BIOGRAPHY

Chenfei is Head of CRU's Wire and Cable team, and works across the full portfolio of products analysing key trends and developments in both the metallic wire and cable, and optical fibre industries. He is a Principal Analyst and also the current editors of CRU's Telecom Cables Market Outlook and Optical Fibre and Cable Monitor. Chenfei joined CRU in early 2019 as an Analyst within the Wire and Cable team. At CRU, Chenfei held various editorship roles including Wire and Cable Market Outlook and HV and EHV Cables Market Outlook. Prior to CRU, Chenfei was working at Rolls-Royce in a variety of engineering leadership roles, with a focus on aeroengine technology development and manufacturing process improvement. He holds an MSc in Advanced Materials Science and Engineering from Imperial College London, and a BEng (Hons) in Chemical and Materials Engineering from the University of Auckland. Chenfei spent 3.5 years in CRU London office and he is now based in CRU Shanghai office.

BIOGRAPHY

Zdeněk Hruška graduated from Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague. He has been working at ČEPS since 2007. He used to work in the field of ancillary services; currently he is engaged in the development of the Czech electricity transmission system and technical strategy, including cooperation with other European operators. Zdeněk Hruška started working in the ENTSO-E organization in 2009. At the beginning, he was responsible for the preparation and setting up the creation of 10year network development plan. In recent years, he has been working for System development committee and as convenor of the team responsible for processing data and tools for the development of European transmission systems.

BIOGRAPHY

Charles Mellagui specialized in Energy at Nexans (one of the top cable manufacturers). He has lead businesses under challenging circumstances and delivered good returns to shareholders. He drives strategic planning process, growth, performance, operations and profitability and promotes Health & Safety culture. 

BIOGRAPHY

Zdeněk Hruška graduated from Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague. He has been working at ČEPS since 2007. He used to work in the field of ancillary services; currently he is engaged in the development of the Czech electricity transmission system and technical strategy, including cooperation with other European operators. Zdeněk Hruška started working in the ENTSO-E organization in 2009. At the beginning, he was responsible for the preparation and setting up the creation of 10year network development plan. In recent years, he has been working for System development committee and as convenor of the team responsible for processing data and tools for the development of European transmission systems.

BIOGRAPHY

Chenfei is Head of CRU's Wire and Cable team, and works across the full portfolio of products analysing key trends and developments in both the metallic wire and cable, and optical fibre industries. He is a Principal Analyst and also the current editors of CRU's Telecom Cables Market Outlook and Optical Fibre and Cable Monitor. Chenfei joined CRU in early 2019 as an Analyst within the Wire and Cable team. At CRU, Chenfei held various editorship roles including Wire and Cable Market Outlook and HV and EHV Cables Market Outlook. Prior to CRU, Chenfei was working at Rolls-Royce in a variety of engineering leadership roles, with a focus on aeroengine technology development and manufacturing process improvement. He holds an MSc in Advanced Materials Science and Engineering from Imperial College London, and a BEng (Hons) in Chemical and Materials Engineering from the University of Auckland. Chenfei spent 3.5 years in CRU London office and he is now based in CRU Shanghai office.

BIOGRAPHY

Prof. Maurizio Bragagni Esq OBE, CEO of Tratos UK Ltd, is a prominent business leader and philanthropist recognized for his innovative contributions to the cable industry. Recently, he has been at the forefront of advocating for sustainability and social responsibility within the industry. Acknowledged for his leadership, Prof Bragagni received an OBE for services to business and charity. He continues to drive Tratos' global success by integrating cutting-edge technologies and fostering ethical business practices. Bragagni also actively supports educational initiatives, enhancing industry standards and contributing to a sustainable future.

BIOGRAPHY

Quentin de Hults is the Director General of the International Copper Association Europe (ICA Europe) since April 1st, 2024. Trained as a mechanical engineer he spent his entire career working on topics related to the energy transition. He joined ICA Europe in 2021 as Director Green & Healthy Buildings, leading the work on energy efficiency, sustainability and electrical safety in buildings. Before joining ICA, he worked for 13 years at BASF, established and led the Modern Building Alliance, and accumulated over 10 years of experience in EU government relations.

BIOGRAPHY

Miles Prosser is the Secretary General of the International Aluminium Institute (IAI), the only body that represents the aluminium industry at the global level. With more than twenty years’ experience working on various industry policy issues, Miles brings in-depth knowledge on resource allocation, sustainability and climate change. Miles joined the IAI from the Australian Aluminium Council, where he served as Executive Director for more than ten years. He leads the IAI to promote the unique and valuable properties of aluminium in sustainable development. He holds an honours degree from the Australian National University. He is a member of the Institute of Directors in London.

BIOGRAPHY

Quentin de Hults is the Director General of the International Copper Association Europe (ICA Europe) since April 1st, 2024. Trained as a mechanical engineer he spent his entire career working on topics related to the energy transition. He joined ICA Europe in 2021 as Director Green & Healthy Buildings, leading the work on energy efficiency, sustainability and electrical safety in buildings. Before joining ICA, he worked for 13 years at BASF, established and led the Modern Building Alliance, and accumulated over 10 years of experience in EU government relations.

BIOGRAPHY

Miles Prosser is the Secretary General of the International Aluminium Institute (IAI), the only body that represents the aluminium industry at the global level. With more than twenty years’ experience working on various industry policy issues, Miles brings in-depth knowledge on resource allocation, sustainability and climate change. Miles joined the IAI from the Australian Aluminium Council, where he served as Executive Director for more than ten years. He leads the IAI to promote the unique and valuable properties of aluminium in sustainable development. He holds an honours degree from the Australian National University. He is a member of the Institute of Directors in London.

BIOGRAPHY

Since 2022, Layla Sawyer is the Secretary General of CurrENT, the voice of innovative grid technology companies in Europe. She was previously Head of Business Development at smartEn, where she worked on demand-side flexibility, digitalisation and the future of prosumer models. She has also worked at Urgenda, a national climate NGOs in the Netherlands, advocating for more urgency in the Dutch energy transition, and she spent a year in the Philippines working for a social investment fund specialized in climate resilient enterprises. She studied Sustainable Business and Innovation at the University of Utrecht, with a special focus on energy and material transitions and p2p energy trading.

BIOGRAPHY

Joshua Dorfman is President at American Wire Group (AWG), where he works directly with clients, and helps to manage the company's strategic efforts in the renewable energy and transmission industries.    As a third-generation owner of AWG, Josh has worked in several roles over the past 18 years, including COO, Director of Renewable Energy and VP, Sales & Marketing. Through these roles he has become a subject matter expert in power system wire and cable design, manufacturing and applications spanning T&D Cables, Underground Distribution Cables for Collection Systems, Substation Cables, Fiber Optic Cables, and Cables for Special Applications.   Since 2008, Josh has supported over 500 MW, annually, in utility-scale solar power PV and wind power generation projects. By focusing on our AWG’s customers’ needs in cable engineering, schedule control, project management, and financial engineering, the company has created innovative solutions for its customers that reduce costs, lower risk, and drive schedules during the construction phase of renewable generation facilities and transmission projects. Josh has built many relationships with EPCs, contractors, developers and utilities based on his years of service in the industry.   Josh holds a Master of Business Administration from Loyola University, Quinlan School of Business, specializing in Entrepreneurship & Operations Management and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and International Marketing from the George Washington University.

BIOGRAPHY

Mark is now Head of Training, Learning and Development for Eland Cables, having previously been Technical Director at BASEC for 4 and a half years, and prior to that having had 22 years in cable manufacturing businesses Draka Prysmian, Nexans and British Cables Company.  Mark has progressed through the lab, fire testing, technical sales and marketing along with product category management and accreditation and approval schemes, giving him an all-around perspective of cable approvals, manufacturing and the International cables market.

BIOGRAPHY

David Leah leads the outlook for automotive demand, production and electrification at CRU. He is a narrator of the unprecedented change in the automotive industry and its significance for commodity markets.David has a wealth of experience working at leading automotive forecasting and analysis firms. He holds a MSc in International Business Economics from Oxford Brookes University.

BIOGRAPHY

Simon is CEO of Exawatt, which provides strategic consulting, detailed cost forecasting and supply-chain analysis in sectors that are united by common theme: decarbonisation through electrification. These include energy storage, electric vehicles (EV), power electronics and solar PV. Exawatt’s customers span the entire supply chain, from mining companies to major solar/storage developers and EV manufacturers. The company was acquired by CRU Group in early 2023.   Prior to founding Exawatt in 2015, Simon was the co-founder of a PV module factory design and integration company.In 2008, he was part of the founding team of a startup technology company dedicated to improving the efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells. An electrical engineer by first degree, Simon began his career in the UK steel industry and spent time in the US as a business and technology journalist, management consultant and CEO of a publicly traded US software company, before making the move into renewable energy in 2008.   Simon holds a master’s degree in Science Communication from Imperial College London, and an undergraduate degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

BIOGRAPHY

Erik Plieth holds the position of Deputy Head of Sales and Execution at Südkabel, Mannheim, Germany. He is responsible for overseeing the Project Management operations. His primary duties involve coordinating and directing all global business operations related to Extra-High-Voltage (EHV) and High-Voltage (HV) Cable Systems.

BIOGRAPHY

BIOGRAPHY

Yann Duclot is the Nexans Acceleration Units Director at Nexans, where he oversees 4 Business lines, including Nexans Solar Technologies and Nexans MCS (Machines, Cryogenics, Superconductivity). With over 25 years of experience in Business Unit Management, Transformation of organisation, Management of the Innovation, Yann has been instrumental in scaling up business activities and driving company’s growth and profitability and. He hold an MSC from Grenoble Ecole de Management (GEM). Yann is also a Board Member of CurrENT and animated by “Making a dent in the Universe”. Prior to joining Nexans, he has spent 11 years at Cavotec and was an Executive Member of the company as Chief Sales & Marketing Officer.

BIOGRAPHY

Christian Kjaer works as Chief Public Affairs Officer at SuperNode Ltd, in Dublin, Ireland. SuperNode Ltd. is a cutting-edge global technology company that develops terrestrial and subsea superconducting power transmission systems to connect offshore renewable energy generation and facilitate bulk power transfer and grid interconnection. SuperNode was founded by Irish renewable energy entrepreneur Dr. Eddie O’Connor and is co-owned by Irish investors and Norwegian offshore industrial group Aker Horizons.

Christian Kjaer has served as chairperson of Brussels-based CurrENT, the association of innovative grid technology companies, since January 2023. He is Chair of Wind Energy Ireland's Working Group on EU Energy Policy. Christian Kjaer, has more than 20 years of experience in renewable energy. He served as CEO of the European wind energy sector’s industry association WindEurope in Brussels for seven years (2006-2013) and was the organisation’s policy director for four years prior to that.

Christian Kjaer has been Head of Unit at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in Abu Dhabi, advising its 159 member countries on how to develop frameworks for deploying renewable energy technologies and its related infrastructure. He served as senior adviser at the Nordic Council of Ministers’ energy unit, Nordic Energy Research in Oslo and was CEO of Danish wind energy association, WindDenmark (now Green Power Denmark) prior to that. In September 2016, Danish energy minister Lars Chr.

Lilleholt appointed Christian Kjaer to join the Stakeholder Forum (“Energinets Interessentforum”) of Danish national TSO, Energinet. He was reappointed in January 2018. In parallel he served as a member of Energinet's Electricity Market Advisory Board ("Elmarkedets Advisory Board"). Christian Kjaer was a member of the Board of Directors at the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) for seven years and a member of the Board of Directors of the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) in Brussels from 2006 to 2013. He was an Expert Reviewer on the IPCC’s 4th and 5th Assessment Reports on Climate Change (2007 and 2014) and served as Review Editor on the IPCC’s Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources (2011).

BIOGRAPHY

A Mechanical Engineer by training with extensive Electrical Engineering experience. Currently the Technology Manager, Power Cables, leading the Power Cable R&D team within the Technology Department at JDR Cable Systems. Extensive, in-depth experience in submarine power cable R&D, focusing on 33kV, 66kV, and future high voltage submarine cable and their associated accessories for the offshore wind market. With a solid understanding of both static and dynamic applications in their challenging marine environments, including their detailed design and qualification requirements, Joe is passionate about advancing cable system technology helping to maintain JDR's position as a key player in the industry's evolution.

BIOGRAPHY

John is the MD of Carbon3IT Ltd, a sustainable ICT consultancy, he is also the chair of the UK BSI TCT7/3 committee that deals with the ISO/IEC 22237/EN 50600 Data Centre design, build and operate and ISO/IEC 30134 series of data centre KPI standards. He is the chair of the Data Centre Alliance, energy efficiency and standards committee, the vice chair of the BCS Green IT committee and sits on the TechUK Data Centre Council. Carbon3IT Ltd, provides support to organisations that are preparing to adopt various data centre standards including the more general standards such as Quality, Environment, Business Continuity, Information Security, and Energy Management. They also provide specialist niche consultancy in the field of Green IT including Data Centre Energy Efficiency & Sustainability. He is also the Technical Director of the National Data Centre Academy, (www.nationaldatacentre.academy) which provides practical technical training to the data centre community.

BIOGRAPHY

Deborah leads Eland Cables’ Sustainability & ESG work in addition to the wider communications efforts, ensuring the actions taken, and the communications shared with stakeholders internally and externally, are clear, relevant and of value. Over the last 10 years she has helped Eland Cables take an industry lead in work with customers across large-scale electrification, digitalisation, industrial automation and green energy projects, highlighting and educating on environmental benefits and social value without compromise to quality, compliance, or scope of works.  

BIOGRAPHY

Alberto is Public Affairs Director at Europacable, the European wire and cable manufacturers association in Brussels which includes the largest cable makers in the world providing global technology leadership, as well as highly specialized small- and medium sized businesses from across Europe. Mr Lampasona joined Europacable in 2018 as Public Affairs Manager, after previously working for public affairs consultancies where he advised clients on energy and environmental policies, the Italian Government delegation managing the Italian EU Presidency of the Council in 2014 and the European Commission. He holds a Master’s Degree in EU International and Diplomacy Studies from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium.

BIOGRAPHY

Paul Gustavsson, CEO of Elcowire Group with Headquarter in Helsingborg, Sweden with a MBA from Copenhagen Business School and previously been Managing Director and Head of Business Unit within Buhler Group. Elcowire is one of the leading suppliers in Europe of products based on copper and aluminum wire rod, copper ropes, profiles and conductor materials made of copper, copper alloys for the electrical and infrastructure industry and contributes to the global transition to renewable energy. The solutions enable efficient energy transmission and can be found in everything from electric vehicles to power transmission within and between countries - above and below ground. In short, the Elcowire Group contributes to everything related to electrification.