Preliminary 2020 Speakers
More Speakers to be Announced Soon
Jim Puckett
Executive Director & Founder | Basel Action Network (BAN)
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
Dr Rolph Payet
Executive Secretary | Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions
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
Matthias Zentgraf
Regional President Europe | Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL)
Matthias Zentgraf
Regional President Europe | Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL)
Kyle Wiens
CEO & Co-founder | iFixit
Kyle Wiens
CEO & Co-founder | iFixit
Manfred Fahrner
Senior Adviser | European Electronics Recycling Association (EERA)
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
Pascal Leroy
Director General | WEEE Forum
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)
Stuart Fleming
Co-Founder/Group CEO/Board Member | EnviroServe Group/Enviroserve Recycling
Stuart Fleming
Co-Founder/Group CEO/Board Member | EnviroServe Group/Enviroserve Recycling
Vincent Ledoux Pedailles
Executive Director - Corporate Strategy | Infinity Lithium
Vincent Ledoux Pedailles
Executive Director - Corporate Strategy | Infinity Lithium
Liisa Hakola
Senior Scientist | VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
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
Marjolein Groeneweg
Senior Marketing Communications Leader Performance Plastics | Trinseo
Marjolein Groeneweg
Senior Marketing Communications Leader Performance Plastics | Trinseo
- After 10 years in different sales, marketing and business development functions at one of the largest chemical companies in the world, Marjolein was lucky to be part of a major carve-out in 2010 and was able to contribute toward building the new organization and company culture of Trinseo LLC, a company with approximately US$4.6 billion sales
- In her current role as senior global marketing communications leader for Trinseo’s Performance Plastics business, she leads a team of passionate professionals, who help the business to effectively position itself as sustainable solutions partner in specialty markets, such as automotive, medical, footwear and consumer electronics
- She is a strong believer in modular design and content concepts in order to maximize impact throughout the customer journey, whilst operating as cost efficient as possible
Adrian Clews
Managing Director | Hinckley Associates Nigeria
Adrian Clews
Managing Director | Hinckley Associates Nigeria
Cris Stephenson
CEO | Environcom
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
Josef Tapper
CEO | Recipo
Josef Tapper
CEO | Recipo
Phillipe Celis
CEO | RENEOS SCE
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 Lisa Maria T. O'Donoghue
Founder & CEO | Votechnik
Yoan Lavergne
Marketing Director | Lavergne
Yoan Lavergne
Marketing Director | Lavergne
Peter Mortlund
General Manager | Boliden
Peter Mortlund
General Manager | Boliden
Dr Christian Hagelüken
Director EU Government Affairs | Umicore AG & Co KG
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
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 | ECODOM
Luca Campadello
Project & Research Manager | ECODOM
- 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 McKinley
Head of Consulting | Axion
Richard McKinley
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
Milan Thakore
| Wood Mackenzie
Milan Thakore
| Wood Mackenzie
Michelle Wagner
Research Associate | United Nations University - Environment and Human Security (UNU-VIE)
Michelle Wagner
Research Associate | United Nations University - Environment and Human Security (UNU-VIE)
- Michelle is a research associate at the United Nations University – operating unit of Sustainable Cycles Programme (SCYCLE) hosted by Vice-Rectorate in Europe (UNU-VIE)
- She has worked on the ORAMA project, which focuses on optimizing data collection for primary and secondary raw materials in member states
- She has also worked on the Prospecting Secondary Raw Materials in the Urban Mine and Mining Waste (PROSUM) project, which directly supported the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials
- In 2007, Michelle graduated with distinction from the Catholic University in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, with a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering. From 2007-2009, she worked as an environmental analyst for the Honduran Ministry of Energy, Natural Resources, Environment & Mines. As part of the management team of the department of Evaluation and Auditing, she performed environmental feasibility assessments, elaborated terms of reference for environmental impact assessments, developed and audited environmental mitigation measures, conducted onsite project inspections for issuing environmental licenses and collaborated with other departments of the ministry (i.e. Department of climate change) in order to promote environmental policies
- In 2009, she was granted a scholarship to study a master’s in material science and sensor systems applied for environmental technologies at UPV, Valencia and KTH, Stockholm
- As part of her master thesis in 2012, she conducted thorough research on Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) in order to evaluate the viability of making a new polymeric blend from WEEE material and assessed the feasibility of its reintroduction to the market as a recycled material, by using state of the art characterization methods. In 2014, she worked for FLOCERT, in the department of Business Development, Climate Change Unit, where she assisted in the calculation of the company’s carbon footprint and elaborated reduction and improvement plans to decrease the company’s carbon footprint.
Hans Eric Melin
Managing Director | Circular Energy Storage
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
Dr Constantin Herrmann
Principal Consultant & Team Lead Metals, Manufacturing & Electronics | thinkstep/Sphera
Dr Constantin Herrmann
Principal Consultant & Team Lead Metals, Manufacturing & Electronics | thinkstep/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
Brian Noppe
General Manager | AD REM
Brian Noppe
General Manager | AD REM
Ana Maria Martinez
Senior Research Scientist | SINTEF
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
Jeffrey Spangenberger
The ReCell Center | The ReCell Center
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
Dr Ankur Sharma
Lecturer/International Education Partnership Coordinator | ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science
Dr Ankur Sharma
Lecturer/International Education Partnership Coordinator | ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science
- Dr Sharma is a lecturer’ at the Research School of Energy, Electrical and Materials Engineering (RSEEME) within the Australian National University (ANU)
- He received his Ph.D. in photonics and nanomaterial engineering from ANU in 2019. His research included developing the first-of-its-kind organic 2D semiconductor for future flexible and biodegradable electronic devices. His research received global media coverage and several accolades from within and outside the academic fraternity
- His current research areas include working on novel nanomaterials for micro and nano systems for photonics and opto-electronic applications such as ultrafast miniaturized transistors, wearable health monitor systems, flexible displays and solar cell applications
- Dr Sharma currently teaches final-year undergraduate students at ANU
- He specialized in systems engineering courses and works with industry partners to promote problem based learning for Engineering students a RSEEME, ANU
- He received his B.E. from Aligarh Muslim University, India in 2015 with specialization in mechanical and materials engineering and was the recipient of one Guinness World Record (2012) and the prestigious Honorary Award by the Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University for outstanding research credentials
Howard Stimpson
Director of Operations | Sphera EC4P
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
Ajay Kochhar
President & CEO | Li-Cycle
Ajay Kochhar
President & CEO | Li-Cycle
Karolina Brabcova
Toxics & Plastics Adviser | Arnika/IPEN
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 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
Abner Abee
Co-founder | Battery Safety Solutions
Abner Abee
Co-founder | Battery Safety Solutions
John Shegerian
Co-founder & Executive Chairman | ERI
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 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
Douglas Johnson-Poensgen
Founder & CEO | Circulor
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
Marco Guolo
Chief Technology Officer | OSAI Automation Systems
Marco Guolo
Chief Technology Officer | OSAI Automation Systems
- Marco is chief technology officer for OSAI Automation Systems
- He has more than 25 years of experience in laser technologies, machine set-up, industrial automation systems and laser process analysis and implementation. In addition, he focuses his expertise in the automation and electronic/semiconductor industry, which consequently affords him a multidisciplinary know-how of the company
- For the past few years, as a result of his role as project coordinator for OSAI on an H2020 project, he has been deepening his knowledge in circular economy, in particular RAEE recovery, recycling, dismantling and automatic management
Corey Dehmey
Executive Director | SERI - Sustainable Electronics Recycling International
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
Professor David Peck
Associate Professor | Delft University of Technology (TU Delft)
Professor David Peck
Associate Professor | Delft University of Technology (TU Delft)
- Professor Peck researches and teaches in the field of critical materials and circular design
- He is a manager of the tri-partite university partnership Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for Sustainability (CfS). The CfS has a focus on resources, circular and cities. He is responsible for the funding opportunities in the center
- He is the university leader for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation pioneer university program and is the representative for all the university faculties
- He has also been a senior mentor for the Schmidt-MacArthur fellowship program
- He is manager for TU Delft in the KIC EIT Raw Materials, the plus-seven-year EU program on raw materials: sustainable exploration, extraction, processing, recycling, remanufacturing and substitution with a core focus on closing loops
Athan Fox
Chief Technology & Innovation Officer | Aurelius Environmental
Athan Fox
Chief Technology & Innovation Officer | Aurelius Environmental
- Athan is a member of the executive team at Aurelius Environmental
- The company’s aim is to revolutionize recycling. Their vision is a web of industries where one stream’s waste is another stream’s in-feed: bridging linear and wasteful processes to create a circular, pollution-free, zero-waste future. Its projects include the recycling of lead-acid batteries, lithium-ion batteries, spent tires and catalysts for the petrochemicals industry. To put it simply: Aurelius Environmental harvests resources from urban waste
- Athan’s role involves developing the company’s R&D, technology and innovation strategies, managing its global expressions of interest, transferring technology, and managing its IP portfolio including filing new patents and trademarks
Gavin Harper
Faraday Institution Research Fellow | University of Birmingham
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
Chris Slijkhuis
Board Member | European Electronics Recyclers Association (EERA)
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
Rasmus Bergström
Executive Director Product Development & CEO | BatteryLoop/Stena Recycling Group
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
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 Martin Langer
Executive Vice President, Business Unit Head Industrial BioSolutions | B.R.A.I.N.
Dr Martin Langer
Executive Vice President, Business Unit Head Industrial BioSolutions | B.R.A.I.N.
- Dr Langer joined B.R.A.I.N. early 1995 where he was responsible for the GMP process development and GLP analytics for API
- From 2000, he worked for a pharma biotech spin-off of BRAIN where he organized several VC financing rounds
- In 2005 he took over B.R.A.I.N.’s Corporate Development Unit and started to grow the R&D business
- In 2012 he was appointed as an executive vice president
- In 2015 he headed the team that worked on the IPO early 2016
- Since 2018, Martin has been responsible for the B.R.A.I.N. BU Industrial BioSolutions, where all the activities in Green and Urban Mining are summarized
Dr Will Barker
Founder & CEO | Mint Innovation
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.
Peter Sabbe
CEO | Recupel
Peter Sabbe
CEO | Recupel
Karen Sende Osen
Senior Research Scientist | SINTEF
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 Hamid Karbasi
NSERC Industrial Research Chair for Colleges | Conestoga College
Dr Hamid Karbasi
NSERC Industrial Research Chair for Colleges | Conestoga College
- Dr Karbasi received his PhD in robotics and automation from the University of Waterloo in 2003. His PhD research titled ‘Uni-Drive Modular Robot’ received international first prize in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) graduate student design competition in 2002. Results of this research have been published in several prestigious books, journals and presented at multiple well-known conferences including ASME and IEEE
- He joined Conestoga College in 2005 with more than 20 years of industrial experience, and he continues to be actively involved with applied research. His research is focused on novel robotic applications, laser materials processing, materials spectroscopy, and machine vision to innovate new technologies for electronic recycling
- Since 2010, he has been actively working with electronic manufacturers, recyclers, and recycling associations in North America and Europe to understand the challenges and opportunities for recycling improvement
Dr Jürgen Kölch
Marketing/PR | EVA Fahrzeugtechnik
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 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
Dr Rolf Degel
Vice President, Non-Ferrous Metals and SAF | SMS Group
Professor Sebastien Farnaud
Associate Professor, Faculty Research Centre for Sport, Exercise & Life Sciences | Coventry University
Professor Sebastien Farnaud
Associate 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