Past Speakers

Christian Pho Duc is heading the hydrogen activities of Smartenergy and is also in charge of solar projects in Germany. His many years of international management experience, his marked technical background and, last but not least, his multicultural roots make him ideally suited for this task. After over 5 years of expanding E-Mobility on the water as SVP Sales at market leader Torqeedo he is now eager to provide clean energy to the installations worldwide. Christian spent already 5 years in the Solar Industry at Smartenergy Renewables, Nanosolar and Solyndra developing solar projects as managing director and VP Sales in EMEA and India. Prior to his engagement in the renewable energy space, Christian worked for 15 years in the semiconductor industry, always at the leading edge of technical innovations launching what were then the most highly integrated memory chips. He marketed high-end products for Infineon, Giesecke & Devrient and Siemens on the international stage, holding a number of management positions. Christian holds a master’s degree in semiconductor physics and microelectronics engineering from Cambridge University and master’s degree in physics from the Ludwig-Maximilian-University of Munich and showed an early interest in the market potential of new technologies. He undertook research at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics into high resolution detectors that today orbit the earth in satellites.

Dr Alan Finkel is the Chair of Australia’s Technology Investment Advisory Council and was recently appointed as Special Advisor to the Australian Government on Low Emissions Technology. He was Australia’s Chief Scientist from 2016 to 2020. Prior to his appointment as Chief Scientist, he served as President of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE), and for eight years as Chancellor of Monash University.

As Chief Scientist, Dr Finkel was appointed in January 2020 as Chair of the Expert Advisory Panel for the CSIRO Report on Climate and Disaster Resilience, and in February 2020 he was appointed as Chair of the Technology Investment Roadmap Ministerial Reference Group. He led the development of the 2019 National Hydrogen Strategy, which was adopted in November 2019. He also led the 2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap, the 2017 Review into the National Electricity Market (“Finkel Review”), and the 2018 STEM Industry Partnership Forum report. He serves as the Deputy Chair of Innovation and Science Australia.

Dr Finkel has an extensive science background as an entrepreneur, engineer, neuroscientist and educator. He was awarded his PhD in electrical engineering from Monash University and worked as a postdoctoral research fellow in neuroscience at the Australian National University.

Passionate about climate change mitigation, Alena is renewable gas investor and hydrogen energy expert. Since 2012 she accelerates the Energy Transition by developing economic, policy and financial tools with the global objective to abate 6 Gt of CO2 annually, create 30 m jobs, and unlock the $2.5 tr hydrogen market by 2050. Alena is part of the team that launched the first European impact investment fund dedicated to renewable gases, SWEN Impact Fund for Transition. With 6 years of industrial experience at Air Liquide, Alena advised the World Energy Council and the UN on sustainable energy, gas and mobility pathways. Her contribution to the energy transition success has been recognised by the Forbes 30 under 30 list and the Future Energy Leader nomination by the World Energy Council. Alena holds a PhD in Economics from Ecole Polytechnique, France, and Master’s degrees both in Applied Mathematics and in Public Policy. In her spare time Alena leads projects to promote gender equality in the workplace and women’s empowerment.

Dr Fatih Birol has served as Executive Director of the IEA since September 2015. Under his leadership, the IEA has undertaken its first comprehensive modernisation programme since its creation in 1974. This effort focuses on three pillars: opening the doors of the IEA to include major emerging countries, broadening the IEA’s security mandate to natural gas and electricity as well as oil, and making the IEA the global hub for clean energy technologies and energy efficiency.

Prior to his nomination as Executive Director, Dr Birol spent over 20 years at the IEA, rising through the ranks to the position of Chief Economist. Dr Birol has been named by Forbes Magazine as among the most influential people on the world’s energy scene and was recognized by the Financial Times as Energy Personality of the Year. He chairs the World Economic Forum’s (Davos) Energy Advisory Board and serves on the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on ‘Sustainable Energy for All’.

Gokce is a research professional with a decade of regulatory analysis, project development and stakeholder management experience focused on energy and industry transitions. She is also the honorary Head of Research and Academic Engagement of the “Women in Energy, Climate and Sustainability Foundation” and Founding Member of the Women in Green Hydrogen.

Dr Iain MacGill is an Associate Professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications at UNSW Sydney, and Joint Director (Engineering) for the University’s Collaboration on Energy and Environmental Markets (CEEM).

Iain’s teaching and research interests at UNSW include electricity industry restructuring and the Australian National Electricity Market, sustainable energy generation technologies, hydrogen energy, distributed energy resources, energy and climate policy and environmental regulation.

CEEM undertakes interdisciplinary research in the monitoring, analysis and design of existing and prospective future energy and environmental markets and their associated policy frameworks. It brings together UNSW researchers from Engineering, Business, Science, Law and the Social Sciences. Iain leads work in two of CEEM’s three research areas, Sustainable Energy Transformation, including energy technology assessment, renewable integration in the electricity sector and hydrogen pathways; and market, regulatory and policy design to support such energy transition.

Dr. Jeffrey Goldmeer is an Emerging Technologies Director at GE Gas Power.
Jeff is responsible for developing and executing strategies for the decarbonization of gas turbine-based power plants. His primary focus is on the use of hydrogen as a zero-carbon power generation fuel, supporting the company’s vision of accelerating decarbonization with gas turbine technology.
Prior to this role, Jeff brings more than 18 years of experience in the energy industry and holds 12 patents on a variety of combustion systems and measurement technologies. His most notable achievements are multiple commercial power projects that represent first of a kind fuel usage, including hydrogen blending in F-class turbines with DLN combustion systems, and operation of a HA gas turbine on a blend of ethane and natural gas.
Jeff is a global industry speaker who has been recognized as providing industry leadership in the use of alternative fuels for power generation. His 2014 paper on the use of Arabian Super Light crude oil as a power generation fuel for F-class gas turbines was recognized with the best paper award at PowerGen International.
Dr. Goldmeer received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He enjoys science fiction, scuba diving, and is an active Scout leader. Jeff lives with his wife in Latham, New York and has three sons.

Dr Jennie Dodson is Head of Secretariat for Mission Innovation, leading a global team working with 25 governments to accelerate clean energy innovation through enhanced collaboration. She previously led programmes on engineering and international research partnerships at the UK Collaborative on Development Research (UKCDR). Jennie has a PhD in Green Chemistry from the University of York and undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro working on CO₂ conversion and biopolymers. She has held fellowships with the UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology and FutureEarth. Jennie was also the founder of a social enterprise and a global early-career science network.

Dr. – ing. Sae Hoon Kim graduated from the department of Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National University in 1992. He received his doctoral degree in mechanical engineering from RWTH Aachen, Germany in 1997.

Dr. Kim joined Hyundai Motor group as manager of the fuel cell engineering team in the corporate R&D division in 2003.

He is currently the head of Hyundai Motor Group’s Fuel Cell Center, which is dedicated to developing technologies and new business opportunities around hydrogen energy.

Ita is the Deputy-Director of the ETC. She is responsible for managing the delivery of the ETC’s analytical workstreams, coordinating the international programmes, and supporting the ETC’s Commissioners and Representatives.

Prior to this, Ita was a Manager at Bain & Company working with business executives to address strategic challenges at international organisations in the UK, Europe, and the USA. Ita worked across industrial, consumer products and heavy transport sectors, in addition to advising central government and not-for-profit clients.

Ita worked as a policy advisor at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. As a core member of the team delivering the 2017 Industrial Strategy White Paper, Ita developed the UK’s ‘Grand Challenges,’ including the Clean Growth Challenge. This included brokering consensus across critical government, civil service and industry stakeholders.

Ita holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Studies from Harvard University.

Jorgo Chatzimarkakis is Secretary General of Hydrogen Europe since 2016. Before he was Representative of Infineon Technologies in Brussels and Member of the European Parliament (2004 – 2014) inter alia in the ITRE Committee (Industry, Technology, Research and Energy) where he could contribute to lay the cornerstone for the first and the second Joint Undertaking on hydrogen and fuel cells. In 2007 he was elected “MEP of the year” by his colleagues of the European Parliament in the category “Research and Innovation”. In 2015 he was appointed ambassador at large for Greece.

Baroness Brown is an engineer and a Crossbench Member of the House of Lords, with extensive experience in industry and academia. For 16 years she was an academic at Cambridge University, going on to spend eight years at Rolls-Royce plc in senior roles including Director of Advanced Engineering for the Industrial Businesses and Director of Engineering and Technology for the Marine Business. Before becoming a Member of the House of Lords in 2015, she was Vice-Chancellor of Aston University for ten years.

Julia advises the UK Government a Vice Chair of the UK Committee on Climate Change and Chair of the Adaptation Committee. She chairs The Carbon Trust and is a non-executive director of the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult. Until its sale in 2017 she was a non-executive director of the Green Investment Bank. She led the King Review on decarbonising transport (2007) for the Chancellor of the Exchequer and is the Sector Champion for the Offshore Wind Sector Deal, part of the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy.

Julia was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire for services to education and technology on 2015. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London and the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Kieran serves as an Energy and Industry Lead with COP26 High Level Champions for Global Climate Action, where he helps to build ambition and momentum for sectoral breakthroughs en route to COP26 and helped to launch the Green Hydrogen Catapult in December 2020. Kieran is also a Manager in RMI’s Breakthrough Technology practice, which seeks to deploy critical technologies on a 1.5-degree trajectory while creating distributed and equitable value. Most recently, Kieran served as chief of staff and managed RMI’s Strategic Engagement and Analysis team, which published Seven Challenges for Global Energy Transformation. Kieran is a recognized expert in renewable energy markets, financing, business and community engagement models, having led and advised projects in the USA, Sub-Saharan Africa, and India. Previously, Kieran co-founded a distributed energy analytics company, and served a consultant to organizations like the U.S. State Department and World Bank.

Maithreyi Seetharaman is a London-based international journalist, speaker, forum chair and entrepreneur with over 18 years’ of global media experience. She specialises in economics and business. She founded Facultas Media Limited in 2013 and has been designing and creating content for clients across the world.

She most recently directed Fortune Magazine’s international Live Media Content and was Co-Chair Fortune Global Forum, Fortune Most Powerful Women International, and Brainstorm Design. She has also created and hosted as Anchor and Executive Editor, five seasons of Euronews’ flagship economic show, Real Economy. And as launch advisor, designed and created the network’s award winning flagship Middle East show, based in Abu Dhabi, ‘Inspire Middle East’.

Previously, Ms. Seetharaman was an Advisory Board Member of Docusign, co-host of CNBC Europe’s Squawk Box Europe and Capital Connection. She has also been and anchor and stocks editor for Bloomberg Television in London and New York. Before joining Bloomberg, she was a prime time anchor for CNBC TV18 in India and a reporter for the Indian national financial daily ‘The Financial Express‘.

Ms. Seetharaman holds a Master’s in international relations from the Maxwell School of Citizenship at Syracuse University, New York, and a Master’s in Journalism from Bond University, Australia.

Maria João Duarte is Representative to the EU institutions in Brussels for MHI Group company Mitsubishi Power Europe. She has over 10 years’ experience in public affairs, specialising in energy and climate policies.

Prior to joining Mitsubishi Power Europe, Maria João worked for different EU trade associations representing the interests of key industry players in the power generation and energy storage businesses.

Maria João represents the company in a number of EU-level initiatives and European & Global associations, including the Hydrogen Council.

She studied International Relations at the University of Coimbra, Portugal. She speaks Portuguese, English, French, and Italian.

Mark Freymüller looks back on over 20 years of international experience within Sales, Marketing and business development of commercial vehicles.

Before continuing as CEO of Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility, Freymüller has acted as Vice President of Commercial Vehicle Eco friendly Business Development at Hyundai Motor Group.

Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility   Based in Switzerland, Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility AG is a joint venture between the Hyundai Motor Company and the Swiss company H2 Energy. HHM is promoting zero-emissions hydrogen fuel cell mobility through a unique business case in Switzerland which is about putting fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) on the road and securing the necessary refuelling infrastructure to support them.

Max Correa Achurra leads the Division for Fuels and New Energy Carriers at the Ministry of Energy, tasked with drafting and implementing a National Green Hydrogen Strategy. Its current focuses are the development of standards for hydrogen supply chains and applications, the mobilization of offtakers both at national and international levels, and the structuring of finance and incentive mechanisms for green hydrogen projects in Chile. His Division represents Chile at international hydrogen platforms, such as the IPHE, the WEF, Mission Innovation, and others.

Before joining the Ministry of Energy, Max served as the Executive Director of the Solar and Energy Innovation Committee at the Chilean Economic Development Agency, Corfo. During his tenure, the Committee’s work has been largely focused on increasing international collaboration and on the promotion of green hydrogen and other energy innovations as critical elements of Chile’s energy transition.

Max previously worked at Corfo as Deputy Director of Strategy and Sustainability, supporting the Executive Vice President (CEO) in defining and implementing the institutional strategy, and providing prospective and exploratory information to identify upcoming trends. During this period, Max led a team to draft and promote the creation of the largest Technological Institute ever created in Chile – the Clean Technologies Institute – which will have a strong industrial focus on development, scaling and adoption of technological solutions in solar energy, low emissions mining and advanced materials derived from lithium and other minerals. The Institute will receive a public subsidy of up to US$190 million with an additional 30% of the total budget to be financed by the private sector.

Prior to Corfo, Max worked as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Andes Iron, an iron ore mining company that owns two world-class IOCG Ore Deposits along the Andes Coastal Range.

His experience also includes working as an associate to the Energy and Corporate Group of Chile’s largest full-service law firm, Carey & Co.

Max is on the Board of Directors of the Chilean Natural Resources Information Centre, CIREN (part of the Ministry of Agriculture) and as City Councilor for the Municipality of Zapallar; a well preserved seaside area in central Chile. He also contributes to several conservation initiatives, most notably to Corporación Bosques de Zapallar (http://bosquesdezapallar.cl/), Chile’s first Land Trust devoted to preserve a unique Mediterranean forest located in the country’s central coast.

Max graduated from Universidad de Chile, Faculty of Law and holds an MPhil in Environmental Policy, Department of Land Economy, from Cambridge University in the UK and undertook a Certificate Program in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He was awarded with a joint full scholarship by the UK Government’s Chevening scheme, the Cambridge Overseas Trust and British Gas Group.

Mechthild Wörsdörfer (@MWorsdorfer) joined the IEA on 1 October 2018 as Director of Sustainability, Technology and Outlooks (STO). Ms Wörsdörfer plans and co-ordinates the IEA’s work on energy sustainability, encompassing clean energy technologies and climate change policy. Previously, Mechthild held several senior management positions in the European Commission, where she coordinated the work on the 2030 Energy and Climate Framework, the Clean Energy Package and the 2050 Energy Roadmap. She had been involved with the IEA for a number of years as IEA Governing Board Representative for the EU, and served in the Cabinet of Commissioners, in charge of industry, competitiveness, trade and digital economy.

Paul F. Browning was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc. on April 1, 2016 and was appointed Chief Regional Officer of the Americas, and co-Chief Regional Officer of Europe, Africa and Middle East on April 1, 2020. As CEO of the Americas, he leads two global businesses that are headquartered in the United States, and three regional businesses in North and South America. As Chief Regional Officer, he works with Chief Executives and their management teams to coordinate strategic planning, brand management and other long-term planning in the region and globally.

Mitsubishi Power Americas is headquartered in Lake Mary, FL. With over 2,000 employees, the company mission is to provide power generation and energy storage solutions to their customers, enabling them to combat climate change and advance human prosperity. Mitsubishi Power Americas operates four manufacturing and repair centers and provides a wide variety of products and services for the electric power generation industry including natural gas, steam, and geothermal turbines, air quality control systems, solar power, energy storage and artificial intelligence products and services to serve customers throughout the Americas. Mr. Browning has led the company’s expansion into Central and South America, positioning Mitsubishi Power Americas as a top competitor in the Latin American energy market. He has also expanded the business into renewable power project development, energy storage and artificial intelligence products and services.

Mr. Browning has extensive global leadership experience in distributed and centralized power generation, as well as in North American midstream and downstream oil and gas operations. He has worked in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Germany and has commercial experience around the world. He has also served on the Board of Directors of eSolar and Fuel Cell Energy.

Prior to joining Mitsubishi Power Americas, Mr. Browning was President and Chief Executive Officer of Irving Oil Company Limited. Irving Oil owns and operates Canada’s largest oil refinery and crude oil import terminal, and is a joint venture partner in Canada’s only LNG import terminal. The company markets its products in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States.

Before joining Irving Oil, Mr. Browning was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Thermal Products Division of GE Power & Water in Schenectady, New York. At General Electric, he and his team developed new products for the power generation industry and sold and executed utility scale power generation projects throughout the world.

Piet joined Cummins in July 2000 as Service Manager for Cummins Belgium at the newly acquired distributor in Brussels. Throughout his career, he assumed various positions of increasing responsibility within the European DBU Aftermarket organization. In 2011, in addition to being the GM for Aftermarket Sales and Marketing – DBU Greater Europe, he assumed the responsibility as Country Leader for Cummins Belgium.

Piet joined Cummins Filtration in 2014 to lead the European OEM business. In 2016, he led the Europe sales organization with responsibilities for Aftermarket and OE sales for Europe, Russia and CIS.

In 2020, Piet joined the Cummins Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology team as Managing Director leading the global On Site Hydrogen Generation or Electrolyser business.

Piet has a master’s degree in Engineering from the University of Leuven, a postgraduate degree in Business Management achieved in Namur and he is a graduate from the MBA program at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. Additionally, Piet is a 6S Green Belt and Sponsor Certified.

Piet resides in Belgium with his wife Karen, 2 sons Pieterjan (20), Thomas (17) and his daughter Elise (13).

He enjoys off road motorcycling, skiing, travelling and having time with friends and family.

Robert Schlögl’s research focuses primarily on the investigation of heterogeneous catalysts, with the aim to combine scientific with technical applicability as well as on the development of nanochemically-optimized materials for energy storage. The application of knowledge-based heterogeneous catalysis for large-scale chemical energy conversion summarizes his current research focus. Since 1994 he is Director at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin. In addition, in 2011 he became Founding Director at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion in Mülheim a.d. Ruhr. He is an Honorary Professor at Technical University Berlin, at Humboldt University Berlin, at University Duisburg-Essen, at Ruhr University Bochum as well as a Distinguished Affiliated Professor at TU Munich and Honorary Professor of Boreskov Institute of Catalysis.

Robert Schlögl is a member of the National Hydrogen Council and Vice President of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Tetelman Fellow and member of numerous national and international organizations.

Sérgio Goulart Machado has over 20 years of experience in the energy and mobility sectors having played a diversified set of roles. Sérgio is current the Project Manager Officer for Hydrogen in Galp, a challenge he accumulates with the role of Director of Global Business Development, where he has been responsible for several large-scale asset acquisitions for Galp’s Upstream portfolio. Before that Sérgio held a variety of positions in Corporate Strategy, Gas & Power, Renewables and Innovation. Sérgio has been board member of several companies participated by Galp. He has also served as Advisor of the Secretary of State for Transports and Communications in Portugal. Sérgio holds a degree in Economics by Nova School of Business and Economics.

After a year at the National Research Council Canada, he worked for, and then managed, the Research Centre for Refrigeration and Heat Pumps in Germany.

Later, he headed his own consultancy undertaking research for international industries, NGOs and governments. He implemented projects in India and China, and was part of delegations to the Montreal Protocol and its Multilateral Fund. He served as a technical expert on several international panels.

In 2004, he started work in the United Nations as Senior Programme Officer with the Multilateral Fund.

Joining UNIDO in 2014, he became Director of the Department of Environment in 2015. In that role, he focused the department on reduction of emissions of Greenhouse Gases and of industrial pollution, and on circular economy. Since June 2020, he is Managing Director of the Directorate of Environment and Energy in UNIDO.

He was recognized for his contribution, as coordinating lead author for IPCC, to the Nobel Peace Prize 2007, and has received an US-EPA Ozone Award.

Mr. Sicars holds the equivalent of a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hanover, Germany.

Will is a Deputy Director in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s Industrial Energy Directorate. Will leads a team responsible for designing the commercial frameworks and revenue mechanisms for hydrogen and industrial carbon capture projects, to enable deployment in the 2020s. Previously Will headed up the CCUS Policy Team for nearly 5 years, leading on the development of CCUS policy within the UK as well as internationally. Before that, Will led on the legislation and regulatory framework to introduce the UK’s Capacity Market through the Government’s Electricity Market Reform Programme. Will has previously held positions in Defra working on habitats directive, climate change adaptation and strategy, as well as in the Cabinet Office.