Biography

Paul Adkins is the Managing Director of AZ China Ltd. and has many years of experience in the aluminium industry. He previously worked for Alcoa, Alcan Australia, and Tomago Aluminium. At the end of 2004, Alcan appointed him to set up its Global Sourcing office in Beijing. Upon completion of that project, he elected to stay in Beijing, eventually establishing AZ China. Paul has an MBA from University of Newcastle in Australia and frequently speaks at industry-related conferences.

Biography

Roland Hequet is Vice-President Strategy & Origination of John Cockerill Hydrogen.

After getting a Master’s degree in engineering and general management, Roland has taken several managerial positions in large multi-national companies. He has spent his career in Europe, the USA and other parts of the world.

With John Cockerill, he has been in charge of several group companies in France, Germany, USA, Russia and India.

Since 2018, he has been developing the hydrogen activity of John Cockerill worldwide.

Biography

Julian Kettle is Senior Vice President, Vice Chair Metals and Mining at Wood Mackenzie. Julian brings 30 years of experience in the analysis of metals and mining where he is responsible for senior stakeholder engagement and relationships. He is a recognised authority on the aluminium industry across the value chain from bauxite mining through to end-use analysis. His in-depth understanding of the key factors influencing the industry and issues that stakeholders face is of critical importance in his work providing strategic advice to clients.

Julian regularly presents to senior industry and financial community stakeholders Wood Mackenzie analysis across the value chain of the metals and mining space, covering aluminium, copper, lead, nickel, zinc, iron ore, steel and coal. He specialises in market environment assessment, expert witness, raw materials sourcing, contract pricing, portfolio optimisation and strategic advisory relating to brownfield and Greenfield investments in the metals and mining space.

Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie, Julian worked in British Aerospace Commercial Aircraft Division, where he was a development engineer responsible for the development and evaluation of advanced materials and processes for aerospace applications. Julian holds a BSc (Hons) in Metallurgy and Microstructural Engineering from Sheffield Hallam University.

Biography

Pascal Lavoie is Director –Smelting Manufacturing Excellence at Alcoa. Pascal’s career is connected with light metals production from the very beginning, starting at Noranda’s Magnola magnesium smelter as Process Engineer. When Magnola was curtailed, he moved to Noranda New Madrid smelter as Metallurgical Process Engineer and obtained a Six Sigma black belt certification. In 2006, Pascal joined the Light Metals Research Centre of the University of Auckland (LMRC) as Manager – International projects and then Chief Engineer where he led teams conducting more than 40 industrially-based R&D projects.

Returning to Canada as consultant in 2012, he provided support to smelting operations, engineering of reduction technologies, control and production systems. Pascal joined Alcoa in 2018, where he now leads technical support for all aspects of aluminium smelting across Alcoa’s global manufacturing footprint. Pascal Lavoie holds a bachelor’s degree in Materials and Metallurgical Engineering from Université Laval, Québec and a PhD in Chemicals and Materials Engineering from the University of Auckland.

Biography

Manasa Prasad Mishra is Director, Projects & Technical at NALCO, India. He is a member of the Board of the Company and handles the ongoing projects like brownfield expansion project of alumina refinery, Utkal coal mines project and the Joint Venture projects. He is also responsible for R&D function and various Business Development initiatives of the Company. Prior to the present assignment, he was head of the Smelter & Power Complex of NALCO, wherein the responsibility encompassed activities like production, quality control, R&D, finance, materials management, Human Resources, Corporate Social Responsibility and other administrative functions of the Complex. As head of Business Development function of the Company, he was associated with many business initiatives like Greenfield, Browfield expansions, down-stream aluminium projects and renewable energy projects. He had also worked in various areas in the Smelter & Power Complex in NALCO and had spear-headed many initiatives like computerized maintenance management system, Quality management system, etc. during the formative years of the Company.

Biography

Pernelle Nunez is Deputy Secretary General, Director of Sustainability at the International Aluminium Institute. Pernelle has over 10 years of experience in the metals and mining industry. She began her career at CRU where she was a part of the consulting team and worked on a range of market strategy and valuation projects across the base metals, aluminium and iron ore markets. Pernelle joined the International Aluminium Institute in 2015. She is responsible for the Institute’s broad sustainability work program and has worked on a range of collaborative industry projects including; life cycle impact assessment, environmental footprint analyses, sustainable waste management and GHG emissions accounting.

Pernelle was a Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 2019 Methodology Report Update to the 2006 National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Guidelines. She is also responsible for the IAI’s work on bauxite mining which encompasses issues such as biodiversity and community engagement. Pernelle holds a MSci Geology (Hons) from the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College London and a Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Value Chains from the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership.

Biography

Uday Patel has 30 years of experience in the metals & mining sector covering Aluminium and other metals. He has joined Wood Mackenzie in 2014 and is Senior Research Manager, Global Aluminium Markets. His industry experience includes Ma’aden Saudi Arabia, DUBAL where he contributed to the startup of EMAL phases 1 and 2. During his career he has also worked on a range of projects across the entire aluminium value chain, including detailed market studies, cost analyses and strategic advisory work for clients including rolled producers, aluminium processing companies and financial organizations. Uday is a graduate of the London Business School’s executive management programme, Sussex University and the University of Exeter.

Biography

Fiona Solomon Fiona is the Chief Executive Officer of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI), which she joined in March 2015 with the responsibility for leading the development and implementation of ASI’s strategy and operations. Her career has specialised in building new and innovative initiatives in mineral supply chains over more than twenty years. She was previously Director – Standards Development at the Responsible Jewellery Council from 2007 to 2015, where she developed a certification program for gold, diamonds and platinum group metals which has been adopted by more than 1000 companies across the supply chain from mine to retail. She has served as a Board Member of the ISEAL Alliance and a founding member of the OECD’s Multi-Stakeholder Steering Group for responsible mineral supply chains. From 1997, Fiona worked for ten years at Australia’s CSIRO, leading research into mining and sustainability, and was also seconded to WWF to manage a multi-stakeholder project on the feasibility of mine-site certification. She has a Bachelors degree (Hons 1) in mechanical engineering and a PhD in philosophy of technology, both from the University of Queensland, and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Biography

Biography

Hans Erik Vatne is Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer at Norsk Hydro. He has 25 years of experience within the aluminium industry in Hydro, holding positions in R&D, production manager and plant manager in rolling, Head of Business Unit Remelters and lately Chief Technology Officer. He is also board member of the faculty of natural sciences at The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and chairman of the portfolio board for energy, transport and low emissions of the Research Council of Norway. Hans Erik Vatne holds a Master degree in Physics and a PhD in Metallurgy, both from The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.