Boo Lee

Dr Boo Lee joined CPFIA in 2014, Dr Lee is professional at fertilizer management and market analysis. She has a background in Agronomy and plant nutrition. She holds a Doctor’s degree from the University of China Agricultural University.

Sam Adham

Sam Adham joined CRU in 2023 and is Head of Battery Materials Analysis. Mr. Adham is a regular commentator on the e-mobility transition, with a specialty in batteries and powertrain technologies. He is an automotive expert with over a decade of industry experience at leading analysis firms and working on advanced engineering projects at automakers. He holds a master's degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Manchester and he is based at the London office.

Rajesh Raitani

Rajesh Raitani is a Senior Marketing Manager (Segment Manager) in the Global Mining Division at Nalco Water, An Ecolab Company and is currently responsible for creating and implementing business growth strategies for the fertilizer segment (phosphate and potash). Mr Raitani's areas of expertise include product development & implementation, manufacturing & operations, process improvements and marketing derived from his knowledge on surface chemistry, mineral processing, and application of anti-scalants, flotation reagents, solid-liquid separation and defoamers. In his service tenure exceeding 20 years, he has contributed to mining and metals, chemicals, and building materials industries through his work at various organizations like USG Corporation, Solvay, and NMDC Limited in research, technology, operations, and management functions. He holds a Bachelor of Technology in Mining Engineering (IIT-ISM Dhanbad, India), a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering (University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA) and a Global Master of Business Administration (University of Durham, Durham, UK). He is also a certified First Class Mine Manager under the Indian Mines Act, 1952, has several publications and presentations in many reputable mining, tunneling, and processing journals and symposia as well as a couple of patent applications.

Jayden Ladebruk

Jayden Ladebruk is a Process Engineer-in-Training with the Mineral Process group at Hatch, in the Saskatoon office. Ms Ladebruk was born and raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in Canada, and knew from a young age she wanted to be an engineer. She pursued chemical engineering, and in 2021 she graduated from the University of Saskatchewan. She has a specialized set of skills and knowledge in the potash industry from her experience working in process engineering and project management. She also has experience in other industries including phosphoric acid, iron ores, and rare earth elements. Throughout her career, she has become proficient in process simulation and metallurgical processes.

Ryan Doyle

Ryan Doyle is the Director of North American Sales at Itafos and based out of the Chicago office. Mr Doyle oversees the sales of all Phosphate products produced at Itafos’ Conda, Idaho facility, including MAP, NPS, APP and SPA. Prior to joining Itafos, he was the International Sales Manager for International Raw Materials for 11 years, working primarily in Africa and Asia. He holds a Bachelors degree from Georgetown University.

Plamen Natzkoff

Plamen Natzkoff leads dry bulk research at Maritime Strategies International (MSI Ltd), where he is responsible for MSI’s market views and forecasts in the dry bulk shipping sector. Dr Natzkoff has 15 years of research experience in dry bulk freight and associated commodity markets and has worked as lead analyst at banks, trading houses and hedge funds. He holds a Doctorate in Economics from Oxford University.

John Passalacqua

John Passalacqua is CEO of First Phosphate Corp, a phosphate mining and development company fully dedicated to extracting and refining advanced phosphate material for the Lithium Iron Phosphate (“LFP”) Battery industry. Mr Passalacqua is an international business strategist with over 35 years of extensive technology and capital markets experience. In 1998, he gained the title of top 50 international business strategist on the early internet. He provides neutral, out-of-the-box, big picture thinking for early stage companies in nascent and visionary industries.

Ernesto Lima

Ernesto Lima is a mining and business developer, and consultant, with over 25 years of experience, having planned and executed several large projects. Mr Ernesto’s expertise includes leading all stages of project development, including conceptual and detailed operational and economic studies, engineering, procurement, construction, commercial and strategic analysis. He graduated with a B.ASc. degree in Civil Engineering, holds an MBA and a Doctorate degree in Management. Currently he is the COO and a Board Director at Bifox Limited, company that produces and commercializes phosphoric rock.

Kemalettin Yakup Büyükgöz

Kemalettin Yakup Büyükgöz graduated from Business Administration and International Affairs from Anadolu University. Mr Büyükgöz started his career at Gübretaş as Purchasing Manager with the responsibility of DAP, MAP and water-soluble fertilizers at 2014. He transferred to Akdaş Chemistry in 2019 as Export Manager and worked on Magnesium Sulphate. He started to work as a Turkey Representative of three Chinese manufacturers since 2021. Two of these companies are manufacturer of phosphate products. Kemalettin Yakup Büyükgöz is also acting as the representative of "Fertilizer Sector of Turkey" channel which has more than 5000 members at Linkedin

Egemen Orucoglu

With a Chemistry degree from Koc University in Istanbul, Egemen Orucoglu did not start working in fertilizer sector until 2010. After 4 years of trade marketing and wholesales activities in Toros, Mr Egemen became the Head of Sales at Bagfas; at 32 years old, becoming the youngest ever C-level manager in Turkish agribusiness. His career at Yara started in 2017, as Commercial Manager for the Turkish market and gradually evolved into Sales Director for Turkiye and North Africa; making him one of the youngest ever at this level in Yara’s global organization.

Santosh Seshadri

Santhosh Seshadri joined HSBC’s equity research team in 2017 and focuses on the global agribusiness and battery material sectors. Prior to joining HSBC, Mr Seshadri worked as an equity analyst with a major research house in India, covering Australian midcap stocks in the industrial and consumer sectors. He is a CFA charterholder and a Chartered Accountant registered with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, and holds a bachelor of commerce degree from the University of Madras.

Humphrey Knight

Humphrey Knight leads CRU's phosphate and potash analysis in the Fertilizer Team. Mr Knight  joined the company in August 2016 as the Fertilizer Team's Cost Analyst. In 2018, he became the company's potash analyst, subsequently adding phosphate analysis to his remit in 2022. Prior to joining CRU, he worked as a geologist at a major lead-zinc mine in the Republic of Ireland and at a gold exploration project in Mexico. He holds an MSci in Geology from Imperial College London and an MSc in Mining Geology from Camborne School of Mines (University of Exeter).

Tim Galusky

Tim Galusky has more than 25 years’ experience steering large capital mining projects – predominantly in copper, cobalt, molybdenum, and gold. Mr Galusky has managed and directed greenfield and expansion projects for Freeport-McMoRan in Chile, DRC Africa, Peru, and the United States. And he’s spearheaded the formation of URS Corporation’s mining EPCM projects division, while building up relationships with US clients. Before joining the Norge Mining team as Project Director, he led the engineering and construction of a gold leach project in northern Argentina, and for Equinox Gold Corporation in Mexico. We welcome his critical insight into the increasingly important environmental, sustainability and social responsibility aspects of modern mineral exploration.

Hakan Goral

Born in 1967, Hakan Göral graduated from Eskişehir Anatolian High School in 1985 and Boğaziçi University, Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1990. Mr Göral received his MS from Marmara University, Department of Industrial Engineering. He also attended advanced programs in Executive Management and Leadership at Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management and Stanford University. Between 1990 and 2002, he was in charge of coordinating supplier development, purchasing, and central purchasing operations as Group Manager in the Automotive Supply Coordination Group of Koç Holding and was also leading a number of projects within the Koç Automotive Group. He then worked as Deputy General Manager responsible for Sales, Human Resources, Information Technologies, Accounting, and Finance and CFO at Mako Elektrik (Magneti Marelli J.V.) between 2001 and 2004. In 2006, he assumed the title of Senior Vice President, Turkey at Componenta, which had acquired Döktaş, and served as Executive Board Member of Componenta Corporation and as the general manager of four business units in Turkey. He was also Member of the Board at Componenta Dökümcülük ve Ticaret A.Ş. and Kumsan A.Ş. Between 2012-2016, Göral was CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board at İnci Holding and was chairman or member the board of several İnci Holding Group Companies such as İnci Akü, İncitaş, ISM, İnci Lojistik, Aten Brantner, and Maxion İnci. Undertaken a task to act as Toros Tarım General Manager and Vice Chairman of Tekfen Holding responsible for the Agri-Industry Group in April 2016, he is the CEO of the Agri-Industry Group as of 2022.

Ajay Mahajan

Ajay Mahajan is the CEO of Overseas Chemicals Division at Aditya Birla group, a US $60 billion Indian Multinational Conglomerate. Mr Mahajan heads 4 divisions namely Phosphates, Sulphites, Chlor Alkali and Thai Peroxides and operates out of Bangkok, Thailand. Before taking over the role as the CEO, he was the global head of marketing for the four divisions from 2006 to 2013. Passionate about team building and mentoring young professionals, his focus has been to set up a strategic vision for the business and provide leadership to build sustainable competitive strength.

Ludwig Hermann

Ludwig Hermann has 35+ years of experience as technology, sustainability, and innovation manager on three continents, was co-founder and long-term CEO of ASH DEC Umwelt AG, is co-inventor of minerals/ash decontamination, phosphorus recovery, energy conversion and efficiency technologies, author and co-author of several patents, reports, papers and book chapters on recovery of critical materials, nutrient recycling and renewable energy.

Upendra Singh

Upendra Singh has more than 35 years of experience in soil-plant-nutrient dynamics and fertilizer research with emphasis on the development/application of crop simulation models and decision support systems (DSS) in agricultural research, extension, and decision-making. Mr Singh coordinates and conducts research in collaboration with National and International Agricultural Research Centers on better understanding and quantification of nutrient dynamics and environmental processes; development/co-development and evaluation of new fertilizer formulations; and development, field testing, and application of decision support software to simulate biophysical processes, with special emphasis on sustainable agriculture, crop yield forecasting, nutrient dynamics and environmental quality. He uses laboratory, greenhouse, and field research and modeling approach to evaluate the comparative agronomic, economic, and environmental advantages and tradeoffs to alternative technologies and cropping and nutrient management strategies. He has conducted research projects and training programs in over 36 countries and has more than 200 publications.

Andy Jung

Andy Jung joined The Mosaic Company in June 2013 to provide analysis supporting the short-term operating and raw materials sourcing decisions of the company, as well as identifying and evaluating long term growth opportunities. Mr Jung role includes providing analysis of strategic initiatives, as well as being a member of Mosaic’s Commercial Leadership Team. Prior to joining Mosaic, he served as a consultant at CRU for 10 years, where he held various positions, including management of the group's phosphate research program and leading a wide range of strategic consulting assignments across the agriculture, crop nutrient and raw materials sectors.

Marc Ostwald

Marc Ostwald – Chief Economist & Global Strategist, ADM Investor Services International Analysing and forecasting the impact of macro / microeconomic trends and central bank policies on a broad range of asset classes; examining and where necessary challenging market psychology and consensus views. The joy of working as a market economist is, and has always been the constant need to research and learn about the changing landscape of the way that the world works, going far beyond the limited scope of economics and financial markets; be that in respect of how globalization and technology has and is transforming nearly all aspects of communication, culture, energy and how we interact with the environment on all levels.

Brett Clark

Brett Clark is a senior executive with 25 years’ experience in the mining and energy sectors in funding, operations, project development and advisory, with Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd, CRA Limited, WMC Resources Limited, Iron Ore Company of Canada, Rio Tinto Limited and subsequently with Ernst and Young, Tethyan Copper Company Pty Ltd, Oakajee Port and Rail, Mitsubishi Development and Murchison Metals amongst others. Mr Clark has extensive leadership experience in executive and board positions held at both listed and unlisted companies. His commodity and regional experience covers fertilizers, gold, iron ore, copper, nickel, coal, industrial minerals, and upstream oil and gas across Australia, Africa, Asia, Latin America and North America. His funding experience includes bond raisings, debt restructuring, equity, and mezzanine financing in the US, Asian, and European capital markets. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Curtin University in Western Australia and Graduate Diploma of Business Management and Finance from Deakin University in Victoria.

Chris Tziolis

Chris Tziolis is the Managing Director of Verdant Minerals (formerly Run Jungle Resources). Mr Tziolis joined the company in October 2012 as the Director of Development Projects and was appointed to the Board as an Executive Director in June 2013 and Managing Director on 1 July 2014. Prior to this he was a Rio Tinto executive fulfilling a number of roles including the Chief Development Officer of Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) and the Manager Business Development and Rail and Port Infrastructure at Rio Tinto Coal Australia. Prior to joining Rio Tinto in 2006 Mr Tziolis was a consultant with McKinsey & Co where he worked predominantly on corporate strategy and operational performance improvement projects for global mining companies. He began his career as an Officer in the Royal Australian Navy where he specialised as Navigation and Warfare Officer. Mr Tziolis is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has a Bachelor of Science from the University of NSW, a Masters in International Relations from Deakin University and a Master of Business Administration from the Australian Graduate School of Management.

Eli Amon

Eli Amon has been serving since 2022 as President Deputy and Head of Commodities for ICL Growing Solutions Division. Mr Amon joined ICL in 1991 and served in various leading positions, including Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer for ICL from 2020 – 2022, Executive Vice President of Specialty Fertilizers from 2017-2019, Executive Vice President of Marketing Sales and Logistics ICL Fertilizers from 2014-2017, Vice President of Sales ICL Fertilizers from 2009-2014, Vice President of ICL Logistics from 2008-2009. He holds a BA in Economy, and an MBA from Ben Gurion University.

Lucas Moore

As Colonial Chemical’s VP of R&D, Lucas Moore is responsible for executing the company’s global innovation and technical service portfolio. He is primarily focused on the development and application of specialty surfactants for oil and mining, personal care, metalworking fluids, home and car care, and others. Lucas joined Colonial Chemical in April of 2022. Lucas has more than 15 years of experience in the specialty surfactants industry with positions at Arkema-ArrMaz, Kemira, and Ciba Specialty Chemicals. He is the author and co-author of more than 75 publications and is the co-inventor of more than 25 patent applications.

Ravi Rajshekar Hiremath

Ravi Rajshekar Hiremath is an experienced process control and applications engineering specialist with ~13 years of total professional experience including alumina refinery operations and applications development of mining chemicals. Mr Hiremath holds a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Univ. of Southern California and has in-depth knowledge of working environments in the chemical/manufacturing industry. Apart from acquaintance of financial impacts and influences of the product mix and process efficiencies on the EBITDA, he is also well versed with Statistical process Control and lean Six Sigma Tools. Mr Hiremath is a Certified Six Sigma Green Belt from American Society for Quality (ASQ). Recent works of Mr Hiremath include developing sustainable solutions for removal of cadmium and arsenic from phosphoric acid containing streams, developing procedures and products for plant and lab scale qualifying tests in order to evaluate the performance of Floatation Collectors, Scale Inhibitors, Crystal Growth Modifiers, Defoamers and Filtration Rate Enhancers.

John Sinden

As the Senior Partner of JSA Limited, John Sinden, an internationally recognized consultant to the fertilizer industry and agribusiness community, is now in his 50th year of service. Among his known assets – attributions a comment from a colleague/competitor sums up his philosophy- “John you are a Consultant 100% of the time but you are an “Insultant” for about 50% of the time”. Although mainly known today for his work in the fields of Phosphates and Granulation, he originally started in Nitric acid and Ammonium Nitrate. He has been a resident of Brazil for 35 years, but has worked in more than 80 countries on several hundreds of industrial and mine sites. Mr Sinden has worked in the following areas “line management”; “process engineering and design”, “projects design” and “R&D”. This full range of activities has given him a “different” approach to the problems. A happy “workaholic” who enjoys teaching and intents to continue for many more years and his current pace.

Philippe Rombaut

Philippe Rombaut is an industrialist with a passion for agriculture. Since 2001, he is 50% co-owner and CEO of Agropolychim AD (www.agropolychim.bg), a then state-owned Bulgarian fertilizer company in liquidation which he turned into the leading and one of the most profitable fertilizer company in the Balkans. Agropolychim sells yearly over 1.2 mio tons of fertilizers worldwide and is one of the very few fertilizer companies in Europe not impacted by the gas crisis. Mr Rombaut is also heavily involved in farming, owning a highly efficient 5000 ha farm in Northwest Bulgaria (Facebook: Agro Tsar Petrovo). The farm is moving to regenerative agriculture and is experimenting with quite some new approaches and technologies. Being an industrialist, he built on the farm the largest supercritical CO2 extraction facility (www.agroco2.com) in eastern Europe extracting the various medicinal and aromatic plants of Bulgaria mostly grown on the farm.