BIOGRAPHY

Chris is Head of Steel, leading a global team of over 50 analysts and prices assessors providing timely, topical and insightful research on the steel industry.

He oversees a portfolio of services covering the key points along the steel value chain, including prices, supply and demand dynamics, and costs. Previously, Chris was the Analysis Lead for CRU’s global research in crude steel and ferrous metallics, and was editor of CRU's Crude Steel Market Outlook and Metallics Market Outlook. Chris joined CRU in April 2014 after having worked in the steel industry for 14 years across a range of strategy, supply chain and operational roles.

Chris has a Master of Business Administration from a leading Australian University, the Australian Graduate School of Business (AGSM) and a Bachelor of Engineering (Materials) from the University of Wollongong. Chris is based in CRU's London office. 

BIOGRAPHY

Gilles Miron is the Chief Commercial Officer of Hydnum Steel. He is an experienced Manager of international sales teams in the steel industry for all flat carbon product in EMEA and NAFTA . Has a strong management sales record in term of sales numbers and improving margins but also maintaining customer satisfaction and building strong customer relationship finding their steel solutions .
Gilles has developed advanced skills in International Project Management, Marketing Management, Operations Management, International Business, and Sales Management.

BIOGRAPHY

Hans van den Berg (1962) is the current CEO of Tata Steel Netherlands (TSN) and Tata Steel IJmuiden, a position he has held since 2021. Before his directorship, Van den Berg had already worked for 31 years at Tata Steel IJmuiden, formerly known as Koninklijke Hoogovens. He trained as a physicist and earned his PhD degree in physics from Leiden University in 1989. In 1999, he completed a dual MBA program at Nyenrode University and the University of Rochester in New York.

At the steelworks in IJmuiden, he held various roles in departments such as Blast Furnaces, Research & Development, the Oxygen Steel Plant, the Cold Rolling Mill, and the Direct Sheet Plant. Since 2016, he has been part of the management team of TSN and the IJmuiden branch, where he became CEO in October 2021 following the separation from the British division and the dissolution of Tata Steel Europe.  

Together with the other members of the Board of Directors, a team of experts and all other employees of Tata Steel Nederland, Hans is working on the implementation of TSN’s Green Steel plans with the first step in 2030. In parallel, TSN is executing an extensive plan with measures that are taken to prevent all possible forms of nuisance/emissions in the environment. Besides all technological innovations, Hans gets the most satisfaction from contact with the people on the shopfloor. 

BIOGRAPHY

José Noldin is the CEO of GravitHy, an industrial company backed by a world-class international consortium with the mission to accelerate the decarbonization of the European steel industry. GravitHy is pioneering the production of Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) using low-carbon hydrogen, with the unique value proposition of decoupling iron from steelmaking to bridge the competitiveness gap, support decarbonization, and reinforce Europe’s industrial sovereignty. Under Dr. Noldin’s leadership, the company is advancing a €2+ billion project in Fos-sur-Mer, France, to produce 2 million tonnes of DRI annually and create over 3,000 jobs (of which up to 500 direct jobs). GravitHy recently secured €60 million in funding and was named a Project of Major National Interest by the French government.

With a PhD in Metallurgical Engineering from PUC-Rio, Dr. Noldin is a recognized leader in the iron and steel industry, known for driving industrial innovation and sustainability. He frequently contributes to strategic policy dialogues at the French and European levels and currently serves as Chairman of AIST Europe. His work has earned him numerous awards, including the Thomas Medal, the Ironmaking Prize, and an AIST Presidential Citation, reflecting his impact across the global metals sector.

BIOGRAPHY

As a 35-year steel industry veteran, Mark has played pivotal roles in six steel start-up projects on three continents.  He was instrumental in the go-to-market strategy and commercial negotiations as the Chief Commercial Officer for Swedish-based Stegra, helping raise €7.0B to build the world's first green steel plant.

While most of Mark's career was in heavy industry, he spent three years as the Managing Director of a boutique strategic consulting company and a Corporate Director of Marketing for a building products company.  He has an MBA from the University of Toledo, USA.  He splits his time between Helsinki and London.  

BIOGRAPHY

Otto Gernandt is Chief Financial Officer at Stegra. He has more than 10 years of investment banking and investing experience. Prior to Stegra, Otto worked as an investment professional in London at Ventiga Capital Partners. Previous experiences include Goldman Sachs and Centerbridge Partners in London and New York, NY. Otto has a MSc in Business and Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics.

BIOGRAPHY

Anders Johannes Enghild is the Head of Climate, Nature, and Community Sustainability at Ørsted.

Anders has been 5 years with Ørsted. Before Ørsted, he worked in New York, Kigali, and Nairobi for Dalberg Global Development Advisors. At Ørsted, Anders is responsible for integrating Ørsted’s sustainability targets into the business – leading a team of experts making the plan for how to reach net-zero 2040, deliver a net-positive biodiversity impact by 2030, and collaborate meaningfully with host communities

Anders holds an MIA in Development Economics from Columbia University.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Adam is Vice President of Tata Steel, President of Eurofer and Chairman of Tata Steel Netherlands Holding. He also chairs the Steel Institute VDEh in Germany. He provides a vast experience in the steel industry, including production, sales, marketing and leadership roles outside the company i.e. at WorldAutoSteel. Dr. Adam joined Tata Steel in 2011 as Chief Commercial Officer for the Tata Steel Europe, following his tenure as CEO of ThyssenKrupp Electrical Steel and various roles at ThyssenKrupp before. Born in Essen, Germany, he holds a mechanical engineering degree and specializes in automotive engineering and materials application. Dr. Adam's career began in 1991 in vehicle safety technologies, later advancing to Managing Director of a German engineering consultancy. His contributions have shaped the industry's direction, emphasizing innovation and excellence in steel manufacturing.

BIOGRAPHY

James has over 25 years steel industry experience in a variety of market-focused roles. He heads CRU’s finished steel analysis team, providing thought leadership and guidance across flat products, long products and industry decarbonisation, including green steel.Prior to joining CRU, James worked for Tata Steel where he fulfilled a number of commercial roles in the UK and the Netherlands.

As well as being a member of the UK strip products commercial management team, James has worked in both strategic and operational marketing roles. Industry experience includes managing market insight, price policy, forecasting and strategy.James joined CRU in 2017 and managed CRU’s sheet steel and long products forecast services before moving to his current role.He holds a BSc (Hons) in Applied Chemistry from Aston University and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Birmingham, UK.

BIOGRAPHY

Stéphane TONDO, General Manager of ArcelorMittal is currently head of climate change - governmental affairs and in that function, he contributes to the decarbonization roadmap of European entities and its financing. Stéphane joined Sollac, a former company of ArcelorMittal in the automotive sales division in 1998 where he held several positions, from market development engineer, through key account manager and finally heading an automotive sales area. Since 2013, he has been Chief Marketing Officer in charge of Packaging, Oil and gas, and Electrical Steel segments within ArcelorMittal Europe Flat Products. Additionally, in March 2020, he took the role of Chief Executive Officer of ArcelorMittal Avelino & Canossa in Italy. Stéphane holds a degree as sales engineer from the Esidec business school in Metz (France).

BIOGRAPHY

Matthew has over 20 years of experience working in both consulting and the global steel industry.Prior to joining CRU in 2016, Matthew held a number of senior management positions within Tata Steel in Europe and its predecessor companies. These included Strategy Director for the Long Products Division and more recently Head of Portfolio Development across all Divisions. Matthew also spent five years living and working in France whilst working within the then Corus Rail business unit.

Since joining CRU as Head of Steel and Steel Raw Materials Consulting, he has led assignments across for a number of leading international companies within the steel value chain in Europe, China, the Middle East, Australia, Japan and SE Asia. In 2018, Matthew moved to Singapore to head up CRU Consulting’s APAC regional teams in Sydney, Beijing, Shanghai and Singapore alongside his steel role.

Since returning to the UK at the end of 2021, Matthew works as an Associate Managing Consultant for CRU Consulting, continuing to work on and develop major client accounts throughout the steel value chain and across the globe as well as further developing CRU Consulting’s offer in this ‘space’, especially in the area of decarbonisation and related ESG matters.

Matthew has a First Class Honours degree in Engineering from Loughborough University and a post-graduate diploma in Manufacturing and Management from Cambridge University. He holds an MBA from the ENPC School of International Business, Paris. He is a Sainsbury Management Fellow.

BIOGRAPHY

Rutger Gyllenram is a Swedish process metallurgist focusing on resource conservation and decarbonisation. He is the founder of Kobolde & Partners AB, a company working on raw material assessment and optimisation, and co-founder of FerroSilva AB, an industrial project on producing DRI from pellets with a reduction gas from gasified biomass followed by CCUS of the biogenic CO2 to produce ship fuel.

BIOGRAPHY

Gareth has over 20 years of experience working in businesses focused on the production and processing of steel. Before joining CRU Consulting, he held several senior leadership positions within British Steel, Tata Steel Europe and its predecessor companies, including strategy development, sales and marketing and supply chain director roles.Gareth has spoken at industry events, such as Eurometal World Steel Distribution Summit, sat on various UK Steel and Eurofer product committees and worked with UK governments on public procurement guidelines for steel.Gareth has recently joined the CRU Consulting team

BIOGRAPHY

Marcel Hilgers is Vice President Customers, Markets & Technology at thyssenkrupp Electrical Steel. He believes in listening to his customers and creating solutions to serve their true needs. With over 20-year of experience in the global steel business, and thereof over 10 years serving the transformer industry, he now works intensely on the green transformation of both steel and transformers.

Marcel leads the sales, technical customer engineering and communications team at thyssenkrupp Electrical Steel – the European market leader in grain oriented electrical steel. His key priority today is to inform the electricity industry about options to decarbonize the grid and to form alliances across raw material suppliers, transformer makers and electric utilities.

BIOGRAPHY

Simon Juul Toft is the Head of Green Procurement at Ørsted.

With over 15 years’ experience within procurement and supply chain, and 10 years in the energy sector, Simon has gained deep insight into the mechanics of the energy value chain. During his four years with Ørsted, Simon has worked intensively on the decarbonisation of steel and has the profound belief that the value chain needs to collaborate closely to drive industry-wide decarbonisation.

Simon holds a M.Sc. in Applied Economics from Copenhagen Business School

BIOGRAPHY

Matt Watkins leads CRU's forecast work on steel sheet globally and is also the European flat steel analyst.  He has worked in the commodities industry since 2001 in a variety of analysis, marketing and consulting roles including 13 years at CRU and over 6 years at Rio Tinto. 

Matt holds a BSc in Geology from the University of Durham, and an MSc in Mineral Exploration from Imperial College, London. 

BIOGRAPHY

After finishing my engineering studies with a Master’s Degree, I started with a procurement job in the automotive industry 30 years ago. At the beginning I started with steel components as fasteners, tubular products, forgings and others while later I became responsible for the flat steel and aluminium procurement on a global base, which is also my current responsibility. During my professional life I also gained international experience and stayed some years in Brasil, Italy and China. Currently my main topics besides the standard procurement activities is the green transition, which comes with lots of topics like the CBAM, supplier and customer targets for decarbonisation, increasing trade barriers, setting up our own plan for the decarbonisation and concluding agreements to make it happen.

BIOGRAPHY

Matthew has over 20 years of experience working in both consulting and the global steel industry.Prior to joining CRU in 2016, Matthew held a number of senior management positions within Tata Steel in Europe and its predecessor companies. These included Strategy Director for the Long Products Division and more recently Head of Portfolio Development across all Divisions. Matthew also spent five years living and working in France whilst working within the then Corus Rail business unit.

Since joining CRU as Head of Steel and Steel Raw Materials Consulting, he has led assignments across for a number of leading international companies within the steel value chain in Europe, China, the Middle East, Australia, Japan and SE Asia. In 2018, Matthew moved to Singapore to head up CRU Consulting’s APAC regional teams in Sydney, Beijing, Shanghai and Singapore alongside his steel role.

Since returning to the UK at the end of 2021, Matthew works as an Associate Managing Consultant for CRU Consulting, continuing to work on and develop major client accounts throughout the steel value chain and across the globe as well as further developing CRU Consulting’s offer in this ‘space’, especially in the area of decarbonisation and related ESG matters.

Matthew has a First Class Honours degree in Engineering from Loughborough University and a post-graduate diploma in Manufacturing and Management from Cambridge University. He holds an MBA from the ENPC School of International Business, Paris. He is a Sainsbury Management Fellow.

BIOGRAPHY

Erik Hedborg is the editor of CRU’s Iron Ore Market Outlook and joined CRU in 2017.

He previously worked as an analyst in the iron ore industry with special focus on the pellet market and China. Erik speaks fluent Chinese and holds a MSc from the Lulea University of Technology in Sweden and an MA from the Berlin School of Economics and Law.

BIOGRAPHY

Thais joined CRU in August 2015 and is the editor of CRU's Crude Steel Market Outlook and Metallics Market Outlook. Thais has over 13 years' experience in commodities research.

Prior to joining CRU, she worked at Nexa Resources, a Brazilian mining and metals producer, where she was responsible for the analysis of base metals markets. She holds a Business Administration degree from Fundação Getúlio Vargas and is based in CRU's Santiago office.