Hans van den Berg

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. 

Mark Bula

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.  

Jose Noldin

José Noldin is the CEO of GravitHy, a company launched by a world-class and international industrial consortium that aims to accelerate the decarbonization of the global steel industry by producing direct reduced iron (DRI) from low-carbon hydrogen. He oversees the development of the company, including its first project in Fos-sur-Mer (south of France), which will require 2.2 billion euros of investment and is expected to create over 3,000 direct and indirect jobs. For over 20 years, José Noldin has impacted the iron and steel industry by leading successful and innovative industrial ventures, with special focus in business impact and decarbonization.

Otto Gernandt

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.

Joachim von Scheele

Joachim von Schéele has been working with process and manufacturing industries, predominantly in steel, minerals, and metals production, but also in automotive, and chemical sectors, etc.

With a mix of metallurgical research and consultancy background, Joachim von Schéele joined the industrial gases industry in 1996. Since then, he has served in many different technical and commercial management roles at AGA, BOC, and Linde, and been actively doing business in more than 40 countries around the world. After a decade in Asia, first in India as VP for South Asia and then in China heading Application Development & Sales for Asia-Pacific, he is since 2020 based in Munich, Germany, pursuing his current role at Linde.

Focusing on decarbonisation including use of hydrogen, Joachim von Schéele is very much engaged in driving the sustainability agenda supporting steel, metals, mining, and other hard-to-abate industries to achieve measurable progress and success. Joachim von Schéele has published more than 200 papers, mainly on energy and emission conservation, recycling, and production, and authored chapters in five books, including on China in ‘Touching Hydrogen Future – Tour Around the Globe’. He has served as a member of more than 30 boards of companies, associations, and research and education organizations, and is included in Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in Engineering, and Who’s Who in Asia, and he holds seven patents related to metallurgical production.

Joachim von Schéele received his MS and PhD from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, and a BA from Stockholm University.

Henrik Adam

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.

Chris Asgill

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. 

James Campbell

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.

Matthew Poole

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.

Erik Hedborg

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.

Gareth Beese

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