2019 Speaker Biographies by Name

Dr. Daniel P. Abraham has authored over 130 articles in peer-reviewed journals that span the various frontier areas of lithium battery research. These areas include fast charging, crystal structure transformations in electrode materials, silicon electrode development, solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation/dissolution mechanisms, electrode stress evolution, electrode and particle coatings, electrolyte additives, and electrochemical modeling. His work enables the development of materials and components that enhance battery performance, life, and safety.

William has been involved in the metals markets since 1986, he runs the research for Fastmarkets battery metals and oversees base and precious metals research. Fastmarkets as a Price Reporting Agency (PRA) provides price discovery on the battery raw materials and Fastmarkets Research aims to provide a clear and focused understanding of the metals markets. Prior to working for Fastmarkets, William worked with Rudolf Wolff & Co Ltd, which was one of the founding members of the London Metal Exchange, where he gained broad insight into all aspects of the metals markets, working in their London, New York and Tokyo offices.

A broad-based battery industry executive with experience ranging from materials research, cell design and product development to market development and general management. Distinguished within the industry by a combination of technical depth and business comprehension, with an understanding of the particular roles of technology, finance, manufacturing, and marketing in building a successful business.

Ricardo Angel is a Managing Director at Energy Ventures where he leads origination for the business unit and for Energy Technology Ventures, a joint venture formed by GE, NRG Energy and ConocoPhillips focused on investing in emerging energy technology companies. Ricardo joined GE from ChevronTexaco Technology Ventures’ Venture Capital group. Previous experience includes investment banking at Goldman Sachs and consulting at CNA Corporation. Ricardo holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School and Bachelors as well as Masters and Doctorate degrees in Engineering from the University of Illinois. Ricardo is based in San Francisco.

Brian Barnett recently founded Battery Perspectives LLC, a company providing consulting services related to battery technology and battery safety. Dr. Barnett has extensive experience in assessment, development and commercialization of battery technology and is recognized as both a technical and industry expert related to batteries and an expert in battery safety. He has directed a series of successful lab-based, highly multidisciplinary battery technology development programs that resulted in technology licensing or sale.

Dr. Barth is an investigator and biomechanical engineer at the NTSB. He has 8 years experience investigating major transportation crashes and emerging technology incidents, and 20 years industry experience in occupant safety, crash dynamics and regulatory compliance in all modes of transportation. Note that Mr. Swaim is an alternate presenter Mr. Swaim is the NTSB National Resource Specialist for Aviation Systems (complete bio will be provided).

Dr. Bernhart is a Senior Partner at Roland Berger GmbH, based in Stuttgart Germany. As a member of its Global Automotive Competence Center, he is responsible for the Global Competence Cluster "Innovation & Technology". His focus lays mainly on business models and technologies around Automated Driving, Connectivity and CO2-reduction/eMobility incl new energy storage systems such as LithiumIon batteries and Fuel Cells. In his role, he is taking care of business development and delivery for the global firm when it comes to technology driven strategies and transactional advisory for Automotive OEMs, suppliers, engineering service providers and investors.

Patrick Bernard’s expertise in battery research had led him to diverse positions and activities, and he is now heading Saft corporate Research teams in the domain of electrochemistry, process, battery management, modeling, and materials. Fellow of the company, he has published more than 40 articles in journals, books and proceedings and has filed more than 40 patent applications.

Chris has been an independent analyst since 2009 with a focus on Energy Metals supply chain analysis. This includes lithium, cobalt, graphite, copper, and vanadium. He works with asset managers, banks, mining companies, and academia across six continents to better understand how disruptive trends in energy, strategic metals, and technology create opportunities. Before shifting focus to analysis of these trends, Chris gained twelve years of capital markets experience in New York.  He is also currently an independent director of two companies with a focus on the lithium and battery recycling markets. He has been featured in the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN International and numerous other platforms providing insights around raw material supply chain dynamics. Chris graduated from The Virginia Military Institute with a BA in International Studies in 1997 and obtained an MBA from Fordham University in 2007. He is currently writing a book on the role of Energy Metals in the global energy transition.

Thomas Blazak has a passion for making batteries safe and reliable. With over a decade of experience in the electric vehicle industry he has helped start-ups advance to world class organizations in the battery electric, hybrid, and fuel cell vehicle space. His expertise lie in bringing early development programs of high voltage battery packs to production through prototype builds, accelerated life testing, and off-normal abuse testing. He received his B. Sc. In Electrical Engineering from the University of California, San Diego. Currently he is the Director of Development and Validation for Proterra Inc. a US manufacturer of one of the world’s most fuel-efficient battery-electric buses for public transit.

Since 1974, Dr. Andrew Burke’s career work has involved many aspects of electric and hybrid vehicle design, analysis, and testing. He was the head systems engineer on the U.S. Department of Energy–funded Hybrid Vehicle (HTV) project while working at the General Electric Research and Development Center in Schenectady, N.Y. As a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Union College in Schenectady, he continued his work on electric vehicle technology through consulting with the Argonne and Idaho National Engineering (INEL) Laboratories on various DOE electric vehicle and battery programs. He was employed from 1988-1994 at INEL as a principal program specialist in the electric and hybrid vehicle programs. His responsibilities at INEL included modeling and testing of batteries and electric vehicles and the technical management of the DOE ultracapacitor program. He has authored over 100 reports and papers on electric and hybrid vehicles, batteries, and ultracapacitors. He joined the Research Faculty of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis in July 1994. He has performed research on and taught graduate courses on advanced electric driveline technologies specializing on batteries, ultracapacitors, fuel cells, and hybrid vehicle design, control and simulation.

Anthony K. Burrell has been working the areas of energy science and technology since the early 1990’s with a specific focus on energy storage, for the past ten years. Recently he was the Department Head for Electrochemical Energy Storage at Argonne National Laboratory. He is now the Chief Technologist for Energy Storage at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden Colorado.

For Solvay Special Chem Global Business Unit, Dominick Cangiano is in charge of the technical and commercial development of the salts and additives for electrolytes for  batteries in North America. He has a Ph. D. in Polymer Chemistry from the City University of New York.

Benoit Couture is the president of Lithion Recycling, a spin-off of the process engineering firm Seneca that Benoit co-founded 22 years ago. Benoit holds a mechanical engineering degree from École Polytechnique, Montreal. In the last 30 years, he has headed many process development projects applied to extractive metallurgy and energy.

George Crabtree, PhD, Director, Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), Argonne National Laboratory & Distinguished Professor of Physics, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, University of Illinois, Chicago George Crabtree is Director of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR) at Argonne National Laboratory and Professor of Physics, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering at University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC). His research interests include next-generation battery technology and integrating energy science, technology, policy and societal decision-making. He has led several workshops for the Department of Energy on energy science and technology, is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has testified before the U.S. Congress on the hydrogen economy, on meeting sustainable energy challenges, and on the prospects for next-generation electrical energy storage.

Jake Dagen Inside Sale/Battery Processing Specialist NETZSCH Premier Technologies

Thierry is Business Development Director at ARMOR where he leads product management, marketing, and sales, on a global basis for battery related activities. With a strong entrepreneurship mindset, he is expert in bringing cutting-edge technologies to the market. Prior to joining ARMOR, he launched a start-up in sensors for battery management systems. He also contributed to the mobile phones revolution. He lived for 6 years in ASIA. Thierry’s background is Electrical Engineering. He holds a Master of Science from the University College of London, and SUPELEC in France.

Eric C. Darcy, PhD, has spent his 30-year career at NASA in the areas of battery design, verification, and safety assessments for the rigors of manned spacecraft applications. As Battery Technical Discipline Lead at NASA-JSC, his main objective has been the development of safe, while high performing, battery systems with a deep focus on understanding, preventing, and mitigating latent defects that could lead to catastrophic cell internal short circuits. With National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) colleagues, he is co-inventor of the patented On-demand Internal Short Circuit Device that has provided significant design insights into the cell response during thermal runaway (TR), enabled valid battery TR propagation assessment, and received the prestigious R&D100 award in 2016. He has led NASA’s design and test efforts for providing a path for developing safe, high performing Li-ion spacecraft batteries using small commercial cells. He was selected for a NASA Ambassador Fellowship in 2010 to spent 9 months with battery colleagues at NREL in Golden, CO. He was selected for a Navy Panel to guide the review and revision of their safety verification processes for large Li-ion batteries after their Advanced Seal Delivery Vehicle battery incidents in 2008. He’s been invited to give talks at numerous battery conferences, has over 30 publications and 2 patents, and has participated in audits of numerous Li-ion cell production line audits across Asia and North America.

Dr. David Deak is President of Marbex LLC, running a portfolio of projects at the interface between mining, energy, and technology - with a special focus on lithium and related battery materials. David has built his career advancing initiatives in lithium mining, renewable energy, energy storage, and electric vehicles. He was most recently the CTO and SVP of Lithium Americas Corp., where he spearheaded technical, project, and marketing developments of two major lithium assets, in Nevada and Argentina. Before Lithium Americas, David lead special supply chain projects and battery engineering programs for Gigafactory 1 at Tesla Inc. Prior to working in the electric vehicles business, he managed product and process development programs for Ambri Inc., a Bill Gates-backed energy-storage start-up spun out of MIT. Dr. Deak has also consulted for multinational engineering conglomerates, start-ups, government entities and institutional investors, involving projects from technology scouting to materials supply chain analysis. His professional career started in the CTO’s office at Siemens Wind Power in Denmark, where he focused on supplier technology development and component warranty cases. Dr. Deak holds a DPhil in Materials Science from Oxford University and a BASc in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto.

Shmuel De-Leon is a leading international expert in the business of energy storage. Prior to founding the company, Shmuel held for over 21 year’s various positions as an energy storage, electronic engineering and quality control team manager. Shmuel holds a BSc in mechanical engineering from Tel-Aviv University, an MBA in quality control and reliability engineering from the Technion Institute in Haifa, as well as an Electronic Technician’s diploma.

Ken R. Ferguson is a senior scientific consultant in the Vehicle Practice at Exponent, Inc. He received his PhD in Applied Physics at Stanford University in 2016 and his BS in Engineering Physics at Cornell University in 2011.

Scott Friedman graduated from Michigan State University (Lansing, MI) with a Bachelors of Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Upon graduation he began full-time employment with Toyota Motor North America in Multimedia and Connected Technology Development. In 2015, he was assigned to Toyota Motor Corporation in Toyota City, Japan working in IVI System Development. After completing his 2-year assignment in 2017, Scott began working as Electrical Platform Senior Engineer with Toyota’s Heavy-Duty Class 8 Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle program known as “Project Portal” out of the Toyota Motor North American Headquarters in Plano, TX.

Greg has spent his entire 25 year career developing and commercializing battery packs for electrified transportation at OEM, Tier 1 and Start-Up companies. He has worked on EV, H2-EV, P-HEV, HEV and Stop-Start architectures in a wide variety of applications: car, truck, bus, rail, mining, AGV, scooter, etc. He is currently the EV Business Unit Manager @ ACTIA Corporation - The US front office for the ACTIA Group, a global company providing battery packs and EV powertrains. He will present real world data supporting the superior Total Cost of Ownership of lithium titanate oxide battery packs in specialty vehicle applications.

Dr. Pesaran holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from University of California, Los Angeles. He has worked at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory since 1983 on various energy efficiency technologies in building, advanced air conditioning, and automotive batteries. Dr. Pesaran started working on batteries, hybrid electric, and fuel cell vehicles in 1995, collaborating with car and battery manufacturers on battery thermal analysis and battery pack thermal management issues as part of the US Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Programs. He currently leads several projects for Department of Energy and industrial partners, which include thermal characterization and analysis of batteries, modeling and simulation of batteries and ultracapacitors, use for hybrid and plug-in vehicles, and battery secondary use. He is an active member of the FreedomCAR Electrochemical Energy Storage Technical Team and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers and American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Mr. Goldman is TransPower’s Vice President fo Sales and Marketing. Mr. Goldman joined TransPower in July 2013 to assist in the development and execution of new business opportunities, particularly in areas relating to passenger and pupil transportation and now Zero Emission Terminal Tractors, drayage and refuse operation. Mr. Goldman’s engineering background and years of OEM and end user deployments provide unique blend of technical and business development expertise positioning Joshua as one of the leading electric vehicle technology experts in the transit and heavy duty vehicle industry. Joshua studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland in the 90’swith focus in Alternative Fuel Automotive Engineering. Joshua has worked at ISE Corporation, Proterra and now TransPower with over 20 years of experience in over 50 configurations of electric and hybrid heavy-duty buses and trucks. Those vehicles were fueled by electricity, gasoline, diesel, CNG, propane and/or Hydrogen using all forms of Lead Acid, NiMH, Ultra-capacitor and/or lithium energy storage systems powering Siemens, Allison, UQM, Northrup Grumman and TransPower hybrid and electric drive propulsion giving Joshua a wide experience in Heavy Duty Powertrain configurations and vocational applications. Joshua is very proud of his wife Ilisa a national expert in community build, nature-based landscape architecture design, and both blessed by two smart and kind daughters, Anabel and Bayla. In Joshua’s free time he enjoys driving our two solar powered plugin cars, mountain and road biking, hiking, sailing, guitar and college basketball (GO TERPS!).

Fernando Gómez-Baquero holds a PhD in Nanoscale Science and Engineering from the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at Albany SUNY. His research has focused on advanced nanomaterials for energy storage applications, on the economic impact of pervasive nanotechnologies, and on tech entrepreneurship. Dr. Gómez-Baquero has more than 15 years of experience in the nanotechnology industry, starting with production and characterization of carbon nanotubes and developing of polymer/nanotube composite materials. Dr. Gómez-Baquero is recognized as a leader in the fabrication of nanoengineered electrodes for lithium-ion batteries using semiconductor processes and using nanotechnology to improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries. Dr. Gómez-Baquero has several publications in nanomaterials research and on the economic impact of nanotechnologies and number of patent applications in diverse applications of nanomaterials. Dr. Gómez-Baquero is also de Director of Runway and Spinoffs at the Jacobs Technion – Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech, where he is helping postdoctoral entrepreneurs build companies out of digital technologies in diverse fields such as digital health, telecommunications, education, cybersecurity, and IoT.

Leslie has been with CARB for over 13 years, currently working in the Innovative Strategies Branch on heavy-duty zero-emission truck and bus deployment projects.  She is the Grant Liaison for 5 projects that together involve building and deploying 19 fuel cell delivery vans, 25 fuel cell transit buses, two high-capacity hydrogen fueling stations, and 10 battery electric transit buses plus supporting charging infrastructure.  Leslie is also overseeing administration of $150 million in Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust funding for Zero-Emission Class 8 trucks and low-NOx trucks and freight equipment. Before joining the Innovative Strategies Branch, Leslie worked in CARB’s Advanced Clean Cars group focusing on hydrogen fueling and charging infrastructure for light-duty vehicles.  She has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Resources Engineering from Humboldt State University and 31 years of work experience in both the private and public sector.

Oliver Gross is an Energy Storage Systems Specialist, for High Voltage Energy Storage Solutions, at Chrysler Group, LLC, where he is responsible for the Battery systems technology roadmap for Chrysler and Fiat Group. He holds both a BS and a Master’s Degree in Materials Science, for the University of Toronto. Oliver has 20 years’ experience in the advanced energy storage industry. Prior to Chrysler Oliver was at Cobasys, where he was responsible for all Nickel Metal-Hydride cell and module development, as well as the development of their lithium-ion battery portfolio. Before Cobasys, Oliver was at Valence Technology, where he was responsible for lithium-ion cell design and development, which included extended-term deployments to Northern Ireland, South Korea, and China. Before Valence, Oliver was at Ultralife, developing lithium primary and secondary cells for extreme environment applications. He currently holds over 10 patents, and more than 20 publications.

Andreas Hintennach is a chemist and medical doctor. He received his PhD in electrochemistry from the ETH Zurich and Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland) in 2010. After a postdoc stay at MIT in the field of lithium-air and catalysis 2010-11 he joined the group research department Daimler AG. His present focus in the field of electrochemistry is fundamental research on next-generation electrical energy storage and conversion materials and systems, sustainability and toxicology.

Ken Hoffman is a Senior Expert for McKinsey’s Basic Materials Institute (BMI). He Co- leads the Firm’s global EV battery material research group, and is a member of the Firm’s global future mobility practice. He has co-written articles on the future of EV materials, especially papers on nickel, cobalt and lithium. Prior to McKinsey, Ken was the global head of metals and mining research for Bloomberg Intelligence. Mr. Hoffman began his career at Prudential Securities, covering base and precious metals as well as the global steel industry, and headed Prudential's global steel research team for five years. Mr. Hoffman has been widely sought after for his engaging talks about industry trends, speaking at the MB EV battery materials conference, Lithium Supply Conference, China Mining Congress for the past 4 years, Natural Resources Forum. He is a regular speaker on Bloomberg TV, Kitco, and BNN Canada. A CFA charter holder, Mr. Hoffman holds a BS in finance from Syracuse University and an MBA from Duke University.

Dr. Qichao Hu received his PhD in Applied Physics from Harvard and BS in Physics from MIT. He is now the founder and CEO of SolidEnergy Systems, the world’s leader in rechargeable lithium metal cells, and the first in the world to demonstrate practical lithium metal cells with >400Wh/kg, independently verified by third parties. SolidEnergy has raised venture investment from some of the world’s largest strategic investors. This breakthrough energy density will transform electric transportation both on land and in air.

Kaushik Illa is an Application Specialist for e-Powertrain at Siemens PLM . He got his EE Bachelors from JNTU, India and EE Masters from SUNY, Buffalo. He has previous worked in various consumer and global manufacturing companies since 2011 which include SunPower, Regal Beloit, QM Power before joining Siemens PLM in 2016. He has a background as a product and software development professional with expertise in Electrical Machines and Batteries. He is the Technical Lead for all e-Powertrain related technology. He is responsible for defining future strategy, anticipating market simulation needs and disseminate the best usage of Simcenter Solution Portfolio for e-Powertrain.

David .S Jacoby has been consulting for 30 years in operations strategy and performance improvement. He is the president of Boston Strategies International, which consults to the largest industrial manufacturing, energy, and logistics companies worldwide, as well as lenders, law firms, and government and international nongovernmental organizations. He is the author of From Bogota to Beijing (Lexington Press, 2018); Trump, Trade and The End of Globalization (Praeger, 2018); Optimal Supply Chain Management in Oil, Gas, and Power Generation (PennWell, 2012); and Guide to Supply Chain Management (The Economist, 2009). Formerly, he taught operations management at Boston University’s graduate school of business. He holds an MBA from the Wharton School, a master’s in international business from the Lauder Institute, and a bachelor of science in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Sam is the founder and Managing Director of Cairn Energy Research Advisors. He has more than ten years of experience as an analyst, consultant and executive in the energy storage industry. Prior to Cairn ERA, he has worked at Navigant Research and IDC as an analyst and has also served as CEO at Panea Energy and Cygnus Energy Storage. He is an authority on battery usage on the grid, transportation and consumer electronics. He is an accomplished public speaker and a frequent keynote speaker at conferences and events throughout the world, including the Battery Show, Interbattery Korea, Stockage D’Energie and the Energy Storage Association annual meeting. He is frequently quoted in multiple press outlets, including the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and CNBC. He lives and works in Boulder, CO.

Haresh Kamath is Senior Program Manager for Distributed Energy Resources (DER) and Energy Storage at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), managing the Institute’s research into the development, assessment, and application of energy storage technologies for grid storage applications as well as the implementation and integration of storage, distributed generation, smart inverters, microgrids, and other distributed resources into the grid. Kamath joined EPRI in 2002 as a project engineer in energy storage and distributed generation. He was an author for the first edition of the EPRI-DOE Handbook of Energy Storage and served on the board of directors of the Energy Storage Association from 2005 to 2013. After taking the role of Program Manager in 2011, Kamath took steps to create the EPRI Energy Storage Integration Council (ESIC), a technical forum to facilitate the deployment and use of utility-scale energy storage systems. Before joining EPRI, Kamath worked at Lockheed Martin Space Systems as a product engineer responsible for spacecraft batteries. He also served as an applications engineering and business development manager at a startup energy storage company. Kamath received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in chemical engineering from Stanford University.

Dr. Mohan Karulkar is a chemical engineer with over 10 years of experience in design, fabrication, and testing of next generation batteries. His expertise spans rechargeable lithium-ion and lithium-air, primary lithium, molten salt batteries, and next-gen high energy materials. During his time at Ford Motor Company and Sandia National Laboratories, he has driven efforts to define and characterize the next generation of energy storage, improving safety and performance for automotive applications and beyond.

Michael Keller is heading the Volkswagen Group development coordination for Charging infrastructure. He has more than 17 years’ experience in the automotive industry at suppliers and OEMs. Before he joined Volkswagen in 2010 as head of “energy systems and functions development”, he was heading the traction battery technology and battery development at a Tier 1 (Continental). Michael Keller received his engineer degree for electric in Karlsruhe and was awarded with the “Professor Ferdinand Porsche Preis” of the Technical University in Vienna in 2009 for the “first automotive application of a lithium-ion hybrid battery”

Mr. Konecky brings over 20 years of xEV experience to his work, having worked on multiple complex designs for battery system development, charging system integration, and high-voltage powertrain integration. He is skilled in new product design and development, product testing, product safety, integration of multiple sub-systems for vehicles, new product launches and has expanded his skillset beyond batteries into power electronics. His experience in batteries includes multiple technologies (Li-ion, NiMH, UltraCapacitors, Lead-Acid).

Dr. Sujeet Kumar is founder and CEO of Zenlabs Energy where he leads the development of high energy lithium-ion batteries for Electric Vehicles, Drones & UAVs. Prior to Zenlabs, he served as CTO of Envia Systems leading the company through USABC, ARPA-E and several customer funded battery development programs. Dr. Kumar worked as a senior scientist for Greatbatch, leading the development and scale-up of nano-crystalline silver vanadium oxide cathode materials. He served as principal scientist at Nanogram Devices Corporation, where he developed battery components used in implantable medical devices, and as a project manager at Nanogram Corp where he led several energy storage projects. In 2009, Dr. Kumar won an R & D 100 award for his work on high energy lithium-ion batteries. Dr. Kumar has a PhD in Materials Science from University of Rochester and is inventor of over 60 patents.

Dr. Joshua Lamb is currently a Senior Member of the Technical Staff with the Advanced Power Sources R&D organization at Sandia National Laboratories. He primarily works as part of the Battery Safety and Abuse Testing Laboratory (BATLab) team. The team focuses on the development of inherently safe lithium-ion batteries by understanding the consequences and mechanisms of failure, developing cradle-to-grave battery testing, and developing new materials for use in battery systems. Joshua earned his PhD in Metallurgical Engineering in 2008 and his BS in Chemical Engineering in 2002 from the University of Nevada. Since joining Sandia in 2011, Joshua’s research interests include advanced techniques for determining the stability of lithium-ion batteries and the development of advanced battery abuse and safety tests.

Dr. Peter Lamp received his MSc in physics from the Technical University of Munich in 1989. In 1993, he obtained his PhD in general physics. His PhD thesis “Investigation of photoelectric injection of electrons in liquid argon” was prepared at the Max Planck Institute for Physics, Munich. Between 1994 and 2000 he was group leader at the Department of Energy Conversion and Storage of the Bayerischen Zentrum für angewandte Energieforschung (ZAE) in Garching. After a short period as project leader for fuel cell systems at Webasto Thermo Systems International GmbH, he joined BMW AG in 2001 as a development engineer for fuel cell systems. Since 2004 he has been leader of the “Technology and Concepts Electric Energy Storage” group and, since 2012, of the “Battery Technology” department at BMW.

Alex is a Principal Consultant based in CRU's New York office. Alex relocated to New York in 2015 after eight years working for CRU Consulting in London. Over this period Alex has been involved in a wide variety of consulting projects across numerous commodities, building up particular experience in the iron ore, stainless steel, nickel, and ferroalloy sectors. Alex spent much of his initial years at CRU specialising in the iron and steel industry with a particular focus on China. Alex then moved to specialise in the nickel and stainless sector. During this period he led numerous studies looking at different aspects of all parts of the stainless value chain, including ferroalloys. Alex has particularly extensive experience in cost and value-in-use modelling, having created several such models for various commodities – iron ore, stainless steel, manganese ore, vanadium products, nickel raw materials – in the course of conducting consulting studies. Alex now works across a broad range of commodities supporting predominately North American customers, whilst also providing important contributions to consulting projects related to his  commodity specialties. Alex graduated with an MEng in Chemical Engineering from the University of Nottingham in 2007.

Sarah Ledbetter is a Global Market Specialist for the Electrification market at LORD Corporation.  Since starting at LORD in 2014, Sarah has focused on growing LORD's thermal management business by partnering with customers who are leading the way in electrified transportation.

Vincent Ledoux-Pedailles is Executive Director - Corporate Strategy at Infinity Lithium Corporation. Infinity Lithium is developing lithium production in Europe to power a renewable future.He previously worked at IHS Markit where he led the lithium and battery materials research team. The team covers the entire industry’s supply chain from the extraction of the raw materials to their conversion to chemicals and battery materials used in cathodes, all the way to their end uses such as electric vehicles, energy storage systems, portable electronics and others. He joined IHS Markit in 2014 where he first focused on basic chemical commodities and led the EMEA Chlor-alkali team. Earlier in his career, he worked for Talison Lithium located in Perth, Australia, tracking the lithium industry in China and Europe. He also worked for Roskill, an international metals and minerals research and consulting company, where he monitored various metals and industrial minerals markets. Mr Ledoux-Pedailles is a regular speaker at various industry events across the world presenting at chemical, mining, and energy related conferences. Mr. Ledoux-Pedailles holds a Business Masters in Risk Management and International Purchasing from ESDES Business School in France. He wrote his master's thesis on the development and deployment of electric vehicles powered by lithium-ion batteries. He has also studied at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark and Marshall University, US.

Xue Lin is currently a research associate at the Institute of Automotive Technology of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Her research expertise lies within cell aging modeling with regard to battery design optimization. She received her B. Sc. and M. Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Technical University of Munich. She was responsible for the electric drive train and the electronics of the second prototype of the aCar with focus on the battery and the ECU. She is also a lecturer for theoretical and practical battery courses at the TUM and organizer of the Conference on Future Automotive Technology (CoFAT) in Munich.

Dr. Jun Liu is a Battelle Fellow at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and the Campbell Chair and Washington Foundation Professor at the University of Washington. He also serves as the Director for Innovation Center for the Battery500 Consortium, a multi-institute program supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for developing next generation batteries. Jun is the recipient of the Battery Division Technology Award from The Electrochemical Society (ECS), two R&D100 Awards and the DOE EERE Exceptional Achievement Award. He is an elected member of Washington Academy of Science, a Materials Research Society Fellow, and an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow. He has been ranked in the top one percent of highly cited researchers since 2014 (Clarivate Analytics). He was named a Distinguished Inventor of Battelle in 2007, and was selected as PNNL's Inventor of the Year in 2012 and again in 2017.

Dr. Ping Liu joined UC San Diego as an Associate Professor in Nanoengineering in January 2016. His group studies electrochemical materials science spanning energy conversion and storage, electrosynthesis, and electrochemical actuation. Professor Liu was a Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) from 2012 to 2016, where he initiated and managed research programs in energy storage for electric vehicles and thermal management technologies to improve building energy efficiency. He was the manager of the Energy Technology Department at HRL Laboratories and was a research staff member with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Dr. Liu has published over 80 peer-reviewed papers and has been issued 40 US patents in the broad areas of batteries, fuel cells, sensors and actuators.

As a certified senior industrial analyst of the biggest think-tank in Taiwan, Mark is responsible for research about battery-related industries in Taiwan, from material, cell, pack and related applications. Not only handling the official government statistics about Taiwan’s battery industries, he also plays a role in providing consultations to both the Taiwan government and companies worldwide. In the past six years, his clients have included the top 100 Taiwan companies and global enterprises like GM, VW, Intel, China Steel Company, China Petroleum Company and Japanese material companies. From 2010, he served as the deputy secretary-general of the Taiwan Battery Association.

Norman Lu works at Toyota Motors NA in the area of powertrain planning and research. He joined Toyota in 2004, and current area of focus is in xEV battery life-cycle management. He is a mechanical engineer by training, and received his BS from the University of Texas, and MS from the University of Michigan.

Arumugam Manthiram is currently the Cockrell Family Regents Chair in Engineering and Director of the Texas Materials Institute and the Materials Science and Engineering Program at the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin). He received his PhD degree in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 1981. After working as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford and at UT-Austin with Professor John Goodenough, he became a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UT-Austin in 1991. Dr. Manthiram’s research is focused on rechargeable batteries, fuel cells, and supercapacitors. He has authored more than 730 journal articles with 50,000 citations and an h-index of 113. He has provided research training to more than 200 students and postdoctoral fellows, including the graduation of 57 PhD students and 25 MS students. Dr. Manthiram is the Regional (USA) Editor of Solid State Ionics, Co-Editor of Ceramics in Modern Technologies, and an Associate Editor of Energy and Environmental Materials. He is a Fellow of six professional societies: Materials Research Society, Electrochemical Society, American Ceramic Society, Royal Society of Chemistry, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and World Academy of Materials and Manufacturing Engineering. He received the university-wide (one per year) Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award in 2012, the Battery Division Research Award from the Electrochemical Society in 2014, the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 2015, the Billy and Claude R. Hocott Distinguished Centennial Engineering Research Award in 2016, and the Da Vinci Award in 2017. He is a Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher in 2017 and 2018.

Kevin Matthews serves as Managing Director of NSI’s Government Relations and Energy & Environmental divisions, where he works with clients developing and executing a variety of programs with state and local governments throughout the country. Under Kevin’s leadership and expertise, the Energy & Environment sector has grown significantly to areas ranging from water infrastructure to renewable energy deployment to Electric Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) demonstrations and all clients contribute towards solving our country’s energy and environmental issues. Kevin is currently helping to shape the energy and environment industry vertical with key government officials and industry leaders.   Kevin also serves as Co-Project Director of the US Department of Energy’s grant to Blue Bird School Bus Company to develop and deploy the first purpose built commercial ZEV V2G School bus.  He also serves as Co-Director of the ZEV V2G School Bus Coalition that has successfully demonstrated ZEV V2G school bus operations. Prior to joining NSI, Kevin served as the Director of Government Relations for AIG Environmental, a leading environmental insurance and financial services firm that offers products specifically designed to handle environmental liability and clean-up issues. Kevin has also served in various positions with the US Environmental Protection Agency where he worked for Administrator Carol M. Browner as both Special Assistant and Senior Congressional Liaison.

Currently, Mike has responsibility at ARB for assessment of vehicle and powertrain technology and future light-duty criteria pollutant and greenhouse gas emission standards including leading California’s review of the greenhouse gas standards and zero emission vehicle requirements already adopted out to the 2025 model year. Previously, Mike has worked on the on-board diagnostic (OBD) programs for ARB including managing all aspects of the light-duty and heavy-duty OBD programs. Mr. McCarthy holds a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering with a specialty in Control Systems from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Ted Miller is Ford's Senior Manager of Energy Storage Strategy and Research. His team is responsible for energy storage strategy and research for Ford vehicles globally. They are involved in every aspect of energy storage design and use from raw materials to end-of-life recycling and second use. His team also collaborates in energy storage research with university, industrial, and National Lab partners. Mr. Miller is a member of the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) Management Committee. He is a member of several strategic and external advisory boards, including Idaho National Lab, the University of Michigan Energy Institute, Cobalt 27, and the Energy Frontier Research Center for Sodium Based Energy Storage.

Simon Moores is managing director of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, an online publishing and consultancy business specialising in critical minerals and metals, disruptive technology and emerging markets. Moores has also worked as business journalist focusing on non-metallic minerals such as lithium, graphite, rare earths, potash, TiO2 pigment and feedstocks (rutile, ilmenite).

Aron provides technical analysis and technical strategy assistance to clients at the Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy (ARPA-E). I help clients in the development of new research program areas, facilitating technical workshops, reviewing proposals, assisting in award negotiations, project management, and identifying potential project transition opportunities upon project completion. Previously, I developed battery technologies as the Group Leader winning R&D proposals and running these projects.

Jeff Norris, CEO leads a team that brought to market the highest capacity, cycle stable, validated anode material. Has several granted patents and a 50 TPA plant in Michigan. MBA Duke, E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year. Jeff brought a company from concept to NASDAQ IPO with investor’s shares worth 77:1.

Andy Oury works at General Motors as the Global Lead Engineer for Power Battery Packs. He has over 15 years of experience in automotive product development with focuses in chassis and battery engineering. Andy leads several cross function teams to design and launch all of GM’s future power-dense battery packs, the first of which is launching early next year in the all-new Chevy Malibu Hybrid. Andy’s interests are in electrification, affordable performance cars, and a future where the lines between them are erased. He holds degrees from MIT in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters from Purdue in Multidisciplinary Engineering.

Dr. Benjamin Park founded Enevate 13 years ago and leads Enevate’s battery R&D efforts. He is an expert in surface and bulk chemistries, novel battery manufacturing techniques, battery materials screening and development, and battery chemistry. Ben has authored over 50 publications and presentations and is an inventor of over 70 patents and patent filings. He has received recognition as the Orange County Business Journal Innovator of the Year in 2016. He holds a PhD in mechanical and aerospace engineering from University of California, Irvine, MSEE from Purdue University, and BSEE from Seoul National University in Korea.

Kunal Phalpher is Li-Cycle’s Chief Commercial Officer and has extensive international experience in the lithium-ion battery and renewable energy sectors, with a focus primarily on strategy and business development. His experience includes time as the former Director of Product Development at a residential solar company and Director of Business Development with a lithium-ion battery manufacturer. Kunal initially served as an Advisor to Li-Cycle before becoming a Director in calendar Q1 2018 and subsequently joining the executive team. Kunal holds a Bachelor of Applied Sciences in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto, with a Masters of Business Administration from the Rotman School of Management.

Christophe Pillot, PhD, Battery Survey Manager, Avicenne Energy, France

Professor Plett received his MSE.E. and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1992 and 1998, respectively. He is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. His research focuses on control-systems theory as applied to the management of high-capacity battery systems, such as found in hybrid and electric vehicles. Current research efforts include: physics-based reduced-order modeling of ideal lithium-ion dynamics; system identification of physics-based model parameters using only current-voltage input-output data; physics-based reduced-order modeling of degradation mechanisms in electrochemical cells; estimation of cell internal state and degradation state; state-of-charge, state-of-health and state-of-life estimation; power and energy prediction; and battery pack fast charging.

Joshua Posamentier is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Congruent Ventures, an early stage venture firm that partners with companies in the sustainable technology ecosystem. Select Congruent Ventures investments include PolySpectra, Sense Photonics, Energetic Insurance, TeleSense, Bellwether Coffee, Xtelligent, ArcByt, Emergy Labs, and Fox Robotics. Joshua has rich experience in venture (Prelude Ventures, Intel Capital) and operating roles (Intel, National Semi, TI), and entrepreneurship (CEO of Blipstream).  He was a core part of Intel’s first wireless chip team, ran National Semiconductor’s EV and Energy Storage, and Smart Grid business units and initiated investment in several new business lines. His previous investments include Natron Energy, Heliotrope Technologies, Pivot Bio, QuantumScape, Renew Financial, Ripple Foods, Sense, SolarBridge Technology (Acquired by SunPower), and Yerdle Recommerce. He has over 50 patents issued or pending and holds a BA in Physics with Honors from UC Berkeley and dual MBA degrees from Columbia Business School and UC Berkeley’s Haas School. Joshua is an avid cyclist, skier, sailor, surfer, and photographer and lives with his family in the SF Bay Area. 

Rob Privette, Business Development Manager, North America for Umicore Rechargeable Battery Materials (RBM) is the prime OEM and customer interface in North America and develops new RBM strategic business. He has more than 30 years of experience developing and commercializing new products in the battery and fuel cell industries. He has an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University and has completed MBA coursework. Before rejoining Umicore he was Vice President Energy Markets at XG Sciences, a Michigan-based start-up commercializing graphene-based products. In this role he created and grew XGS' Energy Materials business targeting silicon/graphene anode materials and graphene conductive additives for lithium-ion batteries. Prior to that he was Product Development Director and U.S. Fuel Cell Development Director at Ovonic Energy Conversion Devices and Umicore Fuel Cells respectively.

2002 - 2008, Wenzel Prochazka studied Mechanical Engineering for Mechatronics at the University of Graz in Austria and the Institute of Applied Sciences in Rouen, France. During his PhD thesis at the University of Graz (2009 - 2013), he investigated ageing mechanisms of Lithium-ion cells for PHEVs and EVs by means of experimental designs and electrochemical ageing modelling. Since 2004, he has been involved in modelling of energy systems at different enterprises and research centers (e.g. VA Tech Austria, ONERA France) and vehicle thermal management at AVL. In 2010 he joined AVL List’s Global Battery Competence Team as a junior expert for ageing of battery systems. In 2013 he switched to his current position as Product Manager for battery systems.

Bob has over 33 years of technology and leadership experience. He previously held a number of key executive and technical positions in the mobile and wireless industry, most recently as executive vice president and general manager of Broadcom’s Mobile and Wireless Group. Bob held various senior management positions at Broadcom from 2002 to 2014 in the Network Infrastructure, Wireless Connectivity, and Mobile and Wireless groups. Prior to that, Bob held vice president and general manager roles at Lucent Microelectronics, a networking communications company, and Agere Systems, a semiconductor manufacturer, in its Optical Access, New Business Initiatives, and Modem/Multimedia Divisions. Previously, he was with AT&T Bell Laboratories for over ten years.

Freidoon Rastegar is an engineer and entrepreneur with over 35 years of experience. He is the founder of Du Fu Engineering LLC, an OEM for roll to roll coaters. Freidoon was the Director of Equipment at MiaSole. Freidoon was also the former Director of Engineering at NanoH2O and during his tenure, he successfully reduced the cost of polymer manufacturing. 

Michael John Roach has a Degree in Electrical Engineering Technology and 30+ years directly involved in the sale, design, process and manufacture of electronic components and assemblies utilized in the automotive, commercial, medical, industrial and mil/aero market sectors

Founder of Eldorado Gold Corp., Polaris Materials Corp., Euro Manganese, Inc. and Delta Gold Corp., Marco Antonio Romero currently is President, Chief Executive Officer & Director at Euro Manganese, Inc. In the past he held the position of Senior Vice President-Corporate Development at Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., Director at Polaris Materials Corp., President & Chief Executive Officer of Delta Gold, Inc., President, Chief Executive Officer & Director at Delta Gold Corp., Senior Vice President-Corporate Development for Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. and Executive Director at Eldorado Gold Corp.

Dr. Kenan Sahin is president and founder of CAMX Power which in 2014 he spun out of TIAX also founded by him in 2002. For both companies he formulated a cluster of business and technology models centered on maturing early stage technologies to be IP protected, de-risked and production ready for established companies to make and sell with a license and deep technology transfer. Its current flagship product is CAM-7®, an advanced cathode material platform, licensed to BASF and Johnson Matthey (JM) in 2016. Its new globally patented GEMX™ was recently licensed to JM. Dr. Sahin received his degrees from MIT, served on its faculty and is on its Board. Previously he had started Kenan Systems with $ 1000, grew it to an international company of 1 000 people and sold it to Lucent/Bell Labs in 1999 serving as a VP at Bell Labs. He is the recipient of numerous awards including World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer.

Denis Sharypin has a degrees (with honors) from Moscow State University and Graduate school of Toyo University in Tokyo. Denis has worked for Norilsk Nickel for 8 years and currently stands as the Head of Market research. His responsibilities include: supervision of Base and Precious metals market research. Denis also covers metal price forecasting for budgeting and strategic planning alongside strategic marketing. Outside of Norilsk, Denis is the Chairman of INSG Statistics Committee, Representative director at the Nickel Institute and a representative member of the International Platinum Group Metal Association.

Dr. Tal Sholklapper is the CEO and co-founder of Voltaiq, the industry leader in big data analytics for battery OEMs, transportation, energy storage and consumer electronics companies. Tal has a BS in Physics and Applied Mathematics and an MS and PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from UC Berkeley.

Dr. Brian Sisk is Vice President of Cell Product Development at A123 Systems. Brian oversees global lithium-ion cell design for low-voltage and high-voltage vehicle applications. During his time at A123, Brian’s team has launched cells for global automakers, including EV, PHEV, 48V MHEV, and starter batteries. Brian also leads research into the relationship between vehicle applications, regulatory requirements, and their impact on battery design. Brian received his PhD in Chemistry from California Institute of Technology, focusing on thin-film chemical vapor detection systems. Prior to joining A123, Brian was Director of Design Analysis at Johnson Controls Power Solutions.

Since 2015, Dr. Michael Slater has been with Farasis Energy. For the past two years, as the R&D Manager where he manages R&D for advanced Li-ion batteries technology for high energy cells, safer batteries, battery manufacturing and recycling process development. Prior to that Dr. Slater has been the senior scientist focusing on materials chemistry for energy storage and scientific project management. Prior to Farasis Michael was a postdoctoral researcher at Argonne National Laboratory from 2010-2014. Dr. Slater holds a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in Organic and Analytical Chemistry and holds a BS & BA in chemistry from the University of Califronia, Santa Cruz.

Sloop develops advanced battery-recycling innovations to produce low-cost manufacturing quality electrode materials from recycled batteries and addresses the economic sustainability challenges for lithium-ion electric vehicles. He is the principal investigator for a project for Elimination of Class 9 Hazards in Lithium-Ion Recycling with EERE, and development of direct-recycling with a Phase II SBIR award from the Defense Logistics Agency. Sloop received a BS in Chemistry from Willamette University; Salem, Oregon; Chemistry in 1987 and PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from Oregon State University; Corvallis, Oregon in 1996.

Venkat Srinivasan is the director of the Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science (ACCESS) and deputy director of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR). ACCESS provides the vision and coordinates the energy storage programs at Argonne and serves as a point of entry for industry to take advantage of the unique capabilities and facilities at Argonne to solve their problems in energy storage. JCESR is a national program led by Argonne that focuses on next-generation energy storage research that goes beyond lithium-ion technology. He is a former staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His research interest is in developing next-generation batteries for use in vehicle and grid applications, among other things. Dr. Srinivasan and his research group develop continuum-based models for battery materials and combine them with experimental characterization to help design new materials, electrodes, and devices. In addition to his research, Dr. Srinivasan is interested in moving technologies to market and has been exploring ways to develop an ecosystem, focused on batteries, to accelerate technology commercialization. In this role, Dr. Srinivasan conceived the idea of CalCharge, a one-of-a-kind public-private partnership in energy storage. Dr. Srinivasan has previously served as the technical manager of the Batteries for Advanced Transportation Technologies (BATT) Program, as the acting director of the BATT program, as department head of the Energy Storage and Distributed Resources (ESDR) department at LBNL, and the interim director of the ESDR Division at LBNL. Dr. Srinivasan joined the scientific staff at LBNL in 2003 after postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley and Pennsylvania State University. He received his PhD from the University of South Carolina in 2000.

Suresh Sriramulu, PhD serves as the Head of Advanced Development at CAMX Power. He has been involved in Li-ion battery technology development for the past 14 years, including the development of CAMX Power's high nickel cathode materials and safety technologies.  He received degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington ‒ Seattle, University of Wyoming ‒ Laramie, and the Indian Institute of Technology ‒ Madras.

Dr. Dee Strand is Chief Scientific Officer at Wildcat Discovery Technologies, a materials discovery company focused on battery materials and other clean energy applications. Dr. Strand has over twenty-five years of experience in materials research, development, and commercialization, primarily in the areas of energy storage and electronic applications. Prior to joining Wildcat in 2013, Dr. Strand served as a Research Fellow at Dow Chemical, where she was the technical lead in Dow Energy Materials, as well as the Principal Investigator on external research programs with universities and national labs on battery materials. Dr. Strand completed her PhD in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Mr. Takeshita graduated from a bachelor’s course at the Department of Reaction Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, the University of Tokyo, in 1991. He has been involved continuously with investigation and consulting on the LIB market, as an investigative researcher for the Nomura Research Institute from 1991, and as vice-president of the Institute of Information Technology from 2000. Mr. Takeshita Founded B3 Corporation in April 2012, taking the post of President and CEO. Investigated LIB markets and the technologies of LIB cells and materials, as well as the mobile and IT market and the xEV market, and provided related business consulting and executive support.

Martin Talke is an Associate Principal with P3 group, a management and engineering consulting company. He has worked for over ten years in various projects for clients out of the automotive, aviation, wind and transportation industry. Martin has worked with numerous major OEMs and suppliers and their electrification departments to analyze both technical feasibility and reliability as well as the business side of battery cells and systems. He holds a Masters degree in Business Engineering from the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg and has been privileged to receive a leadership education at INSEAD Business School in France and Singapore. Martin has published numerous articles and has spoken on several events on electro mobility and reliability management of innovative products.

Over 28 years’ experience as an Energy storage Research and development. Vehicle development is EV, HEV, PHEV, FCV. Energy storage development is Lead Acid, Ni-MH, Li-ion, EDLC. I established Blue energy corporation with GS-yuasa corporation for high performance HEV, PHEV Li-ion batteries. I was transferred Honda cars R&D India Limited from Honda R&D Tochigi for appeal the electric drive vehicle on last April.

Erik Terjesen is Senior Director of Licensing and Strategy for Ionic Materials. In this role he is responsible engaging with key partners for the commercialization of Ionic’s novel solid polymer technology in battery applications.  He joined Ionic from Qualcomm, where he held a number of key roles in licensing, strategy and M&A functions.  While there he spearheaded the Halo program, which commercialized wireless charging technology for the electric vehicle market through an array of OEM and Tier 1 customers.   Erik began his career in the venture capital and investment banking sectors with HarbourVest Partners and Robertson Stephens. Erik received his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and his BA from Harvard University.

Jarvis has more than 30 years of experience in the Li-ion battery, electronics, semiconductor, and wireless industries. Prior to joining Enevate in 2008, he served as vice president and division general manager at CalAmp Corporation. Jarvis has also held executive roles at several startups, including president and COO at Apix Nanovations, vice president at Staccato Communications, and vice president at Silicon Wave (acquired by RFMD, and subsequently by Qualcomm). While there he drove new Bluetooth and Ultra-Wideband solutions and worked with consumer electronics and mobile handset OEMs. While at Intel, Jarvis co-founded the Wireless Products Operation and held various management positions in the microprocessor, personal connectivity, set-top box, and mobile phone businesses. Jarvis started his career at Motorola as an IC design engineer. Jarvis holds three patents and serves on the Engineering and Electrical Engineering Advisory Boards at the University of San Diego. He has previously served on the board of directors at other technology companies. He holds an MBA from Arizona State University, an MS in electrical engineering from Purdue University, a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan, and has completed the Executive Development Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Pablo Valencia, currently the Senior Manager for Battery Lifecycle Management, Battery Systems Engineering, Battery Cell and Algorithms has more than 20 years of experience in Production Programs and Advanced Technology. Pablo has held various engineering positions in Powertrain, Body, Thermal, and Advanced Technology Development including responsibility for Volt Battery Thermal, Mechanical, electrical, and electro-chemistry systems.  Pablo leads a cross functional team that is managing the High Voltage battery life cycle activities including Service Strategy, Secondary Use, and Recycling.

Mark Verbrugge is the Director of GM’s Chemical and Materials Systems Laboratory, which maintains global research programs—enabled by the disciplines of chemistry, physics, and materials science—and targets the advanced development of structural subsystems, energy storage and conversion devices, and various technologies associated with fuels, lubricants, and emissions.  Mark is a Board Member of the United States Automotive Materials Partnership LLC and the United States Advanced Battery Consortium LLC. Mark has received a number of GM internal awards as well as external awards including the Norman Hackerman Young Author Award and the Energy Technology Award from the Electrochemical Society, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the United States Council for Automotive Research, and a 2017 R&D 100 Award.  Mark is a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Steven Visco is the Chief Executive Officer, CTO, and founder of PolyPlus Battery Company in Berkeley, California, as well as a Guest Scientist in the Materials Science Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Steven J. Visco currently holds 114 U.S. patents, more than 200 international patents and has authored over 70 journal articles, as well as books, monographs and other publications. Dr. Visco graduated with a BS in Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts in 1977 and received his PhD in Physical Chemistry from Brown University in 1982. Dr. Visco then joined the staff at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as a Principal Investigator in the Materials Sciences Division in 1984 where his research interests have included advanced batteries and fuel cells. Steven Visco co-founded PolyPlus Battery Company in 1991. In 2013 Dr. Visco was selected by the City of Berkeley for a “Visionary Award” for his work in next generation batteries. Steve also serves on the Technical Advisory the CIC Energigune Institute in Miñano, Spain and was awarded the 2011 International Battery Association Award for “Outstanding Contributions to the Development of Lithium-Air and Lithium-Water Batteries.” PolyPlus Battery Company was selected by TIME magazine for its 50 Best Inventions of 2011 Issue, and was selected for a Gold Edison Award in 2012. In May 2015 Dr. Visco was elected a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society.

William Q. Walker received his BS in Mechanical Engineering at West Texas A&M University (WTAMU) and is currently a PhD candidate in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Houston (UH). Walker’s research activities are concentrated on developing new understanding of lithium-ion battery thermal runaway mechanisms. Walker has been employed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center (JSC) for six years where he works to design battery assemblies for human spaceflight applications capable of safely mitigating the effects of thermal runaway and preventing cell-to-cell propagation.

Alan (Al) W. Weimer is H. T. Sears Memorial Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Colorado, joining the faculty in 1996 after a 16-year career with the Dow Chemical Company.  He has received numerous awards for his nanomaterials research including the 2015 AIChE Nanoscale Science & Engineering Forum Award and the 2017 AIChE Lifetime Achievement Award for Particle Technology.  He co-founded ALD NanoSolutions (www.ALDNanoSolutions.com) as a spin-off from his lab in 2001.  He is recipient of the Dow Chemical Company 1995 Excellence in Science Award for the invention and commercialization of advanced non-oxide materials.  He is named inventor on 38 issued U.S. Patents, has directed the research of 29 PhD students, and published 200 peer-reviewed journal articles.  He is a 2019 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.

Colin Wessells is the founding CEO at Natron Energy. He co-founded Natron in 2012 as a spin-out of his PhD research on new battery materials at Stanford. At Natron he has raised $35M in equity investments and federal awards, led Natron's customer engagement in the data center and EV industries, and led its development of a novel Prussian blue battery chemistry. He is an inventor of twelve issued patents, nineteen peer-reviewed papers, and holds a PhD in materials science from Stanford.

Sheldon S. Williamson received his Bachelors of Engineering (B.E.) degree in Electrical Engineering with high distinction from University of Mumbai, India, in 1999. He received the Masters of Science (MS) degree in 2002, and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree (with Honors) in 2006, both in Electrical Engineering, from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL. From June 2006 to June 2014, Dr. Williamson held a tenure-track Assistant Professor position, followed by a tenured Associate Professor position in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, at Concordia University, in Montreal, Canada. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Software Engineering, at the University of Ontario-Institute of Technology (UOIT), in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. He also holds the prestigious NSERC Canada Research Chair in Electric Energy Storage Systems for Transportation Electrification. Dr. Williamson’s research interests include electric energy storage systems, power electronics, and motor drives for e-transportation and autonomous e-mobility applications. Dr. Williamson is a Senior Member of the IEEE and a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society.

Martin Winter holds the Chair of Materials Science, Energy and Electrochemistry at the University of Muenster (WWU) in Germany. He is a founding director of MEET Battery Research Center at WWU and the founding director of the Helmholtz Institute Muenster, which is a branch of Forschungszentrum Juelich. Martin Winter is the spokesperson of German Battery Research and holds more than 40 awards and recognitions and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

After acquiring PhD in Chemistry from the Tokyo Metropolitan University, Dai Yamamoto joined Toshiba Corporation for material research and cell development of lithium-ion batteries. He is currently in charge of product planning under the battery division.

After completing graduate work in Materials and Business from University of London and then her PhD in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University, Zoe joined Ford Motor Company in 2011. She supports Ford energy storage research, including managing multiple global Ford-funded University research projects, lithium-ion battery cell production implementation activity, as well as longer term topics. Zoe represents Ford Motor Company in the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) and serves as the USABC electrolyte workgroup leader, also managing multiple USABC electrolyte and separator development programs.

Mike Zimmerman PhD is a proven serial entrepreneur with 30+ years of polymer expertise. A Professor at Tufts University, he founded iQLP and was a member of the technical staff at Bell Labs for 14 years.