CERAWEEK - Key Persons
Alessandro is Senior Vice President, Climate Technology Solutions for Baker Hughes which encompasses carbon capture, utilization & storage, hydrogen, emissions management, and clean and integrated power solutions. In this role he is responsible for defining the strategy and operationalizing product and solution management for an integrated Baker Hughes offering that can support energy and broader industrial segments in achieving their net-zero ambitions. With over 24 years of global experience in the energy and industrial sectors, Alessandro has worked across the entire value chain and covered multiple roles including sales, commercial, operations, services, and business development. Prior to his current role he was VP, Services for the Turbomachinery & Process Solutions business in Baker Hughes. He holds a degree in Industrial Engineering and a Master's degree in Business Administration from SDA Bocconi, and is a Member of the Board of Directors of Nuovo Pignone International S.r.l..
Job Titles:
- President
- President of ABB Energy Industries Division Part of ABB Group
Brandon Spencer is currently serving as the President of ABB Energy Industries division part of ABB Group, a leading global technology company that energizes the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future. In this role, Brandon oversees the delivery of solutions and services that digitalize, automate and electrify industry to ensure a safer, smarter and more sustainable use of resources across the oil & gas, power, water, chemicals and life science sectors. Brandon's career at ABB spans 18 years across a range of leadership positions. Between 2018 and 2020, he was Global Managing Director for ABB Process Industries, before being promoted to his current position. In 2013 he was appointed as Vice President, Oil, Gas, & Chemicals, in the US, where he is based. His first role at ABB, in 2006, was National Account Manager responsible for ExxonMobil, Dow Chemical and ConocoPhillips, supporting the power side of the business. A few years later, he was promoted to Global Account Manager for ExxonMobil where he worked with a global team of experts across sales, operations, and service, representing all five of ABB's divisions worldwide. Prior to joining ABB, Brandon held a number of senior roles at Siemens Power Generation spanning operations, service and sales & marketing. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Economics, before going on to earn a Masters' degree in Business Administration from the Crummer School of Business at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.
Catherine Robinson, executive director on the Gas, Power, and Climate Solutions team at S&P Global Commodity Insights, leads gas and power research in Europe and global analysis on hydrogen and low-carbon gases. Ms. Robinson is a specialist in European gas and power markets and, in her current role, is responsible for the development of S&P Global coverage of the low-carbon hydrogen value chain from production to end use. Her expertise also includes long-term supply and demand modelling and analysis of European energy policy. Ms. Robinson was the research lead for a number of Multiclient Studies looking at the long-term future of the European energy systems, including "Strategies for a Lean Europe: Meeting the Energy Efficiency Challenge," "Beyond the flame: The transformation of Europe's heat sector," and "Steady at 50: Balancing Europe's power grid, a study of European ancillary service markets." Before joining S&P Global, Ms. Robinson held posts at Centrica and in HSBC's Capital Markets division. She holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science from the University of Glasgow and a Master of Science from the University of London, both in the United Kingdom.
Job Titles:
- Head of Division at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs
Dr Storost works as head of division at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. Experienced in funding international hydrogen ramp-up programs such as H2Global or the new EIB green hydrogen fund, he also brings hands-on political insights in the German hydrogen import strategy and its future perspectives. Based on law studies in Berlin and Strasbourg as well as on legal work experiences in the US, Dr Storost worked as lawyer with a renown international law firm before starting his ministerial career. Throughout his career he has acquired broad experience from different administrative and economic areas, including diplomatic tasks at EU level and heading the German delegation at Paris Club for international debt rescheduling.
Job Titles:
- Senior Director
- Senior Director in the Gas, Power
Coralie Laurencin is a Senior Director in the Gas, Power, and Climate team at S&P Global. She is an expert in Europe's power and climate markets with a focus on the energy transition. She currently leads the policy analysis across Europe's power and gas teams. Her recent research has focused on Europe's Fit for 55 package, Europe's carbon markets and CBAM, market design, role for CCS and decarbonisation of heat and industrial demand.
Before joining S&P Global, Ms. Laurencin held roles in French utility EDF, London-based boutique investment bank Climate Change Capital (CCC) and a UK renewable energy developer. She is based in London and holds a master's degree in management from HEC Paris and a Masters in econometrics from Paris-X Nanterre in France. She speaks English, French and Spanish.
Job Titles:
- S & P Global Vice Chairman
Daniel Yergin, S&P Global Vice Chairman, serves as Co-Chairman of CERAWeek. Dr. Yergin is a highly respected authority on energy, international politics and economics. He was described by Fortune as "one of the planet's foremost thinkers about energy and its implications"; by TIME as the "one man whose opinion matters more than any other on global energy markets"; and by the New York Times as "America's most influential energy pundit." Dr. Yergin is author of the Pulitzer Prize- winning book, as well as The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World.
Job Titles:
- Chief Economist at ORLEN S.a
Dr Adam B. Czyżewski has been the chief economist at ORLEN S.A. since 2007. He specializes in the energy transition driven by economic policies and revolutionary innovations. He shares its expert knowledge by publishing articles and substantive reports. Previously, he headed economic research and forecasts at the National Bank of Poland, was a macroeconomist at the World Bank and a researcher at the University of Lodz and the Polish Academy of Sciences. He graduated in econometrics (PhD) at the University of Lodz, Poland and at Stanford University in the USA. He is the author of over 50 scientific articles and publications and co-author of several books.
Job Titles:
- Executive Managing Director
Francisco Gea Pascual del Riquelme (Huelva, 1979) is executive managing director of Exploration and Production and member of the Repsol Executive Committee. His division manages Repsol's upstream assets around the world and relies on flexibility, efficiency, and cutting-edge technology to maximize its contributions to the group and to generation of cash flow. His strategy for the business is focused on the development of short-cycle projects in key geographical locations that prioritize value over volume while reducing asset emissions, thereby contributing value to the energy transition and decarbonization. Francisco has extensive experience in the energy sector and has held important positions throughout the oil and gas value chain as well as corporate roles, both in Spain and internationally. He joined the Repsol Group in 2003, starting out in the Marketing Spain area. In 2007, he joined the Strategy and M&A corporate area. His career with the E&P business began in 2013 as country manager for Indonesia. In 2015, following Repsol's acquisition of Talisman, he was named director of the Indonesia Business Unit. In 2018, he moved to Algiers where he assumed his new responsibilities as director of the Algeria business unit. Afterwards, following a short time with the Division of Business Development E&P, in 2021 he became the Repsol Group's global director of M&A, the most recent position he has held until now. Francisco Gea Pascual del Riquelme holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and another in Marketing, both from Comillas Pontifical University, as well as an Executive MBA from IESE Business School.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- President
- Board Chair of Enbridge Inc
Gregory L. Ebel, the Board Chair of Enbridge Inc., will take over as President and Chief Executive Officer effective Jan. 1, 2023, while continuing to act as a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Ebel served as Chairman, President and CEO of Spectra Energy from 2009 until February 2017. Prior to that time, Mr. Ebel served as Spectra Energy's Group Executive and Chief Financial Officer beginning in 2007. He served as President of Union Gas Limited from 2005 until 2007, and Vice President, Investor & Shareholder Relations of Duke Energy Corporation from 2002 until 2005. Mr. Ebel joined Duke Energy in 2002 as Managing Director of Mergers and Acquisitions in connection with Duke Energy's acquisition of Westcoast Energy Inc. Mr. Ebel holds a BA (Bachelor of Arts, Honours) from York University and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School. Mr. Ebel has earned the CERT Certificate in Cybersecurity Oversight. This certificate was developed by NACD, Ridge Global, and Carnegie Mellon University's CERT.
Holger Lösch was born in Schweinfurt in 1963. He is married with two children. From 1983 to 1992 he studied Political Sciences, History and German at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. Even during his studies he worked as a journalist and editor in the television section of Bayerischer Rundfunk. From 1995 he was head of the staff of the television directorate at Bayerischer Rundfunk, subsequently moving on to assume the management of Central Programme Coordination in 1998. In 2001 Holger Lösch moved to the Schörghuber Corporate Group in Munich. He was a member of the corporate management board. In 2008 he joined the Federation of German Industries (BDI). Holger Lösch has been a member of the BDI Executive Board since July 2011 and Deputy Director General of the BDI since April 2017. He is in charge of the transformational issues like energy, climate, sustainability and mobility. He was in charge of producing to major studies on industrial pathways towards climate neutrality in cooperation with Boston Consulting Group.
Job Titles:
- United States Department of Energy / Director, Loan Programs Office
Jigar Shah was most recently co-founder and President at Generate Capital, where he focused on helping entrepreneurs accelerate decarbonization solutions through the use of low-cost infrastructure-as-a service financing. Prior to Generate Capital, Shah founded SunEdison, a company that pioneered "pay as you save" solar financing. After SunEdison, Shah served as the founding CEO of the Carbon War Room, a global non-profit founded by Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Unite to help entrepreneurs address climate change. Originally from Illinois, Shah holds a B.S. from the University of Illinois-UC and an MBA from the University of Maryland College Park.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Chemistry and Has Been CEO
Katherina Reiche holds a degree in chemistry and has been CEO of Westenergie AG since January 2020. She has also been Chairwoman of the German government's National Hydrogen Council since June 2020 and a member of the Supervisory Board of Schaeffler AG since April 2023. Reiche was a member of the German Bundestag for 17 years, six of them as a member of the Federal Government and State Secretary in two federal ministries: the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Government Relations
Catherine Robinson, executive director on the Gas, Power, and Climate Solutions team at S&P Global Commodity Insights, leads gas and power research in Europe and global analysis on hydrogen and low-carbon gases. Ms. Robinson is a specialist in European gas and power markets and, in her current role, is responsible for the development of S&P Global coverage of the low-carbon hydrogen value chain from production to end use. Her expertise also includes long-term supply and demand modelling and analysis of European energy policy. Ms. Robinson was the research lead for a number of Multiclient Studies looking at the long-term future of the European energy systems, including "Strategies for a Lean Europe: Meeting the Energy Efficiency Challenge," "Beyond the flame: The transformation of Europe's heat sector," and "Steady at 50: Balancing Europe's power grid, a study of European ancillary service markets." Before joining S&P Global, Ms. Robinson held posts at Centrica and in HSBC's Capital Markets division. She holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science from the University of Glasgow and a Master of Science from the University of London, both in the United Kingdom.
Job Titles:
- Consulting Director
- Director in the Power and Renewables Consulting Team at S & P
Natallia is a Director in the Power and Renewables consulting team at S&P Global. She has more than a decade of consulting experience and an engineering background. Her areas of expertise cover renewables, building electrification, charging infrastructre and EV impact on load, energy efficiency, growth strategy, due diligence, merger integration. Prior to joining S&P Global (then IHS Markit), Natallia was consulting with Roland Berger, Booz (now Strategy&), and ATKearney, and she worked for General Electric and AEP. Natallia holds an MBA from Sloan MIT, a Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, a Masters and a Bachelors Degree in Nuclear Engineering from University of Michigan. She speaks fluent English and Russian.
Job Titles:
- Director of the Office of Deployment
- United States Department of Energy / Director, Office of Deployment and Infrastructure Policy
Neelesh Nerurkar is Director of the Office of Deployment and Infrastructure, DOE Office of Policy. Leading a team of experts, he advises Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, the White House, and Congress on policies to drive investment in clean, affordable, and reliable energy solutions. Prior to joining OP, Nerurkar was Vice President at Clearview Energy Partners, where he advised institutional investors and corporate strategists on climate and clean energy issues. He previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary at DOE's Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management and as senior energy policy advisor at the White House, Department of State, and Congressional Research Service. He has also served as an energy economist in government and industry. Nerurkar holds a B.A. from the University of Oklahoma and an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
Job Titles:
- Head of Hydrogen for AES Clean Energy
Neeraj is currently the Head of Hydrogen for AES Clean Energy, which is one of the leading renewable energy developers in the United States. In this role, Neeraj leads a cross-functional team whose mandate is to develop, commercialize, and build a portfolio of electrolytic green hydrogen projects across the US. In December 2022, AES along with its partner Air Products announced one of the largest green hydrogen projects in the country. The advanced development in Texas will entail approximately 1.4 GW of renewable energy powering electrolyzers capable of producing over 200 metric tonnes of green hydrogen per day. AES is also active in two DOE Hydrogen Hubs, HyVelocity in the Gulf Coast and ARCHES in California, and is building a broader pipeline of electrolytic hydrogen opportunities.
Prior to his time with AES Clean Energy, Neeraj worked in project development and M&A in the US and India and led AES's business in the Philippines. Neeraj has an undergraduate degree in public policy from Princeton University and a graduate business degree from Harvard Business School. He enjoys traveling and exploring the world, spending time with friends, and watching DC United games with his wife and three kids.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Director at the Directorate
Paula Pinho is Director at the Directorate-General Energy in the European Commission since April 2021. She is responsible for Just Transition, Consumers, Energy Security, Efficiency and Innovation. A Portuguese national and lawyer by training, Ms Pinho draws on her extensive knowledge of various EU policies, and in particular EU energy policy, as well as on her leadership and negotiation skills towards her commitment to Europe's clean and just energy transition and energy security. Previously, Ms Pinho was Acting Director for Energy Policy where she has overseen notably the work of international energy relations, financial instruments and inter-institutional relations and has represented the Commission in the negotiation of several legislative proposals. Between 2004 and 2015, Ms Pinho served as Member of Cabinet for several EU Commissioners, including Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger both in his quality of Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society and during his mandate as EU Commissioner for Energy. She was then responsible for energy security and infrastructure and the overall coordination of the international dimension of energy policy. In that capacity, she has been directly involved in the trilateral gas talks between the EU, Russia and Ukraine. Other functions included the Directorate General for Internal Market and Directorate General for Trade, where Ms Pinho coordinated the FTA agreement negotiations with the Gulf countries, Mercosur and Chile. Paula speaks fluently Portuguese, German, English and French, as well as Spanish and Italian.
Philipp Steinberg has a central role in the German government in energy transformation, energy security and economic stabilization, especially in the construction of LNG and hydrogen infrastructure. He heads a staff of more than 150 people and central elements of his work are to tackle the energy crisis as the head of the (now closed) 200 billion Economic Stabilisation Fund and to diversify Germany's energy supply. That entails, among other things, to design support schemes in order to build a new energy infrastructure for liquid gas, hydrogen and renewable energy sources. Previously, he was Head of Sustainability and Director-General for General Economic Policy (tax, financial markets, economic aspects of labour and social security), antitrust and public procurement, economic forecasting and research and the economic policy orientation of the ministry. In this role Steinberg was responsible for the design and implementation of the 40 billion support scheme for German coal-mining regions in order to compensate for the phasing out of lignite and hard coal mining by 2038 and for the design of a new regional support scheme. After receiving his International Baccalaureate from the United World College of the Atlantic in Wales, GB, he studied law (Licence/Staatsexamen/PhD), economic policy and taxation/business administration (EMBA) at the Universities of Berlin (Humboldt University), Paris (Panthéon-Assas) and Münster (Westfälische Wilhelms Universität). Philipp Steinberg was born in the United States and is both a German and an American citizen.
Sherri Evers was appointed senior vice-president, sustainability, commercial development and product solutions, effective May 1, 2023. Ms. Evers has worked for Imperial for over 24 years in a range of positions within the downstream, beginning in 1998 in the Edmonton marketing office. Within the downstream, Ms. Evers held various assignments, including sales, logistics, pricing and analysis within refining and supply. Ms. Evers worked as the marine manager in 2006 and moved into the role of Canada pricing and logistics manager a few years later. In 2012, Ms. Evers began a series of global assignments with Exxon Mobil Corporation in Fairfax, VA and in Houston, TX as manager of business planning center of excellence, the integrated business team lead for the Midwest northeast U.S. fuels business, and then as the Americas exchange and analysis manager for the third party business. In 2018, Ms. Evers returned to Canada as the Eastern Canada Fuels Manager for the Downstream and was appointed vice president, commercial and corporate development in 2021. Ms. Evers is Canadian and holds a bachelor of commerce degree from the University of Saskatchewan in Marketing and General Business.
Job Titles:
- Rio Tinto / President and General Manager, Resolution Copper
Vicky comes from a mining family - her father, sister, brother-in-law, and her husband are all miners. She attended the University of Western Ontario, where she received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Applied Geoscience and a Master of Science Degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering. From 2010 to 2021, Peacey was the Senior Manager Permitting and Approvals at Resolution Copper. She managed all federal, state and local agency approvals, agreements and permits and makes sure that the company is sensitive to the environment and cultural heritage. She has been with Rio Tinto since 2002.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Shell / Chief Executive Officer
Wael Sawan was appointed Chief Executive Officer on 1 January, 2023. He was previously Director, Integrated Gas, Renewables and Energy Solutions. He has been a member of the Executive Committee (EC) since 2019, when he was appointed Upstream Director. Wael joined Shell in 1997 and has worked in each of Shell's core business units: Upstream, Integrated Gas and Downstream. In his time with Shell, he has served in critical roles including Vice President for Commercial, New Business and LNG in Qatar, Managing Director and Chairman of the Qatar Shell companies and Executive Vice President of Shell's Deep Water business. Wael was born in Lebanon and grew up in the United Arab Emirates and Canada. He holds a master's degree in engineering from McGill University in Montreal and an MBA from Harvard Business School.