Lewis Pugh is an endurance swimmer and an ocean advocate.

He swims in the most vulnerable ecosystems on Earth to campaign for their protection. He was the first person to undertake a long-distance swim in every ocean of the world. He pioneered the first swim across the North Pole, the first swim along the length of the English Channel, the world’s highest swim (on Mt Everest) and even a swim under the Antarctic ice sheet.

Lewis’s work now focuses on creating marine protected areas. In 2016 he helped establish the largest protected area in the world in the Ross Sea off Antarctica. He has been instrumental in protecting over 2 million km² ocean, an area the size of Western Europe.

Lewis talks about how he undertakes these swims, which many regarded as “impossible”, and the campaigns to get the areas protected. He speaks about creating a clear vision, choosing the right team, meticulous preparation, resilience, and changing when circumstances dictate. And he speaks about purpose – it’s the engine which drives us. TED describes him as a “master storyteller”.

Lewis has received a number of awards for his work. He was awarded South Africa’s highest honour, the Order of Ikhamanga (Gold Class). He was appointed UN Patron of the Oceans in 2013. Most recently, he was made a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year.

Julia is a Partner at SET Ventures. Her mission is to reduce the climate impact of the energy sector through digital innovation, together with industry-leading entrepreneurs. She is deeply experienced in finance, energy, and cleantech. Since 2016, Julia has been instrumental in strengthening SET’s European network and visibility, as well as spearheading new investments.

Previously, Julia was active in corporate finance and investment advisory in cleantech and energy, amongst others at merchant bank Kempen & Co. She advised on M&A transactions, IPOs, investments, and fundraising processes at European energy companies. She was also involved in establishing new energy projects, business cases, structured financing, and advising on growth strategies. Julia holds a Master’s degree in Environmental & Resource Economics from University College London. She is a board member and trusted advisor at Flexidao, Trunkrs and Sensorfact, and formerly at Depsys (acquired). She was also a board observer at Energyworx, GreenCom Networks (acquired) and Greenflux (acquired).

Gwenaelle Avice Huet has been Schneider Electric’s Executive Vice President of Europe Operations since September 4, 2023 and serves on its Executive Committee. She is responsible for Schneider Electric’s full business portfolio across Europe Operations, representing the company’s contribution to the development of the EU’s agenda to accelerate Europe’s green and digital transformation.

Gwenaelle joined Schneider Electric in 2021 as Senior-Vice President of Corporate Strategy, before entering the Executive Committee as Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer.

Before joining Schneider Electric, Gwenaelle worked at ENGIE (formerly GDF SUEZ) in various roles, from Senior Vice-President of European and Regulatory affairs, to leading the Renewables energy business. In her last role, she was on the Executive Committee of ENGIE, serving as the Chief Executive Officer of ENGIE North America and in charge of the Global Business Line on Renewable Energies.

Gwenaelle started her career at the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the French Atomic Energy Commission on nuclear energy before joining the World Bank in Washington D.C. as a consultant. She also worked for the service of the French Prime Minister within the General Secretary of European affairs with responsibility for energy and competitiveness matters, and as the advisor on energy and climate change for various ministers.

Gwenaelle also serves on the Board of Air France – KLM. She holds a degree in Physics and Chemistry from the Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay, a post-graduate diploma in Molecular Chemistry from France’s Ecole Polytechnique and an engineering degree from the Corps des Ponts et Chaussées. She has also been nominated as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. She is based in Europe.

Mrs. Dr. Yun Luo is co-founder and CEO of ROSI, a French deeptech startup company leading the campaign of circular economy for photovoltaic industry. She holds a bachelor’s degree of physics from Fudan University in Shanghai (CN), a Diploma of Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique in Paris (FR), and a PhD degree in Microstructure Physics from Max-Planck-Institute in Germany. With full respect to science, technology, and industry, today Dr. Luo is leading ROSI team at worldwide forefront towards high value critical raw materials recycling and revalorization from and for photovoltaic industry, a key element for the successful relocalization and revival of European PV manufacturing.

Oana Penu is passionate about Workforce Transformation for the energy transition and social equity. She leads the InnoEnergy Skills Institute for the past year as the emerging virtual company within EIT InnoEnergy targeting the skills shortage within the batteries, solar PV manufacturing and green hydrogen value chains.

Oana has over fifteen years of experience in several B2G roles within EIT InnoEnergy and Royal Philips.

Riccardo Barberis was appointed Regional President, Northern Europe in May 2021. In this role, Barberis oversees all of ManpowerGroup’s brands and offerings across the region – Manpower, Experis and Talent Solutions. Barberis will lay the path to further accelerate ManpowerGroup’s diversification, digitization and innovation plans, creating even more value for clients and candidates and strengthening our performance in the region.

Barberis joined ManpowerGroup in 1998 and has held numerous leadership positions in Europe and Latin America, most recently as country manager for ManpowerGroup Italy. With 25 years of experience including many international roles his deep industry knowledge and passion for a client-first, candidate-centric approach consistently delivers superior results.

Barberis holds an Executive MBA at Bocconi University (Milan), has accomplished management programs at INSEAD and speaks five languages. He currently serves as Europe Board Member of Junior Achievement, and has been Vice President of the Italian Industry Association, Assolavoro and President of ManpowerGroup’s Human Age Institute. Barberis lives with his wife and three children in Amsterdam.

Kees Koolen is a well-known investor and serial entrepreneur, renowned for his successful ventures in the technology industry. He played a significant role in the growth and development of notable companies such as Booking.com and Uber, serving as an early investor and CEO/COO, respectively.

Throughout his career, Kees has displayed a remarkable ability to identify promising business opportunities in their early stages and transform them into thriving enterprises. In addition to his achievements in the technology sector, Kees is a firm believer in the urgent need for a rapid transition to clean energy. He is convinced that entrepreneurship, reliable technical solutions, and a deep understanding of customer needs are fundamental to achieving this transition. As a testament to his commitment, Kees has personally invested 180 million in Koolen Industries. Furthermore, he has acquired an 18,5-hectare business park in Hengelo that is currently transformed into The Green Box cleantech campus. Under the umbrella of Koolen Industries, 27 cleantech companies operate across various sectors related to clean energy. These include energy generation, storage, sustainable mobility, and software platforms, with in-house engineering and production. Koolen Industries aims to develop and implement comprehensive, integrated clean energy and clean mobility systems for a wide range of customers.

Combining innovation and exploration to tackle the great challenges of our time

It is in Bertrand Piccard’s DNA to go beyond the obvious and achieve the impossible. From a legendary lineage of explorers who conquered the stratosphere and the abysses, he made history by accomplishing two aeronautical firsts, around the world non-stop in a balloon, and more recently in a solar plane without fuel. Pioneer in his way to consider ecology through the lens of profitability, he began working in the early 2000s to promote renewable energies and clean technologies. His dual identity as a psychiatrist and explorer makes him an influential voice heard by the largest institutions which today consider him as a forward-thinking leader on the themes of innovation and sustainability. Founder and Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation, he has succeeded in his mission to select 1000 efficient solutions to protect the environment in a profitable way. In a third round the world tour, he will bring them to decision-makers in order to help them meet their environmental targets while ensuring clean economic growth.

Bertrand Piccard is now United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Environment and Special Advisor to the European Commission.

Lluís Molina has a degree in Economics and a Master’s Degree by the University of Essex in the UK He has more than 25 years of experience in the launch and development of new industrial projects, with an emphasis on CleanTech and Circular Economy. Today he is Responsible at the European Battery Alliance of the acceleration of strategic Raw Materials Extraction and Refining Projects (www.eba250.com).

Frank Menchaca is President, Sustainable Mobility Solutions at SAE International, the oldest and largest technical organization for engineering in ground and air transportation. Frank incubated and developed SAE’s work in sustainability and has also led the organization’s product development, marketing, information publishing, professional learning, events and international business. Frank has a deep background in information products and served as Executive Vice President at Cengage Learning. Frank holds degrees from New York University and Yale University and is a candidate in the Chief Sustainability Officer certification program at MIT. A musician and artist, Frank has released ten records of original music under his own name and in the duo Hourloupe; his visual art practice includes painting and digital media.

Former NASA astronaut and highly decorated combat fighter Ron Garan racked up 178 days in space and more than 71 million miles in 2,842 orbits between tours on the US Space Shuttle, Russian Soyuz spacecraft, and the International Space Station. During his time in space, Ron conducted four spacewalks in support of ISS construction and maintenance. Prior to those space journeys, he lived and conducted research on the bottom of the ocean in the world’s only undersea research lab, Aquarius.

Ron has been involved in many global mass collaboration and citizen science programs. He is also a serial entrepreneur and has founded multiple business enterprises/social-impact focused start-ups including Manna Energy Ltd. which is the first organization to successfully register a UN carbon credit for water treatment and has helped provide clean water to millions.

He is the author of the critically acclaimed books, The Orbital Perspective, the recently-released, Floating in Darkness – A Journey of Evolution, and the children’s book, Railroad to the Moon.

Ron is a sought after public speaker who has presented on the world stage at the UN,TED, the World Economic Forum, COP-26, and many other global venues.

Ron is celebrated not just for his research in space but also for his humanitarian contribution to life on Earth.

Lucas Arangüena is global head of Green Finance for Grupo Santander and global head of ESG for Santander CIB. Previously, he was head of Santander Corporate & Investment Banking (SCIB) for Continental Europe since May 2018 after being Chief Financial Officer of Santander Corporate & Investment Banking. He was also member of the Global Executive Committee, the Risk Admission Committee and the Group’s Liquidity Committee.

As CFO of the Division, Lucas was responsible for managing credit, liquidity and capital risk. Lucas looked after the Active Credit Portfolio Management Unit (ACPM), Capital unit, XVA desk and Financial Control.

Lucas joined Santander Corporate & Investment Banking Division in 2010 as global head of Strategic Planning. Subsequently he was appointed head of Global Transaction Banking in the UK. Prior to joining Santander, Lucas was an Associate Principal at McKinsey & Co in the Corporate Finance practice, where he focused primarily on Corporate & Investment Banking and M&A for large blue chips and private equity investors. He also worked for Goldman Sachs.

Lucas holds an MBA from MIT Sloan, an MSc from the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées and an MSc from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

Phil Giudice has over 40 years’ experience in the energy industry as a geologist, consultant, entrepreneur, executive, CEO, board director and State energy official.

Most recently Phil served as Special Assistant to the President for Climate policy during the start-up of the Biden Administration, focused principally on the power sector. Previously he was CEO of Ambri, and senior executive at EnerNOC (now EnelX), as well as Massachusetts Undersecretary of Energy and was founding Treasurer and Vice Chair for the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

Currently, Phil is Board Chair for FirstLight Power, a leading clean power producer and energy storage company in New England, with a portfolio that includes nearly 1.4 GW of pumped-hydro storage, battery storage, hydroelectric generation, and solar generation. FirstLight aims to accelerate the decarbonization of the electric grid by owning, operating, and integrating large-scale renewable energy and storage assets to meet the region’s growing clean energy needs and to deliver an electric system that is clean, reliable, affordable, and equitable.

Kerstin Jorna is Director General of Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROW).

Kerstin Jorna has held various positions, amongst others as Head of Cabinet of several Commissioners and different Director posts in the areas of Intellectual Property, Innovation and Standards, Single Market Policy, Regulation and Implementation.

Since December 2016 she was Deputy Director General in the Economic and Financial Affairs Directorate General. Her areas of responsibility included, amongst others, macroeconomic surveillance of EU Member States, structural reforms, finance matters including the European Investment Plan and coordination with international financial institutions.

Andreas Carlsson is Sustainability Manager at IKEA Industry and a member of the Inter IKEA Supply Sustainability Management. He is responsible for leading an ambitious agenda on health & safety, forestry, environment, and supplier code of conduct, with a specific engagement and focus on the energy and climate transformation and the IKEA Climate Positive initiative.

IKEA Industry, part of the Inter IKEA Group, is the world’s largest producer of wooden furniture and an integrated part of the IKEA value chain. The company strives towards 100% renewable energy use in 2025 and a constant reduction of energy use, with the target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2025 from the baseline year 2016.

With more than 20 years of experience in the Energy and Infrastructure sector, Elvira currently leads the Energy and Environment Engineering and Technology department at SENER, a team of more 300 professionals. She is at the forefront of one of the greatest challenges that SENER, the Spanish Engineering group, has ahead, and participates actively in the definition of policies, strategies and action plans to tackle the challenge of proposing solutions for the future of manufacturing plants and infrastructures which respect the environment whilst favouring also economic growth.

She is a graduate of the Engineering School in Bilbao, Postgraduate in Distributed generation and Renewable energy from the UPV, and has also a business background education From IESE Business School and University of Deusto and ESADE Business School.

MSc Industrial Engineer from the Polytechnic University of Valencia. Specialized in new technologies in the energy transition and mobility sector. Luis has more than 8 years of experience in the energy and mobility sector with focus on innovation, new business models and new technologies. After several years rolling out innovative projects at NTT Data Group, currently he is entrusted as Chief Operating Officer at Zeleros Hyperloop, being in charge of supporting in the company’s vision and strategy as well as dealing with the business development area and fundraising.

Diogo is a multi-skilled professional with more than 15 years of field and engineering experience for international projects in the Chemical Industry business. He has managed multi-million euro projects in the oil and gas and chemical industry, was appointed as Shell Process Engineering Technical Authority (TA3) providing functional expertise and technical knowledge covering the entire LNG supply chain (liquefaction, storage, transportation and bunkering operations)  and participated in plant turnarounds as Operations Engineer.

Diogo is heading Hydrogen Business Development at Galp since June 2021, pushing forward for a strong energy transition commitment through the development of opportunities and new projects in the green hydrogen and synthetic fuels value chain.

Diogo has a Master in Chemical Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico, in Lisbon, and has 20 years of experience at Galp within the energy ecosystem, taking different roles on the oil value chain and corporate strategy, and helping to promote a balanced yet material strategical shift to a low-carbon energy paradigm.

François Gaudet heads the Thematic Impact Finance Operations unit in the Infrastructure division of the Equity, New Products and Special Transactions department of the European Investment Bank.  His work focuses on the development and deployment of innovative financing solutions for the infrastructure space with an emphasis on the energy, transport, bio and circular economy sectors.

Between 2011 and 2014, he was Principal Advisor at the European PPP Expertise Centre also part of the EIB where he advised public authorities on different aspects of PPP infrastructure projects and policies.

Before joining EPEC, he was a Senior Banker in the municipal and environmental infrastructure team of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London and Ukraine where he focused on private sector transactions, both equity and debt.  Prior to joining EBRD, Mr Gaudet worked at JP Morgan Chase Private Equity Asia where he was part of a management team restructuring an investment in the telecom sector in Asia.  Mr. Gaudet has a wide experience in mergers and acquisitions, structured finance and regulated industries acquired both through his former legal practice and banking work.

Mr Gaudet is a Canadian and British national and holds a degree in law (cum laude) from the University of Ottawa, Canada and a diploma in financial management (DipFM) from the ACCA, UK.

Răzvan-Eugen Nicolescu is a recognized specialist in the energy field, with a solid experience in both the private and public sectors.

He was Director for Regulatory Affairs of OMV Petrom S.A, Chairman and Vice-chairman of the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) between 2010-2016, as well as Minister of Energy in Romania in 2014. Between February 2015 – April 2021, he has been Partner for Energy Resources and Sustainability Industry Leader of Deloitte Central Europe. Since April 2021, he has been a member of the Supervisory Board of OMV Petrom. He is also a member of the Governing Board of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology

Naomi Lloyd is a TV presenter, journalist and media trainer. She presents Euronews flagship economics show Real Economy, made in partnership with the European Commission. She has previously worked for BBC, France 24, Reuters, ITN.

Anna is the CMO and co-founder of Mine Storage. Mine Storage develops and operates grid-scale energy storages in used underground mines. There is a growing global demand for energy storage driven by the transition from fossil-based energy production to weather dependent power generation. By developing mine storages that will help balance the grid, Mine Storage can be a true enabler of the green energy transition. Anna is a passionate serial-entrepreneur and investor with experience of scaling several technology companies. She is the co-founder of Venizum with many global companies as customers. She also co-founded Vendemore which was the first account-based marketing company in the world with more than 100 Fortune-500 companies as clients.

Gøran Bye is the CEO of Norwegian Crystals, a company that uses hydro power to make ultra low-carbon monocrystalline silicon ingots, brick and wafers for PV. Norwegian Crystals is currently raising the funding for a substantial expansion of its production capacity to support the renaissance of European PV-manufacturing.

Gøran has more than 20 years experience from PV-manufacturing. His former positions include CPO of Qatar Solar Technologies; President & CEO of LDK Silicon and Chemical Technology Co, (China); Director of Industries at Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company “MASDAR”; and President & CEO of REC Silicon (USA).

Rob is the Development Manager of New energy markets, including hydrogen, CO2 and waste to renewable energy, at VTTI. He started his career as a researcher for the Dutch ministry of economic affairs with a focus on ethanol and later became a co-founder of Ethanol statistics, a market research and business information publisher. Following that he went to ExxonMobil where he was responsible for analysing the base oil (lubricant feedstock) supply network in Europe.  After a time as a sales analyst for chemicals at VOPAK in Belgium, Rob moved into business development for Vopak Netherlands being responsible for the sales, business development and account management of oil tank storage capacity at the largest oil terminal in Europe.

In 2016 he joined ATPC – a VTTI company and became commercial manager, responsible for a 970.000 m3 oil products & LPG storage facility and 25.000 bbl/d refinery. He was actively involved in the strategic repositioning of the terminal in the ARA market and the development of subsequent investments before becoming development manager.

“EDF Pulse Ventures, the CVC fund of the energy transition”

EDF Pulse Ventures is the Corporate Venture Capital investment arm of the EDF group, a global leader of low carbon electricity and services.

Our mission: to invest in startups that develop the solutions needed to decarbonize the economy and to create a close relationship with them to boost collaborations and commercial synergies.

With more than 270M€ invested over the past 4 years, we are currently supporting 20 startups operating across a broad spectrum of activities (from electric mobility to hydrogen, through smart building, agriculture, industrial AI, CCU, etc.).

Let’s meet if you lead a promising new business that can make an impact for the energy transition!

Wiebrand Kout founded Elestor in 2014 to fill the need for large scale, ultra-low-cost electricity storage and is responsible for the development of the company’s core technology, intellectual property, cost modelling and product planning.

In his career, Wiebrand has pioneered three hydrogen electrochemical systems: the PEM fuel cell, the electrochemical hydrogen compressor and the Elestor HBr flow battery. Prior to founding Elestor, he served as COO and lead designer at HyET, where he co-developed the first electrochemical hydrogen compressor capable of reaching 1,000 Bar in 2013. He started his career in 1999 at NedStack Fuel Cell Technology, where he headed the mechanical design of Europe’s first series produced PEM fuel cell stack.

Mari Vassdokken Sigstad is a Project Manager in Rystad Energy’s consulting business with wide experience in topics such as energy storage, batteries, and power system dynamics. She has worked on a variety of projects related to the offshore vessel space, oil and gas emissions strategies, and the oil and gas supplier industry. Mari has worked with market assessments, corporate strategy, valuations, and IPO support for large industrial players, investors, government institutions, and E&Ps. She holds an MSc in Marine Technology from the Norwegian University of Science & Technology, with a specialty in Marine Hydrodynamics.

António Coutinho is the CEO of EDP Inovação, where he heads the innovation platform of EDP to position the group in the energy transition challenge.

Prior to EDP Inovação, António has served several positions and key functions within the EDP Group since joining in 2003. Between 2010 and 2021, he was Executive Board Member of EDP Comercial, responsible for energy retail and energy services for B2B until 2018 and the New Downstream after. He served as Chief Energy Management Officer for EDP Renewables North America between 2007 and 2010. Prior to EDP Renewables, he was the Head of Energy Planning at EDP SA.

Prior of EDP, António was Principal at The Boston Consulting Group. António is a civil engineer and holds a MSc on Operational Research, both by Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal.

Daniel has been spending 27 years in the energy management world, accumulating a rich experience from motor management to electrical distribution, with his career split between 14 years in the R&D and industrial domains and 12 years focusing on global offer management. Throughout his journey at Schneider Electric, Daniel spent 3 years in Japan being part of the first joint-venture between Schneider Electric and Toshiba for low voltage variable speed drives. From 2009 he also spent 4 years in India managing Schneider Electric Global Technology Center in Bangalore. Daniel holds a Master of Science and an Engineering Degree in mechatronics.

Until September 2021, Daniel has been leading the Medium Voltage Switchgear line of business of Schneider Electric. Since 2021, Daniel is the Chief Technology Officer of the Energy Management Business, driving the innovation and technology dynamic across our various businesses to tackle our key challenges : resilience, sustainability and talents.

Married and father of 2 sons, Daniel is currently living in Grenoble (in the French Alps) and is keen on cycling and military history of the 20th century

Alvaro Guzmán is Key Account Manager at FlexiDAO, a global provider of cutting-edge energy traceability software solutions to help companies adopt carbon-aware energy procurement strategies, such as 24/7 Carbon-free Electricity and Carbon-optimised Procurement. Its services help companies to secure corporate climate advocacy leadership while shielding themselves against carbon risk and gaining ESG attractiveness.

Dr. Susara van den Heever leads Google Cloud’s Customer Engineering Practice EMEA, where she gets to live her passion for using Data, AI, and Cloud Technology to make the world a better place.  She builds, leads & grows teams that help people and businesses be more efficient, save time, manage resources better, or make better environmental choices.  Susara holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, where she pioneered models and methods for strategic, tactical, and operational planning in the hydrocarbon industry.  While her career has spanned many roles and industries, a highlight was leading the Constrained Resource and Environmental Analytics team at IBM Smarter Cities Technology Center, where she led initiatives in sustainable water management, aquaculture, and sustainable energy management, with an emphasis on dealing with uncertainties such as market fluctuations, population growth, and weather.  In addition to her core passion of data, AI, and decision systems, her Google Cloud team also covers the underlying technologies that make those systems possible, such as security, infrastructure, and application modernization, to bring exceptional value to enterprises on their data and cloud journeys.

MSc Civil Engineering Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands MBA Manchester Business School, UK
Corporate Venture Capital and Business Partnerships Leading the SV implementation team (2021 present)
Leadership Team and community leadership experience in an offshore operational and a project maturation environment utilizing Lean and CI work practices.
New Technology Implementation Deployed novel technology, solutions and business models in O&G operations globally (2001 2021)
Project Management Leading development & execution of complex O&G projects spanning different locations across the globe (2005 2021)
Operations exp Design, optimization and execution of well and facility performance in Europe, The Middle East, Africa and Asia (2005 2021)

Minesto is a leading technology developer in the ocean energy sector with operations in Sweden, UK, Taiwan and the Faroe Islands. Minesto has raised around 100 M EUR to commercialize its unique technology. In 2016 Martin Edlund took on the role as CEO of Minesto following the IPO on NASDAQ First North in Stockholm. Martin is a board member of the Marine Energy Council, UK. He takes great interest in the role of ocean energy in the Net Zero transition of the global energy system.

Dr. Martin Edlund has for the last 25 years combined management consulting, board representations and strategy research collaboration with world-class technology companies such as ABB, GE, LM Ericsson and SKF. His main focus is on turning technology into business. Martin has a Ph.D. in Industrial Economics and Organization with focus on Innovation Management and holds an M.Sc. in Engineering Physics from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.

Lee joined Galp in October 2021 as Director of Strategy and Sustainability where he will play a key role in defining & driving Galps pathway through the Energy Transition. He has 18 years energy industry experience including 15 years at Royal Dutch Shell where he worked across the globe in locations such as Qatar, USA, Australia, Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway. Prior to joining Galp, Lee held a range of senior roles at Shell including the Group Head of Investment Appraisal, VP Upstream Digital Transformation and the Country Chair of Denmark, Greenland and Iceland. Lee holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BSc in Chemical Engineering from Qatar University.

Sam is the Co-Founder and CEO of Simply Blue Group. A civil engineer by profession, and an entrepreneur at heart, Sam has had several global ventures, founding and developing companies in the EU, Asia and the US including Delaney’s Irish pub chain in Asia and Swirish Property AB in Sweden.

In recent years, Sam’s passion has focused primarily on building Simply Blue Group, to work with the oceans and play his part in tackling the global climate change crisis through blue economy solutions. Sam has assembled a talented team of more than 90 people with projects now operating in over 10 countries across the globe and growing.

David Bossan has been the President of Arol Energy in France for the last ten years. Prior to that he served as Managing Director of JBG Finances and General Manager of PPG lndustries. He holds a dual MBA from HEC Paris and the Anderson School at UCLA. 

Gustaf Forsberg is CEO and founder of NitroCapt. Gustaf holds a MSc in Engineering physics, a MSc in Agricultural Engineering and a PhD in plant pathology. Before starting NitroCapt in 2016, Gustaf was a key person in the development, upscaling and commercialization of the ThermoSeed technology, a disruptive seed disinfection technology making seed producers not depend on seed pesticides. Now Gustaf aims to do help agriculture to switch to fossil-free fertilizers.

Trained in France and in the UK as a mechanical engineer, Jean-Pierre Riche started his career in the steel industry as manager and later director in ARCELOR MITTAL (for 8 years).

For the last 23 years, he has managed business units and companies in engineering and consultancy: innovation, R&D, IT , cost reduction and finally energy. He has founded and managed Okavango-energy from 2009 till 2016, a leading French consultancy company in energy efficiency in the industrial sector and has become a recognised expert in energy performance.

Founder of Green Future Lab, a think thank for energy transition and co-founder of the Orygeen Institute, a non-profit organisation dedicated to help and motivate top managers to set ambitious energy efficiency objectives to their organisations. Currently founder and president of pHYnix, one of the first independent producers of green hydrogen in Europe.

Dr Melanie Windridge is a specialist in fusion energy who helps people see the value and opportunities of fusion to society and their businesses. She is a plasma physicist, speaker, writer… with a taste for adventure. Melanie has a PhD in plasma physics (fusion energy) from Imperial College London, is Communications Consultant for privately-funded fusion company Tokamak Energy and Founder of Fusion Energy Insights. She was previously UK Director of the Fusion Industry Association. Melanie is the author of Aurora: In Search of the Northern Lights and Star Chambers: the race for fusion power. She hosts a blog, Science at Extremes, on her website and writes for Forbes online. 

www.melaniewindridge.co.uk 

www.fusionenergyinsights.com 

Tech-entrepreneur (+5 companies) with start-up, international growth, IPO, and trade sales experience. 30 years of technology-driven business development with experience from multi-discipline solutions in industries such as energy, waste, pulp and paper, mining, aerospace, IoT communication.

Tim is one of the four co-founders of Hardt Hyperloop. Hardt has realized Europe’s first operational hyperloop and is the leading company in Europe for the development, implementation and standardization of the hyperloop. Tim has a background in mechanical engineering at the Delft University of Technology, where he built record-breaking electric race cars among other things. Prior to Hardt, Tim was the team captain of the Delft Hyperloop team, which won Elon Musk’s hyperloop competition. It is Tim’s passion to work with an amazing team with loads of ambition to do the extraordinary.

David Pistoni is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Zeleros Hyperloop, the European company based in Valencia (Spain) leading the development of a scalable hyperloop system to move at 1000km/h and 0 direct emissions. Zeleros’ unique technologies integrated in a high-capacity and fully-autonomous vehicle enable the implementation of scalable hyperloop routes, reducing the cost per kilometer of infrastructure and offering a straight certification journey. After being awarded at the Elon Musk’s Hyperloop competition, the company has been raising public  and private industrial supports and now mobilizes more than 180 people worldwide to bring hyperloop to reality within a decade and to become a global reference. More information at: www.zeleros.com

Managing Director of Mining, Metals and Industries Finance, Regional Head EMEA & CIS, Société Générale

Christophe Roux has more than 20 years experience in natural resources financing and advisory, of which 20 years in extractive industries. As a Regional Head, Christophe supervises the execution of arranging and advisory mandates in Middle East, Africa, Europe, Russia and Central Asia across the different minerals value chains

Between 2006 and 2017, in charge of SG’s upstream oil&gas finance activity in the same region, he and his team led the execution of approx. 70 arranging and advisory mandates. Previously Christophe has been heading origination of structured commodity transactions in Paris and Singapore. He graduated at the University of Cologne and started his career in Frankfurt.

Benoit Lemaignan is the co-founder and CEO of Verkor, a venture launched to accelerate the production capacity of low-carbon batteries in southern Europe, in collaboration with EIT InnoEnergy, Schneider Electric and the Groupe IDEC. Prior to the launch, EIT InnoEnergy brought Benoit on board to build synergies with the European Battery Alliance.

An aerospace engineer by training, Benoit is a serial entrepreneur. He previously founded and financed Waga Energy in 2015 and Aniah in 2019. He was also Managing Director of OSER ENR from 2015 to 2019 – a public-private partnership supporting the development of renewable projects. Earlier in his career, Benoit was a strategic advisor at Carbone 4 where his passion for energy and climate-related initiatives took root. From his time at Airbus, Benoit retains a strong drive for innovation and team work.

Olivier Sala was appointed the Group Vice President of Research & Innovation at ENGIE in July 2021. Passionate about energy & carbon transition challenges and how technologies can contribute, Olivier is an experienced VP with a demonstrated history of working in the Energy and Services industry.

In 1993, Olivier Sala graduated from the University of Technology in Compiègne with a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering, and in 1996 from ESSEC. He began his career at Air Liquide before moving into consulting at A.T. Kearney, followed by the Boston Consulting Group.

ENGIE is a leading world group that provides low-carbon energy, and aims to meet the challenges of climate change by achieving Net Zero Carbon by 2045. Guided by its objective statement, ENGIE reconciles economic performance with a positive impact on people and the planet, using its expertise in four core businesses: renewable energy, energy solutions, networks, thermal generation and energy supply.

Victoria joins Santander CIB as Global Head of Sustainable Capital Markets, bringing with her over 8+ years of experience in sustainable banking and finance, having previously worked at CA-CIB, HSBC and Fidelity in the ESG / Sustainability area.

Prior to joining SCIB, Victoria was Head of Sustainable Banking, APAC + Middle East for CA-CIB, based in Hong Kong. There she was involved across all Corporate, FIG and SSA clients funding needs in Green /Social /Transition and Sustainability-linked format with recent focus on developing the APAC Green and Sustainability Linked markets business, structuring APACs first Green Swap and Green Guarantee.

Prior to this, Victoria established and built up the HSBC Sustainable Bonds team from early 2015 – end 2018, where she was based in London. With primary responsibility for EMEA clients, she supported the build out of US and APAC satellite teams. Here she was involved in the structuring of several inaugural frameworks across Corporate, FIG and SSA and Sovereign clients in Green, Social and Sustainability, Transition and Sustainability Linked format.

In both prior banking roles Victoria was an active contributor to the ICMA Green Bond Principles Executive Committee, also holding cp-chair roles in a couple of the historic Working Groups.

Before this, Victoria was an ESG investment analyst at Fidelity Worldwide Investments, based in London, but speaking to the global equity and fixed income portfolio manager and analyst teams.

Adelaide Cracco currently leads the department for Climate and Environmental Impact at EIF. She holds an MBA from the University of Navarre (Spain) and a Master’s in Economics and International Relations from the University of Louvain (Belgium).

EIF was founded in 1994 to support Europe’s small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by enhancing their access to finance. EIF designs and develops venture capital and guarantees instruments which specifically target this market segment. In this sense, the EIF has played a significant role in the growth of a venture capital market in Europe.

Above all, EIF sees the venture capital industry strongly supporting innovative European entrepreneurs that are at the forefront of global disruption, primarily in technology (ICT) and life sciences, but also across various other sectors.

Sandra Bláguez Borrás holds a degree in Chemical Engineering with 17 years of experience in Repsol. Her extended experience comprises the R&D area and the field of Health, Safety and Environment for industrial assets.

In 2019, Sandra joined the Repsol Corporate Venturing team where she manages a technological fund, seeking to invest in start-ups with disruptive technologies that can help Repsol achieve its strategic objectives. One of the fields she is focusing on is investments in hydrogen technologies to meet the relevant challenges the industry is facing. Repsol is committed to achieving to be a Zero Net Emissions Company by 2050.

Nico Buchholz is an accomplished global Executive with 30 years unique international experience covering all continents, mostly in the Aerospace (OEM & Airline) industry and Rail and Leasing (GOAL, Malta). Culturally astute to interact globally, he has a strategic view based on sound market knowledge and focus on sustainable business. Nico is one of the founding partners at FlightLevel500, a management firm specialized in Transport and Mobility.

Dr. Andreas Mündel has been in various strategic roles in the consulting and logistics industry for the past 20 years. After studying physics, he initially worked for management consultancy company McKinsey. He later transferred to Deutsche Post DHL in 2004 as Head of DHL Express Europe.

He is now SVP of Group Strategy and responsible for strategic projects in the production area, including Clean OPS teams, lead of the Sustainable Fuel project, Center of Excellence Automation of Operations, and Group OHS team and Patent Management. In addition, Dr. Mündel coordinates the agenda of the Operations Board, which includes the divisional board members for Operations in addition to the CEO.

Jekaterina Boening is committed to finding sustainable solutions for the decarbonisation of the transport sector: electrification of road transport and conversion of air and sea transport to green e-fuels. She is a pragmatic climate protector who works solution-oriented and evidence-based.

Transport & Environment (T&E) is Europe’s leading NGO campaigning for cleaner transport. Jekaterina strongly believes in innovation, but not to rely on it, and considers ensuring a future that is worth living in for the next generation the most important goal of her work.

Karsten Rick Radtke is the Global Head of Business Development at Thyssenkrupp, an international group of companies comprising largely of independent industrial and technology businesses. He repatriated to Germany after 6 years in the USA where he took on P&L responsibility and developed a history of working in the global and North American marketplace for technology-driven engineering and EPC industry.

Karsten is a strong process-technology related sales and business development professional, skilled in Chemical, Gas, Petroleum, Fertilizer, Hydrogen, Advanced Power Solutions, Hydrocarbon Conversion (oil, natural/shale gas, coal, biomass, waste), Syngas, Synfuels, e-Fuels, Biofuel, Gasification, Steam Reforming, Propane Dehydrogenation, Green Chemicals, Green Hydrogen, Green Ammonia, Green Methanol, Chlor-Alkali Electrolysis, Water Electrolysis, Petrochemicals and Plastics, Polyolefins, Oleochemicals, etc.

Astrid Schilderman is Technology Director at Synkero, a start-up developing PtL Sustainable Aviation Fuel production capacity, with a first facility in the Port of Amsterdam. Astrid has over 10 years international experience in the Oil & Gas industry at Shell, where she worked in engineering, operations, commissioning and start-up, and project management. In 2017 she moved to the renewable energy industry, focusing on wind project development. She holds a M.Sc. in chemical engineering from Delft University of Technology.

Astrid joined Synkero in 2020. Together with partners Municipality of Amsterdam, Port of Amsterdam, Royal Schiphol Group, SkyNRG and KLM, Synkero will focus on realizing a first commercial SAF factory in the Port of Amsterdam. The project will seek to connect with sustainable initiatives in the North Sea Canal area, such as the Hermes project.

Using his years of experience in Venture, Private Equity and Project Finance, and a strong background in financial analysis, Bastien Gambini has been investing across Europe and North America in both Venture and Private Equity. He holds specific knowledge of Environment and Energy industries (including renewable energy, waste and water treatment, energy efficiency, smart grid).

Former Managing Director for Europe at Equinor Ventures, he previously led the Spanish team at Demeter Partners as Partner and worked for Société Générale and Caisse des Dépôts. He has led deals in the renewable, power-grid, waste-management, artificial-intelligence and energy industries. Bastien has been a board member to more than 12 companies and holds two post-graduate degrees in Finance from Paris University Panthéon-Assas, and an MBA from INSEAD.

Aurélien Narminio is Head of Equity Listing at Euronext. Prior to joining Euronext in 2019, initially as Chief of Staff to the Group CEO, Aurélien worked in foreign exchange sales within the Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities division of Goldman Sachs in London, and then as a strategy consultant at the Boston Consulting Group in Paris. Aurélien holds a Master in Business Administration from INSEAD, and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the London School of Economics.

Daniel Goldman has more than 25 years of energy industry experience in strategy, corporate and project finance, and project development, as well as private equity/asset investment and early-stage venture investing.  Over the course of his career, Mr. Goldman’s experience has spanned the upstream, mid-stream and downstream oil, gas, coal and power generation sectors of the industry, and since 2000 has included an extensive focus on clean energy asset development and finance, energy efficiency technology development, as well as venture and project investments, both domestically and internationally.  In addition to co-founding CEVG, since 2006, he has held executive positions at GreatPoint Energy, including until September, 2016 as its president and chief financial officer.  GreatPoint Energy is a clean energy gasification company which Mr. Goldman helped to raise over $280 million from investors such as Kleiner Perkins, Khosla Ventures, Citi, Dow Chemical and China Wanxiang.  GreatPoint Energy is now a subsidiary of China Wanxiang.

From 2002-06, Mr. Goldman co-founded and was the chief financial officer at New Energy Capital, one of the first firms focused exclusively on investments in clean energy assets using proven technologies with backing from the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) and VantagePoint Capital Partners.  New Energy Capital invested in a portfolio of clean energy and bio-fuels projects[1] during 2004-05 and ultimately sold a large portion of the portfolio in 2006 at an exit multiple (net of fees) of approximately 2.1x, delivering an annualized IRR of approximately 30% for the investors.  Previously, from 1996-2001, he held senior development and finance positions in Hong Kong and Boston at InterGen, a Bechtel-Shell joint venture global power development company, where he was involved in developing and financing thousands of megawatts of power generation facilities globally. Mr. Goldman started his professional career at Arthur D. Little, where he held positions of increasing responsibility as a senior member of the global energy consulting team in Cambridge, MA and Singapore from 1989-1996.  He was responsible for Arthur D. Little’s Asia Pacific Energy Consulting Practice from 1992-96.

Mr. Goldman holds a wide range of advisor and board roles: co-founder and director of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2); member of the board of directors, or a board observer, of several clean energy technology companies, including the following Fund I portfolio companies: LineVision (director), SparkMeter (director), ConnectDER (director), ClearTrace (director), ndustrial (director), ClearFlame Engines (observer), Advanced Ionics (observer), and Nth Cycle (observer); and the following pre-Fund I SPV companies: REsurety (director) and Quidnet Energy (observer).  Mr. Goldman also serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors, and member of the Executive Committee, of the Northeast Clean Energy Council, the leading advocate for the clean energy sector in the Northeast region and a co-founder and member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of Browning the Green Space, a 501(c)(3) organization with the mission to bring more diversity into the clean energy and climate tech ecosystem.  He has also focused on policy advocacy work to bring investors, policy makers and technology developers together to address issues of finance, scale-up and commercialization, among other key issues.

Mr. Goldman received a B.S. from Cornell University and an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics.  He is a member of the External Advisory Board (and board chair from October 2013-15) of Cornell’s Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future and has previously held other advisory board positions at Cornell.  Mr. Goldman lives in Newton, MA with his wife and three children, and is a competitive road cyclist and triathlete.

With over 25 years of experience in private equity/debt, investment banking and industry in Europe, Mr. Lahnstein has a deep understanding of the private equity, venture capital and corporate finance market.
Between 2015-2018, Mr. Lahnstein was Managing Director at Siguler Guff a $14bn alternative assets manager, responsible for developing the firm’s business activities in Continental Europe. He also advised CIC, the Chinese sovereign wealth fund, on its Germany strategy.
Between 2009-2014, Mr. Lahnstein was the Founder of RiverRock LLP, an early leader in Private Debt for European SME’s. During his tenure, the firm raised more than EUR 600 million, invested in a total of 15 companies, principally in Germany and the rest of Europe. Early LP’s were the European Investment Fund and the German Government. A significant part of the transactions were in cleantech and renewable energy. Previously, Mr. Lahnstein was the Head of Bear Stearns’ European Investment Bank and Member of the Executive Committee at Bear Stearns International. From 2003-2007 he was the Head of Investment Banking at UBS Investment Bank in Frankfurt, advising on transactions worth more than Euro 40 billion, mostly for Private Equity firms, the German government and large German families. He successfully led the “Private Equity Deals of the Year” in both 2003 & 2004. Prior to this, Mr. Lahnstein was Head of German TMT at UBS and at Merrill Lynch International in London.
Mr. Lahnstein began his career at Bertelsmann AG, Europe’s largest privately held media company, where his last role was Executive Vice President of the New Media division (AOL Inc, AOL Europe, etc.) and in charge of several corporate venture capital transactions. He holds an MBA (Diplom-Kaufmann) from the University of Cologne, where he also teaches Corporate Finance as guest lecturer. Florian is married, father of five and avid guitar builder and collector.

Jacob Ruiter has held various positions in a wide variety of companies all related to energy. In his previous role he was the Director, Country Manager Energy Advisory of Benelux at DNV GL, where he was responsible for energy and renewables advisory activities in the Benelux, Africa and Middle East.

Previous to that, he worked for Dutch Utilities company, Essent, where he had a number of roles including Managing Director for metering data, Managing Director for local energy solutions and Managing Director for B2B.

Jacob began his career with oilfield service company, Schlumberger, as a wire-line field engineer. It was from there that he moved onto more commercial roles, starting with the position of Regional Manager Europe for drill pipe manufacturer Grant Prideco.

Jacob holds an M.Sc. in Mining Engineering from the Delft University of Technology and an MBA from the Rotterdam School of Management.

Martha Broad is Executive Director of the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI), MIT’s hub addressing global energy challenges through member-sponsored research, education and outreach programs. As part of the MITEI leadership team, she works to link science, innovation and policy to transform the world’s energy systems.

She has a track record of successfully partnering with business, government and nonprofit stakeholders to support the clean energy transition. At MITEI, she works closely with member companies who collaborate with MIT researchers on a spectrum of topics including “Low-Carbon Energy Centers” focused on key topics, including electric power systems, energy storage and carbon capture utilisation and storage.

She also spearheads MITEI’s collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy on the U.S. Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) Women in Clean Energy Initiative and serves as a C3E Ambassador.

Previously, as part of the senior management team of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), she led programmes and studies that focused on the commercialisation of clean energy technologies. By collaborating with universities and public and private partners, she helped facilitate funding for cutting-edge research and the state’s successful installation of hundreds of megawatts of wind and solar projects.

Maroš Šefčovič (born in 1966) is a Slovak politician and a career diplomat, who since 22 August 2023 serves as Executive Vice President for the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight. Before that, since 1 December 2019 he served as Vice‐President of the European Commission in charge of Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight. In this capacity, he leads the Commission’s work on the European Green Deal, interinstitutional relations, better policymaking, strategic foresight and the European Battery Alliance. He is also responsible for the European Union’s relations with Western non‐EU countries, notably Andorra, Iceland, Monaco, Norway, Lichtenstein, San Marino and Switzerland. He also cochairs the EU‐UK Partnership Council under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and the EU‐UK Joint Committee for the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement.

European Affairs have been at the centre of Mr Šefčovič’s career for almost two decades. In 2014, he was elected as a Member of the European Parliament. From 2010‐2019, he was Vice‐ President of the European Commission in charge of initially Interinstitutional Relations and Administration, and then the Energy Union. In 2009‐2010, he was European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth. From 2004‐2009, he was the Permanent Representative of the Slovak Republic to the European Union, steering the country’s integration in the European Union, such as its entry to the Eurozone and the Schengen area. As a diplomat by profession, he served between 1992 and 2004 in Zimbabwe and Canada and as Ambassador of Slovakia to Israel.

Jean-David Malo studied in the Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (Paris) and the University of California (Berkeley). He started his career as Head of internal control management in the Comité Professionnel de la Distribution de Carburants in France before joining ARMINES, a body managing contractual research and innovation for French engineering schools (Ecoles des MInes, Ecole Polytechnique, ENSTA, …), where he created, developed and managed the European Affairs Directorate. He joined the European Commission in January 2001. In the Directorate General for Research, he participated actively to a number of developments on the design of funding instruments, rules for participation, funding schemes, etc, both for FP6 and FP7. From 2003 to 2006, he was the assistant of Director Robert-Jan SMITS. After heading the unit in charge of the regional aspects of FP7, ie. the “Regions of Knowledge” and “Research Potential” programmes, from 2006 to 2010, he was managing from 2011 to 2013 a newly created unit in DG Research and Innovation, the main objective of which was to contribute to increase private finance and close market gaps in investing in research and innovation by expanding the scope and scale of existing EU innovative financial instruments (like the Risk-Sharing Finance Facility) and by developing new ones in the fields of debt (including guarantees) and equity financing, notably in the context of Horizon 2020 (“InnovFin”). The EU state aid framework, tax incentive schemes and philanthropic funding were also areas covered by the work of the unit. From 2014, this unit was also covering the SMEs dimension of Horizon 2020, including in particular EUROSTARS II and the design and coordination of the SME Instrument and the Fast Track to Innovation pilot. On February 2017 he has been appointed as Director of the Directorate in charge of “Open Innovation and Open Science”. The European Innovation Council, the Pan-European Venture Capital Fund(s)-of-Funds Programme, the RDI dimension under the European Fund for Strategic investments, the European Open Science Cloud, the long-term sustainable investments for Research Infrastructures, the monitoring of the ERA Roadmaps, etc… are among the various files he is in charge of or contributing to.