Speaker Profiles
Learn more about the speakers and experts that will contribute to the agenda of the Future Battery Forum 2023
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Dr. Dirk Abendroth
CEO, CUSTOMCELLS Group
Dirk started his job at CUSTOMCELLS® with a clear goal in mind: To significantly grow the business and take the group as a whole to a new level. Dirk is an old hand when it comes to sustainable mobility, moving between the IT and automotive sectors and now also the aviation sector. In the course of his career, Dirk has already held a variety of different positions, including CTO Continental, CTO Team Global, as well as Vice President and founding member of the Californian-Chinese start-up "BYTON".
Dr. Richard Ahlfeld
CEO, Monolith AI
Dr. Richard Ahlfeld is CEO and Founder of Monolith, a no-code AI platform used by the world's leading automotive, aerospace and industrial engineering teams from Siemens and Honeywell to Rolls-Royce and BMW. Dr. Ahlfeld received his PhD in Aerospace Engineering and Data Science from Imperial College. He has been recognized across academia and industry including being named to MIT Technology Review's Top 10 Innovators under 35, invited as a Research Engineer to NASA where he worked on the Mars rocket, and recognized as an Automotive News Europe 'Rising Star'.
Uwe Ahrens
Managing Director, Altech Advanced Materials AG
Mr. Uwe Ahrens is an experienced industrial manager of Melewar Industrial Group and CTO of the Khyra Legacy Holding. He is also a member of the board of several other public companies. Mr. Ahrens is a qualified mechanical engineer and an MBA (Dipl. Wirtsch-. Ing) with a degree from the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany.
Dr. Michael Baumann
CEO & Co-Founder, Twaice
Dr. Michael Baumann is Co-CEO at TWAICE, the leading battery analytics software that eliminates the risks of batteries and unleashes their full potential. With TWAICE the customers are empowered to develop and use battery systems more efficiently and sustainably while making them more reliable and durable. Before founding TWAICE with Dr. Stephan Rohr, Michael completed his Ph.D. at the Technical University of Munich. Michael’s battery specific domain expertise derives from over 6 years of academic research in Harvard, Berkeley, and Singapore, into Li-ion batteries with a particular focus on the Electric-thermal modelling and prediction of aging behavior for lithium-ion batteries.
Robin Bell
NPI Director, ILIKA Technologies
Robin Bell is NPI Director at iIika. He has extensive experience in multiple high technology start up industries operating in the UK, Asia, US and Europe. Recently Chief Operating Office at Inflowmatix (acquired by Suez) and Director of Product Development at SPI Lasers (TRUMPF gmbh)
Marian Bocek
CEO & Co-Founder, InoBat j.s.a.
Clean-tech entrepreneur whose journey has evolved from the ashes of Lehman Brothers to the World Bank mission of fighting poverty and fast tracking economic development in emerging markets to building net zero companies for a more conscious world. I believe in collaboration rather than competition. In understanding rather than judgment. In building bridges and alliances rather than walls and acting solo…
Founded the InoBat, IPM and Avanea group of companies. We enable (r)evolutionary minds transforming technology via infrastructure into the next generation enterprises such as InoBat, InoCloud, Tachyum.
Jonas Bodenbender
Head of Development Battery Systems, ElringKlinger AG
Jonas Bodenbender ist 37 years old and married. He studied in Zwickau and got his Diplim degree of Automotive Engineering. Jonas started his career with internal combustion engine (ICE) on supercharching and injecton systems and has been working for 6 years ob Battery housing and systems. Since July 2022 at Elring Klinger AG responsible for Battery Systems and right now he is Head of Development Battery System at Elring Klinger.
Markus Borck
Chief Engineer, Co-Managing Director Germany, Innolith
Markus is Chief Engineer and co-MD of Innolith’s Innovation Centre (with R&D laboratory and pilot production) in Germany as well as a member of the Board of Directors since April 2020. He is co-inventor of many technological breakthroughs in Innolith’s products. Markus has extensive experience in battery industry - over 20 years in engineering, battery formation and testing, cell design and application, electrical and thermal management and related evaluation for rechargeable lithium batteries across several start-ups as well as an electrical engineering degree from Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences.
Richard Bouveret
CEO & Chairman, Blue Solutions
Richard Bouveret has been CEO of e-Mobility and Smart Grid activities at Blue, a subsidiary of the Bolloré Group, since September 2022.
A connoisseur of vehicles and their life cycles, an expert in mechanics, and a specialist in cutting-edge technologies, he is interested in all the innovations that are the lifeblood of this sector of activity. Richard Bouveret joined the Bolloré Group at a key moment for Blue: his mission is to turn this forerunner in solid-state batteries and electric buses into a leader on these markets and in these technologies of the future. Richard Bouveret's passion for cars began when he was a child, thanks to the car manufacturers' manuals he inherited from his grandfather. A graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Nancy engineering school, he has spent the last thirty years with Valeo, and then with ZF Group, leading their development strategies and commercial transformations, and steering their merger and acquisition policies.
His wide-ranging experience has given him a comprehensive understanding of all aspects of the automotive sector, as well as an in-depth knowledge of its main markets: Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East.
Nicolas Bozek
Head of Partnerships, Basquevolt
Nicolas Bozek is the Head of Partnerships for BASQUEVOLT, a cutting-edge battery startup that aims to become a world leader in solid state batteries. Before joining BASQUEVOLT, Nicolas had been spearheading for Nissan Motor Corporation the mass adoption of Electric Vehicles in Europe. Since 2009, his personal achievements included:
• establishing more than one hundred partnerships to ensure the successful introduction of EVs, • deploying the first 2000 Quick Chargers across Europe to give early adopters the confidence to drive beyond the rated range of their EVs
• and most recently accelerating the company’s transition to a 100% EV lineup as Director of Product Strategy and Planning.
Nicolas holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from McGill University
Anna Braunfels
Lead Value Assessment @Battery Pass, Systemiq
Anna joined Systemiq to work on creating more circular systems by combining research with business and policy. She has been working on the Battery Pass project since July 2023, initially focusing on carbon footprint accounting of batteries and currently leading the working group that assesses the economic, environmental and social value of the battery passport.
She holds a bachelor in Georesources Management from RWTH as well as a Master in Sustainable Resource Management from the Technical University of Munich and has gathered experience in a public office, industry, and consultancy.
Lukas Brandl
COO, BLC – The Battery Lifecycle Company GmbH
Lukas Brandl has worked for the TSR Recycling GmbH & Co. KG since 2017. At the same time, he successfully completed his Master's degree in Business Engineering at Steinbeis University. As part of his work as a project engineer, he designed the first dismantling line for batteries from electric vehicles for TSR and was jointly responsible for the development of the battery recycling and battery life cycle management business areas. Since February 2023, he has been a member of the management board of BLC - The Battery Lifecycle Company GmbH, a joint venture between TSR and Rhenus Automotive.
Maarten Buysse
Innovation Consultant, Bax & Company
Maarten is an innovation consultant working at Bax & Company for more than 5 years mainly in the field of advanced materials and batteries. Convinced that solutions can be found in an interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder environment, he has built and facilitated collaboration initiatives such as COBRA, a project on the development of cobalt-free EV batteries, and BatteReverse, a project on the circularity of EV battery reverse logistics. He also has co-authored 20 battery market intelligence reports on research, industrial and policy developments in the battery value chain.
Francisco Carranza
CEO, Basquevolt
Francisco Carranza is the Chief Executive for BASQUEVOLT, a battery cell technology company that aims to become a world leader in solid state batteries that will enable the potential mass deployment of electric transportation and stationary energy storage. Before joining BASQUEVOLT, Francisco has developed a career in the automotive sector for more than 20 years. Before joining Basquevolt, Francisco was a member of the Executive Committee for battery cell producer ACC Automotive Cells Company. He also was Managing Director of Nissan Energy division at Nissan Motor Corporation. Francisco has two engineering degrees and holds two MBAs.
Umberto Cucchi
Business Developer, Circularise B.V.
Umberto Cucchi joined Circularise as a Business Development Manager in 2022. With almost a decade of professional experience, Umberto has worked for several international organizations (such as the United Nations and the World Energy Council), public affairs firms, and research institutes heavily focusing on sustainable development, supply chain resilience, and digital innovation. At Circularise, Umberto's focus areas include automotive, EV batteries, and petrochemicals, helping complex supply chains within these industries to move toward more circular business processes.
Dr. Nesrine Darragi
CEO, HIVE ELECTRIC S.A.S
Nesrine Darragi holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering from the Ecole Centrale de Lille and for 10 years, she was a researcher and expert in mobility at IFSTTAR, Siemens Mobility, Belgorail and Alstom.Nesrine Darragi also holds a Master's degree in Chemistry - Focus Materials for Energy Storage and an Executive MBA from La Sorbonne.In 2019, she founded Hive Electric which is an industrial research and development center with a production unit in the energy sector and specialized in batteries. The company is a leader in efficient, durable and safe post-lithium battery technology.
Eloisa de Castro
CEO, Enerpoly
Eloisa de Castro joined Enerpoly, a Swedish zinc-ion battery technology firm, in 2020 with a mission to build a sustainable and reliable supply of batteries for the global clean energy transition. Eloisa’s decade of experience in tech leadership and entrepreneurship in the energy and aerospace industries includes as Director of Market Operations at Modern Energy, focusing on power markets and grid investments; leading development of specialized power and energy products at Hoplite Power and Princeton Satellite; and designing space systems used by NASA. Eloisa earned a Mechanical Engineering BSc at MIT and an MBA from INSEAD.
Dr. Fabian Duffner
Partner, Porsche Consulting GmbH
Dr. Fabian Duffner is Partner at Porsche Consulting and leads the global practice Advanced Technologies. He holds a Ph.D. in Business Chemistry from the University of Münster in which the optimization and industrialization of (post-)lithium-ion batteries was focused. Throughout the last decade he published in leading scientific journals and worked on numerous projects along the entire battery value chain.
Dr. Klaus Eberhardt
Director Technology, Exyte
Klaus is a proven technology leader with international experience in the global Battery Industry. He has an in-depth knowledge of the worldwide battery market, the equipment supplier landscape as well as of the key requirements on how to design and construct cost effective factories. He acts as the Director Business development for the business unit ATF in Europe and as the Technology Manager for Exyte’s global Battery Factory business. Klaus supports the various Battery projects from Exyte with the focus of driving down costs for new Factories with innovative solutions and making sure that the most stringent Safety requirements are fulfilled
Christian Eckert
Director Sustainability & Environment/Managing Director Section Batteries, ZVEI e.V.
Christian Eckert is Director Sustainability & Environment and Managing Director of the Batteries Section in ZVEI e.V. Previously, he was based in Brussels and served as Managing Director of the ZVEI Sections Power Tools and Electric Welding Equipment. In parallel he was Secretary General of the European Power Tool Association (EPTA). Mr. Eckert holds a degree in economics.
Dr. Simon Engelke
Founder & Chair, Battery Associates
Dr. Simon Engelke is the Founder & Chair of Battery Associates. Simon completed his Ph.D. on Lithium-ion batteries at the University of Cambridge. He is the recipient of multiple awards including the Trinity Bradfield Prize and Cambridge University Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Simon has been invited to speak at various events including the UN Climate Change Conference (COP25) and Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. He served as Co-Curator of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Strategic Intelligence for Future of Energy and Batteries and as Fellow of the WEF Global Future Council on Energy Technologies.
Leon Farrant
CEO & Co-Founder, Green Li-ion Pte Ltd
With over 15 years’ senior & executive leadership experience in within Asia Pacific, Africa & The Americas. International business & people management exposure across multicultural consultative sales & operations teams within 13 countries – all previous companies have experienced year on year revenue and GP growth.
Proven capability in strategic business & operational development, profit & loss and leadership within zero to one start-ups through to billion-dollar organisations. Successful delivery of operational & YoY profit growth through hands on market & client development.
Guido Feind
Head of Digital Industrie Sales Germany, Siemens AG
Guido Feind studied electrical engineering at the University Bielefeld. He started at Siemens in 1989 as project manager for electrical drives and worked in different sales positions. He was also Head of Sales in Northern Germany and moved then to Shanghai as Vice President for Automation and Drive Technology at Siemens China.
In 2006 he returned to Germany as Vice President Sales and Marketing for Factory Automation. Since 2020 he is Head of Siemens Digital Industries Germany based at the Siemens Campus in Erlangen.
Andreas Frydensvang
CCO, Hydrovolt
With over 15 years merging technology and business, Andreas has championed digital transformations for global ventures. His experience has placed him on international stages, sharing expertise at renowned conferences. Today, he is deeply committed to the circular battery value chain and sustainability. Whether with startups or major corporations, his mission is clear: design sustainable business models that drive innovation and positive impact.
Stefan Goede
CTO, Munich Electrification
Stefan Goede is the CTO and CO-Founder of Munich Electrification, a battery management system supplier. He has been working in the BMS domain since 2008 and previous career steps include positions such as Staff Engineer for BMS at Tesla Motors, BMS Project Manager at BMW and BMS Function Developer at Daimler.
Dr. Núria González-GarcÃa
Head of Research & Technology, betteries AMPS GmbH
Dr Núria González holds a PhD in Computational Chemistry and leads betteries research, technology and innovation programs. Her work is instrumental to develop and secure betteries market position as an upcycling technology leader. She has more than 15 years of experience combining research positions and technology transfer activities. As a scientist, she worked at renowned institutions such as the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology or the Max Planck Society. As Innovation Consultant she has supported more than 30 European deep-tech startups to secure funding thus boosting the innovative potential of the European R&D ecosystem.
Niina Grönqvist
Founder, Vice President, Carbon Products, Hycamite
Niina brings over twenty years of experience in the chemical industry to her role as Founder and Vice President of Carbon Products at Hycamite TCD Technologies. Specialising in the chemical manufacturing industry, she has developed a deep understanding of cobalt and nickel products for catalysts and batteries globally. This expertise has been integral to her success across various roles, from working for an NYSE-listed company to contributing to an innovative start-up. At Hycamite, Niina uses her extensive industry knowledge to shape the company's growth within the evolving hydrogen and carbon industries.
Piotr Grudzień
Innovation Consultant - Battery Circularity, Bax & Company
Piotr Grudzień is an innovation consultant specialising in battery circularity. At Bax & Company, he has assisted in conceptualising the BatteReverse innovation project, which is aimed at developing a next-generation process for the reverse logistics of Li-ion batteries. Piotr has also co-authored nine Market Intelligence Reports, focusing on topics such as the new Battery Regulation and second-life applications. Based on his research and consultancy work, Piotr and his team have developed the Battery Circularity Game, which supports organisations within the battery value chain in identifying the most viable circular business models.
Dr. Markus Hackstein
Speaker of the Board, VARTA AG
Dr Markus Hackstein is Speaker of the Board of VARTA AG since October 2022. From 2018-2022, he was Managing Director at VARTA Microbattery in Brasov, Romania. Before joining VARTA, he was Head of Special Projects at Montana Tech Components in Vienna from 2016 on. Markus Hackstein has a background in management consulting and worked in the fields of Restructuring & Efficiency Improvement at Syngroup in Vienna from 2013 until 2015.
Anna Harthus
Director Business Development Battery Systems, Webasto Group
Anna Harthus studied Business and Engineering at TU Munich and Beijing Institute of Technology. Before joining Webasto she held various positions at NTT DATA DACH. Since 2022, she is with Webasto at the Headquarter in Stockdorf near Munich. After managing CEO projects in Corporate Strategy and Developement, she changed to the battery system division and is now globally responsible for the business development.
Dr. Christoph Hartnig
Director R&D and Business Development Lithium Battery Materials,
Christoph received his PhD in Theoretical Electrochemistry from the University in Ulm; after research positions in the Netherlands, Spain and Utah he started his career in the renewable energy industries.
His track record moves along the renewable energy value chain with Marketing, Sales and Business Development positions in the field of Lithium ion batteries, fuel cells, and photovoltaics.
Christoph is currently heading the R&D and Business Development activities at AMG Lithium to close the loop from market requirements to R&D activities and finally to product deployment.
Bob Hess
Vice Chairman, Global Strategy, Newmark
Pre-eminent expert on corporate location strategy, site selection and how economic geography impacts competitive advantage of business enterprises of all sizes, functions and industries. Over 300 location strategy and site selection assignments in 25 countries, placement of over 100 million square feet of facilities, successful negotiation of over $20.0 billion in economic development incentives.
Founding member and current shareholder member in the Site Selectors Guild, an association of the top corporate site selection professionals in the world.
Recently appointed to Investment Advisory Council, U.S. Department of Commerce.
Iola Hughes
Research Manager, Rho Motion
Iola is the Research Manager at Rho Motion, with a background in Geophysics, working on electric vehicle, energy stationary storage and battery market analysis, as well as modelling energy and commodity demand associated with the energy transition and has been with the company since its inception. Rho Motion, headquartered in London, offers the most comprehensive and well-informed forecasts and analysis for the energy transition.
Olivier Hutin
Business Development Manager Battery Recycling Solutions, Umicore AG & Co KG
Materials scientist by education, formerly in charge of R&D/ application/ operation/ purchasing/ quality/ sales, meanwhile responsible for business development in the business unit battery recycling solutions at Umicore in Germany with main technical focus on battery recycling pretreatment and second life for spent traction batteries.
Philipp Hummel
Regional Sales Director Europe METALS, Herrmann Ultraschall
Phililpp Hummel worked at TRUMPF and Mercedes-Benz in various sales and leadership positions with focus on sales strategy and structure. He holds a state-certified industrial clerk degree and a university master degree in business administration, focusing on international business. In his actual role, he is representing the European Sales Team for Metal welding applications.
Marc Isabelle
Founder and Director, european economics
Marc ISABELLE, engineer & PhD in economics, is the founder & director of european economics.
In 15 years, Marc helped secure funding for 220 projects in various industries (microelectronics, automobile, steelmaking, chemistry, biotech, software, energy). These projects represent a global public funding amount of more than € 34 billion. Before starting european economics in 2009, Marc has worked for more than 15 years in economic departments in various businesses & agencies (Total, CEA, AII, Bpifrance). Teaching economics at Paris Dauphine University since 1996, he has published several research papers on the economics of science & innovation.
Dr. Sven Jantzen
Director Government Affairs, Umicore AG & Co. KG
Sven Jantzen, born in Aachen, Germany, holds a PhD in Bio-Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Hamburg. After an industrial Post-Doc assignment at Sachtleben Chemie GmbH in Duisburg he joined Umicore in May 1999.
Since then he has held various global leadership positions in Essen, Brussels, and Hanau, as member of the management teams of both the group’s international sales organisation and two of its business units. His scope of responsibilities has covered the entire commercial spectrum, technology & innovation, venture line and strategic management. He ran the group’s global commercial excellence program for more than 6 years as global director and lead facilitator. Currently he is holding the position as the group’s director government affairs in Germany.
Dr. Christoph Jaschinski
Senior Vice President Global Business Development, Leadec Holding BV & Co. KG
Dr. Christoph Jaschinski is Senior Vice President Global Business Development at Leadec. He is responsible for the development of Leadec's key accounts worldwide and the growth of industrial services in new markets such as e-mobility.
He studied mechanical engineering and business management at RWTH Aachen University and started his career at the Research Institute of Rationalization in Aachen. After working in mechanical and plant engineering, he has held senior positions in industrial services companies in Germany and internationally since 2002. In addition, he is currently Chairman of Leadec India.
Tom Einar Jensen
Co-Founder and Executive Chairperson of Board of Directors, FREYR Battery
Florian Karlstedt
Managing Director, BLC - The Battery Lifecycle Company
Since 2013, Florian Karlstedt has been working in the field of Business Developement and Project Management at Rhenus Automotive SE. He has gained sufficient experience in the Automotive Business and International Business Setup. During the last years in his role he successfully implemented new plants for the Assembly Business in the NAFTA Region and China. Since March 2023, he has been a member of the management of BLC - The Battery Lifecycle Company, a joint venture between TSR and Rhenus Automotive.
Dr. Einar Karu
CTO, UP Catalyst
Einar is a sustainability and impact driven CTO at UP Catalyst for making the production of sustainable carbon nanomaterials and graphite possible directly from CO2 locally. He is leading the R&D team to make the transition to green carbon in batteries possible on a large industrial scale for lowering the total battery pack environmental impact significantly and provide a clear decarbonization opportunity. Einar is a dedicated Atmospheric Chemist by training, Ph.D. and postdoc from Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany; Master and Bachelor in Chemistry from Aberdeen, Scotland including further broad foreign R&D experience.
Dr. Sebastian Kawollek
Director Products & Projects, ACCURE Battery Intelligence GmbH
Dr.-Ing. Sebastian Kawollek works on empowering batteries as Director Products & Projects at ACCURE Battery Intelligence. As a former scientist and chief engineer at PEM of RWTH Aachen university, he worked in consulting and innovation projects on the electrification of the automotive powertrain. Since 2021, he focusses at ACCURE on analyzing battery field data to help companies understand and improve their batteries safety and longevity.
Dr. Stefan Klaus
Head of Business Unit Surface Coating Systems, Sturm Maschinen- & Anlagenbau GmbH
Stefan Klaus studied chemistry at the University of Leipzig and then wrote his doctoral thesis at the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis in Rostock.
After professional positions at the Institute for Paints and Coatings in Magdeburg and at an automotive manufacturer in Leipzig, he managed quality assurance, development and sales of painting processes in the commercial vehicle sector at a medium-sized family business in Rosenheim.
Since 2022, he has been in charge of the Surface Coating Systems business unit at the Sturm Group, which is the global market leader for UV coating of prismatic battery cells.
Dr. Kim Kreisköther
Specialist Battery System, Henkel AG
Kim Kreisköther studied chemistry at Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany and specialized in materials and nanotechnology in her Master's degree. During her doctoral research, she focused on electrode materials and took over the leadership of the electrochemistry group. Kim Kreisköther then worked at the institute for Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components at the RWTH Aachen University, where she heads the Battery Components & Recycling group. Since January 2022, she is part of the novel battery expert team at Henkel and is responsible for innovation in the area of safety-relevant solutions for battery systems.
Mark Laderer
Executive Vice President Mobility & Battery Solutions, Manz AG
After completing his studies in mechanical engineering, Mark Laderer worked in various positions at ElringKlinger AG from 2008 to 2021. He started there as a Project Engineer for Fuel Cell Development, was then responsible as a Project Manager in the Energy Storage division, before taking over responsibility as Team Leader for the Product Development Battery Technology & E-Mobility division. After that he was moving to the Production Engineering division in the same function. Afterwards, Mark Laderer worked as Head of Process Development in the same department and held the position of Director Production for the last three years at ElringKlinger AG. He joined Manz AG in 2021, where he started as Senior Vice President for the Future Battery Technology division. Since July 2023, he has held the position of Executive Vice President for the division Mobility and Battery Solutions.
Claude Laperiere
Global Battery Supply Chain Director, Schneider Electric & President Upcell Alliance
Claude Laperiere is a dynamic sales professional with a strong leadership background. With expertise in motion and robotics, Claude has excelled at Schneider Electric in roles ranging from Global Battery Supply Chain Director to Sales Director - France. His entrepreneurial spirit and engineering degree from Paris CNAM have driven his success.
Manuel Laublaettner
Business Development Lead, Rimac Energy
Manuel Laublaettner is a seasoned professional in the energy and mobility industries. Currently serving as the Head of Business Development at Rimac Energy, he is dedicated to advancing utility-scale stationary battery energy storage systems. With a history of leadership roles in battery storage projects, international project management, and product development, Manuel brings a wealth of expertise to the forefront of innovation in the energy sector.
Dr. Jennifer Lenz
Director QM Operations Europe, SVOLT Energy Technology (Europe) GmbH
Dr. Jennifer Lenz is Director QM Operations Europe at SVOLT Energy Technology Europe GmbH. Before joining SVOLT Europe in November 2021, she held various management positions at ZF Friedrichshafen AG in the Quality and Materials Management departments. In her position as Director Corporate Materials Management and Head of Sustainability Supply Chain for the Group, she created structures to anchor the topic of sustainability and especially climate neutrality in materials management. Jennifer Lenz earned her doctorate in electrochemistry on electrode production, electrocatalysis and flow cell applications at Saarland University.
Marc Locke
Head of Customer Success, ACCURE Battery Intelligence GmbH
Marc Locke manages customer projects and leads the Customer Success team at ACCURE Battery Intelligence. Prior to joining ACCURE in 2022, he worked as a researcher and consultant in the battery industry. As a group leader, he managed strategy and technical innovation projects in the areas of battery production and engineering.
Dr. Lukas Lutz
Co-Founder, Battery Sphere GmbH
Lukas is the co-founder of Sphere Energy - a technology advisory firm for battery market.
After several years in battery R&D, he worked as a manager for a Software company, focusing on IoT data in the manufacturing space. Today he combines these disciplines to foster the value creation along the entire battery value chain - together with his team of experts at Sphere.
Taavi Madiberk
CEO, Skeleton Technologies
Mr. Madiberk is the Co-Founder and CEO at Skeleton Technologies, the global technology leader for high power energy storage. Skeleton's ultracapacitors are succesfully in the field from trucks, busses, wind turbines, grid power back-up, medical equiment up to space.
Skeleton has raised over 200 M EUR of capital and is in high growth mode.
Skeleton currently has a team of over 270 people in Germany and Estonia and is hiring - see here http://www.skeletontech.com/careers for a list of positions!
Dr. Björn Mårlid
CEO, Altris AB
Dr. Björn Mårlid has 20+ years of experience in leading international teams across R&D, product development, industrialization and customer programs on site, division and corporate levels for both NiCd- and Li-ion technologies at Saft. Björn obtained his PhD in Materials Chemistry at Uppsala University in 2001.
Oliver Meister
Key Account Manager, ISRA VISION GmbH
Oliver Meister currently serves as Key Account Manager at ISRA VISION. In his role, he specializes in the battery market and supports customers worldwide for both inline inspection of prematerials as well as cell inspection. Aditionally he is Executive Board Member at VDMA within the battery production department
Oliver has five years of battery industry and sales/business development experience. He has led projects within strategy and business development for quality inspection wihtin Li-ion Battery Production. In 2017, he successfully completed his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at RheinMain University of Applied Sciences.
Carmen Meyers
Vice President Business Management Europe & Global Sales, Battery Materials, BASF SE
Carmen Meyers began her professional career at RWE SE in Finance & Controlling in 2009 and started working with BASF in 2012. Since then, she held several positions in corporate, regional and in business units of BASF, in customer-facing and / or leadership roles: Group Head of Credit Risk Management & Collection for the South America region in Sao Paulo; operational controlling as Group Leader in BASF’s Care Chemicals division; staff assistant to the CEO of BASF SE. Since 1 February 2023, she is heading the Business Management Europe and Global Sales units of BASF's battery materials business as Vice President.
Dr. Sarah Michaelis
Division Manager Battery Production, VDMA Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagebau e.V.
Dr. Sarah Michaelis has been responsible for the subject battery production at the Mechanical Engineering Association VDMA for over 10 years. More than 160 member companies along the entire battery process chain are organised in this branch specific department. Prior to that, she studied chemistry and completed her doctorate with a specialisation in technical environmental chemistry.
Nemanja Mikać
CEO, ElevenEs
Nemanja is the Founder and CEO of ElevenEs where he manages an international team of LIB engineers with the goal to scale up LFP battery manufacturing in Europe. Nemanja had a significant role during Al Pack's expansion phase from developing new products to integrating complex new value-chains. He holds a MSc in Advanced Chemical Engineering from Imperial College in London.
Dr. Anna Motta
Head of Advanced Materials and Technologies, Talga Group Ltd
Dr Motta has over 20 years of experience in leading research and development projects primarily in the area of carbon-based materials. Currently she acts as Talga Group’s Head of Advanced Materials and Technologies overseeing all of the company’s R&D, technology scale-up and quality activities in UK, Germany and Sweden. Prior to joining Talga, Dr Motta has held multiple management and research roles in leading institutions, including University of Cambridge, with a particular focus on technology transfer and commercialization of research.
Dr. Doron Myersdorf
CEO & Founder, StoreDot
Doron Myersdorf co-founded StoreDot in 2012 with the mission to develop extreme fast charging (XFC) battery technology for electric vehicles. StoreDot’s XFC groundbreaking technology, which is currently undergoing real-world testing by leading EV makers, enables full charge of the car in minutes as opposed to hours.
Dr. Marcel Neubert
CTO, NorcSi GmbH
Dr. Marcel Neubert, Co-founder & CTO of NorcSi GmbH, embarked on his professional journey with a diploma in physics from TU-Dresden. He then enhanced his expertise at Centrotherm-FHR, a leading supplier of vacuum coating systems. From 2010 to 2013, Dr. Neubert was immersed in fundamental research at the Helmholtz-Centre Dresden-Rossendorf, achieving his doctorate in the intricate fields of nanotechnology and its analytics. Subsequently, at ROVAK Vakuumtechnik GmbH, Dr. Neubert spearheaded the development of Deposition and Flash Lamp Systems, particularly focusing on the innovation of short-time annealing processes using flash lamps. The experience gained there laid the foundation for the development of NorcSi’s revolutionary anode technology.
Dr. Gilles Normand
President ProLogium Europe and EVP Global Development, ProLogium
Mr. Gilles Normand graduated from EDHEC Business school of France / from Director Program INSEAD in 2022. He has + 30-year extensive experiences in the automotive sector worldwide. He started his career at Renault in 1988 in Product Planning department and became the VP in charge of Asia, Middle East, and India and SVP for Asia-Pacific. In 2017, he became SVP, EV Business at Groupe Renault, developing a comprehensive understanding on the EV trends and growth prospect. From March 2022, he joined ProLogium, an innovative company specializing in next-generation solid-state battery solutions for EVs, as President Europe / EVP Global Development.
Florian Obst
Principal, Speedinvest
Florian Obst is a Principal on Speedinvest's Climate & Industrial Tech team focused on Seed stage manufacturing, logistics, construction & Climate Tech startups. Next to driving early stage investments, Florian leads Speedinvest's development of internal dealsourcing and investment software.
Michael Peither
CTO, VoltStorage
Michael Peither is Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Co-Founder of VoltStorage. He studied electrical and industrial engineering and worked in the areas of product development and project management in Germany and the US. In 2014, he started the development of the first VoltStorage prototype. At VoltStorage Peither is responsible for the continuous advancement of the battery technologies – both Vanadium Redox Flow as well as Iron Salt. In 2018, Peither was named Innovator of the Year Under 35 by the MIT Technology Review in the DACH region.
Markus Pennekamp
Executive Vice President, Matthews Europe GmbH
Executive Vice President (EVP) Matthews Engineering since January 2023. Before that EVP of Saueressig Group since May 2020. Prior to that ca. 10 years in leading position in Finance & Controlling at Matthews/Saueressig. 10 years in Information Management and IT at AkzoNobel. Leading position and project manager of ERP roll-outs and other software. Bachelor in BA and IT engineer.
Andreas Probst
Business Development Manager, Mettler-Toledo GmbH
Since Jan 2023: Business Development Manager at Mettler-Toledo for the Battery Market in Germany
Jan 2022 - Nov 2022: Project Manager at Linde plc
Oct. 2020 - Dez 2021: Founder of Legal Tech Startup, backed by the BMWI (Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy)
Education: B.Sc. in Physics, M.Sc. in Computational Engineering, MBA in General Management
Dr. Julian Proelss
Global Director, Business Management Battery Recycling, BASF SE
Dr. Julian Prölß is the Global Director, Business Management Battery Recycling at BASF. He is instrumental in developing and implementing BASF’s closed-loop strategy for battery materials and building up its commercial operations, covering black mass production, hydrometallurgical base metal refining, and cathode active material production.
Prior to joining the Battery Recycling unit in 2022, Julian Prölß held numerous leadership positions in BASF’s Electronic Materials Unit, focusing on the Semiconductor and Display industries.
Julian Prölß obtained his PhD in Chemistry at the Aachen University of Technology in 2001.
Dr. Wiebke Reichstein
Lead R&D, Univercell
Dr. Wiebke Reichstein (Lead R&D) started at UniverCell Holding GmbH more than two years ago as project leader. After half a year she took over the lead position of the R&D department. Together with her team, she is responsible for integrating new technologies and newly developed material formulations into the company. Dr. Wiebke Reichstein holds a Doctoral degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Kiel University.
Clemens Saur
CEO, NeuroControls GmbH
Technology Evangelist and Founder of NeuoControls GmbH focusing on Real-Time Micro Edge Computing, IOT, Gateway, and Blockchain Solutions. Clemens graduate from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1993 with a MS in Industrial Engineering.
Tim Schirmer
Head of Product Management PLASTICS & METALS, Herrmann Ultraschall
Tim Schirmer works as Head of Product Management PLASTICS & METALS at Herrmann Ultraschall. His academic foundation includes a Bachelor's degree in Engineering and an MBA in Business Innovation Management. His previous role as a Business Development Manager at a commercial vehicle manufacturer focused on global launches of commercial vehicle transmissions and electric mobility, resulting in strategic partnerships and advancements in sustainable electric motor production technology.
Robert Schmalholz
Vice President - Head of Business Unit E-Mobility, GROB-WERKE GmbH & Co. KG
Robert Schmalholz is since October 2019 until today Vice President, Business Unit Electric Drives.
Before he was Director of Business Unit E-Mobility from May 2018–Sep. 2019.
From October 2016 until April 2018 he was Senior Manager Controls Engineering and Commissioning at Business Unit E-Mobility.
Dr. Hans-Günter Schwarz
Head of Battery Development, RWE Supply & Trading GmbH
Günter is currently driving RWEG’s utility-scale battery business in Northwestern Europe (BE, DE, NL, UK). His team and he are identifying commercial opportunities for batteries and subsequently initiating and running battery projects up to point of Final Investment Decision (FID). Günter has more than 15 years of experience in the energy sector and was working in different positions at RWE. He holds a doctorate in political economics and a post-doctorate in economics from the University of Erlangen-Nuremburg.
Dr. Gideon Schwich
Co-Founder, COO, Cylib
Dr. Ing. Gideon Schwich is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of the start-up cylib, which offers a holistic lithium-ion battery recycling solution. cylib’s deep tech technology and proprietary end-to-end recycling process offer an efficient, resource- and climate friendly recovery of all relevant battery raw materials, including battery packs, modules, cells and production scraps. Before cylib, Gideon obtained his Dr. Ing. in Production Engineering at RWTH University in Aachen while gaining key sustainability consulting and leadership experience in his role as Team Lead Sustainability at Accenture. Gideon strengthens his co-founders
Uwe Seidel
Programm Manager Battery, VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH
Uwe Seidel, is a Senior Consultant at VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik in Berlin and Project Manager of the Battery IPCEI EuBatIn. EuBatIn was approved by the EU Commission in January 2021 and is coordinated by Germany, through its Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) with the support of the project management agency VDI/VDE-IT. The agency acts under contract of the BMWK and offering its proficient support to the IPCEI battery eco-system in Europe, both by managing the programme and the projects on behalf of the BMWK and by providing accompanying scientific guidance.
Dr. Daniela Sordi
Co-founder & CTO, CarbonX B.V.
Dr. Daniela Sordi has been Co-Founder and CTO at CarbonX B.V. since May 2014.
Previously she was Chief Technology Officer at Minus9 from February 2013.
From 2010 to January 2013, Dr. Daniel Sordi worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Delft University of Technology, in the Department of Biotechnology.
Nicolas F. Steinbacher
Senior Director Strategy & Corporate Development, Northvolt
Nicloas F. Steinbacher has been with Northvolt for 3 years now. He started in July 2020 as Straetgy Manager. Just under a year later, he became Head of Strategy & Program. Since the middle of this year he is Senior Director Strategy & Corporate Development.
Before that, he spent 3.5 years at Porsche Consulting.
Achim Teuber
Lead Product Carbon Footprint @Battery Pass, Systemiq
Achim works on projects related to circular material flows, product carbon footprints, circular business models and enabling innovation with a sectorial focus on mobility. Currently, he leads the GHG footprint workstream in the ‘Battery Pass’ project, a multi-stakeholder consortium aiming to advance the development of a European battery passport.
Prof. Dr. Matthias Tomenendal
Professor for Business Administration, Berlin School of Economics and Law
Matthias Tomenendal is Professor for Management and Consulting at Berlin School of Economics and Law. He was vice rector, dean and director of the business school. He holds business degrees from the universities of Bielefeld (Dipl-Kfm.), Georgia (MBA) and Saarland (Dr. rer. oec.) and worked as a strategy consultant for Boston Consulting Group.
Kaisa Toroskainen
Programme Manager, Global Battery Alliance
Kaisa is a resource governance expert with ten years of experience in promoting good environmental, social and governance practices in mineral supply chains, and advising governments, companies and civil society on compliance with related standards. Prior to joining the GBA, Kaisa worked as a component manager in the German development cooperation/GIZ and European Union’s West Africa Regional Resource Governance project, as Africa Governance Officer at the Natural Resource Governance Institute, as well as a management consultant and a researcher. She holds an MSc in Global Politics from the London School of Economics and an MSc in Management from the Helsinki School of Economics.
Dr. Herrmann Uchtmann
Head of Battery Mass Production Solutions, Schuler Pressen GmbH
Since 2017: Schuler Pressen GmbH with stations in technology and innovation management and in business development fuel cell and electrolyzer production. Since 2022 Head of Battery Mass Production Solutions: Head of the business unit for turnkey solutions for battery cell assembly and finishing in the Gigafactory area.
2012 – 2017: Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT: Team leader in laser material processing with focus on laser beam drilling and precision cutting
2016: PhD Mechanical Engineering RWTH Aachen University
2011: Diploma Mechanical Engineering RWTH Aachen University
Ketan Vaidya
Life Cycle Assessment Analyst, Northvolt
Engineer, Sustainability enthusiast, Life Cycle Assessment Analyst with a motivation to "Embed quantified sustainability in the daily operations of industry"
Skilled in, input-output analysis, GHG reporting, Life Cycle Assessment, prospective LCAs, Metals, battery LCAs
Currently working at Northvolt, since 2021 as Life cycle assessment analyst to develop product LCAs, Supplier LCAs, Decarbonization roadmaps, Technical expert in the Life cycle assessment related policy discussions.
Education:
Master of Science in Power Engineering from TU Munich
B. Tech Mechanical engineering with specialisation in Energy Engineering
Vincent Veron
Head of Transition Minerals, Metals and Batteries, BNP Paribas
Vincent is heading the EMEA battery industry team within BNP Paribas’ Low Carbon Transition Group (LCTG). LCTG regroups selected experts on decarbonisation pathways with a multi-product approach including debt and private placements. He has over 20 years of international banking expertise. Before that, Vincent headed the Metals & Mining team. He built a large experience in the energy business, ranging from power to oil and gas. Vincent graduated from HEC and is a CFA charterholder.
Yann Vincent
CEO, Automotive Cells Company SE (ACC)
Yann VINCENT has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of ACC on Sept 3rd, 2020.
Graduate of the Paris Ecole Centrale (1980) and holder of an MBA from INSEAD (1989), Yann VINCENT joined Renault in 1982 where he held various functions .
He became Director of Quality in 2005 and Chief Operating Officer of AvtoVAZ in March 2008.
He joined Alstom Transport in 2009 where he was appointed Chief operating Performance and Member of the Executive Committee.
From June 2014 to August 2020, he was lndustrial Director of Groupe PSA.
Timo Völkl
Head of Software, Munich Electrification GmbH
With 15 years of experience in the automotive industry and a mechanical engineering degree, Timo Völkl has solid expertise in the sector. He started at Audi in 2008 with a three-year doctorate in optimal maneuver planning and then worked in motorsport, including as group leader of the performance department. Later at BMW, he specialized in simulation and control engineering from 2016-2018. At Arrival, an EV startup where Timo Völkl worked from 2018, he led an autonomous EV motorsport program. Since 2020, he has been head of software development at Munich Electrification, designing innovative solutions for high-voltage batteries.
Ilka von Dalwigk
EBA Policy Manager, EIT InnoEnergy
Ilka von Dalwigk is a senior technology and policy expert working with the industrial development programme of the European Battery Alliance – EBA250 – with a strong focus on sustainability and supply chain topics. With 10+ years experience in the energy transition, she has acquired in-depth knowledge of major research and policy issues covering the entire battery value chain.
Simon Voß
Managing Director, E-Mobility Lab of RWTH Aachen University
Currently, Simon Voß is the Managing Director of eLab RWTH Aachen. In his past, he developed CELLFAB: pilot production line for battery pouch cells. Furthermore, he funded a 3D printing startup to 3D-pring Si-based battery anodes, was Bluebook Trainee at the European Commission in the field of batttery technologies and has a background in mechanical engineering, sustainable energy and battery technology.
Daniel Wäldchen
Member of the Executive Board, IPM AG
Daniel Wäldchen, born in 1985, has been a member of the IPM AG Management Board, Marketing and Production Division, since 2016. After working for Volkswagen and the management consultancy BGM Associates, Mr. Wäldchen joined IPM AG in 2012. Mr. Wäldchen is a lecturer at the Berlin School of Economics and Law. He is currently working on his doctorate at the Chair of Materials Management and Distribution at the Bundeswehr University in Munich on the topic of decisions in the procurement of innovations.
Prof. Dr. Stephan Wagner
Professor of Supply Chain Management, ETH Zurich
As Professor of Supply Chain Management, researcher, advisor and board member, Stephan Wagner deals with management issues on current topics and strategies of digitalization, sustainability, supply chain management and corporate management and governance. He works with both large companies and start-ups.
Sebastian Wolf
COO, PowerCo
As Chief Operations Officer, Sebastian Wolf is responsible for PowerCo’s global battery manufacturing network. This includes planning, construction and operation of the planned cell factories, among other things.
Wolf was born in 1990 in Oelsnitz in the Vogtland region of Germany. After earning his diploma from a college-preparatory high school in Istanbul, Wolf attended the universities Aachen, Bath and Tsinghua in Beijing.
The production engineer later held management positions at Bosch and Boston Consulting, among other places, before becoming European CEO of the Chinese battery manufacturer Farasis Energy. Wolf has been Head of Operation.
Kai-Uwe Wollenhaupt
President Europe & Senior Vice President , SVOLT Energy Technology GmbH
As President SVOLT Europe & Senior Vice President SVOLT Energy Technology, Kai-Uwe Wollenhaupt aims to establish the high-tech company in Europe. This includes the establishment of the organisation as well as the construction of the production sites. The graduate engineer from RWTH Aachen University has been working as a manager in the automotive sector for over 30 years. Throughout his career, Kai-Uwe Wollenhaupt has held international key positions with global responsibility at well-renowned companies such as IVECO, ThyssenKrupp, LINAMAR, and TRW.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Zaby
President, Berlin School of Economics and Law
Prof. Dr. Andreas Zaby has been President of the Berlin School of Economics and Law (HWR) since 2016. He initially worked as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company in Munich and Zurich. Subsequently, he was Chief Financial Officer of a biopharmaceutical company with locations in Germany and the USA.