2022 Speakers

Frans Timmermans

Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal

European Commission

Frans Timmermans began his career with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1987. After taking part in the junior diplomat training programme, he worked at the European Integration Department of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at the Embassy of the Netherlands in Moscow. He later worked for Hans van den Broek, European Commissioner for External Relations, and Max van der Stoel, High Commissioner on National Minorities for the OSCE.

In 1998, Frans Timmermans was elected as a member of the House of Representatives for the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA), where he dealt principally with foreign affairs. In the fourth Balkenende government, from February 2007 to February 2010, Mr Timmermans was Minister for European Affairs. In 2010, Mr Timmermans returned to Parliament as the Labour Party's spokesperson on foreign policy.

On 5 November 2012, Mr Timmermans became Minister of Foreign Affairs in the second Rutte government. Two years later, on 1 November 2014, he became First Vice-President of the European Commission, responsible for better regulation, interinstitutional relations, sustainable development, the rule of law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Since 1 December 2019, he is the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, responsible for the Green Deal.

H.E. Drs. J.N. (Jeannette) Baljeu

Regional Minister

Province of Zuid-Holland

Jeannette Baljeu is currently Regional Minister of the Dutch province of Zuid-Holland (2017 – present). Zuid-Holland is The Netherlands’ most important province in terms of economic activity. Baljeu’s portfolio includes Finance, European & International Affairs, Transition of the industrial sector and water management. Before this position, Mrs Baljeu was President of SBRCURnet, a knowledge insitute for the construction and building sector. Within the domain of public service, Mrs Baljeu was vice-mayor of the city of Rotterdam for seven years. Here, she was responsible for public transport and traffic, the Port of Rotterdam, regional economy and the organisation of the civil service offices. Mrs Baljeu is an analytic, natural leader, who works on confidence and trust in a team. She has the capability to bring different stakeholders together. Due to her political career and her role as vice-president of the board of the Peoples Party of Freedom and Democracy (liberal party, VVD), she has a relevant and strong network in politics, business and public organisations.

The Hon. Mick de Brenni

Minister for Energy, Renewables & Hydrogen, & Minister for Public Works & Procurement

Queensland Government, Australia

Parliamentary Service

Current:

• Minister for Energy, Renewables and Hydrogen and Minister for Public Works and Procurement: 12 Nov 2020

Campaign Director Queensland Council of Unions (QCU), Assistant Secretary United Voice, Industrial Officer TCFUA, Retail, Cleaning.

Community Activity: Logan East Community Neighbourhood Association, Trail Care, Vice Patron Surf Life Saving Queensland, Mountain Bike Australia, RATS Cycling Club, Bicycle Qld, Patron Springwood Puma F.C.

Allard Castelein

Chief Executive Officer

Port of Rotterdam Authority

Allard Castelein is Chief Executive Officer of the Port of Rotterdam Authority since 1 January 2014.

Born in Rotterdam in 1958, Allard graduated in medicine at Erasmus University.

He started working with Shell in The Netherlands in 1987. For the first couple of years he held positions in Trading, Sales and Marketing. From 1992 he lived and worked in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom in various positions in Marketing, Strategy, Business Development and General Management. Allard returned to The Netherlands in 2002 to join the Executive Board of the Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij, a Shell-Exxon JV. In 2003 he became Commercial Manager for Shell’s European Upstream business. In this capacity he led a major re-organisation and change management programme. In 2009 Allard was appointed Vice President Environment for Shell. He led the global Environment cluster and was accountable for strategy, standards, controls and strategic partnerships worldwide.

In addition to his position as CEO with the Port of Rotterdam Authority, Allard Castelein is

• Vice president and member of the Supervisory Board of Sohar Industrial Port Company SAOC (SIPC);
• Vice president and member of the Supervisory Board of Sohar International Development Company (SIDC);
• Member of the Supervisory Board of Rotterdam Partners;
• Member of the Executive Board of the Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers (VNO-NCW);
• Member of the Supervisory Board of Isala Hospitals;
• Chairman Board Ronald McDonald Huis Sophia Rotterdam;
• Member Economic Board Zuid-Holland;
• Non-executive director Renewi plc.

Christian Pho Duc

Chief Technology Officer & Managing Director H2 Projects

Smartenergy

Christian Pho Duc is the CTO & Managing Director H2 & PtL Projects at Smartenergy Group AG and the Vice Chair of the Renewable Hydrogen Workstream at Solar Power Europe. He graduated as a Physicist from Munich and Cambridge University. Christian has accumulated 25 years working experience in Semiconductors (Siemens, IBM, G&D, Infineon Technologies), Renewable Energies & Hydrogen (Solyndra, Nanosolar, Smartenergy) and Electric Mobility (Torqeedo) in various management positions. With his multi-national background he speaks fluently German, English, French, Italian and some Spanish.

Grace Quan

President & CEO

Hydrogen In Motion Inc. (H2M)

As the CEO of Hydrogen In Motion Inc. (H2M), Grace brings fiduciary accountability to the table with her CPA/CMA and MBA credentials.  Grace has a vast range of financial and managerial experience in private and public sectors from managing a Flying School, to working in a Provincial Minister’s office, to helping to manage the $250 billion dollar budget for the Treasury Board Secretariat of the Government of Canada. 

Grace’s 10 year career in the federal government also includes working in foreign aid at the Canadian International Development Agency and in the Foreign (DFAIT), departments which have been combined to become the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development.  This varied experience gives Grace an insider understanding of the functioning of business and government. 

In 2018 Grace Quan, CEO was recognized by BC Business magazine as one of the 50 Most Influential Women In STEM.

Alicia Eastman

Co-Founder & President

InterContinental Energy

Alicia has led investment and strategy in global markets for nearly 25 years, managing private equity funds, market entry and finance for multinational companies and institutional investors across Australasia including the Middle East. She has focused on infrastructure, renewable energy, specialty chemicals/pharma, telecommunications, and technology. Before co-founding InterContinental Energy in 2014, she was a founding partner of Asia Pacific Capital Fund II and the Mongolia Opportunities Fund as well as MAP Capital, an industrial investment advisor in the Persian Gulf. Previously, Alicia led international strategy and acquisitions at Elan Biopharmaceuticals and was Vice President of Prudential Asia Infrastructure Mezzanine Capital Fund. She was a founding principal at NetFuel Ventures (acquired by a University of Chicago affiliate) and has held international strategy and investment positions at Gemini, Lend Lease, and AirTouch International (Vodafone). Alicia holds a B.Sc. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Nico Van Doren

Head of Business Development

Port of Rotterdam Authority

Martijn Coopman

Program Manager & Energy Transition

Port of Rotterdam Authority

Stijn van Els

Commercial Director

Port of Rotterdam Authority

Joining Shell from university with a physics degree from Delft University of Technology in 1988, Stijn has built up a distinguished career through a range of technical, commercial, project and senior leadership roles.

He has held positions in downstream manufacturing technology, project start-up and operations roles across the Netherlands, Japan and Germany. Furthermore, he has worked in Shell’s upstream business, with LNG, commercial and new business development assignments in England, Australia as well as the Netherlands. During the last 10 years with Shell, Stijn has held a number of senior management roles among which the position as CEO and country chair of Shell’s business in Germany In this last role he has been leading significant energy transition work in Germany.

Since early 2019, Stijn has left Shell and moved back to join his family in the Netherlands.  Stijn has taken on the role of Director Commercial at the Port of Rotterdam Authority, responsible for the delivery of key energy transition and other complex transactions.

Duna Uribe

Executive Commercial Director

Pecém Industrial and Port Complex, Brazil

Duna Gondim Uribe has a Master's degree in Maritime Economics and Logistics from the University of Erasmus and also has an MBA from the Rotterdam School of Management, both institutions in the Netherlands. She has a degree in Business Administration with specialization in international business and supply chain management from the University of Maryland, in the United States. He was project leader in the international department of the Port of Rotterdam, being responsible for the partnership project between Port of Rotterdam and the State of Ceará for Pecém. She is currently Executive Commercial Director at Pecém Industrial and Port Complex.

Adamo Screnci

Deputy CEO

Hydrogen Refueling Solutions

Noé van Hulst

Chair

IPHE

David Burns

VP Clean Energy

Linde

Dr. David Burns is Vice President of Clean Energy 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.

Antony Green

Hydrogen Director

National Grid

As Hydrogen Director, Tony has responsibility for leading the thinking for gas transmission to play it’s role in the pathway to net zero through decarbonising the network either through hydrogen blends or even a full transition to hydrogen.

Prior to this role Tony was Head of Engineering & Asset Management for Gas Transmission. A Civil Engineer by degree Tony has worked in the utilities and infrastructure sectors for over 30 years. He began his career at Severn Trent before moving to Advantica and then DNV GL in a variety of business and sector leadership roles providing a broad range of advisory services and asset management solutions.

He is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of both CIWEM and IGEM. As immediate past President of IGEM he is a member of the Executive Board, & Council and is also board member of GERG & Marcogaz.

Ohira Eiji

Director General, Fuel Cell & Hydrogen Office Advanced Battery & Hydrogen Technology Dept.

NEDO (The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization), Japan

Eiji Ohira is the Director General of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO)’s Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Group within the Advanced Battery and Hydrogen Technology Department. In this capacity, he is responsible the overall strategy, execution and coordination of NEDO’s research, development and demonstration project on fuel cell and hydrogen.

He has also coordinated fuel cell and hydrogen activities with international stakeholders, through International Energy Agency’s Technology Collaboration Program (IEA TCP: Advanced Fuel Cell & Hydrogen), and International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy (IPHE).

He joined the NEDO in 1992, just after graduation from the Tokyo University of Science. He served as a visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1997-1998.

Before taking up the current position in April 2013, he served in several positions, including Representative at NEDO Asian Representative Office, Director of the Energy Storage Technology Division.

Shigeru (Sam) Muraki

Representative Director

Clean Fuel Ammonia Association

Shigeru (Sam) Muraki joined Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. in 1972 after graduating from Applied Chemistry Department of the University of Tokyo. He was appointed chief representative in New York from 1989 to 1994. From 1996 through 2004, he worked at Gas Resources Dept. He was promoted to senior executive officer and CTO in 2004.

In 2007, he moved to Energy Solution Division in charge of marketing in commercial and industrial markets and power business. He was appointed Executive Vice President in 2010 and Vice Chairman in 2014. Since April 2015, he has been Executive Adviser for Tokyo Gas.

He was Program Director of Energy Carriers for SIP (Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program) from June 2014 to March 2019.

He has been Representative Director of the Clean Fuel Ammonia Association since July 2019.

He was assigned to Regional Vice Chair, Asia Pacific and South Asia, of World Energy Council since May 2016.

He was awarded the Medal of Honor with Blue Ribbon in May 2017.