AABC 2015 - Speakers sort by Company

Senior Research Engineer, Corporate Research Materials Laboratory
Vincent Chevrier completed a doctorate in physics at Dalhousie University with Prof. Dahn focusing on Si for Li-ion batteries. He continued on to MIT as a postdoctoral fellow under Prof. Gerbrand Ceder, studying a range of topics including Na-ion battery materials and Li-ion conversion cathodes. Since 2010, Vincent has been working for 3M on the optimization, scale-up and commercialization of alloy anodes for Li-ion batteries. He is the Chair of the Electrochemical Society Twin Cities Section, has 20 scientific publications in the field of Li-ion batteries and has worked collaboratively with many academic groups.

Vice President of Corporate Strategy
Jeff Kessen is Vice President of Corporate Strategy at A123 Systems where he leads strategic alliances and product management on a global basis. Prior to joining A123 in 2009, he spent 11 years in a small division of Bosch with progressive business responsibility for powertrain software engineering. Earlier in his career, Jeff worked in chassis development at General Motors. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from GMI Engineering & Management Institute and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

President
President of Advanced Automotive Batteries and founder of Total Battery Consulting, Inc., Dr. Anderman has led the development and commercialization of high-power Ni-Cd batteries, Li-Ion batteries, and ultracapacitors and spent the last ten years conducting assessments of energy-storage technologies for advanced vehicles, publishing Advanced Automotive Battery Industry Reports and chairing the AABC.

Chief Technical Officer
Dr. Buechler is a domain expert in Fluid Bed Processing and Materials Science. She is very active in the nanotechnology community and currently serves on the board of directors of the Colorado Nanotechnology Alliance. She is a former Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the Dept. of Chemical Engineering at CU-Boulder where she was instrumental in developing and patenting ALD NanoSolutions technology. Karen has a proven track record in project management and research execution. She is an author of multiple peer-reviewed publications and inventor on several U.S. Patents. Karen received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Vanderbilt University (1994) and her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from CU-Boulder (1999).

President
Dr. Jiang Fan, President, American Lithium Energy Corporation, has about 20 years extensive experience in Li-ion batteries R&D and manufacturing. His related accomplishments include the development of crush and bullet robust cell/battery technologies for both EV and military applications, and building a Li-ion factory to serve commercial markets in China. He has been awarded with several US patents and published over thirty research papers.

Vice President of Research Institute
Dr. Kai Wu is Vice President of Research Institute at Amperex Technology Limited (“ATL”). He has helped growing ATL into a leading lithium-ion polymer/pouch battery worldwide. He has more than 17-year experience in battery research; and today is leading the cooperation of advanced battery research and development programs with international and domestic institutes and universities. Dr. Wu received his Ph.D. in Applied Chemistry from Shanghai Communication University, China.

Regional Sales Manager
Steven Barnett is a Regional Manager with Applied Spectra. He has over 28 years of experience in the application of optical techniques for material characterization, including LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy), Raman, FTIR, cathodoluminescence, as well as both near-field and far-field microscopic analysis. He received a Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from McGill University and a Masters of Business Administration with an emphasis in Technology Management from the University of California, Davis.

Deputy Director for Development and Demonstration, Joint Center for Energy Storage Research
Jeff Chamberlain is Deputy Director for Development and Demonstration, in the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, the DOE Battery Hub led by Argonne National Laboratory.
Jeff received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Georgia Tech, where he studied reactions at semiconductor surfaces in an ultra-high vacuum environment. From 1993 until 2006, Jeff worked in industry and used his knowledge of surface science to develop profitable products for mining, coatings, and semiconductor manufacturing processes. Jeff’s work in product development was primarily focused on design and control of particulate surfaces in aqueous suspension.
Since 2006 Jeff has worked at Argonne National Laboratory, where, prior to starting his new role in 2012, he managed the Argonne battery department, as well as managed the battery intellectual property portfolio. Jeff oversaw the research in the lab after successfully licensing Argonne's Li-ion battery technology to GM, BASF, LG Chem, and others.

Materials Scientist
Jason R. Croy is currently a materials scientist in Argonne National Laboratory’s Energy Storage Group. His work focuses on design and synthesis of high energy, Li-ion materials with an emphasis on understanding atomic-scale processes through advanced characterization. He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Central Florida.

Kris earned MS degree in Chemistry & Chemical Technology in 1985 and Ph.D. in Organic Synthetic Chemistry from Institute of Organic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences in 1993. Since then he has worked for various contract research and manufacturing companies developing new chemistry routes and scalable processes for pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and specialty chemicals. In 2010 Kris joined Argonne National Laboratory where he leads the effort in process R&D and scale-up of advanced electrolyte materials.

Global Technical Leader of LIB, Fluoropolymer Division
As technical leader of Lithium Ion Battery (LIB) at Fluoropolymer Division of Arkema, Dr Amin-Sanayei has designed, synthesized, and commercialized many new fluoropolymers including low crystallinity fluoropolymers, co-continuous alloys of fluoropolymers, Ultra-High-MW-PVDF, open-cell foam formation form waterborne media, and new cutting edge binders for LIB. He has 20 US patents, and is author of chapters in “Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology” and also in “Encyclopedia of Polymer Processing”. Dr Amin-Sanayei has received prestigious American Chemical Society Award for “Team Innovation” in 2014.

Program Director
Dr. Ping Liu currently serves as a Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). His main focuses include advanced materials for energy efficiency and energy conversion and storage. Dr. Liu was previously Manager of Energy Technology at HRL Laboratories, an industrial research company jointly owned by the Boeing Company and General Motors. At HRL, Dr. Liu led a broad range of research activities in energy conversion and storage for owner companies as well as government and commercial customers. Dr. Liu also developed a variety of concepts in multifunctional power, solid-state batteries, and lithium-sulfur chemistry. Prior to joining HRL in 2003, Dr. Liu was a member of the technical staff at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Dr Liu received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D., all in chemistry, from Fudan University in China.

Senior Battery Systems Expert
As a senior battery systems expert, Dr. Könekamp is taking the technical lead for traction battery SOP development projects for AVL’s OEM customers since 2013. At General Motors - Opel, Dr. Könekamp had been leading multiple advanced LIB development teams and activities, such as LFP and NMC cell development, LFP algorithms, systems engineering. He was responsible for the installation and team lead of the Opel battery test lab. He joined the fuel cell team of GM - Opel in 2002, after 3 years in testing automation business. At Opel, he became responsible for the development of the (NiMH) hybrid battery for the GM Fuel Cell Fleet. Dr. Könekamp studied mechatronics and in 2000 received his doctorate in electrical engineering at the TU Darmstadt.

Senior Product Manager
Uwe Wiedemann studied Mechatronics at the University of Aalen, Germany and the University of Teesside, GB. He received a PhD degree from the University of Ulm for the investigation of NiMH ageing mechanism in HEVs. From 2003 onwards he was involved in battery management system software development and other development tasks around electrochemical energy storage systems. After working in research and development departments at Daimler AG and Robert Bosch GmbH, he joined AVL List’s Global Battery Competence Team in 2009. His current position is Senior Product Manager.

Senior Battery Scientist and Team Leader
Kat Chemelewski, Ph.D. is the team leader of the lithium-ion battery program at Axium Battery. She obtained her B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Oklahoma State University in 2009, and received her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin in 2013. Her graduate research focused on the synthesis and characterization of high-voltage spinel cathodes with respect to the crystallography, chemistry, and morphology. Her current areas of interest include advanced electrode chemistry and synthesis, materials characterization, electrochemical analysis, and cell design.

Senior Vice President
Takeshi Miyamoto graduated from the Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, of the University of Tohoku in 1981. That same year he joined the Nissan Research Center. In 1997, he became office manager of the Nissan Engineering and Vehicle Development Office and general manager of the Nissan HEV Development Division in 2005. In 2006, Mr. Miyamoto became manager of the Nissan EV Energy Development Division and from 2007 to 2014 he was engineering director of Nissan’s EV Energy Development Division. In April 2015, Mr. Miyamoto became senior vice president of B3 Corporation.

President
Dr. Spotnitz is a leading developer of mathematical models that simulate battery operation. Dr. Spotnitz, who previously held several senior technical positions in materials and battery development, founded Battery Design in 1999 to provide consulting and develop custom software for battery developers and users. He is a well-known speaker on various aspects of battery engineering.

Associate, Advanced Transport Insight
Claire leads the technology research that the Advanced Transport team at BNEF produces. Her expertise is focused on the chemistry, production costs, installed capacity and forecasting for next-generation biofuels, lithium-ion batteries and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles, amoung other things. She holds an MSc in sustainable energy engineering from Imperial College London and a BSc in chemistry from Durham University. Claire has worked for BNEF for three years based in London and has been based in New York for the past six months. Recent work Claire has carried out involves research into battery chemistries and future improvements and FCEV sales forecasts.

President and Founder
Peter Blume is President and founder of Bloomy, a leader in automated test, data acquisition and control systems for battery and BMS testing and simulation, electronics functional test, avionics and aerospace systems test, as well as grid storage test, monitoring and control. Peter is the author of The LabVIEW Style Book (Prentice Hall, © 2007), the industry standard for LabVIEW development style, and has published technical articles in publications including EE - Evaluation Engineering, EDN, Electronic Design, Desktop Engineering, and Test & Measurement World. Peter’s two-part series on energy storage performance testing, titled Power Grid Energy Storage Testing, appeared in EE - Evaluation Engineering’s November 2012 and January 2013 editions. Peter participated as a panelist for the open technology forum discussion on The Future of Large-Scale BMS Design at The Battery Show Expo for Advanced Batteries in Novi, MI last September, 2014.

Head of R&D High Voltage Battery
Dr. Moebius studied mechanical engineering at the Stuttgart University, Germany. In 1990 he started his professional life as a Project Engineer in the technical section of Lufthansa German Airlines in Frankfurt. From 1992 until 1996 he conferred a doctorate at the chair of production automation at the Kaiserslautern University. In 1996 Dr. Moebius entered the BMW Group in Munich where he first was employed in the experimental vehicles department. After a 4 years side step into the HR division he started as a department manager the BMW pre-development activities of the inhouse-production of e-drive components. Between 2004 and 2013 he was responsible for manufacturing development and the prototype shop of high-voltage batteries and traction e-motors. Since April 2014 Dr. Moebius is head of BMW R&D high-voltage battery department.

CEO of C-Rate Solutions
Brent Perry is a global operating and management executive with proven success in building high-performance teams and leading sophisticated manufacturing and service organizations with P&L responsibility. A strategic visionary with a clear sense of purpose and urgency, Mr. Perry is skilled at establishing operational excellence within culturally diverse environments and translating conceptual models into specific growth strategies. Mr. Perry has been recently appointed Special Adviser to the Chinese Government for Energy Policy. Brent is also is one of the most knowledgeable people on the planet in regards to practical use of lithium energy storage in marine applications. His 30-year history in commercial shipbuilding and deep knowledge of energy systems gives him a unique perspective on the hybrid marine industry. An accomplished, engaging and passionate speaker, Brent has spent his life in, on or near the ocean. Mr. Perry resides in Vancouver, British Columbia and enjoys sailing with his wife and three children.

Technical Lead
Gaëtan is the technical lead at CD-adapco for all battery related technology and responsible for the dissemination of best practice usage of CD-adapco tools. His knowledge spans a wide range of numerical approaches and length scales, from spatially complex highly resolved models to microstructural electrochemistry problems. Gaëtan also works very closely with CD-adapco’s development team defining future strategy and anticipating market needs. Finally, Gaëtan co-authored on a few papers in the field of battery modelling.
Prior to his current role Gaëtan worked in the computational fluid dynamics validation group within CD-adapco. Before joining CD-adapco Gaëtan worked for Areva in France and graduated from Pierre-and-Marie-Curie University with a MSc in Fluid Mechanics

VP and Chief Technical Officer
Mr. Lie Shi joined Hoechst Celanese Corporation (HCC) – Celgard’s former parent company – in 1991 as a research scientist working on Lithium polymer batteries and polymeric fiber development. In 1997, he was named Technical Manager of the HCC Separation Division, which later became Celgard, LLC. In 2000, he was promoted to VP, Research & Development, where he led Celgard’s pioneering R&D effort for more than a decade and contributed to its emergence as a leading material supplier in the Lithium battery industry. In 2014, Lie assumed the role of VP & CTO, Separator Technology. He attended Beijing University in China and received his BS in Physics from Kyoto University in Japan. Lie also holds an MS in Physics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Chief Technology Officer
COMSOL develops, markets, and sells the modeling and simulation software COMSOL Multiphysics. This software includes tools for defining models described by coupled system of partial differential equations, discretizing, and solving the corresponding numerical models. One of the main product lines of this software includes the modules for electrochemistry and electrochemical engineering. Ed Fontes has been one of the lead developers of the Batteries & Fuel Module. He has more than two decades of experience in modeling of electrochemical systems. Dr. Fontes earned a Ph.D. in Electrochemical Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden.

Senior Manager, Thermal Systems R&D
Brad Brodie is senior manager of Thermal Systems Research & Development (R&D) at DENSO International America, Inc. in Southfield, Michigan. He is responsible for the development of Air Conditioning (A/C) systems using alternative refrigerants, as well as the research and development of battery thermal management systems and components.
Brodie joined DENSO in 1999, as an engineer in the Climate Control group responsible for Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) unit design. In 2002, he assumed the role of application engineer for A/C compressors responsible for Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) testing and compressor designs for the U.S. vehicle market. He then transitioned back into Climate Control as a senior design engineer, responsible for full A/C system design. In 2007, Brodie took an international assignment at DENSO’s global headquarters in Kariya, Aichi prefecture, Japan, where he focused on Thermal Systems R&D. When he returned to DENSO International America, Inc. in 2009, he was promoted to manager, responsible for Thermal Systems R&D for the North American market, and in 2013 was promoted to senior manager.
Brodie earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Detroit-Mercy in Detroit, Michigan. Brodie is currently an active member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

Supervising Engineer, Power Systems Technology
Richard Mueller is the Supervising Engineer of Power Systems Technologies at DTE Energy. In his current position, he is responsible for deploying Distributed Energy Resources (DER) into the T&D planning and operating process, managing all DER interconnections and facilitating installation of portable generation. Responsibility also includes administering grants and projects related to plug-in electric vehicles, energy storage and the effect of distributed resources interconnecting to the grid. Current projects include the Advanced Distribution Management System, distribution line sensors and Data Analytics of AMI and Fault Locating. He is also managing the DTE project for DOE grid connected Community energy storage utilizing secondary use batteries and electric vehicle and workplace advanced charging stations.

Senior Application Engineer, Automotive Battery Division
Mr. Scott McCaskey is a Senior Application Engineer in the Automotive Battery Division of East Penn Manufacturing Company. In his 21 years at East Penn, Scott McCaskey has been involved in quality auditing of the manufacturing processes; performance and life testing of automotive batteries; evaluation of battery chargers and conductance testers; and supporting a diverse customer base including OE trucking, OE motorcycle, OE golf car, OE tractor and aftermarket automotive parts suppliers. He is an SAE member and an active participant on several SAE battery standard committees. He has contributed to BCI standards and to the last several editions of the BCI Battery Service Manual. His time is currently devoted to emerging applications of advanced lead-acid battery technologies such as UltraBattery®, Synergy® and Fahrenheit®.

Director Services & Solutions North America
John Buchanan is an enthusiastic renewable energy professional inspired to deliver widespread, commercially viable, energy storage to industry, energy producers and developing countries around the world. In his role with East Penn/Ecoult, John is currently building an all-inclusive service network designed to support Ecoult’s globally deployed energy storage assets based exclusively on the East Penn’s UltraBattery®. John’s experience spans a broad spectrum of power generation and industrial sectors including nuclear & fossil power plant operation and generation; steel production and critical infrastructure management. John is actively dedicated to building trust based partnerships that result in solid, technically capable teams assuring sensible value add for Ecoult’s strategic partners and client’s. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Nuclear Power School and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Applied Nuclear Technology.

Senior Project, Power Delivery and Utilization
Haresh Kamath is Program Manager for 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. He is also a Strategic Program Manager in EPRI's Technology Innovation Program, where he manages programs investigating advanced materials technologies for power delivery applications, and advanced energy storage technologies. He was an author for the DOE-EPRI Handbook of Energy Storage and also serves on the board of directors of the Electricity Storage Association. Kamath received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in chemical engineering from Stanford University.

Managing Engineer
Dr. Vijay Somandepalli is a Managing Engineer at Exponent specializing in mechanical engineering and analysis of thermal and flow processes. He has been actively involved in the development of methods and frameworks to quantify and manage hazards and risks associated with lithium-ion battery technologies and other energy storage technologies. Dr. Somandepalli holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and a Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

Technical Fellow – Energy Storage Systems
Oliver is a Walter P. Chrysler Technical Fellow, for Energy Storage Systems, at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, where he is responsible for the Battery systems technology roadmap and architecture for FCA. He is a member of the United States Advanced Battery Consortium Technical Advisory Committee, and chairs the committees on 12V Stop Start and 48V Mild Hybrid batteries. He is also Chairman for the Society for Automotive Engineers’ Work Group on Capacitive Energy Storage Systems. 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.

Technical Leader, Advanced Battery Systems Electrified Powertrain Engineering, North American Product Development
Bob Taenaka is a technical leader in Advanced Battery Systems at Ford Motor Company, responsible for battery cell selection/validation in support of Ford's present and near-term future production hybrid and electric vehicles. Bob's team also carries out battery system sizing, performance, and life modeling/validation activities. In this role, Bob is also responsible for technical oversight of battery cell suppliers, helping to bring their cell design and manufacturing quality processes to automotive standards. Prior to joining Ford in 2001, Mr. Taenaka spent 18 years with Hughes Space & Communications, serving as battery engineer for the Galileo Probe mission to Jupiter; principal investigator or program manager for several nickel-hydrogen and sodium-sulfur battery development efforts, and had responsibility for in-orbit support on battery usage for satellite customers and ground stations.

HV Battery Technology Manager
Steven Chorian is the HV Battery Technology Manager at Ford Motor Company. After earning his Masters of Science in Electrical Engineer degree, he joined Ford in 1996. He has been working on hybrid electric programs since 2000, including launching of the Ford Escape HEV. Throughout those 15 years, he has worked on many of the HV components that comprise the HV system, including DC/DC Converters, HV EDS, and 110V inverters. In 2009, he took over as D&R Supervisor and launched the Fusion Hybrid HV Battery system. He is currently leading the pre-program development of Ford’s next generation of HV Battery systems for all xEV applications.

Manager for Advanced Electrified Powertrain Systems, and Steven Chorian, HV Battery Technology Manager
Dr. Daniel Kok is Ford Motor Company's Manager for Advanced Electrified Powertrain Systems. In 1994, he graduated as M.Sc. Mechanical Engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands. In 1999, he received his Ph.D. degree. From 1999 to 2000, he worked for TNO Automotive in Delft, The Netherlands, after which he joined the Ford Research Center in Aachen, Germany as Technical Specialist Energy Management. In 2005, he transferred to the Ford Dunton Engineering Center in the UK as Global Manager for Micro-Hybrid Systems. In 2011, Daniel came to Ford’s Engineering Center in Dearborn, Michigan. In his current position, Daniel is responsible for the system design of Ford’s next generation Start-stop, Hybrid and Battery Electric Vehicles.

Research Engineer
Mr. Masias is a Research Engineer in Ford Motor Company's Energy Storage Research Department and has worked on the research and development of lithium ion batteries since 2002. His current research focuses on battery analysis and safety in collaboration with the US Department of Energy, suppliers and various universities. Mr. Masias is a member and Project Manager of the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) Technical Advisory Committee. He holds engineering degrees from the California Institute of Technology and the University of Michigan.

Senior Manager of Energy Storage Strategy and Research
Ted Miller’s team is responsible for energy-storage strategy, research, development, and worldwide implementation of hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, fuel cell hybrid electric vehicles, and battery electric vehicles. Mr. Miller is a member and Chairman of the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) Management Committee and past Chairman of the USABC Technical Advisory Committee. He is the principle investigator for Ford/University Research Alliance energy storage research programs at MIT and the University of Michigan.

Global Engineering Lead, Global EREV/PHEV Battery Packs
Michael Celotto has spent his last 3 years leading the development of a second generation Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV) Battery, the heart of the propulsion system in the Chevy Volt. Time leading up to this was spent as a Development Engineer and Engineering Lead of the first generation EREV battery. Starting his career at GM’s Massena Casting Operations, Michael held various roles including Manufacturing Engineer, Production Supervisor, and Quality Engineer. After which, he became certified as a Master Black Belt. He trained and coached within GM’S Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) team. Michael attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), where he received both a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Science in Material Science and Engineering.

Director, Fuel Cell R&D
Mark Mathias is currently Director of Fuel Cell R&D at General Motors Powertrain Headquarters in Pontiac, Michigan. He is responsible to lead the development and implementation of materials technology to enable fuel cell electric vehicle commercialization, now being done jointly with Honda R&D. Prior to this assignment, he played a leadership role in GM’s Battery R&D program, focused on developing and implementing improved lithium-ion technologies for future generations of battery-powered electric vehicles. Mark received a BS in 1982 in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Tech, a PhD in Chemical Engineering in 1987 from the University of Wisconsin, and then spent two years as a NATO Postdoctoral Fellow at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. He joined Mobil Research and Development Corporation in 1989 and moved to General Motors in 1998.

Executive Director Global Transmission and Electrification
Larry Nitz leads GM’s global hybrid and electric powertrain engineering activities, with ultimate responsibility for the engineering of GM’s of electrified powertrains around the world. Under his direction, GM has developed and introduced the Two-Mode Hybrid powertain system in 10 vehicle models in North America and China. His team is also responsible for the Chevrolet Volt and Opel Ampera electric vehicles with extended range, and the Voltec propulsion system. Mr. Nitz has held his current position since 2003. He joined GM in 1976 and spent most of his career in powertrain engineering, working on engines, manual and automatic transmissions, controls and hybrid and electric systems. After holding several positions in vehicle and powertrain engineering, he took over as chief engineer for manual and automatic transmissions at GM’s Saturn Division and then as chief engineer for controls and advanced engineering at GM’s Allison Transmission Division.

Global Lead for GM Power Battery Packs
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 engineering and battery engineering. Andy leads several cross function teams to design and launch all of GM’s future power-dense (e.g. “hybrid”) battery packs. The first of these packs is launching early next year in the all-new Chevy Malibu Hybrid and powers it to a combined 47 MPG fuel economy rating. Andy’s interests are in electrification, affordable performance cars, and a future where the lines between them are erased. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from MIT in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters from Purdue in Multidisciplinary Engineering.

Lead CAE Engineer, Global Battery Systems Engineering
Dr. Ramesh Rebba works at General Motors as a cell simulation lead engineer in Global Battery Systems Engineering group. As a global simulation owner, Dr. Rebba is responsible for developing and implementing standard analysis work for all battery cell related simulation within GM. His primary interests include battery mechanics, multi-physics modeling, uncertainty quantification, model verification and validation. He holds Bachelor’s degree in Structural Engineering from IIT, Madras, India; M.S and Ph.D from Vanderbilt University in the area of computational model validation.

Technical Fellow
Galen Ressler, Technical Fellow and Principal System Safety Engineer for High Voltage Systems at General Motors Company, has over 30 years of vehicle safety experience. In his current role, he serves as technical leader for battery, high voltage system and plug-in charging safety. He currently chairs the SAE Battery Safety Standards Committee, responsible for standards J2464, “Electric and Hybrid Electric Vehicle Rechargeable Energy Storage System Safety and Abuse Testing,” and J2929, “Safety Standard for Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Propulsion Battery Systems Utilizing Lithium-based Rechargeable Cells.” He is also a member of the US Technical Advisory Group for ISO TC22/SC21, Electrically Propelled Road Vehicles, and the UL Standards Technical Panel 2580, Batteries for Use in Electrical Vehicles. Galen holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Senior Manager for Battery Lifecycle Management, Battery Systems Engineering, Battery Cell and Algorithms
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.

Director, Global Battery Systems
Director of General Motor’s Global Battery Systems, Mr. William Wallace is responsible for all GM Li-Ion battery and EVSE product development, validation and integration as well as GM’s global battery labs. He has over 25 years of product development experience in the aerospace and automotive industries in both North America and Europe. He also serves as a board member of the General Motors / University of Michigan Advanced Battery Coalition for Drivetrains, which is a joint research program focused on spanning the gap between battery material synthesis and vehicle controls integration.

Director, Chemical and Materials Systems Laboratory
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, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the United States Council for Automotive Research. Mark is a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

R&D Manager
Mr. Nishida was born in Tokyo in 1958. In 1983 he completed a master’s degree at the National Nagaoka University of Technology and that same year joined Hitachi Chemical Co.,Ltd. He was mainly in charge of R&D and production engineering for several carbon products. In 1995, he started R&D of Lithium ion anode material. He is now responsible for R&D, technical support for customer and business planning of anode material at Hitachi Chemical, which has 45% market shares in the world.

Assistant Chief Engineer
After joining Honda, Tsubasa Uchida was in charge of constructing Honda's infrastructure of ICT (Information and Communication Technology). From 2004 to 2007, he joined Honda F1 Team, managing ICT systems for vehicle control and of Honda's pit garages in circuits. He, then, contributed to building the telematics infrastructure of Fit EV in order to collect and analyze customers' usage data of EV and its battery. At present, he is an expert of analyzing the customers' usage data and is building the next-generation telematics system.

Senior Research Engineer
Dokyoung Lim is a senior research engineer of battery system engineering design team in Hyundai motor company where he develops battery system development for worldwide mass production. He has built up considerable expertise in the area of electrical power system for eco-friendly vehicle for 8years. He received a Bachelor and a Master of Mechanical Engineering from Seoul Nat’l University in South Korea.

Energy Storage Group Lead
Eric Dufek is the group of lead for Energy Storage at Idaho National Laboratory which serves as a lead Department of Energy lab for the independent testing and evaluation of energy storage devices. At INL he specializes in the characterization of materials and interfaces and in evaluating performance degradation associated with material and structural decay. He also works extensively in identifying opportunities for understanding the performance science of energy storage devices at both the small and large scale. He received his Ph.D in electrochemistry from the University of Wyoming.

Senior Fellow
Mr. German has been involved with advanced technology and efficiency since joining Chrysler in 1976, where he spent 8 years in Powertrain Engineering working on fuel economy issues. He then spent 13 years doing research and writing regulations for EPA’s Office of Mobile Sources’ laboratory in Ann Arbor, MI. Prior to joining ICCT 6 years ago, he spent 11 years as Manager of Environmental and Energy Analyses for American Honda Motor Company, with an emphasis on being a liaison between Honda’s R&D staff in Japan and regulatory affairs. Mr. German is the author of a book on hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles published by SAE and a variety of technical papers, including the future of hybrid vehicles, technology costs and benefits, consumer valuation of fuel savings, feebates, and light truck trends. He was the first recipient of the Barry D. McNutt award, presented annually by SAE for Excellence in Automotive Policy Analysis.
He has a bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of Michigan and got over half way through an MBA before he came to his senses.

System Engineer
Mark Johnson, Systems Engineer at Johnson Controls, leads various aspects of micro-hybrid, lithium-ion battery design focusing in micro-hybrid thermal design targets, system design requirements, battery electronic control design targets, and battery safety.
Prior to micro-hybrid battery design roles, Mark worked in development of Lithium-ion battery designs for hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electric vehicles for 4 years covering battery integration testing, development of battery management systems, implementation of functional safety, and various core battery design approaches.
Mark received his B.S. from Marquette University in Biomedical Engineering in 2008. As an undergraduate, he worked on a remote, small-scale energy storage system development project leading to an interest in energy and power storage systems.

Lead Systems Engineer
Daniel B. Le is currently the Lead Systems Engineer, leading a global engineering team on the design and development of low-voltage lithium batteries for vehicle applications. He joined Johnson Controls, Inc in 2011 and has worked on lithium battery systems, involving battery algorithm development, battery research, prototype battery bench testing, prototype vehicle development, data analysis, and product design and development. In 2010, he conducted a post-doctoral fellowship at General Motors where he researched and developed advanced algorithms for battery management systems in hybrid electric vehicles. He received his B.S. from Arizona State University in Aerospace Engineering in 2002 conducting research in fatigue failure in bladed-disk system using monte carlo simulations. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of Virginia in 2005 and 2009, respectively. His master’s thesis focused on the research and control of flow properties in a Hypersonic scramjet engine. He conducted his PhD through a fellowship program at NASA Langley, researching advanced aircraft design methodologies and optimization for supersonic commercial aircrafts to mitigate sonic boom impact.

Director Global Product Development
Steve Wood is the Director of Global Product Development, for Johnson Controls. In this role, Steve has global responsibility for the development of advanced lithium-ion battery technology to meet future passenger car electrification needs. Steve works on the development of products for advanced start-stop, micro hybrid, hybrid and electric powertrains for light duty and passenger vehicles.
Steve joined Johnson Controls in 1998 as a senior engineer working on product and process development for new automotive battery systems. He has taken roles of increasing responsibility within Johnson Controls including leading multi-disciplined engineering teams to launch battery systems into production. With over 20 years of product and process development experience Steve holds multiple patents related to battery systems design.
Steve holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Research Scientist - Laser Materials Processing, Institute for Applied Materials (IAM-AWP)
Johannes Proell is research scientist in the Laser Materials Processing Group at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). During his work at KIT, he has been working on laser material processing of battery materials. He has successfully applied laser-structuring processes to lithium manganese oxide and lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide thick film cathodes with respect to a significantly improved battery performance. His research is focused on the development of advanced 3D electrode and separator designs. Together with Wilhelm Pfleging he has achieved the “SPIE 2014 Green Photonics Award” for pioneering contributions in the development of lithium-ion pouch cell manufacturing. Wilhelm Pfleging is Head of the Laser Materials Processing Group at KIT. He initiates and manages several industrial collaborative research and development projects on laser applications with emphasis on ablation, surface modification and welding on micrometer and nanometer scale. Throughout his career he has been fortunate to have published over 160 papers in scientific journals, reports and books. For many years he has organized international conferences related to laser based packaging and micro/nano processing. Since 2008, he has studied the advancement of original laser based techniques for energy storage systems.

Director of Electrical Engineering & Firmware Development
Mr. Trenholme leads electrical and firmware development for Kiva Systems. In this role he has evaluated cutting edge Li-Ion battery technologies for Kiva mobile robotics. Li-Ion batteries are a key initiative within Kiva to help the company reduce the lifetime capital expenditure on their robots compared to the lead acid solutions used today. Mr. Trenholme is leading the effort to implement the technology in production at Kiva. Prior to this work, he ran the X86 Server development group at Oracle (Sun Microsystems) and has spent much of his career in the data communications field.

Professor
Takeshi Abe received his PhD degree in 1996 from Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University. Upon completion of his PhD degree he joined the Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, as a Research Associate in 1997, and became an Associate in 2002 and a Professor in 2009. His initial research focused on the graphite intercalation compounds and graphite negative electrode for lithium-ion batteries. His current research focuses on lithium ion batteries and s-block metal batteries such as rechargeable magnesium batteries, and in particular on interfacial phenomena. He has published more than 190 peer-reviewed papers and has co-edited several books on new technologies for advanced rechargeable batteries and electrochemistry. He is editor of Journal of Power Sources.

Batteries for Advanced Transportation Technologies (BATT) Electrochemical Technologies Group
Dr. Venkat Srinivasan is Head of the Energy Storage and Distributed Resources Department at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. He also serves as the Acting Director of the Batteries for Advanced Transportation Technologies (BATT) Program and Deputy Director of the recently announced Energy Storage Hub, titled Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR). Dr. Srinivasan's research interest is in developing the next-generation batteries for use in vehicle and grid applications. At present, he has projects focused on studying the degradation and performance limitations in advanced lithium-ion cathode and anode materials and on developing high power, low-cost flow batteries for use in stationary energy-storage applications. Dr. Srinivasan received his PhD from the University of South Carolina in Chemical Engineering in 2000. His thesis topic included various aspects in electrochemical capacitors and the nickel hydroxide electrode.

Chief Technical Officer
Michael Everett has been the Chief Technical Officer for Maxwell Technologies Inc. since 2005 and is responsible for new energy storage technology development. Mike is focused on driving the company towards creating and commercializing advanced technology to keep ahead of the market requirements and to enable growth and prosperity for Maxwell and its customers. Mike joined Maxwell in 2002 occupying various positions inside the organization prior to becoming the CTO.
Mike has a multidisciplinary background including multiple degrees in three disciplines. Mechanical Engineering is where Mike ultimately focused his academic and professional efforts and he holds a BSME from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California.

Chair, Applied Material Science for Energy Conversion and Storage
Prof. Martin Winter is the scientific director of the MEET Battery Research Center at Muenster University. MEET stands for Münster Electrochemical Energy Technology and the director of the Helmholtz Institute Muenster (HI MS) “Ionics in Energy Storage”. Prof. Winter has been the spokesperson of the Innovation Alliance LIB 2015 of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Today he is an associate of the National Platform E-Mobility (NPE) and he is the head of the research council of the Battery Forum Germany. For his scientific achievements Martin Winter has been awarded amongst others with the Battery Technology Award of the Electrochemical Society and the Research Award as well as the Technology Award of the International Battery Materials Association and as Fellow of The Electrochemical Society.

Chief Executive Officer
Ron Wohl is the CEO of Nanoscale Components. Before Nanoscale, Mr. Wohl was Executive Vice President of Oracle’s enterprise application software business, which he built from near-startup to $1.6B in revenue, employing over 6000 people. Mr. Wohl received a BA in Physics and an MBA from Harvard University. Mr. Wohl has served on the Dean’s Advisory Council of Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Principal Researcher, Team Lead, Energy Storage Modeling, Hydrogen and Transportation Systems Center
Dr. Gi-Heon Kim is leading multi-physics lithium battery modeling task in his team at U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He also currently serves as a technical monitor and technical advisor of DOE’s Computer-aided Engineering for Electric Drive Vehicle Batteries program (CAEBAT). He is the lead developer of NREL’s pioneering multiscale multiphysics battery model, the Multi-Scale Multi-Domain (MSMD) model – of which the success founded the initiation of CAEBAT, resolving the nonlinear interplay of lithium-ion battery physics in varied length scales. He is also internationally recognized for his expertise in lithium-ion battery safety research and engineering with multiple publications and patents.

Energy-Storage Group Manager
Ahmad Pesaran received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from UCLA in 1983. Dr. Pesaran is a Principal Engineer and Group Manager, leading NREL’s energy storage group that works on high energy anode material synthesis, battery thermal management, analysis and testing, battery electrochemical-thermal-mechanical modeling, lithium ion safety modeling and evaluation, He also lead activities on post-vehicle battery second use, techno-economic analysis of batteries for electric vehicles, and vehicle and grid energy storage requirement analysis and simulations. He has co-authored more than 150 papers and presentations on energy storage and electric drive vehicles. Dr. Pesaran is an active member of USABC Technical Committee and US DRIVE Energy Storage Technical team. He has received several awards including the 2013 R&100 Awards for development of Isothermal Battery Calorimeters.

Senior Researcher, Energy-Storage Group
Kandler Smith is a Senior Researcher in the Energy Storage Group at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He leads projects in Li-ion battery-life predictive modeling, health management, multi-physics modeling and control. Kandler holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the Pennsylvania State University in electrochemical control of Li-ion batteries and recently co-authored a text book on design and analysis of large Li-ion battery systems.

Senior Analyst
William Tokash is a senior research analyst contributing to Navigant Research’s Energy Technologies and Transportation Efficiencies programs, where he leads Navigant’s advanced batteries for grid energy storage and clean transportation coverage. Tokash brings leading edge experience in emerging issues strategies, sales and marketing, and investment analysis to the team.
Prior to joining Navigant Research, Tokash led Panasonic’s efforts to originate greenfield rooftop solar projects. He is well-versed in the analysis of market drivers for community solar, virtual solar power-purchase agreements, energy storage-enabled microgrids, and solar battery electric vehicle charging infrastructure opportunities in California. Tokash is also experienced in utility grid-edge and behind-the-meter battery energy storage markets, and has worked with multiple product teams on strategic market analysis for real-time corporate energy management technologies. In the past, Tokash also led a carbon fund’s strategy and spearheaded the analysis of investment opportunities in the landfill gas to energy anaerobic digestion and biomass gasification sectors. He holds a BS in Medical Technology from Indiana University.

Founder and CEO,
Andrew M. Chon is a founder and CEO of Navitas Solutions, Inc.; a high-tech venture company specializing in R&D and commercialization of wireless battery management System for transportation and utility industries.
Prior to his current assignment, he was an Executive Vice President and General Manager of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Mr. Chon had the worldwide responsibilities of new business development, digital convergence business and venture investment business. Prior to Samsung Electronics, he held various senior executive positions with Lucent Technologies, AT&T and NCR Corporation. His diverse management experience includes business development, strategic management, marketing & sales management, and technology & risk management.

Director of Marketing
Roger Lin is currently Director of Marketing at NEC Energy Solutions, formerly a part of A123 Systems, where he leads all product management and marketing activities. With over nine years of experience in energy storage technologies and applications, he has held a variety of roles and was responsible for several successful product development efforts including the company’s first hybrid electric vehicle battery, as well as its first lithium ion cell. Prior to that, he has held roles in venture capital, business development, and research and development. Roger received his Master of Engineering degree in Materials Science from MIT, his Bachelor of Science in Ceramic Engineering from Rutgers University, and is an inventor on nine United States patents.

Director
As General Manager of US4R/Nissan, Mr. Smith leads the business development effort utilizing used Nissan EV batteries in non-automotive (stationary) systems, so called “second life” applications. Since 2012, Brad and his team have worked closely with Japan-based 4R Energy Corporation, a joint venture between Nissan and Sumitomo, in business development for new batteries from Nissan’s Smyrna, TN battery manufacturing facility. During 2013, Brad also served as Overseas Program Director, for the Nissan North America LEAF Program. Previous to joining Nissan Brad was Director of Business Development at eVgo, working with global automakers, and others in the EV infrastructure industry. During 25 years at Shell Oil Company, Brad served 10 years as Global Asset Development and Operations Manager in Shell Hydrogen. Brad received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. Mr. Smith earned a Professional Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of Houston.

Material Science and Technology
Nancy Dudney is a distinguished researcher in the Materials Science and Technology Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She received her degrees from the College of William and Mary (BS, Chemistry) and MIT (PhD, Ceramic Materials Science and Engineering) and began work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a Wigner Research Fellow in the Solid State Division. Dr. Dudney’s research interests include: lithium battery materials and architectures, thin film and composite electrolytes, thin film materials for batteries, and mixed ionic-electronic conduction in oxides. She helped pioneer the development of commercial thin-film lithium batteries and continues to utilize thin film processing and materials in her research toward the stabilization of battery interfaces. Dr. Dudney is a fellow of the Electrochemical Society. She has won four R&D 100 awards. Her goal is to promote development of safe and efficient batteries for vehicles and renewable energy.

Chief Computational Scientist
Dr. John A. Turner has almost 25 years of experience applying computational science to challenging problems ranging from nuclear energy and stockpile stewardship to battery safety. He currently serves as Chief Computational Scientist for the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL), a DOE Innovation Hub led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) that brings together national laboratories, universities, and industry to apply advanced modeling and simulation to science and engineering challenges in nuclear energy and also leads the Computational Engineering & Energy Sciences Group (CEES) at ORNL.
Prior to joining ORNL, Dr. Turner led the Computational Physics Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory, a group of over 70 Ph.D. scientists, students, and other staff conducting research in modeling & simulation of phenomena such as fluid dynamics & radiation transport for applications ranging from ocean & climate to nuclear weapons and nuclear energy systems. Dr. Turner moved to ORNL in 2008 to form CEES, a new group focused on developing and applying advanced simulation tools to applications such as nuclear energy and electrical energy storage. Over the past few years, in addition to the aforementioned activities Dr. Turner and his team have developed and deployed the Virtual Integrated Battery Environment (VIBE), which includes the Open Architecture Software (OAS) - the computational infrastructure for the DOE/EERE Computer Aided Engineering for Batteries (CAEBAT) program.

Researcher, Power Systems
Philip Irminger began working with the Power and Energy Group in June, 2008. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tennessee in December of 2009. He was part of the University of Tennessee hardware team which placed 2nd at the 2009 SoutheastCon in Atlanta, Georgia. His research focus is in power systems.

Director, Energy Processes and Materials
Dr. Jun Liu is Laboratory Fellow and division director of the energy processes and materials division at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory. He is a Fellow of the Materials Society (AAAS), a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences and Associate Editor of Nano Energy.

Founder and CEO
Dr. Paul Lichty is a founder and current CEO of PneumatiCoat Technologies, an advanced energy materials company. He is an avid entrepreneur who has helped launch several companies and is an inventor on over half a dozen patents. Paul currently heads business operations focused on development of next-gen energy storage materials through advanced nano-manufacturing processes. His career has been spent leading renewable energy projects ranging from concentrated solar and biomass fuels production, to Li-ion materials optimization. Paul has a BA in Mechanical Engineering and received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Colorado in 2011.

Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer
Steven Visco is the Chief Executive Officer, CTO, and co-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. Dr. Visco received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Brown University in 1982 and spent two years as a Postdoctoral Scientist at the University of California at Santa Barbara working on advanced batteries. 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 solid-state ionic devices such as batteries and fuel cells. Steven Visco co-founded PolyPlus Battery Company in 1991. Dr. Visco also serves on the Technical Advisory Boards for the Conrad Foundation and the CIC Energigune Institute in Miñano, Spain. Dr. Visco has published over 75 articles in scholarly journals and books, and currently holds 94 issued U.S. patents and more than 200 international patents. In 2011 Dr. Visco was awarded the International Battery Association Technology Award for “Outstanding Contributions to the Development of Lithium-Air and Lithium-Water Batteries.” PolyPlus was recently selected by TIME magazine for its 50 Best Inventions of 2011, and received an Edison Gold Award in April 2012.

Ph.D. Student and Graduate Researcher
Waterloo Tsutsui is a Ph.D. student and graduate researcher under Professor Wayne Chen in Impact Science Lab majoring in Aeronautics and Astronautics (Structures and Materials) at Purdue University. He is currently working on multifunctional impact-resistant structural batteries, a project funded by ARPA-E. Prior to arriving at Purdue, he spent ten years at Johnson Controls, Inc., where he practiced as an engineer in the fields of quality, manufacturing, product launch, product life cycle management, and research/development of ground vehicle interior components and lithium-ion battery cells/assemblies. Currently, his research interests are in the field of structural mechanics with focus on the dynamic mechanical behavior of electrochemical cells, multifunctional materials, and N/MEMS. He is a licensed professional engineer in the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana in the U.S.

Manager
At RSC, Jim Paul is involved in programs covering a wide range of industries, including power generation, energy storage and transportation. He was one of the key researchers for a recently-completed program funded by the California Energy Commission on the topics of a) lithium-ion module standardization, b) supply of second life batteries for stationary storage applications, and c) impacts of standardization on battery value chain economics from manufacture to primary & second life and eventual recycling. He is a recipient of the Rail Transportation Award from ASME. He holds BSE and MSE degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Director of Engineering / ENA
Carlton Brown is the North American Director of Engineering for battery pack systems. Having sparked his passion for vehicle electrification while building a solar-electric race car in college, he has been developing automotive battery pack systems commercially for the last fourteen years. This included leading the development of production battery pack systems for four automotive OEMs, incorporating NiMH and Li-ion battery technologies. His passion for vehicles and electric propulsion extends to his personal initiatives, including the construction of his own electric car and a solar-electric boat. Mr. Brown earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

Director, Lead of Product Planning
Mr. Kwon is in charge of product planning, he has led the development and commercialization of 12V, 48V Lithium Ion Batteries and 48V system solutions including power electronics and electric motor for low voltage systems for past 2years at Samsung SDI and spent 13 years at Ford Motor Company and Argonne National Laboratory conducting researches of vehicle control technologies for advanced vehicles.

Senior Applications Engineer & Pre-Project Manager
Michael Duffield is the Senior Applications Engineer for the Vehicle Business Unit (VBU) of SAFT America. Michael joined SAFT as Senior Design Engineer responsible for production development of prismatic Li-Ion cells and was given the added responsibility as Program Manager for SAFT’s successful USABC 12V Start-Stop battery development program. Prior to joining SAFT, Michael was a Design Group Manager at General Motors Rochester New York research facility where he participated in the development of Lithium-Ion battery packs as well as Hydrogen Fuel Cells for electric vehicles. Michael holds an Engineering Technologies degree from the State University of New York at Alfred.

Research Staff Member with the Advanced Power Sources R&D Organization
Dr. Joshua Lamb is currently a research staff member with the Advanced Power Sources R&D organization at Sandia National Laboratories, working primarily as part of the Battery Safety and Abuse Testing Laboratory (BATLab). This program focuses on the development of inherently safe lithium ion batteries through understanding the consequences and mechanisms of failure, cradle-to-grave battery testing and the development of new materials. Joshua earned his BS in Chemical Engineering in 2002 and Ph.D. in Metallurgical Engineering in 2008 both at the University of Nevada. Since joining Sandia in 2011, Joshua’s research has focused understanding both the causes and effects of catastrophic battery failure.

Chief Executive Officer
John Milios (Ph.M., Electrical Engineering, Columbia Univ.) is the CEO of Sendyne. He was the technical lead of the SMBus standard, a member of the Bluetooth Architectural Review board, on the Steering Committee of Smart Battery System Implementers’ Forum, a former CTO & VP of Semtech and the president of USAR, a privately held Inc500 company.

Lead Energy Storage
Mr. Loïc Gaillac is managing the energy storage group for the advanced technology division of Southern California Edison (SCE). SCE’s Energy Storage activities include the testing and evaluation of advanced energy storage technologies in the laboratory and through demonstrations and pilot programs, in cooperation with manufacturers, government and industry organizations. Mr. Gaillac is currently managing projects to evaluate advanced energy storage for stationary applications including residential energy storage, distributed system for grid support and large energy storage system, as well as energy storage for transportation applications such as plug-in electric vehicles. Recently, Mr. Gaillac acted as the Chief Architect for the Tehachapi Wind Energy Storage (TSP) project and led the successful deployment of one of the largest grid-connected lithium-ion energy storage system (8MW, 32MWh).
Before joining SCE, Mr. Gaillac was employed by PSA (“Peugeot Société Anonyme”, a French automaker). Mr. Gaillac has a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and a M.S. degree in Power Electronics and Control Systems from a leading graduate school in France.

Staff Engineer, Engine, Emissions, and Vehicle Research Division
Jayant Sarlashkar is a Staff Engineer in the Engine, Emissions, and Vehicle Research Division of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. Jayant obtained a PhD in Electrical Engineering and an MA in Mathematics from University of Wisconsin—Madison. Over the last 19 years, Jayant has focused largely on advanced control and signal processing for diesel, gasoline, and dual-fuel engines, and for respective exhaust treatment systems. Before that he was involved mostly in stability analysis of electric machines and power systems. Modeling battery ageing and life is one of recent interests.

Vice President, Chromatography Chemistry, Chromatography & Mass Spectrometry Division
Christopher Pohl is Vice President, Chromatography Chemistry in the Chromatography & Mass Spectrometry Division of Thermo Fisher Scientific. In this position Mr. Pohl is responsible for Chemistry Research and Development in support of the Ion Chromatography business unit. The focus of Christopher’s work is new stationary phase design. He is an author or co-author of 63 US patents along with associated foreign equivalents.

President
Dr. Michael Kruft received his PhD in Electrochemistry and Surface Science in 1997 from the University of Bonn, Germany. He has more than 15 years of global experience in the rechargeable battery industry with the Toda Group of Companies and the H.C. Starck Group. With positions in battery materials research & development, sales & marketing as well as manufacturing and senior management, he assumed responsibility for application labs, pilot plants, plants and large investment projects (e.g. USD 70 Million DOE funded cathode material plant) in Germany, Japan, Canada and the USA. Since the beginning of 2009, he is President and Managing Director of Toda Kogyo Europe, the European subsidiary of the Toda Group.

Professor
Shinichi Komaba is a Professor of Applied Chemistry at Tokyo University of Science and a Project Professor at Kyoto University. After he received his Ph.D. from Waseda University, he joined Iwate University in 1998. From 2003 to 2004, he also worked at Institut de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Bordeaux, France, as a post-doctoral research fellow. In 2005, he moved to Tokyo University of Science as a faculty member. Professor Komaba received the 2014 Resonate Award for his research in energy storage, which is aimed at making batteries safer and more efficient, from the Resnick Sustainability Institute at Caltech. He has developed anode and cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries and safer lithium-ion battery systems. Breakthroughs in these systems show promise toward realizing zero-emission vehicles and mitigating the power variability of incorporating renewable energy into the grid. Because of his distinguished and pioneering achievement of next generation batteries, he is also honored with JSPS Prize in 2015.

Mr. Kevin Konecky is an Energy Storage Systems consultant for Total Battery Consulting, where he works with a number of companies in the field of Energy Storage Systems (ESS) for automotive, stationary and consumer applications. Mr. Konecky has been a career-long proponent of strong product development and validation plans that ensures a robust product for production.
Mr. Konecky has worked in the advanced vehicle and battery industry for over 18 years; working at Fisker Automotive, General Motors, EnerDel, Cobasys and Lockheed Martin (now BAE Systems); developing multiple battery systems that are in use on xEV passenger and commercial vehicles. Mr. Konecky has a BS in Electrical Engineering from Clarkson University (Potsdam, NY) and a MS in Electrical Engineering from Purdue (IUPUI-Indianapolis, IN).

Battery Testing and Chemical Analysis Sections
Mr. Saito graduated from Tohoku Gakuin University in March 2005, from the department of applied physics. In April 2005, he joined the development section for Li-Ion Battery materials of “Sony Miyagi Co., Ltd.”. Until 2013, he has worked on developing positive active materials for Li-ion Battery and Li-ion Battery for mobile. In March 2014, Mr. Saito joined “Toyo system Co.,Ltd.”, as a member of battery testing service section and chemical analysis service section.

Battery Material Engineering Division
Mr. Hamasaki graduated from Kyushu Graduate School of Engineering in 2000. He majored in Applied Quantum Physics and Nuclear Engineering and studied nuclear fuel and radioactive wastes. Mr. Hamasaki joined Toyota Motor Co. in 2009. He has been engaged in Evaluating Li-ion battery for HV and PHV application including Prius α.

Senior Principal Engineer Material Engineering Division, Toyota Technical Center
Dr. Monique Richard is a Senior Principal Engineer at Toyota Technical Center (TTC), a division of Toyota Engineering & Manufacturing North America in the Materials Engineering division. Dr. Richard is currently responsible for materials research and development, product benchmarking and strategic market investigation. Dr. Richard represents Toyota as the technical lead for Li-battery standards development at SAE. This includes chairing SAE materials testing committee and is a member of the SAE Vehicle Battery steering committee. Dr. Richard joined TTC in 2004 as a principal scientist for battery material research, specifically the identification of unique technologies that would bypass current battery performance. Dr. Richard received her Doctorate from Dalhousie University (Halifax Canada).

Executive Engineer
Michael Lord is a Manager in Vehicle Regulation & Certification Engineering for Toyota Technical Center (TTC), the North American research arm of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America (TEMA). Mr. Lord has a B.A. in Physics from the University of Pennsylvania and studied Japanese language at Sophia University in Japan before joining Toyota Motor Corporation in 1987. In 1993, he transferred to TTC where he works closely with Toyota engineering and US regulators on issues related to future powertrains, including the On-Board Diagnostic (OBD), Low-Emission Vehicle (LEV), and Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) regulations.

Chief Engineer
Erik J. Spek is THE Chief Engineer for TÜV SÜD Canada with technical responsibility for battery verification services in North America. He received degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada. Erik began his work in electric vehicles and batteries in 1984 with Powerplex Technologies, a sodium sulfur battery JV with ABB and Magna International. He was a member of the team that provided 38 kWh battery packs for the Ford Ecostar program. He has authored papers on sodium sulfur battery development, lithium ion battery testing and has written articles on battery technologies for Batteries International, Charged and Penton Media. Erik is a seminar leader for SAE International on battery technology and safe handling of high voltage batteries for the energy storage industry, xEV OEMs, academia, government and other institutions. Erik leads TUV SUD’s R&D activities to support battery and electric vehicle abuse standards development.

Senior Chemist, Electrochemistry Branch
Dr. Kang Xu is a senior chemist at Electrochemistry Branch of U. S. Army Research Laboratory. He received his Ph. D. under the tutelage of Prof. Austen Angell in Arizona State University, and has been conducting research on electrolytes and interphasial chemistry in various energy storage devices for the past 20 years. His work has received numerous recognitions and awards. In addition to the numerous new salts, solvents and additives he invented and the concept of Li+-solvation-interphasial chemistry correlation he proposed, he is best known in the field for his two comprehensive reviews on electrolytes published at Chemical Reviews in 2004 and 2014 respectively.

Program Manager for Hybrid Electric Systems R&D Vehicle Technologies Office
Mr. Dave Howell is the Program Manager for Hybrid Electric Systems R&D for the Vehicle Technologies Office at the U.S. Department of Energy Headquarters in Washington DC. He is responsible for managing the Department’s R&D portfolio of projects related to electric drive vehicle batteries, drive components, and vehicle systems analysis and testing. He is also the Department’s Technology Development Manager for the Electric Drive Vehicle Battery Manufacturing Initiative grants awarded through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act and serves as the Department’s representative to the United States Advanced Battery Consortium Management Committee. Mr. Howell has over 28 years of experience planning and successfully executing complex, multi-disciplined research & development activities that include hybrid and electric vehicle R&D, advanced battery research and manufacturing, advanced structural materials research and processing, and advanced lubricants & precision mechanisms.

Professional Researcher, Institute of Transportation Studies
Gil Tal holds a Ph.D. in Transportation Technology and Policy from the University of California Davis, and an M.A. in environmental planning and policy from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Dr. Tal's research interests and skills include travel behavior analysis, transportation planning, transportation demand modeling, travel survey methods, transportation sustainability, energy consumption, and policy analysis. At the PH&EV center Dr. Tal leads projects for a variety of funding agencies on the future of plug-in vehicles, including studies on the need for electric vehicle infrastructure and the correlation between travel behavior, charging infrastructure, and the demand for EV’s. Currently, he is working on a study on local planning and deployment of electric vehicle infrastructure, a multi-state survey of new plug-in vehicle buyers, an international analysis of the EV market, and a study on the secondary market of plug-in vehicles in California.

Head of Business Venturing
Engineer in Electrochemistry with Ph.D. in Solid State Chemistry from Bordeaux University on Li-ion cathode materials. Joined Umicore Corporate R&D in 2002 as R&D Project Manager on battery materials. Moved to Rechargeable Battery Materials division in 2006 as Product Development Manager for automotive programs. Now in charge of Business Venturing and CTO of beLife (JV with Prayon on phosphate based materials).

Professor
Gregory Plett is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1998 and has conducted research in battery-management topics for the past 14 years. Having started out by addressing state-of-charge estimation via nonlinear Kalman filters that used equivalent-circuit models of lithium-ion cells, he and his students are now exploring battery state estimation and controls using reduced-order physics-based cell models instead. These new methods are intended to push the performance of a battery pack to its physical limits while still controlling the rate of cell degradation.

Lead Scientist
Dr. Gang Cheng is a Lead Scientist at Wildcat Discovery Technologies, a materials discovery company focused on battery materials and other clean energy applications. Dr. Cheng has over ten years of experience in organic chemistry, primarily in the area of electrolytes for energy storage applications. Prior to joining Wildcat in 2011, Dr. Cheng served as a Postdoctoral Appointee at Argonne National Laboratory, where his research focused on novel electrolyte additives and non-ethylene carbonate based electrolyte solvent systems. Dr. Cheng completed his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at Purdue University. Dr. Cheng also holds a Master of Science degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of Akron and a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Nankai University.

Director of Technology
Prior to joining XALT Energy in 2014, Dr. Corrigan has 35 years of experience in the development of advanced batteries at GM R&D, Ovonic Batteries, Cobasys, Ovonic Fuel Cells, DC Energy Consulting, and Wayne State University. His work has spanned materials R&D to battery cell engineering to the development of battery pack systems and their integration into vehicles. He has extensive experience with a wide variety of electrochemical power sources including lead acid batteries, nickel metal hydride batteries, fuel cells, supercapacitors, and lithium ion batteries. Dr. Corrigan has contributed over 100 technical presentation, 60 publications, 3 edited books, and 20 issued patents. He has a PhD in Electrochemistry from the University of Wisconsin.

Vice President, Energy Markets
Robert Privette is responsible for XG Sciences Energy Materials. He has worked in the advanced energy products field for more than 25 years. Before joining XG Sciences in 2011, he worked as Director of US Fuel Cell Development for Umicore. He received his MS Mechanical Engineering from Purdue, completed MBA coursework and holds two patents in the field.

Chief Technical Officer
Dr. Lovelace has 27 years leadership experience in electric power conversion technology and alternative transportation/energy product development. As the CTO at XL Hybrids he leads technology strategy and product development for their fleet electrification solutions including the first ever hybrid electric solution for commercial vans and trucks that does not require government incentives. He is the former CTO of Free Flow Power where he led successful deployment and validation of hydrokinetic river turbine technology. He was also Director of Engineering Development at Satcon, where he ran mechatronics research and development for 9 years, and prior to that was with the General Electric Aircraft Engine business. He has a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering, and a MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was a U.S. DOT Eisenhower Doctoral Fellow conducting research for the MIT Automotive Consortium on future electric powertrains and power distribution architectures.