Michael Sanders, Senior Advisor, Energy, Avicenne Energy

Mike has significant energy storage materials value chain understanding with an emphasis on lithium ion batteries and systems with 13 years of market knowledge and relationships. Successful program leadership experience with significant business growth in ventures and existing businesses with a proven track record leading mergers and acquisition team to enter the lithium ion battery materials market. He joined AVICENNE in May of 2016 as a Senior Advisor. Since joining the AVICENNE team, Mike has been leading the US AVICENNE activity working with many clients holding strategy workshops, validation of growth opportunities, helping clients establish their growth plans in energy storage and establishing M&A targets/diligence. Before joining AVICENNE, Mike had a very long career with DuPont, his most recent role was the Global Marketing Director – Energy Storage Venture where he developed significant understanding and insights for the energy storage materials market, device manufacturing and systems while leading global marketing and customer interface efforts to establish programs to enter the $20B energy storage materials market. Executed strategic and market planning for opportunity evaluation, research, choices and M&A activity for entry into rapidly growing new market. He has a degree in Chemistry from the University of Delaware and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers and Electrochemical Society.

Christophe Pillot, PhD, Director, Avicenne Energy

Christophe has built up considerable expertise in the area of batteries. He joined AVICENNE 26 years ago and spent 3 years in Japan analyzing the Japanese electronic, mobile & battery market. Christophe has acquired extensive experience in marketing, strategy analysis, technology and financial studies for the battery and power management fields. He developed the Battery market analysis for AVICENNE, which serves more than 220 customers worldwide. Christophe has published several annual surveys such as "The Rechargeable Battery Market". He is also the founder & chairman of Batteries - an international industry conference held in France since 1999. He is now Director at AVICENNE ENERGY. Globally, he has been involved in more than 300 projects for 200+ customers in the Battery value chain. Before joining AVICENNE, Christophe held a key position in FRANCE TELECOM's innovation division. He has a degree in Chemistry & an MBA in Innovation Management from Paris IX Dauphine. His mother tongue is French, and he speaks fluent English.

George Crabtree, PhD, Director, Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), Argonne National Laboratory

George Crabtree is Director of the Joint Center for Energy Storage (JCESR) at Argonne National Laboratory, and a Distinguished Professor of Physics, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering at University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC). He leads research on creating next-generation electricity storage technology beyond lithium-ion batteries. He has directed 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, on the prospects for next generation electrical energy storage, and on accelerating energy storage on the electricity grid.

Juergen Janek, PhD, Professor, Solid State Ionics & Electrochemistry, Justus Liebig University Giessen

Sachiya Inagaki, Senior Executive Manager, Industrial Technology Unit, Yano Research Institute Ltd.

Sachiya Inagaki has been working with Yano Research Institute since August 2000. Since 2009, he has been focusing primarily on market research for xEVs, LiB cells and its materials. Since August 2011, he had been in a position of General Manager of the Seoul branch office for three years, and he has been in a position of Senior Executive Manager of Industrial Technology Unit at the headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. He has conducted a lot of various market research regading xEV and LiBs, and also made presentations at several major EV- and LiB-related conferences, such as AABC, CIBF, Battery Japan, etc. His realism to the market make him unique and different from others. He has acquired his M.B.A. from Tsukuba University in 2007.

James Kaschmitter, CEO, SpectraPower LLC

James Kaschmitter is the CEO of SpectraPower, which he founded in 2002. SpectraPower operates a battery research facility in Livermore, CA that performs contract energy storage research, consulting and expert witness services for government, private companies, law firms, startups and investors. Jim has founded, or co-founded, several companies in the energy storage field. He began research in Li-ion batteries in 1989 at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). He was co-founder and CEO of PolyStor Corporation starting in 1993. PolyStor is the only U.S. company to have commercially manufactured in high volume in the U.S. all form factors of lithium-ion cells, including cylindrical, prismatic and polymer. In 1997 Jim founded PowerStor Corporation to commercialize the carbon aerogel supercapacitor that he co-invented at LLNL. PowerStor supercapacitors are now manufactured and sold in high volume by Eaton Bussman. He founded UltraCell in 2002, which successfully developed the world’s first reformed methanol micro fuel cell. UltraCell’s micro fuel cells are currently manufactured and sold by Brentronics and are deployed with U.S military and intelligence units, and are in use in combat in the Middle East. Jim holds a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and has a bachelor’s degree in the Physics Honors Program from the University of Utah. He holds more than 20 patents in the alternative energy field. He owns, maintains and operates an experimental aircraft and holds instrument and multi-engine ratings.