Agenda 2020

Head of Fertilizer,  CRU
Chris Lawson is head the global CRU fertilizer team, but also leads the phosphate market coverage. This includes overseeing the full portfolio of market outlook, cost of production services and niche market reports for the phosphate industry. Prior to this Mr Lawson was the fertilizer demand analyst, having joined CRU in 2014. Before this he was a market analyst at the International Grains Council and an agricultural research scientist in South Australia. Mr Lawson has a background in agriculture and holds a BSc in Agricultural Science from the University of Adelaide.

Director Strategic Analysis,  OCP
Mehdi Meliani joined OCP in 2014 and is the director of the “Strategy & Corporate development” department, in charge of Group Strategy. Mr Meliani started his career at OCP as a strategy project manager in Casablanca handling various strategic planning processes and other strategic analysis issues.
Prior to joining OCP Group, he worked as a trading & risk analyst in various French banks, based in Paris.
Mr Meliani graduated as Civil Engineer at the Ecole des Mines de Nancy.

Co-Chair,  UNEP International Resource Panel
Janez Potocnik graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana (Ph.D. in 1993). After holding several positions in the Slovenian Ministries, Dr Potocnik joined the European Commission, in 2004, as Shadow Commissioner for Enlargement. Dr Potocnik was then Commissioner responsible for Science and Research and Commissioner for Environment. In November 2014, he was appointed for a as a member and Co-Chair of the International Resource Panel which is hosted by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). In the same month, Dr Potocnik was also appointed as a Chairman of The Forum for the Future of Agriculture and RISE Foundation and as a Member of the European Policy Centre’s Advisory Council. He is partner in SYSTEMIQ and from 2019 also President of ThinkForest.

Analyst,  CRU
Isabel Chen is a fertilizer analyst at CRU, covering phosphates and sulphur value chains in China. Prior to CRU, Ms Chen worked for Nexant as an analyst of energy and chemical advisory business, involved in both analysis and consulting services, with experience on various value chains and major products of refining and petrochemical industry. She has also worked for Sinopec International as project manager of group procurement. Ms Chen holds an MSc in synthesis, catalysis and sustainable chemistry from University of Lyon, she also completed both an MEng in applied chemistry and bachelor degrees in chemistry and finance from East China University of Science and Technology.

Deputy Head of Unit,  Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SME’s, European Commission

Senior Agriculture & Environment Officer,  Fertilizers Europe asbl
Konstantin Golombek joined Fertilizers Europe in 2019 as Senior Agriculture & Environment Officer. Mr Golombek was born in Germany and conducted his Agronomy studies at the University of Hohenheim (Germany) and at the École Nationale Supérieure d'Agronomie in Montpellier (France) where he majored in Agricultural Economics. Before joining Fertilizers Europe he gained broad experience in associations, consulting and industry - both for the agricultural sector and the chemical industry. His professional career started in the field of policy consulting for the agricultural sector. On basis of his agricultural markets expertise Mr Golombek has further developed in depth knowledge of agricultural value chains with focus on sustainability.

Secretariat,  European Sustainable Phosphorous Platform
Chris Thornton is Secretariat of the European Sustainable Phosphorus Platform (ESPP) www.phosphorusplatform.eu. Established in 2013, ESPP promotes sustainable phosphorus management in Europe, in particular phosphorus recycling.  ESPP is a non-profit organisation, funded by its members, who are different industries (water and waste, mineral and organic fertilisers, chemicals, animal by-products, recycling technologies), knowledge institutes and public establishments.
ESPP is particularly engaged in phosphorus recycling, addressing technologies, industrial implementation and regulation, safety and social acceptance of contaminants in recycled nutrient sources and agricultural value of recycled nutrient products.
He also has experience with the phosphate industry in chemical regulation (REACH) and on links between phosphorus and human health, as well as with phosphorus, inorganic and nitrogen flame retardants.

Development Manager,  EasyMining Sweden AB
Yariv Cohen has been the R&D Manager at EasyMining Sweden, a company in the Ragn-Sells group since 2007. Dr Cohen is a specialist in chemical separation technologies and has a long experience in phosphorus chemistry. He was awarded the 2008 Science Technology and Environment Scholarship from the King of Sweden, for research regarding recovery of phosphorus from municipal wastes, ashes and iron ore mine wastes. Dr Cohen was awarded the 2019 Chemical Engineering Award from the Swedish Chemical Engineers National Association for development of chemical processes for the extraction of nutrients and metals from waste.

Vice President Phosphate Commodity Europe Operations & ESH,  ICL Europe
Anthony Zanelli is responsible for the activities of ICL Phosphate Commodities in Europe including the fertilizer production sites in Amsterdam, (Netherlands), Ludwigshafen (Germany), an industrial service company (Germany) and a feed phosphate company in Istanbul and Bandirma (Turkey). 
Mr Zanelli started his career as a process engineer within ICL and has now 30 years of experience in the fertilizers industry. He is an active member of many industry defining organizations: Council Member of The International Fertilizer Society, Chairman of Meststoffen Nederland (Dutch Fertilizers and Industry Association), member Technical Committee of Fertilizers Europe and he has served on the boards of the German and Dutch Nutrient Platforms.
Mr Zanelli has a bachelor’s degree in industrial Operations from the Amsterdam University of Applied Science and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Bradford.

CEO,  Phospholutions, Inc.
Hunter Swisher currently serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Phospholutions, Inc. Mr Swisher graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a B.S. in Plant Sciences, where he was recognized as top entrepreneur within the University. He sits on the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Advisory Board for the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State University. Mr Swisher founded Phospholutions, Inc. in 2016 to develop and commercialize solutions to improve efficiency of global phosphorus use. Phospholutions, Inc. is headquartered in State College, PA.

Director of Business Development, EMEA,  Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies, Inc.
Robert van Spingelen is an innovative B2B business leader in the turf and horticulture markets, with a focus on circular economy solutions. Mr van Spingelen joined Ostara as Director of Business Development, EMEA, Crop Nutrition, bringing more than 20 years of global brand building, international sales and agronomy experience to the Ostara team. As the former Global Marketing and Category Manager for Turf & Landscaping Segment at ICL Specialty Fertilisers and Global Category Development Manager with The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, he successfully introduced several new brands to the market, including ProTurf and Vitalnova. Mr van Spingelen is based out of the Hague, Netherlands, and holds a BSc, Tropical Agriculture and Business Development from Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences.

Chief Technology Officer,  Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies, Inc.
Ahren Britton, co-inventor of Ostara’s core Pearl technology, brings more than 20 years of wastewater treatment and nutrient recovery industry experience to the executive team. Raising vegetables, chickens, pigs and dairy cows on a family acreage fueled a passion for sustainability and agriculture starting at an early age. Prior to Ostara’s formation in 2005, Mr Britton held roles in engineering consulting, heavy industry and municipal government. He has since led Ostara’s research and development program and intellectual property management since the company’s founding. Mr Britton holds a BASc in Environmental Engineering from the University of Waterloo and a MASc in Civil (environmental) engineering from the University of British Columbia, as well as being a Registered P.Eng in British Columbia. He is based out of Vancouver, Canada.

Area Sales Manager,  Glatt Ingenieurtechnik GmbH
Didier Schons studied Process Engineering at the Technical University in Kaiserslautern with a focus on mechanical process engineering (2007 – 2013). In parallel, Mr Schons gained experience in the field of process development for coatings and its spray application while he was working in the industry (2011 – 2013). He continued to pursue his interest in particle technology at the Institute for Particle Technology (iPAT) in Braunschweig (2013 – 2018) where he trained students to become process and plant engineers. He further presented the results of his industrial projects related to grinding processes in the mining industry at international conferences. Combining these experiences, Mr Schons joined Glatt Ingenieurtechnik in November 2018 and became an Area Sales Manager with responsibilities for Glatt’s activities in France and Scandinavia.

Analyst,  CRU
Glen Kurokawa is a phosphate analyst at CRU in London, UK. He analyses the phosphate market, including the rock, phosphate fertilizers, and NPK markets. He edits the CRU Phosphate Rock Market Outlook and NPK Market Outlook and contributes to other phosphate-related publications. Prior to working at CRU, he was an intellectual property lawyer at a Canadian law firm and UN consultant. He has degrees in chemistry, law, and economics.

Project Manager,  WAPHCO
Khaled Salah El Din Salama, holds BSc. Civil engineering from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt in 1981, M.Sc. from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt in 1983 and Postgraduate courses from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (U.S.A.) in 1986. Mr Salama has over 37 years of expertise in Engineering and Project Management of multinational, multi discipline projects covering industrial, petrochemical, fertilizers, oil and gas projects both onshore and offshore including onshore facilities, storage tanks, jetties, shore protection, offshore drilling and production facilities. Throughout his career, Mr Salama has held multiple roles with a variety of companies, including: ENPPI , a leading design consulting company in Egypt; NPCC, a major EPC construction contractor in Abu Dhabi; EGYPTIAN LNG; EAGRIUM; Sukhna Refinery and Petrochemicals Co. (SRPC); and Petrofac International Limited (PIL).

Area Sales Manager Europe, MENA, India,  TOMRA Sorting GmbH
Jens-Michael Bergmann is a specialist in sensor-based machine sorting and has been for more than 16 years. Mr Bergmann’s practical background created the necessary experience to offer consultancy services around sensor-based sorting technologies to his current international clients. After graduating with a master’s degree in Mining engineering, Mr Bergmann was plant and operations manager of several mines and quarries, all for one German company. Here he learned the challenges of the mining and mineral processing business hands-on. During his university time, Mr Bergmann worked in underground coal mines and oil drilling rigs around Europe. In his spare time, he enjoys offshore sailing.

Senior Scientist,  Nouryon
Natalija Smolko Schwarzmay is a Senior Scientist at Nouryon Performance Formulations (former AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals). Dr Smolko Schwarzmay received her PhD in polymer chemistry in 2005 at Vilnius University, Lithuania. She joined Nouryon in 2006 as a chemist and spent her first 5 years on design, synthesis and characterization of surfactants. Since 2011, Dr Smolko Schwarzmay has been within the Mining Division, and is responsible for identification, development and introduction of innovative solutions to Nouryon customers.

Demand Analyst,  CRU
Rajiv Ram joined CRU Group in 2017. Mr Ram contributes 'across the nutrients' for the fertilizers team, including Fertilizer Week, as a specialist in agricultural economics. He closely monitors agricultural markets, including prices, policy and weather, to improve CRUs forecasting of short, medium and long-term fertilizer demand. Mr Ram holds a BSc in Geography with Economics from the London School of Economics (LSE) and a MSc in Development Studies from the School of African and Oriental Arts (SOAS). Since graduating he has spent his career analysing agricultural markets. Mr Ram joined CRU from LMC International, where he worked as an economist in the oilseeds team for three and half years.

Senior Consultant,  TECNOAGRO
Martin Torres Duggan provides senior consultant services to fertilizer and agri-mining companies by offering an integrated assistance on technical and market issues necessary to successfully doing business in Argentina and other South American countries. Dr. Torres Duggan is Agronomist with a M.S degree (Soil Science) and a Ph.D degree (Natural Resources) from the University of Buenos Aires. He is very active in the research and extension fields as wells as a well-known consultant in Argentina and South American´s countries.

Process Engineer,  Veolia Water Technologies
Sana Boulabiar is a process engineer specializing in the design of N, P, and K fertilizer systems at Veolia Water Technologies based in Chicago, Veolia's worldwide headquarters for supply of HPD Evaporation and Crystallization Technologies. At this location, Veolia houses the R&D, process design, and project execution capabilities to develop, supply, and guarantee customized integrated process solutions for large scale water soluble fertilizer facilities on a worldwide basis. Veolia fertilizer production systems are designed with an emphasis on efficient, reliable and cost effective production of high quality water soluble products.

General Manager,  Prayon Technologies S.A.
Tibaut Theys graduated as a Biochemical Engineer at the University of Louvain in Belgium. Mr Theys joined Prayon Technologies Company in 1995. After 6 months in production, he joined the licensing division. In 2002 he was the Commercial Manager of Prayon Technologies; the technologies offered include Phosphoric acid and related technologies along with Profile, another division of Prayon, for the fabrication equipment as filters, agitators droplets separators and so on. In 2004 Mr Theys joined CYTEC as a Project Manager and Maintenance Specialist. In 2010 he joined back Prayon as a Process Manager. Mr Theys works on the technical and commercial development of new and existing phosphoric acid technologies. In 2013, he became General Manager of Prayon Technologies.

Director of Coatings Technology,  Arkema/ArrMaz
Lucas is the Director of Coatings Technology, which means he is globally responsible for executing the coatings innovation and technical service portfolio, which is dominantly focused technologies which brings agronomic enhancements to fertilizers, as well as those that reduce dust, moisture absorption, and caking associated with fertilizers and other nitrate based substrates. He joined ArrMaz in July of 2014 as the manager of mining’s technical service group with primary focus being on the beneficiation of industrial minerals and metal oxides. He became part of the Arkema family in July 2019 after Arkema’s acquisition of ArrMaz. Prior to the joining ArrMaz, Lucas was employed by Kemira as the R&D manager for metals and minerals processing. At Kemira, his primary research interests included: flotation from silicate type ores, scale inhibition in both oil and mining applications, solid/liquid separation, rheology modification in mine produced tailings, deoiling technologies for oil produced waters, and new technologies for the treatment of contaminated mine produced water. Lucas is the author and co-author of more than 70 publications and is the co-inventor of more than 20 patent applications.

Production Engineer,  PT Petrokimia Gresik
Aldifi Kresmagus is an enthusiastic production planning & control engineer at Petrokimia Gresik, a reputable company in Indonesia where he evaluates production processes which correlate with supply chain management in fertilizer production, starting from production planning until the price evaluation. Despite the fact that Mr Kresmagus is considered as a young engineer in the industry, his fresh concepts and ideas bring him to demonstrate impactful innovation in several Petrokimia Gresik manufacturing plants. Mr Kresmagus is adventurous and enjoys learning new things as well broadening his relations with others since as he is a sociable person.

Senior President,  Aditya Birla Chemicals (Thailand) Ltd
Ajay Mahajan is Senior President of Aditya Birla Chemicals Thailand Ltd, part of India's largest conglomerate, Aditya Birla Group. He is currently heading five business verticals namely Phosphates, Sulphites, Peroxide, Chlor Alkali and Phosphoric Acid. He has a professional experience of more than 24 years in strategy, operations and marketing in variety of sectors such as power plants, instrumentation and inorganic chemicals. A strong believer of sustainability, he is also driving the group's overseas branch of business sustainability. He is a graduate in mathematics, engineering and Post graduate in management. He has done Executive Leadership program at Wharton, Harvard and Insead.

Director,  Willem Schipper Consulting
Willem Schipper obtained his PhD in chemistry from Utrecht University in 1994. Mr Schipper has worked in phosphorus chemistry for Hoechst Holland, later Thermphos International, for two decades. Initially working in process and product development, including the production of white phosphorus and phosphate salts, he has been responsible for the development of new P chemistry and phosphorus recycling for a decade, in the role of innovation manager. He organized and developed the gradual replacement of phosphate rock in phosphorus production by secondary and waste materials, and was responsible for technology assessment for competing processes. Mr Schipper also mapped existing and potential applications of phosphorus and developed a patented synthesis route for a new phosphorus building block. Since the bankruptcy of Thermphos International, he has been active as a consultant to the industry for technical and commercial aspects. In this role, he continues to work on phosphorus production and chemistry, process improvement, phosphoric acid, food grade phosphates, and the technical and strategic aspects of P recycling.

Commercial Director,  Aliphos
Guillaume Milochau is the group commercial director of Aliphos part of the Ecophos group, leading the sales and marketing of feed phosphates and feed ingredients globally. Mr Milochau has developed his career mainly in the agrochemical industry and specialized in animal nutrition for the last 10 years. He has held various positions managing roles in sales and marketing within the industry, for sales of amino part of Ajinomoto Animal Nutrition Europe. Prior to this Mr Milochau worked for 10 years in fertilizer group YARA where he managed the European sales of feed phosphates and feed urea

Global Technical Director - Alumina & Industrial Minerals,  Solvay
John Carr joined Solvay (formerly Cytec Industries, Inc) in 2007 focusing on materials characterization and elemental analysis supporting the polymer additives, mining solutions, and composite materials product lines. In 2010, Dr Carr joined the mining solutions group focusing on developing reagents in mineral processing applications. A focus of his work became the development of scale inhibitors, defoamers, crystal growth modifiers, and improved heavy metal removal technologies in the phosphoric acid industry. Dr Carr is now managing a global technical group with activity in alumina processing and various industrial minerals.

Global Product Manager Tilting Pan Filters,  Andritz AG
Farooq Ellahi holds a Master of Science degree and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mr Ellahi is currently the Global Product Manager for Tilting Pan and Ucego Table filters for ANDRITZ Separation. He has worked as a Process Engineer for Bird Machine Company, and then with ANDRITZ Separation in a similar capacity before becoming a specialist for vacuum filters.

Technical Director,  C.I.F.C. Pvt Ltd
Ghanshyam Patel is a chemical engineer with 45 years of operating cum technical experience in M/s GSFC Ltd from1970 and retired as Executive Director having rich experience in all areas of diverse functional departments at apex management level like enhancing productivity in true sense by continual improvement in energy, cost reduction, environment issues, safety, quality control, fire fighting, IMS cell for GSFC. Mr Patel is on panel of RC logo auditors in ICC. At present he is Technical Director in CIFC Pvt Ltd (Rahimtula Group) since December 2010. Mr Patel has presented many technical papers in FAI, IFA, SYMPHOS and AFA conferences. He is active member in Technical Advisory and Environment committees and annual award selection committee of FAI.

Senior Marketing Manager,  Nalco Water
Paul Wiatr is the Strategic Marketing Manager for Nalco Water's Mining Division. Mr. Wiatr has been with Nalco Water for over 8 years. Prior to Nalco Water, he has held product manager positions of increasing responsibility with Tellabs and Motorola. Mr. Wiatr holds a Bachelors of Science in Physics from the University of Illinois and a Masters of Business Administration from The College of William and Mary.

Commercial Director,  Geological Survey of Estonia
Kadriann Tamm began her career with Tallinn University of Technology, gaining unparalleled experience in the oil shale industry including waste management in the Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) processes, while also establishing herself as a mentor and supervisor. Currently working as a research scientist and senior specialist for Tallinn University of Technology and Geological Survey of Estonia, Ms Tamm is widely known for her phosphorite processing, precipitated calcium carbonate production, and engineer pedagogy expertise. In addition to her primary job functions, she has been recognized by the supervisor for her extraordinary commitment to scientific search promotion in the school level.

Product Manager – Sulfuric Acid,  Outotec
Michael Kemmerich is working for Outotec in Oberursel, Germany, since more than 21 years. In his current position as Product Manager in the process department for sulphuric acid and off-gas cleaning technologies he supports not only the local sales teams from the very start of project opportunities, but is also responsible for the design of custom-tailored process solution(s) and negotiations with customers, followed - in case of a project realisation - by executing the process engineering, commissioning as well as after sales services.

Head of Sulphuric Acid Department,  NIUIF JSC
Vladimir Igin was born in 1954. In 1976 he graduated from Moscow Institute of Chemical Engineering named after D.I.Mendeleev, Russia, and got a degree as a Process Engineer. Mr.Igin works at JSC «Scientific research institute on fertilizers and insecto-fungicides named after prof.Y.Samoylov» (JSC “NIUIF”), Russia, where he takes a position of Sulfuric Acid Department Chief. Mr.Igin has PhD in Technical Science. His activities include: scientific researches for process and equipment improvement, energy efficiency increase, and environmental improvement of sulfuric acid facilities.