associate Professor at the UiA School of Business and Law and worked previously with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (Nupi) and the sustainability consultancy SIGLA.
Ellen Carey
Chief External Affairs Officer
Circulor
Ellen has dedicated her career to advocating for clean technologies—running successful campaigns for technologies such as electric vehicles and renewable energy that shape market dynamics and create new business opportunity. She has held senior positions at Samsung, Audi of America, and the American Wind Energy Association, working internationally across policy, communications, and corporate development.
Ian Caton
Director Metals Production
CME Group
Ian Caton is responsible for the strategic development, management, and profitability of the CME Group ’s Industrial metals business. Since joining CME Group in 2015, Ian has covered a wide range of initiatives and areas from corporate finance to technology platforms. Now his focus is specifically on cultivating growth across industrial metals markets. The Aluminium product suite is one of the fastest growing and diverse offerings from the Exchange that falls under his remit.
Per-Inge Kruse
Group Director, Business Development & Strategic Alliances
Talga Group
20+ years of experience in sales, BD and strategic alliances across the automotive and marine industries. Former Executive Director of automotive design and development group FEV’s Swedish subsidiary and Head of BD at transport and energy engineering consultancy Ricardo.
Dominic Wells
Research Director
Blue Project
Dominic Wells is a Research Director at Project Blue, a commodity market intelligence provider specialising in the critical materials sector. Dominic oversees Project Blue’s cost and ESG team. The team covers a wide range of commodities including lithium, rare earth elements, nickel, and more and specialises in financial analysis of critical materials operations and projects and industry-wide cost services.
Jose Miguel Berguño
Senior VP Corporate Services & Sustainability
SQM
Jose Miguel Berguño holds a degree in Industrial Engineering and an MBA from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He joined SQM in 1998 as a Research Engineer. Three years later, he became Supply Chain Manager, and in 2006, he was appointed Human Resources Manager. From 2010 to 2011, he served as the National Director of the Sence Program at the Chilean Ministry of Labor, and in 2012, he was the HR Manager at Vitamina Work Life. In 2013, he returned to SQM as Performance and Supply Chain Manager. He was appointed VP of Human Resources and Performance in 2016. In March 2019, he assumed the position of Vice President of Nitrate Operations, which he held until December 2021, when he was named Senior Vice President of Corporate Services.
Martin Steinbild
General Manager – Europe
SCT
Throughout his 30-year professional career, Martin has dedicated himself to strategic and business development roles within the engineering & construction and lithium industry. A significant portion of his experience includes a decade at Albemarle, where he spearheaded recycling initiatives, strategic marketing efforts for battery materials, and lithium resource management. Subsequently, he held positions such as Director of Business Development at Savannah Resources, Manager at Ineos Inovyn, and Vice President of Strategy at Adionics. Additionally, he has undertaken various lithium consulting assignments, further expanding his expertise in the field. Martin is now General Manager Europe for the world leading engineering & construction company SCT, responsible for all matters related to European lithium conversion plants.
Krishna Muthu PhD CEng
Senior Analyst – Battery Manufacturing Cost Modelling
Krishna joins Fastmarkets from Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) where he was a Lead Cell Engineer working on electric vehicle (EV) Batteries. His tenure at JLR included characterizing state-of-the-art Li-ion cells (performance and lifetime) for EVs, including the upcoming 2022 Range Rover PHEV. He also worked in a multi-disciplinary team to develop BEV SUV battery pack concepts and led several research and development projects with the Warwick Manufacturing Group at the University of Warwick. Krishna holds a PhD from the University of Southampton, where he worked on a prototype redox flow battery concept designed for grid-scale energy storage applications.
Cris Moreno
CEO & Managing Director
Vulcan Energy Resources
Cris brings over 20 years of global experience in successfully delivering major, unique, and challenging projects, including in the lithium chemicals, cathode and LNG sectors. In the LNG sector, he held leadership roles with Santos, Woodside, and Shell, including working on the Browse, Gorgon, and Prelude LNG projects. Before joining Vulcan, Cris worked in the lithium chemicals and battery cathode sector in Europe. He served as the Senior Director Programs for Northvolt's Cathode Active Material (CAM) Business Unit and held the position of Vice President – Engineering and Development for Aurora Lithium, Northvolt's lithium hydroxide refinery in Europe.
Evelyn Fabbri
Analyst
Penso Power
Evelyn is an Analyst at Penso Power, a London based developer, owner and operator of grid-scale battery storage assets with operations in the UK, Italy and Australia. Penso Power creates value at each stage of a project’s lifetime, from project development, design, and deployment to post-construction operation. At Penso Power Evelyn is part of the commercial team and has a focus on the Italian and the Australian market.
Casper Peeters
E-Magy
Casper Peeters is CEO of E-magy, an advanced material specialist which creates nano-porous silicon for advanced Li-ion batteries. The material is designed for high-silicon application (silicon as only active anode material), facilitating high energy density and fast charge capability combined with scalable production and low carbon footprint. Casper also advises and invests in other fast-growing companies that make the world smarter and more sustainable. Previously he was CEO of Xsens, a 3D motion tracking company which he co-founded and sold to Silicon Valley icon Fairchild Semiconductor in 2014. He holds a Master’s degree in Physics from University of Twente, The Netherlands.
Ivy Qi
Vice President – Product Development
LME
Ivy is a product and business development manager at the London Metal Exchange (LME), with almost a decade of experience in financial services. The LME is the world’s centre for industrial metals trading and Ivy has developed and launched several new cash-settled futures, including lithium and cobalt. In 2018, Ivy was key in engaging with the lithium industry to move to index-linked pricing, and continues to drive the EV market engagement. Before joining the LME, she worked at HSBC for several years and graduated from the London School of Economics.
Quentin Lamarche
Co-Managing Director
TechMet Mercuria
15 years experience across critical mineral trading, marketing, and finance. Trader and member of the senior management team at Specialty Metals Resources, a global trading and industrial house focused on Cobalt, Nickel and other critical metals. Member of the Multi-Stakeholder Steering Group overseeing the implementation of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Mineral Supply Chains Associate Director Corporate development and then Global Sales & Marketing Manager at Umicore group, where he gained significant exposure to battery and technology metals through successive assignments in India and Belgium covering business development, finance, supply of raw materials, corporate strategy and cross-border M&A. He began his career in corporate banking (leveraged finance operations) with ING in Belgium. Holds a master’s degree in Commercial Science from ICHEC Brussels Management School in Belgium, with majors in International business
Sophie Myers
Lead Sustainability Consultant
Sophie is an experienced life cycle assessment (LCA) expert specializing in the comprehensive evaluation of environmental impacts across the lifecycle of critical metals and batteries. She conducts thorough cradle-to-cradle LCAs, quantifying environmental footprints in accordance with ISO 14040:2006, ISO 14044:2006, and ISO 14067 standards. Her expertise includes detailed assessments of battery materials such as lithium, manganese, and graphite, as well as the manufacturing and recycling processes of Li-ion battery cells and packs. Sophie has collaborated with leading battery manufacturers and OEMs, delivering precise carbon footprint reports that adhere to the latest EU battery regulations. By effectively identifying environmental hotspots within battery production, she develops impactful decarbonization strategies that encompass the entire supply chain—from upstream raw material extraction to final product assembly.
Yann Teste
Global Vice President Purchasing – New Technologies & Global Categories
Volvo Construction Equipment
Yann Teste is an executive in Purchasing and Supplier management with an extensive experience in different countries in the automotive and construction industry. He is also passionate about Human dynamics, interactions, and impacts on the business. Since now several years he is also engaged in Sustainability Transition Management.
Henning Flaig
Vice President Commercial & Asset Ownership Circular Solutions
Norsk Hydro ASA
Henning has for the last 15 years been holding Senior Management positions, mainly related to commercial roles. He spent the main part of his career in the Aluminium industry but collected also valuable experience in the field of waste management and recycling. Amongst others, he held the positions as Head of Hydro’s global Aluminium Trading, was serving as MD for Hydro Asia, overlooking Hydro’s Aluminium business in Asia- Pacific, based in Singapore, and served as EVP Growth at the corporate management board of Norsk Gjenvinning, a Norwegian waste management and recycling company. In his current role as VP Commercial & Asset Ownership Circular Solutions, he is overlooking the commercial activities in the business unit Hydro Batteries and is responsible for the strategic pillar of "Circular Solutions". In this role, he manages Hydro’s ownership interest in Hydrovolt and serves as a director on the board of the company.
Manuel de Sousa Martins
Aurora Lithium
Manuel de Sousa Martins, CEO of Aurora Lithium, brings a wealth of experience in managing large-scale industrial projects, most notably from his tenure as CEO of Secil in Portugal. With a deep expertise in environmental management and a comprehensive understanding of the Setúbal industrial cluster—where both Secil and Aurora are based—Manuel plays a crucial role in advancing Aurora's innovative circular-economy business model and is instrumental in the development of a cutting-edge lithium conversion unit in Setúbal, reinforcing the region's importance in the critical metal supply chain. Manuel's experience is particularly relevant as Europe navigates the transition to a low-carbon future, providing valuable perspectives on the construction and outlook of a low-carbon supply chain in Europe.
Tobias Wabnitz
CCO
Tobias Wabnitz, CCO of Aurora Lithium, has >20 years’ experience in the chemical industry. Before joining Aurora, Tobias had a multinational, diverse career at BASF, the world’s leading chemical company, encompassing areas such as R&D, operations, strategy, M&A, marketing, as well as business development and procurement. At Aurora, Tobias leads the commercial activities, setting the company up the for success by marketing Aurora’s lithium hydroxide, selling Aurora’s byproducts and securing raw materials, underpinned by the ambition to maximize sustainability for the European battery value chain. A chemist by training, Tobias holds a PhD from Cambridge University in the UK and continues to be excited by the opportunities which chemistry offers to world.
Ignacio Celorrio
Executive Vice President, Legal, Government and External Affairs
Lithium Argentina Corp
Ignacio Celorrio serves as the Executive Vice President of Legal, Governmental, and External Affairs at Lithium Argentina Corp. (LAAC), bringing over 25 years of experience in the mining industry. He has previously served as President for Latin America at Lithium Americas Corp. (LAC), where he played a key role in the structuring, construction, and commissioning of the Cauchari-Olaroz project in Jujuy (Argentina) which is the largest of its kind in the country, with an installed capacity of 40,000 tons annually. Mr. Celorrio is a prominent figure in the Argentine mining sector, with a proven ability to manage relationships with multiple stakeholders, including governments, communities, and international organizations, facilitating dialogue and cooperation in complex environments. In addition to his extensive professional experience, including positions in Canada and the US, he has a solid academic background from the Universidad Católica Argentina, Universidad Austral, and the Faculty of Law at the University of Buenos Aires.
Daniel Layton
Group Chairman
Ensorcia Group
Daniel Layton is the group chairman CEO and founder of Ensorcia Group. Mr Layton is an American-born industrialist who, in 2016 after 30+ years of investing, building, and operating, across many sectors, including energy, transportation and technology, felt it was time to focus on what he feels is the most important industrial revolution of our time, a transition to a responsible community conscious low carbon energy supply for the planet. Mr Layton speaks regularly on the energy transition, such as in Davos, on the necessity to support climate change initiatives and responsible mining worldwide.
John Burba
Founder and Chief Technology Officer
International Battery Metals (IBAT)
Dr. John Burba, Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Baylor University, is a renowned innovator and entrepreneur in the field of lithium extraction and battery technology. As the founder of International Battery Metals (IBAT), Dr. Burba has over 40 years of experience in developing advanced technologies for lithium extraction, particularly Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE). He has a proven track record of leading technological breakthroughs that have significantly impacted the energy sector. Before founding IBAT, Dr. Burba held key leadership roles at FMC Lithium and other prominent companies, where he contributed to pioneering extraction methods. His visionary approach and deep industry expertise have positioned him as a leading figure in the global transition to sustainable energy.
Jos van der Burgt
Principal Consultant, Energy Storage
DNV Netherlands BV
Jos van der Burgt has over 30 years of experience in project management, advisory services and research & innovation in the area of electrical energy storage. His expertise lies in the fields of electricity storage systems and components; integration of renewable energy sources; smart grid; electric vehicle and electric ship. In his work he strives for a balance between technical requirements, economical aspects and user needs. He collaborates with the electricity sector, project developers, governments, the ship building and automotive industries and is actively participating in national and international standardisation working groups, like CIGRÉ, IEEE and IEC. He is a member of IEC TC120 “Electrical Energy Storage Systems” and was a major contributor to DNV’s recommended practice ‘GRIDSTOR’ on Safety, operation and performance of grid-connected energy storage systems. His current work focuses on large-scale battery energy storage systems from feasibility to design, procurement support, technical due diligence, commissioning, acceptance testing and operational support, with a focus on battery and system safety. Furthermore, he is involved in Gigafactory due diligence projects, where DNV’s role is in technical due diligence, construction monitoring and acceptance testing. Before joining DNV in 2007, he worked at ‘TNO Defence, Security and Safety’ at the department of Electric Power Technology in the field of electrical distribution systems, mainly for ships and vehicles, with a focus on high reliability and low environmental impact. Jos van der Burgt studied Electric Power Engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology (NL) – M.Sc. 1991, Ph.D. 1996.
Terence Neu
Global Strategy & Business Development Director
Imerys Graphite and Carbon
Terence is the head of strategy & development for the Imerys Graphite and Carbon (IGC) Business, the division of Imerys delivering essential additives to Li-Ion batteries. Imerys Graphite & Carbon is selling additives to almost all top cell makers in the world with their Carbon Black & Synthetic Graphite products. Terence has started his career in consulting mainly dedicated to supporting M&A deals in the industrial sector. After joining Imerys, Terence assumed several positions in M&A and Strategy both in Europe and Asia, and in various business and corporate functions at Imerys. Terence and his team are now dedicated to strategically envision and deliver the appropriate investments for Imerys to support the development of the global LIB industry through M&A, Investments and Partnerships.
Timo Brechenmacher
Specialist Sustainability Supply Chains
Mercedes Benz
Since 2019, Timo has been responsible for driving the development of sustainable battery supply chains at Mercedes-Benz Procurement, with a strong focus on environmental topics and decarbonisation. Timo’s expertise lies in the decarbonisation of the cell supply chain and the corresponding raw materials. He is responsible for implementing environmental requirements from the Battery Regulation and overseeing the environmental standards for direct procurement of cell raw materials. Timo began his career in the field of life cycle assessments, which laid a solid foundation for his current work. Timo is seeking opportunities for exchange on how to decarbonise and make the cell supply chain and materials more sustainable.