Programme

Born in Lancashire in 1963, Gavin Graveson joined Veolia as Commercial Director twenty years ago with his role subsequently expanding to include PFI (Private Finance Initiative), municipal and treatment contracts with his appointment as Veolia’s COO, Public & Commercial. Gavin was appointed as Executive Vice-President of Veolia UK & Ireland in September 2018, succeeding Estelle Brachlianoff. The UK & I Zone has a combined turnover of £2bn and employs 14,000 people to provide integrated waste, water and energy services to private and public sector clients including over 8 million UK residents. As the newly-appointed Chairman of the Environmental Services Association for 2020/22, Gavin will lead the sector’s response to all levels of Government around the Resources and Waste (R & W) Strategy consultations next Spring and the implementation of a new Plastics Tax in 2022. He is also a member of the Council for Sustainable Business (CSB) which advises Defra on how businesses can help achieve the aims of the 25 year Environment Plan.

Ian joined the ADE as Director January 2020, having previously been Head of Biomass UK at RWE Supply and Trading and formerly a Director at RWE Innogy UK. His last job was as Commercial Director for a waste wood fired combined heat and power plant, which involved executing a new build heat network.

David has been with ABN AMRO since 2017, joining as a Director to establish a UK Project Finance team, following six years with the UK Green Investment Bank working exclusively in the waste and bioenergy sectors. Whilst at ABN AMRO David has secured a number of mandates for lead arranger roles in the waste sector and successfully reached financial close on the Earlsgate EfW project in December 2018 as well as the acquisition of loans to the Kemsley and Ferrybridge facillities.

Adrian Judge is a Director at Tolvik, an independent provider of commercial due diligence and market analysis services to the European waste and bioenergy sectors, which he created in 2009. Adrian has worked in the waste sector for the last 18 years.

Jacob Hayler is the Executive Director at the Environmental Services Association – the UK’s trade association for managers of waste and secondary resources. Jacob joined ESA from the City in 2005 as an Economist focused on helping to develop market-focused policies that combine environmental and economic sustainability. In January 2015 Jacob was appointed ESA’s Executive Director and he now retains responsibility for the day to day running of the Association. Jacob has represented the industry on multiple government advisory bodies and committees and is the UK’s representative on various pan-European waste and recycling industry bodies.

Stuart is currently responsible for a range of development activities in SUEZ UK, delivering commercial projects, business tools, techniques and information to meet the business and customer needs. Main activity themes include harnessing waste as a resource, energy and bio-fuels manufacture, sorting, extraction and value enhancement for waste mix resources, customer solutions, research and development under the increasing influence of carbon and resource scarcity. Stuart has over 25 years’ experience in the industry and has wide technical and commercial skills and experience in the field of waste and resource management, markets, strategy, technologies and the environment.

Dr Adam Read has been with SUEZ for 18 months Dr Adam Read has been External Affairs Director at SUEZ Recycling & Recovery UK for just over 2 years after a successful career in academia, local government and consultancy. For the last 18 months he has been directly involved with UK Government through the development of the new Resources & Waste Strategy and associated consultations, and acting as lead author on the SUEZ evidence submissions. He has worked on energy recovery projects for more than 20 years, as a consultant, client, contractor and community engagement specialist, and developing planning guidance for Welsh Government. Adam sits on numerous industry technical working groups, is a regular speaker and facilitator, a technical report and article author, and a frequent blogger and social media enthusiast. He has been in the sector for almost 25 years specialising in municipal waste management strategy, recycling services, residual waste treatment contracts and consultation, and continues to support UK service innovation. He is a Fellow of the CIWM, the RSA and the Royal Geographical Society and is the CIWM ‘s incoming President, taking up the reigns in November 2020.

Ian joined the ADE as Director January 2020, having previously been Head of Biomass UK at RWE Supply and Trading and formerly a Director at RWE Innogy UK. His last job was as Commercial Director for a waste wood fired combined heat and power plant, which involved executing a new build heat network.

Jim joined LondonEnergy in 2008 as Head of Commercial where he was responsible for negotiating contracts and managing service delivery for clients including the NLWA and Hertfordshire County Council. Jim is a Chartered Waste Manager and has worked in the waste and recycling sector for almost 20-years, having started with Cleanaway in the late 1990’s before joining LondonEnergy subsidiary Polkacrest in 2004. Jim holds a BSc (Hons) in Geology, a Post-Graduate Diploma in Pollution Control and an MBA from the University of Sunderland.

Ian joined the ADE as Director January 2020, having previously been Head of Biomass UK at RWE Supply and Trading and formerly a Director at RWE Innogy UK. His last job was as Commercial Director for a waste wood fired combined heat and power plant, which involved executing a new build heat network.

Ute has joined CNIM in 2016 as Head of Sales for its international EPC business. With her wide experience in development of EfW projects, she has become a known expert in the field, capable of helping to bring complex projects into the realisation phase. Prior to her engagement with CNIM, she was over 10 years with HZI as Senior Sales Manager, responsible for the development of the EfW activities in the UK, Ireland, and Australia. She gained her first international project experience when starting her career with Linde engineering, developing projects in Asia, Australia, Europe, Near East, and the US.

As an engineer from “Mines Paris Tech” in France, Christophe CORD'HOMME began his career at the National Agency for Nuclear Waste Disposal (ANDRA). From 1988 to 1993, he served as project manager for ENTROPIE S.A. building thermal desalination plants and absorption chillers. Since 1993, he has been working for CNIM group, initially as commercial manager for waste and flue gas treatment. He worked at LAB between 2001 and 2007, first as sales director and then as project director, overseeing contracting. From 2009 to 2012, he held the position of Deputy General Manager of LAB S.A. As a member of the board of LAB, he became Development Director for the Environment and Renewable Energies sector of CNIM Group in 2011. He has been elected in 2019 as the vice-chair of the ISWA Working Group Energy Recovery and member of the Scientific and Technical Committee (STC).

Tom J. Koltis. Covanta’s Executive Director, Corporate Development Tom is Covanta’s Executive Director, Corporate Development, a world leader in sustainable waste and energy solutions. Annually, Covanta’s Energy-from-Waste facilities safely process approximately 20 million tonnes of community and business waste to generate electricity which powers over one million homes. Tom joined Covanta in 2006 as Associate General Counsel and served as Deputy General Counsel before taking on the role of Executive Director, Corporate Development in 2015. Today, Tom is based in London and leads Covanta’s corporate development activities in Europe. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Psychology from Williams College and a Juris Doctorate from Duke University.

Martin has been with the Green Investment Group for over six years (previously the UK Green Investment Bank) leading the development and equity investments into waste & bioenergy projects in the UK and globally. Recently closed development projects include the Earls Gate Energy from Waste project, Newhurst Energy from Waste project and Kwinana Energy from Waste project in Australia.

As Chief Executive Officer of SUEZ recycling and recovery UK, John is responsible for driving forward the SUEZ group’s SUEZ 2030 vision in the UK, and for continuing to mobilise SUEZ’s newly won contracts in Greater Manchester and Somerset. John’s industrial leadership and strategic vision has been forged over his 28-year career with SUEZ, since joining in 1991 as one of the company’s first employees in the UK. He has been an integral part of the executive committee since 2003. John has held a variety of operational and business development roles within SUEZ, which lead to becoming Chief Operating Officer of Operations in 2015, and prior to that Chief Operating Officer of the Processing division. Before these appointments, John was Business Development Director where he was heavily involved with the first PFI contract that SUEZ won in Surrey in 1997 and became the General Manager for that contract in 2000.

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

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

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

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

Ralf Schopwinkel is Director and shareholder of resource company, Geminor. Since 2005 he has focused on developing the company on the various European markets for RDF, SRF, recycled waste wood and hazardous waste. Geminor handles approximately 1.5 million tonnes and have offices in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Poland, Germany, France and the UK.

Robert Corijn is Marketing Manager at Attero, the largest EfW company in the Netherlands and also the largest processor of British RDF in Europe. In his role, he supports Attero’s mission to retrieve the maximum amount of resources and energy from waste. He is also Chair of the RDF Industry Group, representing the interests of 31 European companies across the RDF value chain. Robert holds Master degrees in Business Administration and Knowledge Management.

Mike Brown is Managing Director of Eunomia, the largest strategic waste consultancy in the UK working across Europe and beyond. Mike has nearly 30 years’ experience as an operator in the minerals, energy and waste sectors. For the past decade Mike has worked as owner-Director of Eunomia, focussing mainly on private sector clients seeking commercial and market diligence, but also for public sector clients looking to engage on level terms with their private counter-parts. Mike oversees Eunomia’s work on residual waste infrastructure and RDF exports, including Eunomia Secretariat role of the UK RDF Industry Group.

Tim is based at the British Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria and runs the Dept. for International Trade’s CEE energy campaign, which aims to engage UK companies with the wealth of opportunities across the region, including in waste management/EfW. He has lived and worked in Bulgaria for twenty years, is well aware of the challenges and opportunities of doing business here and ready to help UK companies to succeed in market.

As an engineer from “Mines Paris Tech” in France, Christophe CORD'HOMME began his career at the National Agency for Nuclear Waste Disposal (ANDRA). From 1988 to 1993, he served as project manager for ENTROPIE S.A. building thermal desalination plants and absorption chillers. Since 1993, he has been working for CNIM group, initially as commercial manager for waste and flue gas treatment. He worked at LAB between 2001 and 2007, first as sales director and then as project director, overseeing contracting. From 2009 to 2012, he held the position of Deputy General Manager of LAB S.A. As a member of the board of LAB, he became Development Director for the Environment and Renewable Energies sector of CNIM Group in 2011. He has been elected in 2019 as the vice-chair of the ISWA Working Group Energy Recovery and member of the Scientific and Technical Committee (STC).

Matthias Lukic is the Founder, CEO and 100% owner of Austria based Technikgruppe. He has over 25 years’ experience in combustion optimization on forward moving grates in waste to energy and biomass to energy plants. After finishing his education at the Technical University in Graz – Austria, Matthias worked on the automation of complex production systems in the power, oil & gas, chemical & petrochemical industries. Over the last few years he has presented at many waste to energy events. Matthias speaks English, German, Croatian and Italian.

Damir Zibrat is the Business Development Manager of the Austrian company, TECHNIKGRUPPE, and has more than 25 years’ experience in international selling and marketing. Damir joined TECHNIKGRUPPE in 2016 and has spoken frequently about combustion optimization in waste to energy and biomass plants. After completing his university education in electro-engineering he was engaged for more than 5 years in electronic development and applications of industrial measurement systems. Damir speaks English, German and Croatian.

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

As an engineer from “Mines Paris Tech” in France, Christophe CORD'HOMME began his career at the National Agency for Nuclear Waste Disposal (ANDRA). From 1988 to 1993, he served as project manager for ENTROPIE S.A. building thermal desalination plants and absorption chillers. Since 1993, he has been working for CNIM group, initially as commercial manager for waste and flue gas treatment. He worked at LAB between 2001 and 2007, first as sales director and then as project director, overseeing contracting. From 2009 to 2012, he held the position of Deputy General Manager of LAB S.A. As a member of the board of LAB, he became Development Director for the Environment and Renewable Energies sector of CNIM Group in 2011. He has been elected in 2019 as the vice-chair of the ISWA Working Group Energy Recovery and member of the Scientific and Technical Committee (STC).

As an engineer from “Mines Paris Tech” in France, Christophe CORD'HOMME began his career at the National Agency for Nuclear Waste Disposal (ANDRA). From 1988 to 1993, he served as project manager for ENTROPIE S.A. building thermal desalination plants and absorption chillers. Since 1993, he has been working for CNIM group, initially as commercial manager for waste and flue gas treatment. He worked at LAB between 2001 and 2007, first as sales director and then as project director, overseeing contracting. From 2009 to 2012, he held the position of Deputy General Manager of LAB S.A. As a member of the board of LAB, he became Development Director for the Environment and Renewable Energies sector of CNIM Group in 2011. He has been elected in 2019 as the vice-chair of the ISWA Working Group Energy Recovery and member of the Scientific and Technical Committee (STC).

Jacob Hayler is the Executive Director at the Environmental Services Association – the UK’s trade association for managers of waste and secondary resources. Jacob joined ESA from the City in 2005 as an Economist focused on helping to develop market-focused policies that combine environmental and economic sustainability. In January 2015 Jacob was appointed ESA’s Executive Director and he now retains responsibility for the day to day running of the Association. Jacob has represented the industry on multiple government advisory bodies and committees and is the UK’s representative on various pan-European waste and recycling industry bodies.

Harriet is a Senior Consultant at Eunomia, the largest strategic waste consultancy in the UK working across Europe and beyond. Harriet has 10 years’ experience working across the resource, waste and energy sectors. Harriet focuses mainly on private sector clients seeking commercial and market diligence but also providing strategic and procurement advice to public sector clients. Harriet's view of the markets is technically and commercially grounded. She is lead author of the Residual Waste Infrastructure Review, and manages Eunomia’s work on infrastructure and RDF exports, including Eunomia's Secretariat role of the UK RDF Industry Group.

Dr Adam Read has been with SUEZ for 18 months Dr Adam Read has been External Affairs Director at SUEZ Recycling & Recovery UK for just over 2 years after a successful career in academia, local government and consultancy. For the last 18 months he has been directly involved with UK Government through the development of the new Resources & Waste Strategy and associated consultations, and acting as lead author on the SUEZ evidence submissions. He has worked on energy recovery projects for more than 20 years, as a consultant, client, contractor and community engagement specialist, and developing planning guidance for Welsh Government. Adam sits on numerous industry technical working groups, is a regular speaker and facilitator, a technical report and article author, and a frequent blogger and social media enthusiast. He has been in the sector for almost 25 years specialising in municipal waste management strategy, recycling services, residual waste treatment contracts and consultation, and continues to support UK service innovation. He is a Fellow of the CIWM, the RSA and the Royal Geographical Society and is the CIWM ‘s incoming President, taking up the reigns in November 2020.

Stuart is currently responsible for a range of development activities in SUEZ UK, delivering commercial projects, business tools, techniques and information to meet the business and customer needs. Main activity themes include harnessing waste as a resource, energy and bio-fuels manufacture, sorting, extraction and value enhancement for waste mix resources, customer solutions, research and development under the increasing influence of carbon and resource scarcity. Stuart has over 25 years’ experience in the industry and has wide technical and commercial skills and experience in the field of waste and resource management, markets, strategy, technologies and the environment.

Dr Adam Read has been with SUEZ for 18 months Dr Adam Read has been External Affairs Director at SUEZ Recycling & Recovery UK for just over 2 years after a successful career in academia, local government and consultancy. For the last 18 months he has been directly involved with UK Government through the development of the new Resources & Waste Strategy and associated consultations, and acting as lead author on the SUEZ evidence submissions. He has worked on energy recovery projects for more than 20 years, as a consultant, client, contractor and community engagement specialist, and developing planning guidance for Welsh Government. Adam sits on numerous industry technical working groups, is a regular speaker and facilitator, a technical report and article author, and a frequent blogger and social media enthusiast. He has been in the sector for almost 25 years specialising in municipal waste management strategy, recycling services, residual waste treatment contracts and consultation, and continues to support UK service innovation. He is a Fellow of the CIWM, the RSA and the Royal Geographical Society and is the CIWM ‘s incoming President, taking up the reigns in November 2020.