2020 Speaker Line-Up
Speakers Confirmed for the 2020 Virtual Summit

Carrie George
VP & Head of Sustainability Solutions | Everledger
Carrie leads Everledger’s sustainability applications across all our verticals from diamonds and gems to batteries and wine. She also focuses on assessing how and where our technology can increase efficiency, reduce administrative burden, and improve supply chain data well beyond basic compliance. Carrie previously worked in the jewellery, electronics, and apparel industries. Across several senior roles, she collaborated with corporations, governments and non-profit organisations to map supply chains and create programs to mitigate social and environmental issues and have positive impact in more than 30 countries.

Dr Ruediger Kuehr
Director/Head | UNU-SCYCLE/UNITAR Bonn

Dr Marta Jakowczyk
Program Manager: Take Back and Recovery Ops EMEA | HP

Jim Puckett
Executive Director & Founder | Basel Action Network (BAN)
- Jim is the co-founder and executive director of Basel Action Network, at which he provides strategic oversight and implements and expands BAN’s programs
- As an activist for more than 25 years, his work on toxic waste and toxic waste trade has helped control pollution, safeguard fragile ecosystems from bio-accumulating toxins, protect the world’s poor from health hazards, and re-use the Earth’s limited resources
- He has been a chief proponent of just international policies within the United Nations Basel Convention since its inception in 1989. As the only person to have attended every Conference of the Parties meeting, he supports delegates in drafting, approving, and implementing policies that protect people from the global trade of toxic waste
- His assistance was crucial for creating regional waste trade agreements, such as the Bamako Convention, Central American Agreement, Waigani Treaty, and the Cartagena Convention Waste Trade Protocol
- He has traveled the world researching, speaking, writing, and producing films. He was the first to investigate and expose the export of electronic waste (e-waste). BAN’s 2002 film, Exporting Harm: The High-Tech Trashing of Asia, was the first to shine a spotlight on e-waste trade and transformed an unknown dumping practice into a well-recognized, global issue
- He has since overseen creation of the e-Stewards Certification Program, which certifies electronics recyclers to the industry’s gold standard for environmental and occupational health and safety protection
- Prior to establishing BAN, as Toxics Director for Greenpeace International, his regional campaigns were instrumental in generating public and government support for equitable trade policies throughout Europe
- He holds a Bachelor of Science in Speech and Filmmaking from the University of Oregon

Steven Clayton
Regulatory Affairs Manager | Samsung Electronics

Anders Andrae
Senior Expert Life Cycle Assessment | Huawei Technologies

Mulan Mu
Sustainability & Supply Chain Continuity Manager | Fitbit

Stephanie Adrian
Senior International Waste Policy & Programs Manager | US Environmental Protection Agency

Piotr Barczak
Senior Policy Officer: Waste | European Environmental Bureau (EEB)

Tilmann Vahle
Associate/Lead | SYSTEMIQ/Circular Economy Initiative Deutschland

James Pennington
Lead, Circular Economy & China Partnerships | World Economic Forum

Deepali Sinha Khetriwal
Managing Director | Sofies India

Alex Keynes
Clean Vehicles Manager | Transport & Environment (T&E)

Kimberley Botwright
Community Lead, Global Trade and Investment SI | World Economic Forum

Zarko Meseldzija
Director & CTO | American Manganese Inc

Alexander Batteiger
Advisor Circular Economy & Sustainable Waste Management | Deutsche Gesellschaft für Intern. Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

Daniela Albuquerque
Circular Economy Manager | Circular Action Hub

Emma Nehrenheim
Chief Environmental Officer | Northvolt

Joseph Bush
Vice President Business Development | Battery Resourcers

Dr Alireza Rastegarpanah
Research Fellow, The Faraday Institution | University of Birmingham

Chloé Mikolajczack
Sustainability Consultant | Restart

Jan Hoogstrate
Executive Director | Free ICT Europe Foundation

Sinead McCabe
Global Key Account Manager | Landbell Group

Dr Mathias Schluep
Program Director | World Resources Forum

Linda Gaines
Systems Analyst | Argonne National Laboratory

Rita Tedesco
Programme Manager, Energy & Climate Team | ECOS

Dr Simon Glöser-Chahoud
Team Leader | Institute for Industrial Production (IIP) - Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

Ceri Fenwick
EngD Researcher, Centre for Environment & Sustainability/Environmental Research Engineer | University of Surrey/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe

Alexander Klonick
Manager, Education & Engagement | Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA)

Professor Andy Abbott
Professor of Physical Chemistry | University of Leicester

Jean-Christophe Lambert
Business Development Manager | Lithion Recycling

Dr Robert De Ruiter
Business Development Plastics & Circular Economy - Circular Economy, Environment and Sustainability | TNO

Sampson Atiemo
Researcher | Mountain Research Institute

Nikolaus Borowski
Project Manager Order Handling/Sales | SMS group

Jaakko Savolainen
Commercial Director | Fortum Battery Solutions

Pedro Moura Costa
Co-Founder & Director | Circular Action Hub

Andreas Wade
Global Sustainability Director | First Solar

Claire Agraffeil
Project Manager | CEA/INES (Institut National de l'Energie Solaire)

Richard Peagam
Associate Director - Global Producer Responsibility | Anthesis Group

Dora Caria
Head of Circular Economy Engineering Solutions | Landbell Group

Dr Rolph Payet
Executive Secretary | Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions
- Dr Rolph Payet is the United Nations Executive Secretary for the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions
- He is an international policy expert, researcher and speaker on environment, climate and island issues
- He was the first president and vice-chancellor of the University of Seychelles
- He was Minister of Environment and Energy in the Cabinet of Seychelles from 2012 to 2014.
- Dr Payet has received numerous international awards and recognition for his work on islands, climate change, tertiary education and biodiversity
- He is known for his ability to bring together the various disciplines – natural science, economics and business – to innovate solutions for environmental issues
- His research in sustainable tourism and climate change continue to benefit numerous tourism developments in Seychelles and elsewhere

Manfred Fahrner
Senior Adviser | European Electronics Recycling Association (EERA)
- Manfred is a senior adviser with the European Electronics Recyclers Association (EERA) and one of the most knowledgeable and influential figures in the WEEE sector
- He was the first president of EERA. Holding the position for 10 years, he was the driver behind the success of the organization
- Due to his efforts in discussions with European Parliament members and the European Commission, the WEEE II Directive now includes realistic and measurable targets. For instance, a realistic definition of materials that need to be removed because they are hazardous, and a collection target for WEEE of 65% of what has been put on the market
- He has also been bestowed with the ‘IERC Honorary Award’ in 2018 for all his achievements for the WEEE industry
- In 2020, he became the ninth member of the E-Waste World Conference & Expo Advisory Board

Kilian Kaminski
Co-Founder & CEO | refurbed
Kilian is Founder & CEO of refurbed, the fastest growing marketplace for refurbished electronic products in the German-speaking region. Prior to refurbed Kilian was Head of the Amazon Certified Refurbished program and New Key Account Manager for the largest electronics retailers at Amazon Germany. Before that he studied communication and business administration in Hamburg, Shanghai & London. He originally comes from Hamburg and lived and worked in Munich for several years

Duane Nelson
CEO & President | EnviroLeach Technologies

Stuart Fleming
Co-Founder/Group CEO/Board Member | EnviroServe Group/Enviroserve Recycling
- Stuart Fleming is founding partner and CEO of EnviroServe UAE Group of Companies, which was established 15 years ago where he has been instrumental in creating change in the Middle East Africa region on environmental and sustainable processes
- He pioneered the commencement of e-waste services in the region. From its headquarters in Dubai, Stuart was actively involved in pioneering and legislating the control and use of CFCs, assisted the authorities in developing the ban on public smoking and written regulations and legislation on WEEE for various regional countries
- Educational, charitable and CSR programmes are the basis in which Stuart is directly involved. He liaises directly at Ministerial and Advisory level where they have sought EnviroServe’s support and advice on various environmental topics
- In 2017, he has personally lead the design and build of the world’s largest integrated electronic and specialised waste facility. Known as The Recycling Hub, it will process close to 100,000 tons of product per annum
- Thirty years in the UAE, Stuart was commercial director for DHL Worldwide Express before commencing his own businesses in 1998. Educated in Zimbabwe, he is on the Board of two companies

Jelle Slenters
EU ITAD Head of Business Development | Sims Lifecycle Services
- Jelle is the head of Business Development (EMEA) for Sims Lifecycle Services IT Asset Disposition division. Sims Lifecycle Services’s mission is to create a world without waste, working in partnership with clients to engineer ITAD and recycling programs that deliver optimum value recovery, compliance and security, anywhere in the world
- Passionate about building sustainable solutions that support the circular economy, Jelle has worked within the ITAD industry since 2003. He holds degrees in economics and social economics from Hogeschool in Holland and the University of West of England
- As a natural innovator, Jelle’s forward-leaning approach enables him to push against the status quo, stimulate challenging debate and lead the charge for more environmentally sympathetic IT use and disposal models

Julie-Ann Adams
Managing Director | Really Green Credentials

Alireza Dolatshahi-Pirouz
Group Leader/Associate Professor - Department of Health Technology | Technical University of Denmark

Katharina Kummer Peiry
Owner & Principal | Kummer EcoConsult

Elisabeth Smith
Executive Director | StEP Initiative - Solving The E-Waste Problem

Fredrik Forslund
Vice President, Cloud and Data Center Erasure Solutions | Blancco

Andreas Fritsch
Scientific Assistant | Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

Patty Dillon
Senior Director - Criteria & Category Development | Green Electronics Council (GEC)

Max Scher
Head of Clean Energy & Carbon Programs | Salesforce

Nader Akil
Senior Innovation and Managing Consultant | PNO Innovation (Brussels)

Marcel Weil
Head of Research for Sustainable Energy Technologies | Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

Hans Eric Melin
Managing Director | Circular Energy Storage
- Hans Eric is the founder of London-based Circular Energy Storage, which is a consultancy focused on life-cycle management of lithium-ion batteries
- He is also the author of The lithium-ion battery end-of-life market, which is an annual report covering recycling and reuse of lithium-ion batteries and its impact on the raw material market
- Prior to starting Circular Energy Storage, Hans Eric served as vice president New Markets at Battery Solutions in Michigan, USA, at which he was primarily working with reuse of lithium-ion batteries
- Before that, he was the CEO of Refind Technologies in Gothenburg, which is a leading company in intelligent sorting of batteries and electronics
- Hans Eric has a long experience in the collection of waste but also in eco-design and renewable energy
- He holds a BSc in Communication Studies and Business administration from Gothenburg University

Dea Andrea Wehrli
Research Associate and Co-Founder of E[co]work - A Social Impact Startup | Empa - The Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology

Lorena Toledo Reyes
Scientist within the Critical Materials and Resource Efficiency (CARE) Group | Empa - The Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology

Kévin Le Blevennec
Circular Economy Researcher | VITO

Arthur Schwesig
Head of Research & Development | Bage Plastics

Pyry Hannula
BATCircle Project Manager/Postdoctoral Researcher | Aalto University School of Chemical Engineering

Dr Sven Grieger
Manager - WEEE Services | EARN – The European Advanced Recycling Network

Roland Gauß
Senior Advisor for Raw Materials Substitution and Recycling | EIT Raw Materials

Professor John Gertsakis
Adjunct Professor/Director and Co-founder | The Institute for Sustainable Futures/EWaste Watch

Mathieu Rama
Senior Policy Officer - Environment | RREUSE

Rainer Pamminger
Senior Researcher | Vienna University of Technology

Alfred Weber
Sales Director | Recycling & Environmental Technology | BHS-Sonthofen

Pascal Leroy
Director General | WEEE Forum
- Pascal became director general of the WEEE Forum in 2007
- The WEEE Forum is a European association of 40 electrical and electronic waste collection and recovery systems. Its mission is to provide for a platform for co-operation and exchange of best practices and, in so doing, optimize the effectiveness of the operations of the member organizations, while striving for excellence and continuous improvement in environmental performance
- He has also been the project manager of ‘WEEELABEX’, the four-year project co-financed by the European Community that has laid down a harmonized set of standards on collection, logistics and treatment of WEEE, and a set of conformity verification rules. The project came to an end on 31 December 2012
- He previously worked at CECED, the association of household appliance manufacturers in Europe. He joined CECED in 2000 and was in charge of an advocacy program on WEEE. He prepared the ground for the set-up of WEEE producer responsibility organizations in a number of new member states
- Before CECED, Pascal worked for Hill and Knowlton, the world’s second-largest public relations and public affairs consultancy
- In the second half of the 1990s, he worked in the European Parliament. He studied economics at the University of Antwerpen (Belgium) and obtained a Masters in advanced European economic studies at the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium)

Professor Julien Leclaire
Group Leader, Applied Supramolecular Chemistry Lab | University of Lyon

Dr Jörg Zimmermann
Materials Scientist | Fraunhofer IWKS
- Dr.-Ing Jörg Zimmermann is a materials scientist
- He studied at TU Darmstadt and finished his PhD on the subject x-ray storage phosphors in 2005 at the department Materials and Earth Sciences
- Between 2005 and 2014 he headed the working group Inorganic Phosphors in the division Electronic Materials at the same department
- In 2014 Dr. Zimmermann became manager of the business unit Lighting at the Fraunhofer Project Group Materials Recycling and Resource Strategies IWKS in Hanau and Alzenau
- Since 2017 he has been head of the department Energy Materials at Fraunhofer IWKS

Dr Katrin Bokelmann
Head of department Urban Mining | Fraunhofer IWKS
- Dr Bokelmann studied chemistry at the University of Hanover (Germany) and received her PhD in 2007 in the field of micro- and mesoporous silicate materials
- Between 2007 and 2011, she worked at the Fraunhofer institute for Silicate Research
- In 2012 she started at the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Materials Recycling and Resource Strategies IWKS and is now head of the department Urban Mining. Her group works on the development of technologies for the effective and sustainable use of resources from waste materials

Apostolos Axenopoulos
Postdoctoral Researcher | Centre for Research and Technology Hellas/Information Technologies Institute (CERTH/ITI)
- Dr Axenopoulos works as a postdoctoral researcher at the Information Technologies Institute/Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH/ITI)
- He received the diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2003 and the MSc degree in Advanced Computing Systems in 2008 from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and his Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2014 from the University of Thessaly
- His main research interests include multimedia processing, computer vision and pattern recognition
- He has participated in several EU-funded research projects. Currently, he is involved in the coordination and management of the European Project HR-Recycler, which aims to develop a hybrid human-robot recycling plant for WEEE

Vincent Ledoux Pedailles
Vice President - Business Development | Vulcan Energy

Liisa Hakola
Senior Scientist | VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
- Liisa is senior scientist and project manager at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and has worked there since graduation
- She works in a research area of sensors and integration
- She received her M.Sc. degree in Graphic Arts from Helsinki University of Technology in 2002
- She is an IPMA-C-certified project manager
- Her research expertise include sustainable solutions for printed functionality, intelligent packaging solutions and printed sensors
- At the moment she is coordinating Finnish ecosystem project ECOtronics focusing on sustainable electronics and optics

Adrian Clews
Managing Director | Hinckley Associates Nigeria

Cris Stephenson
CEO | Environcom
- Cris joined Environcom in September 2014 and his background is logistics
- After attending Durham University studying philosophy he started work as a HGV 1 driver and after joining TNT worked his way up to divisional managing director
- Having now worked across all aspects of the supply chain with multi-national companies such as the TNT Group, HDNL and Pall-Ex, he also worked within the manufacturing sector with SMEs such as CPL and Autosparks

Phillipe Celis
CEO | RENEOS SCE
- Phillipe is the CEO of RENEOS
- Since October 2017, he has been an e-mobility consultant for Bebat (Battery Compliance Organization in Belgium), which offers tailor-made solutions to OEMs (car, motorcycle, warehouse material, energy storage)) for end-of-life traction battery collection, recycling, second use and/or dismantling in Belgium but also solutions at European level through RENEOS
- RENEOS is the European network of the Best National Battery Collectors using a software as key enabler for full traceability of end-of-life traction batteries collected. It OEMs to split the collection and the recycling part, offering more flexibility and negotiation power

Dr Lisa Maria T. O'Donoghue
Founder & CEO | Votechnik

Dr Christian Hagelüken
Director EU Government Affairs | Umicore AG & Co KG
- Christian is director of Government Affairs at Umicore
- From 2003-2011 he was head of Business Development in Umicore’s Precious Metals Refining unit
- Before, he held various management positions in the precious metals department of Degussa AG
- He represents Umicore in policy initiatives, associations, expert groups and scientific panels, among others the UNEP Resource Panel, the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials, and the German Acatech working group on resources for energy applications
- Christian has contributed to numerous books, scientific journals and conferences with a focus on (precious) metals recycling, sustainable metals management and circular economy
- He also holds university degrees in mining engineering and industrial engineering from RWTH Aachen, Germany, where he also received his Ph.D. in 1991

Reinhardt Smit
Director - Supply Chains | Closing The Loop
- Reinhardt Smit is director of supply chains at Closing the Loop. Closing the Loop is a Netherlands-based organization that creates a circular economy for mobile phones. In practice, they give good-quality second-hand mobile telephones a second life in Africa, but more importantly, they create a reverse-distribution system in less developed nations to collect mobile phones for recycling
- He grew up in South Africa and Ghana. After finishing his IT studies and Hotelschool in the Netherlands, he started his own company to improve communication and workflows of organizations and projects. During this work, he came across the world of electronic waste and recycling
- At Closing the Loop, his focus is on strengthening the existing networks and helping the organization grow through his experience and knowledge from Africa

Luca Campadello
Project & Research Manager | ERION
- Luca is project and research manager for ECODOM
- He earned his MSc in mechanics from Politecnico di Milano University
- His specialist topics vary from technical innovative researches on plastics and critical raw materials to initiatives for improving the WEEE value chain through education and digitalization solutions
- Since 2008, he has worked for ECODOM, managing suppliers, performing WEEELABEX audits and participating in European technical tables for the development of standards focused on the recycling of WEEE

Richard McKinlay
Head of Consulting | Axion
- Richard graduated from The University of Manchester with a master’s degree in chemical engineering
- He is is currently head of consulting at Axion
- Richard has worked on a range of research, development and demonstration projects in the waste and resource sector and works closely with Axions Polymers division
- Axion Polymers is one of the largest UK recyclers of plastics from end-of-life vehicles and WEEE

Dr Constantin Herrmann
Director Consulting - Sustainability, Manufacturing & Electronics | Sphera
- Dr Herrmann is a sustainability expert and specializes in strategy development for profitable sustainable futures, life-cycle thinking, ecodesign, energy efficiency, carbon footprint and life-cycle assessment
- He has worked in this field with a focus on electronics since 1997 and has expanded his responsibility to metals, electronics, manufacturing, automotive and supply chains
- His responsibility relates to team and sector strategizing, account management and project management
- Besides sustainability assessment of established and innovative products, processes and engineering systems, he has worked on life-cycle thinking of manufacturing processes, metals, plastics, assembly lines, recycling processes and electronics design, including compliance aspects relating to environmental regulations such as RoHS, WEEE, EuP/ErP and REACH
- He received a doctorate in engineering in 2003

Ana Maria Martinez
Senior Research Scientist | SINTEF
- Ana is a senior research scientist at SINTEF (Norway)
- She has a Ph.D. (1999) in Chemistry from the University of Valladolid (Spain)
- Her main research interest and expertise (more than 20 years) is electrochemistry in high-temperature molten salts and ionic liquids, including electrowinning, electrorefining and electrodeposition
- She is the co-author of 50 peer-reviewed papers in international journals and has co-supervised seven PhD Theses and several MSc at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
- In the past few years, her research has focused on the recovery of critical raw materials from secondary resources, and she is currently involved in several EU-funded projects in that area, one of them as coordinator

Douglas Johnson-Poensgen
Founder & CEO | Circulor
- Doug has 25 years’ international experience, operating in TMT, financial services, IT and management consultancy sectors
- His experience spans large corporates (Barclays, BT, Serco, AIMIA), scale-ups (Cadence, ISD) and start-ups (Circulor, Snapdragon)
- He has broad functional experience with consistent themes being innovation, delivering growth and regulation

Jeffrey Spangenberger
The ReCell Center | The ReCell Center
- Jeff is the Materials Recycling group leader in the Applied Materials Division of the Argonne National Laboratory. His group works to solve material separation, recovery and recycling challenges resulting in cost effective and environmentally sustainable processes resulting in commercialized plants
- He and his team have demonstrated the recovery of plastics, metals and materials from numerous waste streams such as auto shredder residue, electronic waste, and furniture at scales ranging from bench to commercial. He has received four patents related to this effort
- In recent years, his research has expanded into lithium ion battery recycling and is leading Argonne’s advanced battery recycling program to evaluate and advance the cost effective and sustainable recycling of end-of-life batteries

Howard Stimpson
Director of Operations | Sphera EC4P
- Howard has 15 years of experience in assisting electronics manufacturers to understand their legal exposure to WEEE, batteries and packaging regulations and implementing and managing their Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) compliance programs across the globe, including EU member states and EFTA countries, USA, Canada and Asia Pacific countries
- He is also the Operations Director of Sphera EC4P’s UK government-approved WEEE Producer Compliance Scheme for manufacturers of professional-use products, B2BWEEE-Scheme

Karolina Brabcova
Toxics & Plastics Adviser | Arnika/IPEN
- Based at the Czech NGO, Arnika, Karolina has over 15 years of experience working on toxic chemicals, i.e. strategies to eliminate them via European and global environmental policies related to persistent organic pollutants
- She has a Masters Degree in history and sociology from Charles University of Prague

Heinz Böni
Head of Research Group CARE (Critical Materials and Resource Efficiency) | Empa - The Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology
- Heinz has a degree in rural and environmental engineering from ETH Zürich with postgraduate studies in water supply and wastewater management
- He worked as a scientist, in development cooperation and for more than 10 years as an engineer and consultant in Waste and Resources Management in Switzerland
- At Empa, he is head of the research group CARE (Critical Materials and Resource Efficiency)
- His scope of work covers research in WEEE recycling, auditing WEEE recycling companies and capacity building in WEEE management in developing countries

John Shegerian
Co-founder & Executive Chairman | ERI
- John is a serial social entrepreneur who focuses on solving global problems through game-changing innovations to build successful, socially responsible impact companies
- As co-founder and executive chairman of ERI, he has played a significant role in paving the way for the electronics recycling, data protection and ITAD industries as a whole. Building ERI from the ground up, he has helped lead the company to its current standing as the largest fully integrated IT and electronics asset disposition provider and cybersecurity-focused hardware destruction company in the USA
- Under his stewardship, the company now has the capacity to process more than a billion pounds (lbs) of electronic waste annually at its eight certified locations, serving every zip code in the country
- Shegerian is also a sought-after speaker, panelist and electronics recycling and ITAD industry authority, presenting ‘state of the industry’ analyses at events all around the world, including Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas
- He has also authored articles on the industry for Recycling Today, E-Scrap News and various business journals and regularly provides his expert knowledge to news media, including The Wall Street Journal, TIME, Newsweek, Forbes, Gizmodo and Wired, among others
- He is currently a member of the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business’ Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership (IGEL) Advisory Board and was named the Clean Tech Entrepreneur of the Year for Northern California by Ernst & Young
- He is the seventh member of the E-Waste World Conference & Expo 2020 Advisory Board

Dr Wolfgang Bernhart
Senior Partner | Automotive | Roland Berger
- Dr Bernhart has been a partner at the Automotive Competence Center at Roland Berger’s Stuttgart office since 2007. 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 DaimlerChrysler 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

Chris Slijkhuis
Board Member | European Electronics Recyclers Association (EERA)
- After completing a Master of Business Administration program in the 1980s, Chris worked on a number of start-ups for Chep Europe in Central and Eastern Europe in the 1990s (Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Hungary) and served as Chep’s regional general manager
- He joined the fast-growing electronics manufacturing services company Flextronics in 2000, as director of Supply Chain Management in its European HQ in Vienna and developed and implemented new supply chain concepts. In this role he also worked on the development of new reverse logistics concepts for WEEE when the WEEE Directive was introduced in 2004
- He joined MBA Polymers (in which Flextronics was one of the shareholders at the time) in 2005 to develop the global sourcing and supply chain function for this e-waste plastics recycling company
- In 2012, Chris joined the Müller-Guttenbrunn Group, the JV partner of MBA Polymers in Austria, where his activities were related to public affairs and e-waste. MBA Polymers Austria became a fully owned subsidiary of the Müller-Guttenbrunn Group in 2017 and MBA Polymers Austria was rebranded into MGG Polymers at the beginning of 2018
- At the start of October, Chris was named general manager of MGG Polymers. He is also a board member of the European Electronics Recyclers Association EERA for which he is the spokesperson for e-waste plastics recycling

Corey Dehmey
Executive Director | SERI - Sustainable Electronics Recycling International
- Corey is the executive director of Sustainable Electronics Recovery International (SERI). He also serves on the organization’s board of directors and since 2008 has worked in various roles in the electronics recovery industry
- Corey holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in computer and information systems and spent 12 years in the IT industry before transitioning to electronics recovery
- SERI’s core focus is administering and continually improving the R2 Standard, the premier global environmental, worker health and safety standard for the electronics refurbishing and recycling industry
- A core component of SERI’s mission is education and outreach on the importance of electronics reuse and recycling. The organization continuously works to inform consumers, businesses and other stakeholder groups about the rapid rise of electronic waste, the potential environmental and human health impacts associated with irresponsible e-waste disposal, and the importance of reuse and recycling. It also engages in projects to promote safe and sustainable electronics recycling throughout the world. SERI partners with corporations, other non-profits, or government agencies on these projects
- Corey previously served as SERI’s RD director for four years and following his appointment in 2018 to executive director brought to position the greatest available technical knowledge of the industry, the R2 standard and the standard certification process
- Corey’s experience working in virtually all sectors of the electronics reuse and recycling industry affords him a broad perspective of what is needed and what is possible in continuing to improve the sustainability of electronics recycling

Gavin Harper
Faraday Institution Research Fellow | University of Birmingham
- Gavin is a Faraday Institution Research Fellow on the ReLiB (Recycling & Reuse of Lithium-Ion Batteries) Project at the University of Birmingham, investigating advanced technologies for the recycling of automotive Lithium-Ion Batteries
- He is a founding member of Birmingham Energy Institute’s, Birmingham Centre for Strategic Elements & Critical Materials

Rasmus Bergström
Executive Director Product Development & CEO | BatteryLoop/Stena Recycling Group
- Rasmus has been with the the Stena Metall Group for almost two decades and is a globally respected figure in the recycling business
- He has been involved in electronics recycling throughout Europe since 2007, but since 2013 he has led the European business of Stena Technoworld, which is one of leading electronics recyclers with activities in 17 of the EU states and treating material in 19 own plants
- More recently, Rasmus has been heading-up BatteryLoop, which was formed in 2017 by Stena Recycling. The BatteryLoop concept prolongs the useful life of electric vehicle batteries and provides a more sustainable solution both from a financial and an environmental point of view. Batteries that are no longer usable in vehicles may be used for energy storage

Nancy Gillis
CEO | Green Electronics Council (GEC)
- Nancy Gillis is the chief executive officer of the Green Electronics Council (GEC)
- She has more than 20 years’ experience leveraging sustainability to increase competitiveness, reduce risk and foster innovation in both public and private sector organizations
- Prior to joining the GEC, she was the global lead for Resilient and Responsible Supply Chains with Ernst & Young (EY) and managed sustainable procurement engagements for Fortune 100 companies
- She joined EY from the US General Services Administration (GSA), the US Federal Government’s procurement agency that oversees approximately US$45 billion of annual spend. At GSA, she served as the director of the Federal Supply Chain office, responsible for expanding the use of sustainability criteria and ecolabels in federal procurements
- GEC is a mission-driven 501c(4) non-profit that collaborates to achieve a world in which only sustainable IT products are designed, manufactured and purchased, hence she will provide invaluable insight and expertise for our Green & Sustainable Electronics stream
- Founded initially to manage EPEAT, the leading global ecolabel for IT products, GEC advocates for sustainable IT by helping both manufacturers and large-scale purchasers to understand the challenges facing sustainable IT, commit to address those challenges and finally act to change internal, operational, manufacturing and procurement behaviors
- Nancy has a graduate degree in communications technology from Georgetown University

Dr Esther M. Gabor
Programme Manager Green & Urban Mining | BRAIN

Dr Will Barker
Founder & CEO | Mint Innovation
- Dr Barker is the founder and CEO of the Auckland, New Zealand-based Mint Innovation
- He is passionate about commercializing new technologies through securing IP, fundraising and building high-performance teams. Drawing on a wealth of experience in science- and technology-based businesses, with a focus on securing value, technology commercialization, IP and corporate organization, he strives to create value across a wide range of technology areas
- Mint Innovation is developing recovery processes that use inexpensive chemicals and proprietary microorganisms to bind and concentrate specific metals under environmentally benign conditions
- The company’s platform aims to be modular and adaptable to input applications such as low-grade ores, tailings and electronic wastes. It may also be tailored to help remediate environments contaminated with toxic metals.

Karen Sende Osen
Senior Research Scientist | SINTEF
- Karen is a senior research scientist at SINTEF (Norway) and has a Master’s degree in aluminium electrolysis from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU, 2005)
- Her main scientific interest is electrolysis and electrochemistry – especially aluminium, silicon, titanium, magnesium, iron, rare earth metals, cobalt, nickel and copper
- She is the co-author of 20 peer-reviewed papers in international journals and she has co-supervised several master students at NTNU
- She has participated in the arrangements committee of two international conferences, and one national conference in materials technology
- In a three-year period (2012-2015), she held a position as research manager for a metallurgy laboratory group, also at SINTEF

Dr Jürgen Kölch
Marketing/PR | EVA Fahrzeugtechnik
- Dr Kölch has been with EVA Fahrzeugtechnik, part of the FEV Group, since 2004 and currently works in the company’s central department. Among his current responsibilities, he coordinates all activities revolving around public lectures for the company
- Between 2016-2018, he has been conducting research into lithium-ion battery materials (all-solid-state batteries)
- Along with his work at EVA Fahrzeugtechnik, Dr Kölch is also an associate lecturer for the master’s course ‘Automotive and Mobility Management’ at the Technical University Ingolstadt for the modules ‘Electric mobility and alternative drive concepts in the automotive industry’ and ‘Social trends with relevance to mobility’ modules
- He attained his Post-Doc (2001-2003) at the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW) in Ulm (durability of PEM Fuel Cells) and before that was a PhD researcher (1998-2001) at Technical University of Munich (exhaust gas scrubbing of diesel engines powered by plant oil)

Alexander Süßmilch
Managing Shareholder | CIRECON
- Alexander has more than 20 years’ experience in after-sales services in consumer electronics and high-tech
- His business focus is serving global leading computer manufacturers and enterprise solution providers in consultancy, later in supply chain and repair management
- He has held multiple international managing director roles with EMEA-wide operational execution on a broad basis in after-sales activities for CE retail and manufacturers
- With the after-market expertise – especially in re-use and recycling of CE mass products – an IT-focused service provider spin-off was established in early 2019, which now serves valuable circular economy services to manufacturers, retailers and service providers

Dr Rolf Degel
Vice President, Non-Ferrous Metals and SAF | SMS Group

Professor Sebastien Farnaud
Professor, Faculty Research Centre for Sport, Exercise & Life Sciences | Coventry University
- Professor Farnaud is associate professor in the Center for Sport and Exercise & Life Sciences (CSELS) at Coventry University, where he created the ‘Bioleaching’ group. This is part of a focus on bioremediation, the process that uses mainly microorganisms to detoxify the environments. He is leading the innovate-funded KTP Bioleaching project, in collaboration with N2S for the recycling of precious metal from electronic waste
- He arrived in the UK after graduating in France, as an Erasmus student in 1990, to pursue a PhD in molecular biology at King’s College London, at the Randall Centre for cell and molecular biophysics
- Over the past 20 years, he has developed his academic and research experience in several academic institutions, including Imperial College, University of Westminster and the University of Bedfordshire, but also in the third sector as science director in a medical research charity
- In addition to his interest in microbiological and biotech applications, his research expertise also includes the biomedical aspects of iron metabolism, particularly in Parkinson’s Disease, and also the development of antimicrobial peptides
- His strong interest in Enterprise & Innovation, which includes the directorship and creation of several companies, has led him to the position of enterprise and innovation lead in CSELS at Coventry University