Adam is founder and director of Redbourn Capital, a market leading provider of advisory, commercial and development support services to clients within the UK waste industry. Adam has over 18 years experience in originating and executing energy from waste, renewables (solar / onshore wind and biomass) and conventional power generation projects in the UK and Europe. Adam was formerly at Equitix where from 2012 to 2019 he managed a £250m fund on behalf of the UK owned Green Investment Bank and closed a number of deals in the bioenergy and energy from waste sectors including the Baddesley EfW in 2017 and the Bridgwater EfW in 2018. As well as providing advisory services through Redbourn Capital, Adam is also developing a portfolio of energy from waste projects with a flagship project currently going through the planning process.

Adam has 20 years’ experience of climate policy.  His experience of working on CCS goes back more than 10 years. He has previously worked in the private sector, including as Chief Advisor on Energy and Climate Change policy for a large multinational company, and has extensive experience of advising governments and other policy and regulatory bodies.  He now works at Bellona, a Norwegian NGO, working on climate change, with an emphasis on policies supporting decarbonising industry.

Adrian is founder and director of Tolvik, a leading providing of market and commercial due diligence services in the UK waste sector. Adrian started his career in the waste industry 20 years ago at Cory where he led the team which took Riverside EfW to financial close.

In 2012-13 Adrian was Managing Director at the UK Government owned Green Investment Bank with responsibility for Waste and Bioenergy investments.

A chartered Mechanical Engineer with over twenty year's experience on major infrastructure projects in the power, water and accommodation sectors. Last ten years focused on delivery of energy from waste technologies, including fluidised beds, oscillating kiln combustor and landfill gas solutions.

Andy has worked for advanced biofuels companies in senior roles for the last 10 years. During this time, he has built up a wealth of experience in the sector. He is an active member of several industry bodies and regularly contributes to sector research and articles.

Prior to joining ABSL, he worked in the telecoms sector for BT and Arqiva in a variety of engineering, financial and commercial roles in the UK and USA.

Andy has a B.Sc. in mathematics from the University of Warwick and a Master in Satellite and Mobile Engineering from the University of Surrey. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales and the Institute of Electrical Engineers.

Active in the waste management business since 1994, Barthelemy started his career in Austria and then Hungary with a company specializing in waste collection and landfilling. Since 2001 he has worked for the French organization TIRU, which today is Dalkia Wastenergy, part of EDF Group. Developing waste management programs such as MBT, AD, composting and ERC plants including Chagny (France) or Gdansk (Poland). From 2014, Barthelemy has been Head of International Development at Dalkia Wastenergy.

I have devoted most of my professional life since 2006 to develop recycling in multiple countries, by building plants, managing companies, lobbying for changed legislation and standards, investing in companies within these fields and advising corporations.

My current role entails investing in companies which are making a difference - primarily but not exclusively within waste management and water supply in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Leads or collaboration proposals are most welcome!

David has been with ABN AMRO since 2017 helping to re-establish the UK Project Finance team, following six years with the UK Green Investment Bank. Whilst at ABN AMRO David has secured a number of mandates for lead arranger roles in the EfW sector including Earlsgate, Newhurst, Protos, Kelvin and Westfield as well as participation in senior loans for Kemsley, Ferrybridge and KKR’s acquisition of Viridor.

David is a recognised industry leader in the development of low carbon energy infrastructure.  A chartered mechanical and gas engineer, David holds a MEng from Cambridge University, an MSc from Warwick University and an MBA from MIT.

After spending the early part of his career in the aerospace and defense sectors, David joined the energy sector in 2008 to develop Atkins offshore wind business before becoming Director of Power and Renewables.  

From 2014-2018, he was Director of Safety and Network Strategy at Cadent (formerly National Grid Gas Distribution), leading the formation of the Future of Gas programme to set out a strategy for decarbonisation of heat through the development of numerous projects, including HyNet and HyDeploy.  

David joined Progressive Energy as a Director in 2019 and is Project Director of the HyNet project, leading the consortium.

Dr Adam Read has been External Affairs Director at SUEZ Recycling & Recovery UK for almost 5 years after a successful career in academia, local government and consultancy. For the last 4 years he has co-lead the company’s work with UK Government through the development of the new Resources & Waste Strategy and associated consultations, and acting as lead author on the SUEZ evidence submissions. He has worked on energy recovery projects for more than 20 years, as a consultant, client, contractor and community engagement specialist, and developing planning guidance for Welsh Government. Adam sits on numerous industry technical working groups, is a regular speaker and facilitator, a technical report author and a frequent blogger and social media enthusiast.  He is a Fellow of the CIWM, the RSA and the Royal Geographical Society and is the CIWM ‘s 105th President, with his theme for the year ‘green skills’ and a transition to a circular economy.

Andy has 42 years experience of working in the environmental field, including spending the last 26 years in the area of waste strategy. Andy has been Head of Waste Strategy at the Welsh Government for the last 22 years and is responsible for waste and circular economy strategy policy. In 2017 he received the Material Recycling World magazine’s ‘Editor’s Choice Award’, and the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management’s ‘Waste and Resources Leader’ of the year award, in recognition of Wales’ success in recycling.  Andy was awarded an OBE by the Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom for ‘services to the environment and recycling in Wales’ in the New Year Honours 2019.

Dr Ausilio Bauen is a founder and Partner at E4tech, a leading strategy consultancy firm focused on sustainable energy, now part of ERM, the largest global pure play sustainability consultancy. He has 25 years’ experience working with private and public sector clients on the opportunities and challenges of a sustainable energy transition and guiding business strategy and policy decisions. In particular, Ausilio advises energy, chemicals and transport companies, technology developers, industry associations and governments on low carbon fuels growth opportunities, with assignments ranging from the assessment of specific low carbon fuels technologies and supply chains, and the modelling of their technical, economic and environmental aspects, to the development of innovation, business and policy agendas. 

Ausilio has recently been advising multi-stakeholder organisations such as the Oil & Gas Climate Initiative and the World Economic Forum. He is part of advisory panels for a range of organisations and initiatives including the EC’s Strategic Transport Research and Innovation Agenda, UK Department for Transport technology demonstration grant competitions (Advance Biofuels Demonstration Competition, Fuels for Freight and Flight Competition, and Green Fuels Green Skies Competition), IEA's Bioenergy Roadmap Advisory Group, and the Climate Bonds Initiative's Technical Working Group on bioenergy. He is a Honorary Principal Research Fellow at Imperial College London.

Egan has been a Director at Equitix for over 10 years playing a central role in developing the company's investment portfolio (EV of circa £5bn) in the waste and renewable sectors. Since joining, he has facilitated the development of an extensive pipeline of investments for the Equitix core funds and managed accounts, originating a number of projects across energy from waste and biomass, industrial CHP, district heating and onshore wind.

Egan has a wealth of experience in project development, commercial structuring of primary and secondary investments and with the due diligence of technology and contract intensive assets. He works across the entire Equitix value chain from business development, through investments and asset management.

 He has been a principal in the waste and renewables sectors for over 25 years working alongside EPC, O&M contractors and advisors assessing a broad spectrum of operational and greenfield projects in over 15 countries. Prior to joining Equitix, Egan was a Partner and CTO with Aleltho Energy, a fund management business with an investment focus on renewable energy and waste projects across Europe. Egan holds a PhD in chemical and process engineering and is a Chartered Chemical Engineer.

Ella Stengler is the Managing Director of CEWEP (the Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants) since July 2003. Before that she was the Managing Director of the German WtE association ITAD and previously she headed AGS, a public-private partnership organisation dealing with hazardous waste and waste shipments. She studied law in Germany and France. 

Ella is dealing with European policy and legislation on waste, environment, energy, sustainability, pollution prevention, sustainable finance etc. Current priorities are the European Green Deal, the Circular Economy, European Energy and Climate Policies.

Dr Kai Liebal has worked for 18 years with Hitachi Zosen Inova. During this time he has held various engineering, tendering and sales roles, as well a risk management functions. Currently he is responsible for carbon reduction solutions in Energy from Waste management plants.

Keeley is responsible for low carbon fuels policy in the UK Dept for Transport – covering decarbonisation of both road and aviation fuel. She has worked on development of low carbon fuel policy and legislation for over a decade and has a background as an environmental scientist conducting research into air quality impacts of motor vehicle pollution and biomass combustion.

Stephen has spent his career getting his hands dirty in the waste, resources and renewable energy sectors with 20 years at a senior level with experience covering development, operations, engineering and design. Stephen has an Engineering Doctorate and 1st class BSc from Cranfield University. Stephen has worked for a number of well know waste, resources and renewable energy operators and consultants and has overseen the design, delivery and operation of over £500m of infrastructure. Stephen is currently working on projects that cover bioenergy plants in Ireland and the UK, RDF quality and contractual disputes. Stephen takes an active role within the sector and is a Director of both Cre and the IBioIC, an industrial advisor for Cranfield University and an active member of CIWM, and IWMA.

Dr Volker Wiesendorf is a  German and Swiss citizen, living in Zurich.  He has a Diploma and PhD in mechanical and thermal process engineering.  He has worked at HZI since 2000 in different functions ranging from project execution, tendering, sales and business development.

Today Volker is Director Sales, Energy-from-Waste, leading all HZI sales activities for EfW plants worldwide, except for south-east Asia (covered by Hitachi Zosen Corporation)

He is technically versatile, supporting and driving the development of HZI in one of the most advanced companies in the field of EfW technology and as an EPC contractor with a global footprint.

Volker believes strongly in the value of energy from waste technology as a key pillar of sustainable, clean and environmentally sound waste management.

An Engineer with a doctorate in materials science and over twenty years of experience in machine building and plant engineering mainly in the metals business for Steel,
Aluminum, copper etc. Last ten years focused on delivery of industrial furnaces and finishing lines for the production of automotive steel grades1997 - Graduate (Dipl.-Ing.) in metallurgical engineering and materials science at RWTH Aachen University.  2001 - Doctorate (Dr.-Ing.) at the Steel Institute, Department of materials and plant engineering, of RWTH Aachen University

Emma leads the team developing a business model for CCS projects in the waste management sector, an adaptation of the business model that is being developed for industrial CCS projects. Emma has a background in international and domestic climate policy, having previously worked on negotiations on the Paris Agreement Rulebook and the development of carbon pricing policy in the UK and EU. Emma also has an MSc in Environmental Technology and a BSc in Physics.

Frank Ligthart is Vice President at Sumitomo SHI FW (SFW) and responsible for strategy and business development for SFW’s solution portfolio, including renewable combustion, waste-to-energy, waste-to-value, and energy storage. He is a mechanical engineer with more than twenty years of experience of biomass- and waste-to-energy in various business development and management roles. He is currently leading the go-to-market strategy for the small-scale wasteWOIMA waste-to-energy solution in partnership with WOIMA.

Gary Cochrane is Managing Director, Europe, for Babcock & Wilcox. He is responsible for leading B&W’s efforts to leverage its established offices, manufacturing facilities and operations in the U.K., Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Italy to expand its footprint in Europe as the company looks to grow its renewable, environmental and thermal businesses, with a strong focus on advanced technologies – including technologies for decarbonization, carbon capture, waste-to-energy, biomass-to-energy and emissions controls.

Cochrane joined B&W in 2018. Prior to being named to his current position in 2020, he was responsible for the company’s parts & service business across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He previously served as a regional general manager for Weir Oil & Gas in Europe, Russia and the Caspian region.

Prior to that, Cochrane was responsible for identifying and implementing market strategies and technologies for Oceaneering International Services. 

He earned his bachelor’s degree in energy and environmental engineering from Napier University in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Gavin is a Chartered Chemical Engineer, with over 25 years experience in industry, including wastewater and solid waste treatment technologies.  Gavin has acted as Technical Lead on several Energy from Waste projects in the UK, including Combustion, Gasification and Anaerobic Digestion projects.  A critical success factor in all of these projects was the optimal end use of the process residues – from incinerator ashes, to Air Pollution Control residues to anaerobic digestate, to name but a few.

With a background in process engineering and consulting, and training in innovation and creativity techniques, Gavin is the Director of Consulting and Innovation at Cobalt Energy.  Gavin and his team are responsible for exploring and developing the emerging technologies that represent the next wave of sustainability in the Energy from Waste sector, including “Waste-to-Chemical”, CCSU and Energy Storage.

As with the previous generation of technologies, a critical success factor will remain the optimal end use of the process residues.

George co-leads the Heat Network Delivery Unit (HNDU) in BEIS and is responsible for the Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF) scheme design. He has a background in project finance with a focus on decentralised energy. His key role is working with Local Authorities to help develop credible heat network opportunities in England and Wales.

Grégoire Le Comte joined in the European Commission as Aviation Policy Officer in 2016. He is currently the lead officer in charge of the ReFuelEU Aviation policy initiative, a key deliverable of the European Green Deal, which aims to boost the supply and use of sustainable aviation fuels in European air transport. Since 2018, he has also been active at the International Civil Aviation Organisation, on the topic of aviation fuels. Before that, Grégoire was dealing with the adoption of a new EU regulatory instrument to safeguard the competitiveness of the EU aviation sector, as well as on policy design to ensure business continuity in EU air traffic management.

Helge has over 30 years of experience in design, construction, start-up and operation of various industrial processing plants, including EfW plants. He is the inventor of the patent 'Furnace for combustion of solid fuel', which was granted in Norway and the UK.  Helge has R&D and commercialisation of new products experience, including gasification technologies of refuse-derived fuel ( RDF) and bio-mass.

Henri has a vast experience in leading large global projects in challenging locations successfully. He has gained significant know-how from waste-to-value and circular economy business during the past years by being involved in more than 500 sales projects globally. He is the CEO of WOIMA which has evolved from a start-up company to a recognized serious player in the field of circular economy.

A qualified Mechanical Engineer, Ian Crummack has over 25 years’ experience in Energy from Waste and thermal power generation markets on a national and international basis, with worldwide technology experience. He has worked across Europe, managing projects to fruition from development, through the planning, consultation and tender stages, and then into construction and operation. Ian has significant experience with associated contractual matters and taking financial and management responsibility for energy business units. Ian is the founder and managing director of Cobalt Energy Limited, which is now over 10 years old, which offers Engineering Resources, Project Construction Services and Plant Operational Management.”

Right now, Inari’s focus lies on exploring the value, potential and capabilities of molecular recycling to enable the circular economy. During her career, she has always been involved with plastics, and over the years gained extensive, in-depth knowledge of various plastics, their potential, and their use in many market segments, which helps to put importance of plastics use in perspective.

Inari holds a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Helsinki University of Technology and a MBA in Environmental Management from the Bangor University.

Jacob Hayler is the Executive Director at the Environmental Services Association – the UK’s trade association for managers of waste and secondary resources.

Jacob joined ESA from the City in 2005 as an Economist focused on helping to develop market-focused policies that combine environmental and economic sustainability. At various points during his time at ESA, Jacob retained responsibility for policy relating to finance, tax, carbon management, contracts and energy from waste. 

In January 2015 Jacob was appointed ESA’s Executive Director and he now retains responsibility for the day to day running of the Association. Jacob has represented the industry on multiple government advisory bodies and committees and is the UK’s representative on various pan-European waste and recycling industry bodies.

Jacob Simonsen has been the CEO of ARC since August 2018, with overall responsibility for waste to energy, waste collection, recycling stations, hazardous waste and landfill.  Between Jan 2013 and Aug 2018 he was CEO of the Danish Waste Association, and before that, CEO of RemoSam, an association of 38 municipal and joint municipal waste companies and HZW-receiving stations in Denmark and in the Faroe Islands.

Earlier in his career Jacob was Senior academic manager / deputy head, COWI  and a lawyer and economist at Dong.

Currently Jacob is Vice President of Municipal Waste Europe; Vice President of CEWEP; Deputy Chairman of NAF, the Nordic Waste Association; and Observer on the Board, DRH, Danish Residual Handling.

Jacob has an Executive Master of Corporate Communication (EMCC), Business School/Aarhus University, 2009-2011; a Cand. Merc. Jur., Copenhagen Business School, 1991-94, including one semester at University College Dublin.  He was chosen as one of three Danish nationals to attend the International Graduate Diploma at the United World College of the Atlantic, Wales, and at the age of 16 he was an exchange student in Japan, living with a Japanese family and studying at the local Japanese school.

Jacob speaks Danish, English, Japanese and German, and his hobbies include his family, road cycling / running, reading, cooking, golf and he is a member of a local school board.

James is a Partner in the Energy, Projects and Construction Group and co-heads the firm's Projects Group.  He specialises in complex infrastructure and energy projects.  He has worked on major infrastructure, energy  and PPP projects for over 20 years in the UK, mainland Europe , the Middle East, and South East Asia acting for sponsors, funders and public authority clients.  James and the team also provides specialist support on secondary market and M&A transactions in the infrastructure, energy and PPP sectors to our clients including leading infrastructure, pension and sovereign wealth funds.

He is recognsied by clients and peers as one of the leading commercial lawyers in the waste and bioenergy sectors where he has advised clients on the construction, financing and operation of numerous waste to energy, biomethane and biomass facilities in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Singapore, Malaysia, Jordan the Caribbean and the UAE together with disputes related to the design and construction of these types of facilities.

Jan comes with a background as Electrician, Power Engineer, and an Executive MBA from Copenhagen Business School. Has been 14 years within the Cement sector for FLSmith living abroad for many years, 3 years within the wastewater for Siemens, 10 years within the energy from waste and biomass sector for BWSC where he has been part of closing several deals in the UK. Since April 2021 he has been the front person within the formation and setting up of Scandinavian Energy Contract A/S, taking over the EPC and O&M Capabilities from BWS and continuing the legacy and building a better future.

Jane Gaston joined Peel NRE, part of Peel L&P, in 2012 having spent 10 years working in business development roles to deliver large scale infrastructure and PFI projects across the utilities, environment, infrastructure delivery and services management sectors. 

As Development Director for Protos, Jane has shaped the vision for Protos as a strategic cluster of innovative technologies in energy generation and resource management which promotes the decarbonisation of industry to support the economy, safeguard jobs and help the UK meet its zero carbon goals. Since 2015 she has overseen the delivery of a number of property transactions on site including a biomass gasification facility and an energy from waste facility as well as the implementation of 2 phases of supporting infrastructure including a major grid reinforcement project. More recently she has been developing the concept of a plastic park at Protos; a UK first which would recycle and reprocess up to 367,500 tonnes of mixed recyclables every year, saving over 190,000 tonnes of CO2. 

In addition, Jane works closely with several regional bodies to steer the North West pathway towards industrial decarbonisation and net zero including the Cheshire West and Chester Climate Emergency Taskforce, Cheshire Energy Hub, and Net Zero North West; project managing the Net Zero North West Cluster Plan initiative. 

Jane sits on the Cheshire and Warrington LEP Business Growth Committee, and the British Property Federation Industrial Committee. Jane has an honours degree in Economic and Social History from the University of Liverpool, and a postgraduate Certificate in Management from Lancaster Business School.

Jannicke Gerner Bjerkås (1972) is Director CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage), in Fortum Oslo Varme and head of the carbon capture project at Oslo’s largest waste-to-energy plant since 2018. She has held various management positions as a.o Head of HR and Communication and Chief of Staff, and has professional knowledge from more than 10 years in energy recovery, recycling and biological treatment of organic waste. Jannicke was one of the initiators of the CCS Project in Oslo in 2014. She is a former Air Force officer with 4 years of training from the Royal Norwegian Air Force Academy, and 10 years of service in different positions within airspace control and intelligence, communications and HR. She has completed studies in market economics and also has a Master of Management from BI Norwegian Business School.

Jeff worked for Ernst & Young for over fifteen years helping to close more than ten waste projects in that period. Last year he established his own consultancy practise focusing on providing commercial and financial advice to developers, local authorities and investors in the energy from waste sector.

Jim Woodger is the Managing Director of LanzaTech UK, a subsidiary of LanzaTech Inc headquartered in Chicago, USA. In this role, Jim is leading a growing UK team focused on driving forward numerous internal and customer projects based on LanzaTech’s Gas Fermentation and LanzaJet’s Alcohol-To-Jet technologies. Jim is also engaging on government policy to support these decarbonization technologies, and is a member of various Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) industry bodies such as the Jet Zero Council, Sustainable Aviation, and the Road Transport Fuels Association.

In terms of his wider career, Jim is an environmental chemical engineer, who started his working life with Honeywell-UOP, with roles in R&D, Manufacturing, Engineering and 5 years commissioning oil refineries around the world. In 2007, he was a founding member of UOP’s Renewable Energy & Chemicals business unit that commercialized the UOP HEFA Green Jet & Green Diesel technology.

In 2012, Jim joined Solazyme (later acquired by Corbion) in California to undertake business development activities for sustainable products made from algae. Ultimately, Jim was responsible for the global growth of Corbion Algae Ingredients into animal feed, oil & gas, and personal care.

Joe Robinson is ESG Manager at Equitix, a leading investor, developer and long-term fund manager of core infrastructure assets. As ESG Manager, Joe is principally engaged in the development and implementation of the Equitix ESG and sustainability strategy. His remit encompasses the development of tools and processes for ESG integration across the investments and asset management teams, maintaining expertise across key regulatory frameworks and aligning Equitix accordingly, monitoring and reporting on the ESG performance of assets, delivering internal ESG education, and supporting the communication of the Equitix ESG strategy to investors.

Prior to joining Equitix, Joe worked at the Global Infrastructure Investor Association, developing policy and regulatory proposals, advising government, and producing industry research on issues such as decarbonisation, digitisation, and national security laws affecting the infrastructure sector.

Joe started his career in the infrastructure sector at the European Investment Bank where he supported loan transactions across the UK, Netherlands, and Ireland.

John is Business Director for Stantec’s Energy and Resources business in the UK. John is responsible for strategy development and implementation within the UK, whilst providing leadership and subject matter expertise to energy and resources opportunities throughout the global Stantec business. John has over 28 years of experience in client, consulting and contracting organisations, giving him a comprehensive understanding of current and future policy direction, and implementation.

Johnny Stuen worked at the Waste Agency , City of Oslo, from 2007 until February 29022.  He was responsible for operation, technology strategy and development of the treatment plants for municipal waste in the City of Oslo.  Oslo has optical sorting facilities, one biological treatment/ biogas production and two waste to energy plants.  He holds a Masters degree in process technology, and has worked in several industrial companies producing chemicals, insulation and foodstuff before he joined the Waste Agency in 2007.  He has lead the national working group on energy recovery in Norway (Afvall Norge), and since 2010 has been a member the ISWA (International Solid Waste Association) working group for energy recovery,  and since spring 2017 he has chaired the same group.

UK Commercial Director for N+P Group - Commercial responsibility for N+P UK commercial development activities, alternative fuel production assets and the trading of refuse derived fuels, alternative fuels, alternative raw materials.
I have a masters degree in Management Studies. 18 years experience within the waste and resource sector - owning a MRF operation and previously employed by Veolia which included valuable secondment roles with international corporations - Asda and McDonalds.
Technical and commercial knowledge of the waste and resource sector, circular economy and alternative fuels markets.
Currently the commercial lead on the transition and integration of the Crayford MRF, UK’s largest MRF facility, following the acquisition from Viridor.

After graduating with a Masters in Chemistry from Oxford University Julia joined Iona Capital’s investments team in 2011 and in 2015 completed her Masters in Finance degree from LBS.

Julia is heavily involved in driving investments to completion through negotiations and takes on going transitional roles sitting on asset boards. Her main focus is energy from waste infrastructure in the UK.

Keith Riley has had successful careers in both the power industry and in waste management. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.  Keith was formerly Visiting Professor within Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Southampton.  

Keith is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vismundi Limited, a consultancy company providing services to the resources and waste management industry. Prior to that, between 1993 and 2012 he was a board member of Veolia Environmental Services plc, where he held various senior roles including Managing Director for Group Technical Services and played a major role in developing resource recovery and Circular Economy thinking in the UK.  

Over the course of his career Keith has worked with a number of specialist waste and resource management companies and most recently has been Non-Executive Director of Waste2tricity Limited, which was subsequently acquired by Powerhouse Energy Group Plc, where he is now non-executive director. He continues to be a Partner of BH Energy Gap LLP on behalf of Vismundi, which develops projects in the renewables sector and raises the finance to implement them, and is also a director of Hydrogen Utopia International Plc, a company furthering the development of the hydrogen economy.

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Keith Riley has had successful careers in both the power industry and in waste management. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.  Keith was formerly Visiting Professor within Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Southampton.  

Keith is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vismundi Limited, a consultancy company providing services to the resources and waste management industry. Prior to that, between 1993 and 2012 he was a board member of Veolia Environmental Services plc, where he held various senior roles including Managing Director for Group Technical Services and played a major role in developing resource recovery and Circular Economy thinking in the UK.  

Over the course of his career Keith has worked with a number of specialist waste and resource management companies and most recently has been Non-Executive Director of Waste2tricity Limited, which was subsequently acquired by Powerhouse Energy Group Plc, where he is now non-executive director. He continues to be a Partner of BH Energy Gap LLP on behalf of Vismundi, which develops projects in the renewables sector and raises the finance to implement them, and is also a director of Hydrogen Utopia International Plc, a company furthering the development of the hydrogen economy.

Biography

Lord Callanan was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 14 February 2020.

He was Minister of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union from 27 October 2017 to 31 January 2020.

Education

He was educated at Newcastle Polytechnic where he gained a Bachelor of Science degree (BSc) in electrical and electronic engineering.

Political career

Callanan was a Conservative Councillor on Tyne and Wear County Council between 1983 and 1986 and Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council between 1987 and 1996.

He was a Member of the European Parliament for the North East England constituency from 1999, re-elected in 2004 and 2009.

He became the leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists group from 2011-2014.

Callanan was created a Life Peer on 24 September 2014 taking the title Baron Callanan, of Low Fell in the County of Tyne and Wear.

He was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department for Transport between June and October 2017.

Career outside politics

He worked as a project engineer at Scottish and Newcastle breweries from 1986 to 1998.

Louis Worthington is a Senior Analyst at the Climate Change Committee where he covers the waste sector and separately leads on the Committee's international engagement. [Louis’ background is in climate and energy policy, with an international focus].

Mark Redway has spent most of his career working with the oil industry. Initially as an engineer with Schlumberger in West Africa and then in the City of London as an oil analyst and more recently as an energy fund manager. It is here that he learned about Omni Conversion Technologies which at the time was developing a unique thermo-chemical process to convert waste into a fuel gas. For the past 5 years Mark has been working with Omni helping to develop its strategy and with plans to deliver the company’s first UK waste to hydrogen project by 2025.

Mark Terrell is the Director at Andusia. With a long history of experience in the waste industry, Mark has worked in many sectors of the industry including RDF/SRF production, through to composting, AD, IVC, food waste, wood waste and even sewage sludge. He is a Materials Engineer (BEng), and began his career as a chemist in the chemical, cement and waste industry. He has a unique mix of technical expertise and commercial market knowledge from working for Veolia, Lafarge, The Environment Agency and SUEZ. Mark has a detailed knowledge of exporting RDF and SRF to both UK and European customers. He has excellent connections across the whole of Europe (Holland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Norway) and has first-hand experience in securing RDF & SRF supply contracts.

Matteo Maiello graduated at the University of Salerno in Mechanical Engineering, immediately started his career as an engineer at Elica Group.

After a year spent in Mexico in the Group, Matteo Maiello joins Magaldi Group as Senior Process Development Engineer, to then become in 2019 WtE Sector Manager.

Michael has been originating and leading a number of deals, in particular in waste-to-energy, anaerobic digestion, solar and storage.  For 15 years he was a partner at BDO in London, where he was responsible for the firm’s energy finance team. His team worked with clients to structure energy transactions, build complex financial models, write business cases, present to a network of funders, negotiate contractual terms, manage the due diligence process and raise either project or corporate finance. He has worked on over 100 deals and raised in excess of GBP 3 bn. He managed the sale of several operational solar and wind projects to infrastructure and pension funds and is well versed in the mechanics of the M&A sales process.
Michael enjoys a fairly high profile in the renewable energy industry due to his work in the media and his role as part time writer for the Spectator magazine.
He graduated as Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountant and holds an MBA from Manchester Business School.

Mike Brown is Managing Director of Eunomia, the largest strategic waste consultancy in the UK working across Europe and beyond. Mike’s 35 years’ experience were founded as an operator in the minerals, energy and waste sectors. For the past 15 years Mike’s role at Eunomia has focussed mainly on private sector clients seeking commercial and market diligence, but also for public sector clients looking to engage on level terms with their private counter-parts. Mike oversees Eunomia’s work on residual waste infrastructure and RDF exports, including Eunomia’s Secretariat role to the European-wide RDF Industry Group.

Mike Maudsley is the Chief Executive Officer at enfinium Limited. Prior to enfinium, Mike was the Group Operations Executive Director at Drax plc, responsible for leading all Drax’s operating assets which include the Drax Power Station, Cruachan Pumped Storage Power Station, Daldowie Fuel Plant, two run-of-river hydro facilities, the CCGT fleet and the US and Canada Biomass pelleting plants. Mike has over 30 years of experience in the power and utility sectors, where quite recently he spent six years in the Middle East with Engie.

Mike is Managing Director of Vattenfall Heat UK, and lead Vattenfall’s successful UK Market entry in 2018 – taking the business from paper to pipes installed in under three years.  The team has secured a number of the largest district heating development opportunities in the UK including securing the contract to deliver the heating and cooling solutions for Brent Cross Town with Argent Related in London, establishing a joint venture with Midlothian council in Scotland, and securing the exclusive rights to offtake heat from the Cory Riverside Energy EFW plant with joint plans to deliver the largest district heating network in the UK backed by funding from the Heat Networks Investment Programme.  Mike is a non-traditional senior director in the energy industry having started his career as a theatre director in 2001.  Since then, he has spent nearly 20 years within the low carbon and infrastructure space, always working within dynamic growth environments.  Over the past 5 years he has held various Directorships, proving successful at establishing new solutions, propositions and ways of working. Alongside his work in the UK, Mike has worked internationally, setting up the US operations of Natural Capital Partners between 2007 and 2010.  Mike brings a wide-range of cross-sector and cross-technology experience through the breadth of areas he has covered.

Mikela is the Founder & CEO of Greyparrot, a British tech company using AI based computer vision to power next generation robotics and smart systems for waste management.

Previously, she was CCO at Blippar, developing cutting edge computer vision and augmented reality products and partnering with global brands to deliver award-winning projects. She is a Global Future Council member at the World Economic Forum, providing thought leadership on emerging technologies including AI for the private and public sector. In 2018, Mikela was listed as “TopWomen50” in tech by WeAreTheCity. She is passionate about using new technologies to solve key challenges in our society.

I am a commercial lawyer specialising in the energy, waste, resource management and climate change sectors in the UK and internationally. My focus is on the commercial contracts for complex services arrangements and infrastructure projects using project finance and PFI/PPP models. In addition to the contracts for funding, construction, EPC, construction, fuel supply and O&M arrangements, I advise on EU procurement, dispute management, planning and environmental issues.

Natalie leads the Waste Sector work within Stantec and has over 20 years’ experience of working in Waste Management and Infrastructure Planning including working in local government, private resource management companies, and consultancy.

Natalie has been successful in leading and advising on  a range of waste infrastructure development projects.  These range from large scale Energy from Waste facilities to transfer stations and smaller household waste sites.  This work has involved providing technical advice, project management support, and leading stakeholder engagement and consultation.  Many of these projects have involved the management and coordination of the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and technical services.

As a Chartered Waste Manager, she has technical expertise across a range of areas including infrastructure planning & implementation, procurement & permitting.

I am head of our Infrastructure practice and specialise in advising on all aspects of projects (construction / EPC through to service delivery, operation and maintenance) in the energy, waste, renewables, rail, road, water, nuclear (civil engineering), tunnelling infrastructure, education, leisure, health and housing sectors. I act for clients consisting of local authorities, registered providers, developers, contractors, funders, joint ventures, SPV consortia and NHS trusts.

Nick is a lawyer and part of Ashurst's dedicated waste practice that sits within its wider energy and infrastructure group. He has worked exclusively in the waste and biomass sector for the past 15 years. As a result, he has closed, restructured or refinanced over 25 waste/biomass projects in the UK and worked on numerous other schemes that have not completed.

Noah is Head of Partnerships at Vattenfall Heat UK. He set up the Partnership function to work to unlock heat networks at scale, establishing a market leading collaboration with Viridor to co-develop heat network projects using waste heat from their portfolio of sites across the UK.

Noah is passionate about being part of the change to deliver the transition to a low carbon economy. He has spent more than 10 years in the low carbon energy infrastructure field, working in a range of contexts from engineering consultancy, business development and policy development in the UK to a renewable energy startup in Uganda. Noah brings a multidisciplinary approach founded on his experience working in various roles and organisations across the energy landscape.

Patrick Clerens studied law at the University of Saarbrücken and the University of Mainz. Since 1996, he has worked as a consultant for a private company specialising in European Affairs in Brussels. In his capacity as Brussels Representative of different European associations, he has been involved in the energy and climate field since 2003. He is Secretary General of ESWET - the association of the European Suppliers of Waste-to-Energy since February 2008.

With over 35 years in infrastructure both as a banker and for 20 years as an infrastructure partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Paul is a specialist in Carbon Capture and Storage.  He chaired the CCS Advisory Group – the industry group that worked with Government to develop the outline business models to support CCS – and now chairs the commercial working group of the Coalition for Negative Emissions, which is looking to develop an active market that would buy the negative emissions that EfWs linked to CCS will produce.  He also ran the shipping finance team at HSBC and has been taking an active role in developing the business models to help underpin a new CO2 shipping market.

Originally trained as a Chemist and in Chemical Engineering, Paul has spent over 30 years working internationally in the Energy and Environment fields for both the Public and Private Sector.

His experience covers a wide range of themes including industrial emissions and industrial impact reduction, renewable energy technologies, projects & policy development and delivery, and he has specific expertise in waste-to-energy and biomass energy projects.

As the author of the first EU “Best Available Techniques” Reference (BREF) document on thermal waste treatments (2006) he is well known internationally for his expertise in this area. Over the last 15 years he has worked on numerous projects for the development and implementation of waste and energy infrastructure, as an adviser to national and international governments & agencies, and developed leading international consulting businesses in these areas.

He is the Chairman of the UK Chartered Institute of Wastes Management (CIWM) Special Interest Group on Thermal Waste Treatment and the author / co-author of papers on issues including low carbon energy and resources/waste management, a supervisor of university projects, and author of technical policy documents regarding national and international emission regulation.

Ruth joined the CCSA in October 2021, following a public sector career spanning almost two decades. In her previous role as Director of Strategy & Development at the Low Carbon Contracts Company, Ruth oversaw implementation of two key features of today’s electricity market – the CfD and Capacity Market – and the company’s development into a trusted advisor to government on decarbonisation.  At the Department of Energy and Climate Change, Ruth headed the Electricity Market Reform Programme Office, overseeing delivery of the White Paper and Energy Act 2013. In 2008-9, following her negotiation of the EU Directive on CO2 storage, Ruth led on international CCS policy and the London Ministerial Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum. She was a Financial Services Strategy adviser at HM Treasury and an economic adviser for the City of London Corporation.

Currently responsible for a range of strategy and commercial development activities for SUEZ UK, delivering solutions to meet the business and customer needs, including leading the Expert Practitioner consultancy service.  Stuart undertakes commercial deals, policy and strategy work with experience in waste as a resource, energy and bio-fuel manufacture, sorting, extraction and value enhancement for waste mix resources, customer solutions, research and development, innovation and industrialisation.

He is directly involved in works covering carbon, biodiversity and natural capital, and having over 30 years’ experience in the industry has amassed wide technical and commercial skills and experience in the systems of waste and resource management, markets, strategy, technologies and the environment.

Stuart is a member of the following organisations:

-       Waste management representative for the DEFRA advisory committee on packaging

-       Director of Recoup, a charity involved in plastic recycling

-       Chair of the ESA Biotreatment committee

-       Chair of the ESA CCUS group

-       Chair of the North East England Climate Coalition (NEECCo)

-       UK representative of the SUEZ International R&D and Innovation groups

-       The Renewable Energy Association Renewable transport fuels group

-       The Renewable Energy Association Bio-energy group

-       Technical expert for SUEZ recycling and recovery UK across numerous fields

-       The advisory committee for the ONS national materials datahub project.

-       Director of Terracycle UK

Follow Stuart on Twitter - @stuhhigh_suezUK

Susan Goeransson is the Director for the Infrastructure Europe team in the Sustainable Infrastructure Group at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In this capacity, she is responsible for delivering EBRD’s municipal and transport projects in Central Europe, the Baltics, Western Balkans and Ukraine. Prior to this position, Ms Goeransson was head of EBRD’s Municipal and Environmental Infrastructure team, which financed both public and private sector investments in the water and wastewater, district energy, solid waste, facilities management and urban transport sectors. Ms Goeransson joined EBRD in 1993 and has worked in a variety of sectors, including infrastructure, agribusiness and general industry. Prior to joining EBRD, Ms Goeransson previously worked at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Securities and Exchange Commission. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. She has a joint Bachelor’s Degree in Urban Studies and History from Northwestern University.

Mr. Thomas Obermeier, born in 1957, holds a Master of Engineering in Technical Environmental Protection and is Head of Business Development at EEW Energy from Waste GmbH, the leader in the German waste-to-energy business. He is also Honorary President of the German Waste Association DGAW, a publicly certified and sworn expert for waste management of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) Berlin, and a committee member of the chamber of commerce in Berlin and the IFAT and terratec fairs. Mr. Obermeier's expertise draws on more than 30 years of work in the waste management and energy sector. Prior to EEW and his independent consultancy, he held posts as a managing director in different consulting and operating companies and worked in Europe, Asia, Australia, North America and Africa.

As commercial and technical manager for bp’s Bioenergy New Businesses team, Tom is responsible for originating and developing new business opportunities for bp in advanced biofuels production and supply. 

Tom joined bp as a research chemist in 2008, working on the development and scale-up of technologies including bp’s Fischer-Tropsch process. 

He has since held business development and strategy roles in technology licensing, bp’s Fuels businesses and in Downstream commercial development. He led bp’s Advanced Bio Products team at its inception before joining Air bp in 2017 where he led the development and implementation of low carbon strategy and established Air bp as one of the leading suppliers of sustainable aviation fuel globally. Tom moved into his current role in Bioenergy New Businesses in January 2021. 

Tom holds a Master’s degree and D.Phil in Chemistry from the University of Oxford.

 

Tim has long experience in the Power Generation business globally, developing, financing, operating and maintaining power generation and transmission facilities across the world, having worked for many of the largest power developers globally.  Early experience was in the UK Coal and nuclear generation sector, with gas turbine, biomass, renewables and Energy from Waste experience being based on Independent Power Producer businesses in companies across the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. Tim has previously been head of Engineering and Production at companies such as National Power/International Power, Scottish Power, AES, GMR, Contour Global, TAQA and EPH, and has most recently been CEO at Taweelah B IWPP in the UAE, CEO at Bahrain LNG, before joining DWMC as CEO in March 2021.  Originally a professionally qualified Electrical and Control Engineer, Tim is a Fellow and Chartered Engineer of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), a Member and Chartered Engineer in the Energy Institute (EI) and holds a Cambridge Master’s Degree in Business Management.

Tim joined Viridor in 2019 to drive innovative circular economy projects taking end of life wastes and finding new ways to turn them into usable products. Tim also works with the national and devolved governments and regulators to help ensure the regulatory environment drives increased local investment into the circular economy. Prior to joining Viridor Tim was the CEO of the Association for Decentralised Energy, where he worked with Government, regulators, devolved administrations and EU institutions to enable more energy users to directly benefit from in the transition to a low carbon economy). As part of this role, Tim oversaw two mergers with other trade associations and repositioned the organisation away from a technology focus to an outcome based approach to energy. Tim has a BSc and PhD in Ecology, and his study of fungi decomposing wood as a central part of the global carbon cycle spiked his interest and career in climate change and the environment. In his free time Tim enjoys cycling and generally getting in the great outdoors!

Dr. Tom Croymans: In 2013 he obtained a Master’s degree in Chemistry (Magna Cum Laude) at Ghent University. His Master thesis was in collaboration with the University of Cambridge.

In 2018 he obtained his PhD in industrial engineering. The PhD was a collaboration between the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, KU Leuven, Hasselt University During his PhD (in 2016) he obtained a postgraduate in business administration (Magna Cum Laude) at Hasselt University. 

In 2018 he joined a technology provider of Waste to Energy technology as Innovation manager. As Innovation manager, he is responsible for the R&D of the company. 

Since 2018 he represents the company in the association of European Suppliers of Waste-to-Energy Technology (ESWET). He also represents the company in other associations linked to CCUS like for example CO2 Value Europe and the Belgian business platform CAPTURE. 

Since 2021 Tom is elected as chairman of the ESWET CCUS working group. Today he is giving a presentation as representative of this working group.

Tony started his career as a trainee Quantity Surveyor working in general contracting in 1990.  Since then he has progressed through the ranks into senior management in the late 1990's. He has worked at board level since 2002 and continue to be a member of the Institute of Directors.

Founding Chilworth Construction Management in 2009 with 2 colleagues initially as the commercial director and now Managing Director from March 2021.

Working within many sectors of the construction industry from health, education through to commercial , industrial and now the waste and energy sectors, Tony’s broad knowledge of contracting is leading Chilworth to its next stage as a leading construction management business delivering large complex projects in the most efficient and safe manner.

Guillaume Le Bris is an Associate Director, Senior Banker, at the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) covering the Sustainable Infrastructure sectors and working on direct lending to local governments, financing of utilities, PPP structuring and financing, as well as policy dialogues in the transport and municipal sectors. 

Guillaume joined the EBRD in 2014 to cover Morocco and Tunisia for the Municipal and Environmental Infrastructure team, and he subsequently took the responsibility for the management of the whole portfolio of projects of the team. Since early 2019, Guillaume supervises EBRD’s infrastructure activities in Serbia, North Macedonia and Greece. In this capacity, he has been involved in several solid waste transactions. 

Previously, he worked for 6 years as an urban development and municipal finance specialist at the French Development Agency (AFD), being based in Johannesburg and Paris. Guillaume started his career at Dexia and is a graduate of ESSEC Business School and Sciences Po Strasbourg.

Aleksandra is the Founder of Hydrogen Utopia International PLC. She also founded the NGO Plastic Neutrality Pledge in February 2021. 

Aleksandra believes that hydrogen is the commodity of the future and has the ambition to make Poland the first country in the European Union with a Hydrogen Utopia plant and to progressively roll out other Hydrogen Utopia plants across Continental Europe. Her ambition is to make large companies see the advantages of a circular economy and the need to protect our environment whilst at the same time being able to make profits from investments in new but proven clean fuel technologies. 

From 2015, Aleksandra was the CEO of Carulac sp. Z.o.o., a Polish company with a fleet of buses. Carulac provides bus services to one of the largest tourist companies in the World, Group Voyagers Inc., whose buses serve travellers in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. Running Carulac made Aleksandra realise that the future of tourism should be based on hydrogen-fuelled buses. 

Aleksandra studied Political Sciences and Journalism at Warsaw University and began her career writing for art, political and lifestyle magazines. In 2011 she was headhunted by the art dealership Abbey House, where she developed and implemented a revolutionary scheme for the leasing of works of art. Abbey House was listed on the New Connect Stock Exchange Market. The main objective and mission of the company was to create an international platform for substantial growth of Central European Art. 

Both the art industry and Aleksandra’s tourism business resulted in a good understanding of the culture of many countries in the European Union and numerous valuable networks. It is that understanding, experience and those networks that Aleksandra is currently actively utilising in order to roll out Hydrogen Utopia plants in the shortest possible time.

Experienced research and innovation professional with a demonstrated history of operating in the intersection of industry, business, and scientific research. Olsen is a Mechanical Engineer and holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from NTNU.