Jeff worked for Ernst & Young for over fifteen years helping to close more than ten waste projects in that period. Last year he established his own consultancy practise focusing on providing commercial and financial advice to developers, local authorities and investors in the energy from waste sector.

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. At various points during his time at ESA, Jacob retained responsibility for policy relating to finance, tax, carbon management, contracts and energy from waste. 

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.

Ella Stengler has been the Managing Director of CEWEP (the Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants) since July 2003. CEWEP is the European Umbrella Association of the operators of Waste-to-Energy (WtE) Plants and has offices in Germany and Brussels. Before that she was the Managing Director of the German WtE association ITAD and previously she headed AGS, a public-private partnership organisation dealing with hazardous waste and waste shipments. She studied law in Germany and France. Ella is dealing with European policy and legislation on waste, environment, energy, sustainability, pollution prevention, sustainable finance etc. Current priorities are the European Green Deal, particularly the Circular Economy and its Implementation, European Energy Policies including the Renewable Energy Directive, the EU’s Climate Law and long-term greenhouse gas reduction vision for 2050, and the Interface between Chemicals, Products and Waste.

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.

Susan Goeransson is the Director for the Infrastructure Europe team in the Sustainable Infrastructure Group at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In this capacity, she is responsible for delivering EBRD’s municipal and transport projects in Central Europe, the Baltics, Western Balkans and Ukraine. Prior to this position, Ms Goeransson was head of EBRD’s Municipal and Environmental Infrastructure team, which financed both public and private sector investments in the water and wastewater, district energy, solid waste, facilities management and urban transport sectors. Ms Goeransson joined EBRD in 1993 and has worked in a variety of sectors, including infrastructure, agribusiness and general industry. Prior to joining EBRD, Ms Goeransson previously worked at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Securities and Exchange Commission. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. She has a joint Bachelor’s Degree in Urban Studies and History from Northwestern University.

Victoria’s role at Covanta includes policy review, stakeholder engagement and business development.   These three key pillars bring:

responsibility for policy engagement with proactive and defensive impact assessment on Covanta Energy’s value and consequential solutions

strategic engagement across UK & European governments, with associated trade bodies and partnership working across the sector to deliver a wider understanding of the waste sector’s ‘direction of travel’ and Covanta Energy’s place within it

assessment of new value opportunities and revenue streams for Covanta Europe that harmonize with the operational plants and their geography

Victoria has been involved in the energy and infrastructure sector in the UK for the last 25 years. Prior to joining Covanta, she was with The Peel Group for 14 years, covering the energy, real estate and built environment sectors in the UK.  As Director of Corporate Affairs, she engaged with government and regional stakeholders and investors.  Her early career was with Amberley Group PLC in specialty chemicals and Nissho Iwai Europe Plc trading marine aviation and electronics investments.

Victoria is a European Board Advisory Member for The Hawthorn Club: the international network for executive women in the energy industry and Vice Chair of The Community Forest Trust: the national charity for trees in communities, working in partnership with DEFRA & The Woodland Trust.

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.

Dr. Tom Croymans: In 2013 he obtained a Master’s degree in Chemistry (Magna Cum Laude) at Ghent University. His Master thesis was in collaboration with the University of Cambridge.

In 2018 he obtained his PhD in industrial engineering. The PhD was a collaboration between the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, KU Leuven, Hasselt University During his PhD (in 2016) he obtained a postgraduate in business administration (Magna Cum Laude) at Hasselt University. 

In 2018 he joined a technology provider of Waste to Energy technology as Innovation manager. As Innovation manager, he is responsible for the R&D of the company. 

Since 2018 he represents the company in the association of European Suppliers of Waste-to-Energy Technology (ESWET). He also represents the company in other associations linked to CCUS like for example CO2 Value Europe and the Belgian business platform CAPTURE. 

Since 2021 Tom is elected as chairman of the ESWET CCUS working group. Today he is giving a presentation as representative of this working group.

Jannicke Gerner Bjerkås (1972) is Director CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage), in Fortum Oslo Varme and head of the carbon capture project at Oslo’s largest waste-to-energy plant since 2018. She has held various management positions as a.o Head of HR and Communication and Chief of Staff, and has professional knowledge from more than 10 years in energy recovery, recycling and biological treatment of organic waste. Jannicke was one of the initiators of the CCS Project in Oslo in 2014. She is a former Air Force officer with 4 years of training from the Royal Norwegian Air Force Academy, and 10 years of service in different positions within airspace control and intelligence, communications and HR. She has completed studies in market economics and also has a Master of Management from BI Norwegian Business School.

Originally trained as a Chemist and in Chemical Engineering, Paul has spent over 30 years working internationally in the Energy and Environment fields for both the Public and Private Sector.
His experience covers a wide range of themes including industrial emissions and impact reduction, renewable energy technologies, projects & policy development and delivery, and specific expertise in waste-to-energy and biomass.
As well as being known internationally for his expertise in thermal waste treatment, he has also worked on numerous projects for the development and implementation of infrastructure, as an adviser to national and international governments & agencies, and developed leading international consulting businesses in these areas.
He is the Chairman of the UK Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) Special Interest Group on Thermal Waste Treatment and has been the author / co-author of papers on issues including low carbon energy and resources/waste management, a supervisor of university projects, and author of technical policy documents regarding national and international emission regulation.
When seconded to the EU as a National Expert he was the Working Group & Project Leader and Author of the first EU “Best Available Techniques” Reference document on thermal waste treatments published in 2006.

David has been with ABN AMRO since 2017 helping to re-establish the UK Project Finance team, following six years with the UK Green Investment Bank. Whilst at ABN AMRO David has secured a number of mandates for lead arranger roles in the EfW sector including Earlsgate, Newhurst and Protos as well as participation in senior loans for Kemsley, Ferrybridge and KKR’s acquisition of Viridor.

A chartered Mechanical Engineer with over twenty year's experience on major infrastructure projects in the power, water and accommodation sectors. Last ten years focused on delivery of energy from waste technologies, including fluidised beds, oscillating kiln combustor and landfill gas solutions.

Tony started his career as a trainee Quantity Surveyor working in general contracting in 1990.  Since then he has progressed through the ranks into senior management in the late 1990's. He has worked at board level since 2002 and continue to be a member of the Institute of Directors.

Founding Chilworth Construction Management in 2009 with 2 colleagues initially as the commercial director and now Managing Director from March 2021.

Working within many sectors of the construction industry from health, education through to commercial , industrial and now the waste and energy sectors, Tony’s broad knowledge of contracting is leading Chilworth to its next stage as a leading construction management business delivering large complex projects in the most efficient and safe manner.

A qualified Mechanical Engineer, Ian Crummack has over 25 years’ experience in Energy from Waste and thermal power generation markets on a national and international basis, with worldwide technology experience. He has worked across Europe, managing projects to fruition from development, through the planning, consultation and tender stages, and then into construction and operation. Ian has significant experience with associated contractual matters and taking financial and management responsibility for energy business units. Ian is the founder and managing director of Cobalt Energy Limited, which is now over 10 years old, which offers Engineering Resources, Project Construction Services and Plant Operational Management.”

I am head of our Infrastructure practice and specialise in advising on all aspects of projects (construction / EPC through to service delivery, operation and maintenance) in the energy, waste, renewables, rail, road, water, nuclear (civil engineering), tunnelling infrastructure, education, leisure, health and housing sectors. I act for clients consisting of local authorities, registered providers, developers, contractors, funders, joint ventures, SPV consortia and NHS trusts.

With a Bachelor degree in Business Intelligence, Lars has been working for the N+P Group since 2010. As one of the family owners and board member of N+P, Lars has been responsible for the development of Subcoal for almost a decade. Large scale industrial applications have been successfully realized, including cement kilns, steel blast furnaces, waste to chemicals, co-firing at coal fired power stations and usage in vertical lime kilns. Most recently Lars and his team developed a new pellet for the Uskmouth power plant, which will be the first ever coal fired power plant which is converted to use 100% Subcoal pellets. Lars is also proud to head up the production development team within N+P, which is setting up new production facilities with a joint capacity of over 1.5 million tons in the coming 3 years.

Mark Terrell is the Director at Andusia. With a long history of experience in the waste industry, Mark has worked in many sectors of the industry including RDF/SRF production, through to composting, AD, IVC, food waste, wood waste and even sewage sludge. He is a Materials Engineer (BEng), and began his career as a chemist in the chemical, cement and waste industry. He has a unique mix of technical expertise and commercial market knowledge from working for Veolia, Lafarge, The Environment Agency and SUEZ. Mark has a detailed knowledge of exporting RDF and SRF to both UK and European customers. He has excellent connections across the whole of Europe (Holland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Norway) and has first-hand experience in securing RDF & SRF supply contracts.

David Phillips is an investor expert with two decades of experience in investment research across a number of leading investment banks in London and New York. While in finance, David focused initially on the chemicals sector, then moved to global energy in 2006, where his team was highly rated for a number of years. David has an MA from the University of Oxford and a PhD from the University of Cambridge.

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.

Christian Holzleitner is currently Head of Unit responsible for Finance for Innovation and Land Use at the European Commissions Directorate-General for Climate Action. Previously, he worked as assistant to the Director-General for Climate Action covering all issues related to EU and international climate policy; and at the Directorate-General for Competition in the area of State aid for services of general economic interest in the postal, transport, and health sectors. Before joining the European Commission, Christian worked as senior manager with KPMG Germany on international transfer pricing. Christian is an economist and holds a PhD from the University of Linz (Austria).

Ian is proud to have changed the London skyline in his career. His work on the London Eye, London 2012 venues, as well as flagship commercial office schemes have all had an impact on the city. Elsewhere, Ian has large urban-regeneration property development as well as industrial process plant experience UK and Internationally. 

Ian is a delivery focused business executive with specialism in financing, master planning, and structuring high-profile engineering schemes. An agile, motivational, and results-driven leadership style with a background of successfully translating business needs into operational and development solutions. Ian sets up projects for success, helping Clients gain clarity through proper briefing, objective formulation, though to cultural alignment and solid governance. 

Assembling high-performing teams for complex, innovative and sustainable solutions, Ian manages design and procurement to ensure that resultant works are executed cost effectively, productively, to the highest benchmarks of health & safety, sustainability, and business return.

A qualified Mechanical Engineer, Ian Crummack has over 25 years’ experience in Energy from Waste and thermal power generation markets on a national and international basis, with worldwide technology experience. He has worked across Europe, managing projects to fruition from development, through the planning, consultation and tender stages, and then into construction and operation. Ian has significant experience with associated contractual matters and taking financial and management responsibility for energy business units. Ian is the founder and managing director of Cobalt Energy Limited, which is now over 10 years old, which offers Engineering Resources, Project Construction Services and Plant Operational Management.”

Natalie leads the Waste Sector work within Stantec and has over 20 years’ experience of working in Waste Management and Infrastructure Planning including working in local government, private resource management companies, and consultancy.

Natalie has been successful in leading and advising on  a range of waste infrastructure development projects.  These range from large scale Energy from Waste facilities to transfer stations and smaller household waste sites.  This work has involved providing technical advice, project management support, and leading stakeholder engagement and consultation.  Many of these projects have involved the management and coordination of the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and technical services.

As a Chartered Waste Manager, she has technical expertise across a range of areas including infrastructure planning & implementation, procurement & permitting.

 

Frank Ligthart is Vice President at Sumitomo SHI FW (SFW) and responsible for strategy and business development for SFW’s solution portfolio, including renewable combustion, waste-to-energy, waste-to-value, and energy storage. He is a mechanical engineer with more than twenty years of experience of biomass- and waste-to-energy in various business development and management roles. He is currently leading the go-to-market strategy for the small-scale wasteWOIMA waste-to-energy solution in partnership with WOIMA.

Qualified in Mechanical Engineering, Project Management, Leadership & Management and Registered Member of the Engineering Council as well as Incorporated in the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IEng IMechE). Experience in the Hydro Power, Conventional Power, Nuclear Power, Oil & Gas and Waste to Energy industries.

Jeff worked for Ernst & Young for over fifteen years helping to close more than ten waste projects in that period. Last year he established his own consultancy practise focusing on providing commercial and financial advice to developers, local authorities and investors in the energy from waste sector.

Jane Gaston joined Peel NRE, part of Peel L&P, in 2012 having spent 10 years working in business development roles to deliver large scale infrastructure and PFI projects across the utilities, environment, infrastructure delivery and services management sectors. 

As Development Director for Protos, Jane has shaped the vision for Protos as a strategic cluster of innovative technologies in energy generation and resource management which promotes the decarbonisation of industry to support the economy, safeguard jobs and help the UK meet its zero carbon goals. Since 2015 she has overseen the delivery of a number of property transactions on site including a biomass gasification facility and an energy from waste facility as well as the implementation of 2 phases of supporting infrastructure including a major grid reinforcement project. More recently she has been developing the concept of a plastic park at Protos; a UK first which would recycle and reprocess up to 367,500 tonnes of mixed recyclables every year, saving over 190,000 tonnes of CO2. 

In addition, Jane works closely with several regional bodies to steer the North West pathway towards industrial decarbonisation and net zero including the Cheshire West and Chester Climate Emergency Taskforce, Cheshire Energy Hub, and Net Zero North West; project managing the Net Zero North West Cluster Plan initiative. 

Jane sits on the Cheshire and Warrington LEP Business Growth Committee, and the British Property Federation Industrial Committee. Jane has an honours degree in Economic and Social History from the University of Liverpool, and a postgraduate Certificate in Management from Lancaster Business School.

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.

Tim joined Viridor in 2019 to drive innovative circular economy projects taking end of life wastes and finding new ways to turn them into usable products. Tim also works with the national and devolved governments and regulators to help ensure the regulatory environment drives increased local investment into the circular economy. Prior to joining Viridor Tim was the CEO of the Association for Decentralised Energy, where he worked with Government, regulators, devolved administrations and EU institutions to enable more energy users to directly benefit from in the transition to a low carbon economy). As part of this role, Tim oversaw two mergers with other trade associations and repositioned the organisation away from a technology focus to an outcome based approach to energy. Tim has a BSc and PhD in Ecology, and his study of fungi decomposing wood as a central part of the global carbon cycle spiked his interest and career in climate change and the environment. In his free time Tim enjoys cycling and generally getting in the great outdoors!

Keeley is responsible for low carbon fuels policy in the UK Dept for Transport – covering decarbonisation of both road and aviation fuel. She has worked on development of low carbon fuel policy and legislation for over a decade and has a background as an environmental scientist conducting research into air quality impacts of motor vehicle pollution and biomass combustion.

Grégoire Le Comte joined in the European Commission as Aviation Policy Officer in 2016. He is currently the lead officer in charge of the ReFuelEU Aviation policy initiative, a key deliverable of the European Green Deal, which aims to boost the supply and use of sustainable aviation fuels in European air transport. Since 2018, he has also been active at the International Civil Aviation Organisation, on the topic of aviation fuels. Before that, Grégoire was dealing with the adoption of a new EU regulatory instrument to safeguard the competitiveness of the EU aviation sector, as well as on policy design to ensure business continuity in EU air traffic management.

David is a recognised industry leader in the development of low carbon energy infrastructure.  A chartered mechanical and gas engineer, David holds a MEng from Cambridge University, an MSc from Warwick University and an MBA from MIT.

After spending the early part of his career in the aerospace and defense sectors, David joined the energy sector in 2008 to develop Atkins offshore wind business before becoming Director of Power and Renewables.  

From 2014-2018, he was Director of Safety and Network Strategy at Cadent (formerly National Grid Gas Distribution), leading the formation of the Future of Gas programme to set out a strategy for decarbonisation of heat through the development of numerous projects, including HyNet and HyDeploy.  

David joined Progressive Energy as a Director in 2019 and is Project Director of the HyNet project, leading the consortium.

With over 35 years in infrastructure both as a banker and for 20 years as an infrastructure partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Paul is a specialist in Carbon Capture and Storage.  He chaired the CCS Advisory Group – the industry group that worked with Government to develop the outline business models to support CCS – and now chairs the commercial working group of the Coalition for Negative Emissions, which is looking to develop an active market that would buy the negative emissions that EfWs linked to CCS will produce.  He also ran the shipping finance team at HSBC and has been taking an active role in developing the business models to help underpin a new CO2 shipping market.

Mike is Managing Director of Vattenfall Heat UK, and lead Vattenfall’s successful UK Market entry in 2018 – taking the business from paper to pipes installed in under three years.  The team has secured a number of the largest district heating development opportunities in the UK including securing the contract to deliver the heating and cooling solutions for Brent Cross Town with Argent Related in London, establishing a joint venture with Midlothian council in Scotland, and securing the exclusive rights to offtake heat from the Cory Riverside Energy EFW plant with joint plans to deliver the largest district heating network in the UK backed by funding from the Heat Networks Investment Programme.  Mike is a non-traditional senior director in the energy industry having started his career as a theatre director in 2001.  Since then, he has spent nearly 20 years within the low carbon and infrastructure space, always working within dynamic growth environments.  Over the past 5 years he has held various Directorships, proving successful at establishing new solutions, propositions and ways of working. Alongside his work in the UK, Mike has worked internationally, setting up the US operations of Natural Capital Partners between 2007 and 2010.  Mike brings a wide-range of cross-sector and cross-technology experience through the breadth of areas he has covered.

Patrick 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.

Noah is Head of Partnerships at Vattenfall Heat UK. He set up the Partnership function to work to unlock heat networks at scale, establishing a market leading collaboration with Viridor to co-develop heat network projects using waste heat from their portfolio of sites across the UK.

Noah is passionate about being part of the change to deliver the transition to a low carbon economy. He has spent more than 10 years in the low carbon energy infrastructure field, working in a range of contexts from engineering consultancy, business development and policy development in the UK to a renewable energy startup in Uganda. Noah brings a multidisciplinary approach founded on his experience working in various roles and organisations across the energy landscape.

I am a commercial lawyer specialising in the energy, waste, resource management and climate change sectors in the UK and internationally. My focus is on the commercial contracts for complex services arrangements and infrastructure projects using project finance and PFI/PPP models. In addition to the contracts for funding, construction, EPC, construction, fuel supply and O&M arrangements, I advise on EU procurement, dispute management, planning and environmental issues.

A qualified Mechanical Engineer, Ian Crummack has over 25 years’ experience in Energy from Waste and thermal power generation markets on a national and international basis, with worldwide technology experience. He has worked across Europe, managing projects to fruition from development, through the planning, consultation and tender stages, and then into construction and operation. Ian has significant experience with associated contractual matters and taking financial and management responsibility for energy business units. Ian is the founder and managing director of Cobalt Energy Limited, which is now over 10 years old, which offers Engineering Resources, Project Construction Services and Plant Operational Management.”

A qualified Mechanical Engineer, Ian Crummack has over 25 years’ experience in Energy from Waste and thermal power generation markets on a national and international basis, with worldwide technology experience. He has worked across Europe, managing projects to fruition from development, through the planning, consultation and tender stages, and then into construction and operation. Ian has significant experience with associated contractual matters and taking financial and management responsibility for energy business units. Ian is the founder and managing director of Cobalt Energy Limited, which is now over 10 years old, which offers Engineering Resources, Project Construction Services and Plant Operational Management.”