Kadri Simson is an Estonian politician from the Centre Party. She is serving as a European Commissioner for Energy in the Von der Leyen Commission since 1 December 2019.

She was previously the Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure in Jüri Ratas' first cabinet from 2016 to 2019. During the Estonian Presidency in the Council of the EU, Simson chaired both energy ministers and transport ministers meetings in TTE Council and ministers of economy format in EU Competitiveness Council.

From 2007–2016 Kadri Simson was a member of the 11th, 12th, and 13th Riigikogu and in 2019 she was also elected to the 14th Riigikogu. She holds a Master's degree in Political Science from University College London.

Drax Group CEO Will Gardiner is redefining the company’s future – building on its proud history with exciting ambitions for the business to be the cornerstone of a zero carbon economy.

Following an international career spanning the US, UK & Latin America, including Executive positions at JP Morgan, Easynet and CSR, Will joined Drax in 2015 as CFO, as it was completing the final stages of the largest decarbonisation project in Europe, following the conversion of the power station from coal to sustainable biomass.

Will is now leading Drax on another journey of transformation. Appointed as CEO in 2018, Will’s vision for Drax is firmly focussed on enabling a zero carbon, lower cost energy future, and spearheading the company’s world-leading ambition to be carbon negative by 2030.

Under his leadership, Drax is pioneering the development of Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), putting Drax and the UK at the forefront of negative emissions technology to fight climate change. 

Kwasi Kwarteng was appointed Secretary of State at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 8 January 2021.

He was previously Minister of State at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Kwasi was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Exiting the European Union from 16 November 2018 to 24 July 2019.

Kwasi read classics and history at Trinity College, Cambridge, and then attended Harvard University on a Kennedy Scholarship. He earned a PhD in economic history from the University of Cambridge in 2000.

Before becoming a Member of Parliament, Kwasi worked as an analyst in financial services.

Kwasi was elected the Conservative MP for Spelthorne in 2010. From 2010 until 2013 he was a member of the Transport Select Committee, and in 2013 he joined the Work and Pensions Select Committee where he was a member until 2015.

In October 2016 Kwasi joined the Public Accounts Committee, where he was a member until May 2017.

In 2015 Kwasi was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader of the House of Lords, and in 2017 he became Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Simon has a long history with Wood Mackenzie. He first joined the company in 1983, as a North-West Europe upstream analyst, later moving to Sydney to become an equity analyst covering the Australian oil, gas and mining sectors.

On returning to the UK in 1992, Simon was a No.1 ranked oil analyst with NatWest Markets after which he took on the role of MD and Head of Pan European Utilities Research with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. There he worked with the boards of many utility companies and was involved in most of the major European privatisations, including Enel, EdF and GdF.

Simon re-joined Wood Mackenzie in 2010, bringing with him more than 20 years of experience across a breadth of commodities and sectors including oil and gas, utilities and mining. His experience makes him uniquely qualified to occupy the role of Chief Analyst and Chairman, which sees him produce high-value content and thematic research. 

Simon’s views on the issues shaping the energy world are regularly sought by industry leaders as well as international media.

Katharina Beumelburg is Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer, a position she assumed in May 2021. Prior to her current position, she led the global Transmission Services business for Siemens Energy AG.

Beumelburg previously held various positions in Siemens over more than 16 years including Executive Vice President, Strategy, Siemens Gas and Power; and leading the Siemens Hydrogen Solutions business. Prior to this, Beumelburg was Global Head of Siemens Business Excellence and spent the earlier part of her career in Siemens Management Consulting, where she held VP and project manager roles. Before joining Siemens in 2005, she started her career at the Fraunhofer Institute for Production technologies and automation in Stuttgart, Germany.

Beumelburg holds a Diploma in Industrial Engineering from Universität Siegen; a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Robotics and Automation from Universität Stuttgart.

Beumelburg has been a Young Global Leader in the World Economic Forum since 2015.

Alan Hayes is Global Head of Pricing for Energy Transition at S&P Global Platts.

He has almost 20 years of experience working for price reporting agencies much of which has been dedicated to building markets for new and expanding commodities across a wide range of energy and petrochemical markets.

In his current role, Alan engages with market participants, governments, and regulators to create markets for energy transition commodities, including hydrogen, low carbon crude, low carbon gas, and guarantees of origin, with the goal of developing market based pricing and intelligence that can help to facilitate the decarbonised economy.

Alan’s academic background is in economics, and he holds a Master of Science from UCL in Environmental Economics and Natural Resource Management.

He is a graduate of the prestigious Parisian École Polytechnique and a scholarship holder in the field of quantum optics of the National Institute of Standards and Technologies, located near Washington, D.C., where he worked under the leadership of Nobel laureate in physics William D. Phillips. During the course of his studies, he also specialised in economics, with particular focus on market organisation, studying under Professor Jean Tirole, the 2014 Nobel laureate in economics. In the field of international economics, he studied at the University in Louvain-la-Neuve and he acquired his master’s degree at the SGH Warsaw School of Economics. He defended his doctoral dissertation at the University of Warsaw. He was a lecturer in the field of change management, economics, market organization and industrial strategy at the University of Warsaw, the Collegium Civitas and the Oxford Programme On Modern Poland. He is a co-author of the concept of implementation of effective changes in an enterprise, described in the book Change Management. From Strategy to Action, as well as the author of the book From Restructuring to Modernisation. Delayed Transformation of the Polish Power Sector in 1990–2009.

He began his professional career in the Office of the Committee for European Integration, in the team of Minister Jan Kułakowski – responsible for conducting accession negotiations with the European Union – where he led the analytical team and was directly responsible for the field of energy and transport. Later, he oversaw the modernisation of many Polish companies by supporting them in adapting to the challenges of the European and global markets. He was a promoter of European cooperation in the area of industrial change and adjustment of the European industry to the challenges of globalisation at, among others, the European University of Labour and the Dublin Foundation.

He is the author of the government programme for electromobility development in Poland, which was described for the first time as a concept in the book written in 2013–2015, together with Professor Leszek Jesień, New Electricity and New Cars.

Starting 1 January 2016, he served as the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Energy, where he was directly responsible for the technological development and implementation of innovations in the energy sector, implementation of climate and energy policy in the fuel and gas sector, conducting international relations with countries and international organisations. He was also responsible for supervision of the state’s participation in the biggest Polish energy companies in the oil and gas industry, such as Orlen, Lotos and PGNiG. He was the originator of “The Electromobility Development Plan”, and thereafter he guided the creation of the Act on Electromobility and Alternative Fuels, thanks to which these forms of transport will be able to develop dynamically.

On 27 April 2018, he was appointed as Government Plenipotentiary for the Presidency of COP24 – the United Nations Climate Summit in Poland. On 2 December 2018, he became the COP24 President, which ended with a success. At the 24th UN climate summit, the international community agreed on the Katowice Rulebook, implementing the Paris Agreement.

From July 2018, he held the position of the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Environment.

On 15 November 2019, he was appointed as the Minister of the newly established Ministry of Climate and Environment.

Tim is a Senior Partner in our Risk Advisory practice and is the Strategic Risk Leader for the UK and North South Europe.  He leads the UK teams that provide services around Sustainability (ESG), Extended Enterprise Risk Management, Resilience, ERM and Regulatory Risk in non-financial services.

He has over 30 years of experience helping clients to build robust Governance, Risk, Compliance and Control frameworks as well as the mechanisms by which they provide assurance over these areas.  In particular, he is focused on driving lean Risk and Compliance processes into clients to help them reduce the cost of compliance and enhance risk management activities.

Tim is our UK Climate (Race to Net Zero) Leader for the UK firm responsible for co-ordinating and directing all Deloitte’s UK service offerings to help our clients transition to the Green Economy

A pragmatic climate optimist, David leads Dell Technologies Energy business with a focus on accelerating the energy transition and advancing decarbonisation whilst maintaining energy supply and security. His global team is responsible for solutions development, product strategy & go to market and is highly valued for their industry subject matter expertise and ability to demonstrate the transformational impact of technology in the Energy industry. A firm believer in the value of community led open industry standards, David was elected to The Open Group OSDU Forum Management Committee and is also a member of the GridWise Alliance Policy Committee. He has previously served on a number of industry bodies including the European ECIM Management Committee and SPE’s “Petabytes in Asset Management.” He has delivered numerous technical papers at conferences around the world and holds a patent for his work on the remote visualization of geotechnical applications.

Rod Christie is Executive Vice President of Baker Hughes and President & CEO of its Turbomachinery & Process Solutions (TPS) business, which is headquartered in Florence, Italy. With operations across 120 countries, TPS boasts one of the industry’s most extensive portfolios for rotating equipment, process flow, transmission technology, and lifecycle services serving the entire energy value stream, including onshore-and-offshore production, gas processing, pipeline, liquefied natural gas (LNG), refining, petrochemical, light industrial and process industries, and new energy frontiers such as hydrogen, CCUS and energy storage. For hydrogen, Baker Hughes provides compression and energy conversion technology and services that are used across the value chain worldwide, including production, transportation and utilization. For CCUS, Baker Hughes provides advanced turbomachinery, solvent-based state-of-the-art capture processes, well construction and management for CO₂ storage, and advanced digital monitoring solutions.

Rod is an industry veteran with more than 30 years of international experience in the Power & Energy industry. In his current role, he is responsible for overseeing the development of Baker Hughes’ CCUS, Hydrogen and Clean Integrated Power Solutions portfolio and strategy. He also leads the Baker Hughes Technology Leadership Council.

Rod is highly engaged in global energy transition initiatives and serves on the Hydrogen Council and the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance. He is also a founding member of the Cogen World Coalition. Prior to joining Baker Hughes, Rod spent 15 years with Scottish Hydro Electric (now Scottish & Southern Electric) in a wide range of engineering, project development and management roles. Rod holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from Glasgow Caledonian University.

Shaun Kenny is president of Bechtel’s Infrastructure global business unit, with responsibility for a worldwide portfolio of power, communication, aviation, rail, and civil infrastructure projects.

Shaun has more than three decades of EPC industry experience in the infrastructure, mining, and water sectors. At Bechtel, he has held key construction, project management, strategy and business development, and executive leadership roles in the U.K., Australia, the U.S., Chile, and the Middle East. As president of the Infrastructure business, he is based in the unit’s London headquarters.

Before leading the Infrastructure business, Shaun was project director for the Bechtel-led consortium designing and building Lines 1 and 2 of the Riyadh Metro project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He was previously general manager for Bechtel’s infrastructure business in the Europe, Africa, Middle East, and Asia-Pacific regions.

Earlier, Shaun served as president of Bechtel’s Mining & Metals global business unit, based in Brisbane, Australia. Shaun joined Bechtel in 1997 as a construction engineer on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link in the U.K. He began his career in the U.K. civil construction industry.

Shaun holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Liverpool Polytechnic. He is a chartered civil engineer in the U.K., a member of the U.K. Institution of Civil Engineers, a fellow of Engineers Australia, and a registered engineer in Australia.

Rafael Mateo, with nearly 40 years of experience in the electricity sector, is one of the most experienced professionals in the renewable-energy sector, having played an active role in the global shift from fossil fuels to renewable energies.

His professional career began in 1982. He held different positions during his long trajectory in Endesa, including Production Director of Endesa Generación, Managing Director of Endesa Generación Latam, and chief executive officer of Endesa Chile (NYSE: EOC). He has wide-ranging knowledge of Latin-American markets, having managed a broad generation portfolio in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru.

In 2010, he joined the Company as General Manager, becoming chief executive officer in 2013, the position he currently holds. He has been essential for consolidating the excellent track record of the Company over that period, guaranteeing solvency, reliability and growth through diverse regulatory cycles and geographies.

Mr Mateo Alcalá is a member of the Supervisory Board’s Strategy and Technology Committee at Nordex SE. He is also Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Acciona Energía International, S.A. and a member of various administrative bodies of other Acciona Group subsidiaries.

Mr Mateo Alcalá is a leading public figure in renewable energy and participates in an array of international organizations that promote a decarbonized economy and renewable development.
He acted as president of Unipede-Eurelectric’s production group, is currently a member of the chief executive officer’s Electricity Group of the World Economic Forum, and actively participates in different forums and renewable-energy organizations.

Mr Mateo Alcalá holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the Higher Technical School of the University of Zaragoza (receiving the Extraordinary Honors Award). He has also completed a General Management Program at IESE Business School and a Business Management Program at INSEAD.

David Bryson has been Uniper’s COO & CSO since 2019. Combining the two roles reflects Uniper’s determination to tackle the climate challenge in an integrated way.

A chartered engineer, with wide leadership experience gained in the British Army, Bryson joined the energy industry in 2008. Since Uniper’s first days, Bryson has been responsible for its asset business’ European operations. No matter how his responsibility has increased since then, he is still close to the business and the people.

Colette Cohen is the Chief Executive Officer for the Net Zero Technology Centre, an organisation committed to the research and development of technology to accelerate the Oil and Gas industry’s transition to an affordable net zero future. Colette has worked in the industry for more than 25 years, both in the UK & Internationally for BP, ConocoPhillips & Centrica E&P, where she was the regional VP for the UK & Netherlands before joining the Net Zero Technology Centre. Colette has a degree in Chemistry from Queens in Belfast, a masters in Project Management & Economics from CERAM in France and an honorary PhD from Aberdeen University. Colette was also awarded the Order of the British Empire by the Queen for services to the Oil and Gas industry.

She is the Chair of the National Composites Centre and sits on the boards of OPITO, NORECO and the Lloyds Advisory Board. She is also a Commissioner for the Just Transition Commission for Scotland, a Trustee for Springer Rescue for Scotland and an ambassador for Powerful Women. Colette is an active champion for the industrial transition of the oil and gas industry to a net zero future and a committed role model for women in industry.

As Chief Operating Officer Daniel Fitzgerald leads an experienced team of oil and gas professionals who are responsible for Lundin Energy’s exploration, development and production operations.

Daniel Fitzgerald was born in Australia and holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of New South Wales, Sydney.

From 2005 to 2014 he worked for Shell’s upstream business based in the UK, in offshore and onshore operational and management roles. Between 2014 and 2017, he was the Group Operations Manager for Lundin Energy, subsequently joining IPC when it was spun-off from Lundin Energy in 2017. Daniel held the position of Chief Operating Officer in IPC before being appointed as Chief Operating Officer for Lundin Energy in January 2021.

Dr. David Burns is Vice President of Clean Energy Development at Linde. Prior to this, Dr. Burns served as Vice President for Hydrogen and Syngas Global Business Development.

Dr. Burns joined Linde (formerly Praxair) in 2005 and, since then, has made significant contributions to the development of new business in the hydrogen and energy industries globally. Prior to Linde, Dr. Burns worked at Dow Chemical, where he held several business management roles.

Dr. Burns has a B.Sc. and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Leeds in the UK and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.

Hakan Ozmen has been Senior Vice President Projects Business and Chief Executive Officer at Prysmian Powerlink Srl since June 2018. After graduating as Industrial Engineer, he began his career in 1993 as Internal Audit Manager and Corporate Secretary at Siemens AS in Istanbul. In August 1999, Hakan achieved an MBA at Yeditepe University in Istanbul. He joined Pirelli SpA in September 1999, whose activities were Internal Audit Management for the region EMEA and completed audits in Germany, Italy, Finland, UK, Turkey, Romania and Check Republic. In January 2001, Hakan became Chief Financial Officer & Board Member at Turk Pirelli in Istanbul and later becoming President. After holding the position of Global Director of Prysmian Telecom at Prysmian Cavi & Sistemi for two years, he was President & Chief Executive Officer of North America at Prysmian Group from 2011 to May 2018.

Francesco La Camera is the Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). He was appointed at the Ninth Assembly of IRENA, the ultimate decision-making body of the Agency. Mr. La Camera took office on 4 April 2019 and brings more than thirty years of experience in the fields of climate, sustainability, and international cooperation.

In his role, Mr. La Camera is responsible for leading the delivery of IRENA’s work programme and strategy in cooperation with the Agency’s member states. At a critical time for climate change and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, Mr. La Camera is tasked with redefining the structure and operations of the Agency in response to the urgent needs of its members. 

Under his leadership the Agency has forged a series of new strategic partnerships with UN organisations including UNDP, UNFCCC and Green Climate Fund among others. A key priority of his tenure is to implement a more action-oriented approach to the Agency’s work.

Previously, Mr. La Camera served as Director-General of Sustainable Development, Environmental Damage, EU and International Affairs at the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land & Sea since 2014. In this capacity, he developed cooperation and partnership agreements with a wide range of countries, particularly developing countries including Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Mr. La Camera held number of roles at the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea including Director-General for Human Resources and General Affairs, Director-General and Minister’s Adviser on hydrogeological risk, and Director General and Minister’s Adviser on sustainable urban mobility.

As the national coordinator for climate, environment, resource efficiency and circular economy, he led the Italian delegation to UNFCCC’s COP 21 to 24 and the EU Presidency at COP 20. He was responsible for the preparation and organisation of Italy’s G7 Environment Presidency in 2017. He was a leading member of the Italian delegation to the G7 Environment Ministers meetings in 2016 and 2018.

He served as co-chair of the Africa Centre for Climate and Sustainable Development established in Rome in partnership with FAO and UNDP and co-chaired the Financial Platform for Climate and Sustainable Development in partnership with the Italian Development Bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. He has also coordinated a number of national strategies including on sustainable development, green finance and fossil fuel subsides among other things.

Mr. La Camera led the support provided by Italy to several renewable energy initiatives such as the Initiative for Renewable Island Energy (IRIE) and the Global Geothermal Alliance (GGA), coordinated by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

Mr. La Camera spearheaded international cooperation on issues related to climate change and the environment. He played a key role in developing initiatives between Italy and multilateral organisations such as the World Bank, the African Development Bank, UNEP, UNDP and FAO, to implement the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.

He chaired the meetings of the Signatories to the Aarhus Convention led by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN-ECE) and chaired the advisory board for the Convention’s implementation.

Author of many publications, Mr. La Camera was a Lecturer of Sustainable Development at the University of Cosenza and of Environment & Land Economics at the University of Roma 3. He began his career as an economic analyst at the Italian Ministry of Budget and Planning.

Mr. La Camera is a national of Italy, and graduate of the University of Messina in Political Sciences (Economic Policy major).

Stephen Bull was appointed head of Aker Solutions’ renewables business in August 2021. The Briton has more than 20 years of energy industry experience, most recently as senior vice president of wind and low-carbon development for Equinor's renewables business area. He started his career at JP Morgan as an analyst and has held several international executive positions at Norsk Hydro and Equinor. Bull is chair of RenewableUK, the largest renewable energy industry association in the UK, and has served on expert panels for the UK Government covering low-carbon solutions. He studied politics and economics and holds a MSc (Econ) from the London School of Economics and a BA (Hons) from the University of Portsmouth, UK.

Adrian is the CEO of OVO, a company leading the energy transition by helping our members to achieve net zero carbon for their homes. Since joining the company it’s achieved significant growth, including the acquisition of SSE’s retail arm in January 2020. Across the group, we serve nearly 5 million customers in the UK and Europe with intelligent energy technology solutions.

Prior to OVO, Adrian was the Managing Director of Tesco Online, the world's largest online grocery business. Adrian was responsible for all of Tesco’s global ecommerce efforts across grocery, home, electrical, toys and clothing. Prior to Tesco, Adrian founded Blinkbox Entertainment in 2006.

Before Blinkbox, Adrian was one of Vodafone's first online employees serving as Head of Content Services for the Vodafone group, where he oversaw development of mobile products such as mobile music, video and games in over 20 countries worldwide.

The early part of Adrian’s career was spent at JP Morgan as part of their Mergers and Acquisitions team based in London and Sydney.

Temple Fennell is a co-founder and Managing Director at Clean Energy Ventures, an venture capital firm focused on investing in early-stage climate tech companies commercializing breakthrough energy technologies. He has more than 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur and as an investor deploying capital for his single-family office, Keller Enterprises, a member of the CREO Syndicate. He is member of MIT’s Renewable Finance Roundtable, a Senior Fellow at the University of Zurich, holds an MBA as a Sloan Fellow from MIT and an Engineering BS from the University of Virginia.