Agenda

Head of Wire and Cable,  CRU
Michael 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. Michael joined CRU Analysis in 2015 gaining experience across several commodities including; nickel, chrome, molybdenum and stainless steel. Before Joining CRU, Michael gained experience as an exploration geologist focusing on precious and base metal mineralisation in North Africa. He completed his undergraduate studies at Cardiff University where he attained a First Class degree with Honours in Geology. He also holds an MSc in Mining Geology (Distinction) from Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter.

Managing Director Business Group Automotive Cable Solutions,  LEONI AG
Markus heads the business group automotive cable solutions (BG AM) of LEONI AG. For years, BG AM has been one of the world’s leading companies in the development, manufacturing and sales of automotive cables. Markus has been working for LEONI for almost twenty years. During this time, Markus had the chance to manage various businesses of LEONI AG, e.g. the classical wire business, industrial solutions and now the automotive cable solutions business. He holds a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Business Administration.

Head of Wire and Cable,  CRU
Michael 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. Michael joined CRU Analysis in 2015 gaining experience across several commodities including; nickel, chrome, molybdenum and stainless steel. Before Joining CRU, Michael gained experience as an exploration geologist focusing on precious and base metal mineralisation in North Africa. He completed his undergraduate studies at Cardiff University where he attained a First Class degree with Honours in Geology. He also holds an MSc in Mining Geology (Distinction) from Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter.

Managing Director Business Group Automotive Cable Solutions,  LEONI AG
Markus heads the business group automotive cable solutions (BG AM) of LEONI AG. For years, BG AM has been one of the world’s leading companies in the development, manufacturing and sales of automotive cables. Markus has been working for LEONI for almost twenty years. During this time, Markus had the chance to manage various businesses of LEONI AG, e.g. the classical wire business, industrial solutions and now the automotive cable solutions business. He holds a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Business Administration.

Secretary General,  ENTSO-E
Laurent Schmitt is ENTSO-E’s Secretary General since January 2017. Before joining ENTSO-E, he was Global Smart Grid Strategy Leader at General Electric Grid Solutions. Laurent worked in Europe, the United States and Asia, first on power generation then on transmission and distribution specialising in smart grids solutions. Laurent is a member of strategic committees in CIGRE, IEC, EPRI and European Smart Cities Platform. He took part in expert task forces of the IEA and the European Commission. In 2015, he was named one of the most 40 influential people in the European Smart Grid by the Metering & Smart Energy International Magazine. Laurent is a French national. He graduated in Power System Engineering from Supélec in Paris and holds an Executive MBA from INSEAD, France.

Vice President Product Sales & Marketing,  Aurubis AG
Stefan Gröner is Vice President Products Sales and Marketing at Europe`s largest copper producer Aurubis. He has been working in steel and metals business for more than 25 years and holds a degree in Business Adminstration.

Principal Consultant,  CRU
Richard Mack joined KMI in 1988 and became a CRU analyst when CRU acquired KMI in 2006. He has been involved in fibre optics as an editor and analyst since 1981. He is a regular contributor to CRU’s bi-monthly Optical Fibre and Cable Monitor and the semi-annual Telecom Cables Market Outlook. Mack has a BA from the University of Delaware and an MS from Boston University.

President,  Superior Essex Communications
Brad Johnson is the President of Superior Essex Communications, a role in which he has served for the last three years. He has over 35 years of experience in the Communications industry and has been part of the Superior Essex team, in multiple roles, for over two decades. Brad emphasizes new product development, manufacturing efficiencies and product line growth to further cultivate opportunities with current and future Superior Essex customers. His current priority focus includes Sustainability, Intelligent Buildings and Hybrid cabling. He is also focusing on ways to collaborate -- and accelerate -- the market-leading sustainability platform that Superior Essex has built through mutually beneficial relationships with both customers and suppliers.

Vice President and General Manager, Optical Fiber and Cable,  Corning Incorporated

Dr. Bernhard Deutsch was appointed vice president and general manager, Optical Fiber and Cable in February 2018.  
Deutsch joined Corning Cable Systems (Siemens Communication Cables) in 1995 as manager, application and systems engineering in Munich, Germany. Since then he held various roles with growing leadership responsibilities in technology, marketing and market development, program and product line management.
Prior to joining Corning, Deutsch was research director at Grohmann Engineering GmbH (now Tesla Grohmann Automation) in Prüm, Germany and served in the German Air Force.
Deutsch holds more than 15 patents and is the co-author of four books and numerous national and international publications. He is a council member of the International Cable Makers Federation (ICF) and has served on advisory boards of Paxio Inc. and Optical Solutions Inc., the Sector Board Telecommunications of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), as chairman of the FTTH Council’s Technology Committee, and on the board of directors of the Catawba Science Center and Canine Companions for Independence.
He holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany.

CEO - Connectivity Solutions,  Sterlite Technologies Limited
Ankit Agarwal CEO - Connectivity Solutions, STL heads the Optical Fibre, Optical Fibre cable, Fibre connectivity and Copper cable products business. He is also managing Sterlite Ventures – Sterlite Tech’s strategic investments in high bandwidth applications in Healthcare, Education and IOT. He has been instrumental in expanding the global footprint of the Telecom business by successfully executing and managing Joint Ventures in China and Brazil. In addition to Joint Ventures, he is also responsible for executing strategic opportunities such as Mergers & Acquisitions and Greenfield projects globally for Sterlite Tech. Prior to Sterlite Tech, Ankit led the Corporate Strategy of Vedanta Resources and played a key role in Vedanta’s strategic transactions including its$8.6 billion acquisition of Cairn India, and $2.6 billion bid for ASARCO. As an Analyst at the Investment Banking division of Deutsche Bank (London) prior to his stint at Vedanta, he played a significant role in cross-border transactions such as Tata Steel’s acquisition of Corus for US$12 billion & Eurasian Natural Resources $2.7 billion IPO. Ankit holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California and an MBA degree from London Business School.

Vice President, Telecom Solutions,  Prysmian

Antoni Bosch is currently Vice President Telecom Solutions Business Unit in Prysmian Group since 2013. He also is Board member of the FTTH Council Europe since 2016.
With more than 25 years’ experience in the telecom industry has a proven track record of business achievements and experience mainly in sales, marketing and business management in an international environment. In his current position hold a unique view of the worldwide telecom market, dealing with the major telecom operators worldwide and managing a business over 800mln€, although being mainly Europe centric it is spread within EMEA, Americas and APAC regions. Antoni Bosch holds a MSc degree in Telecommunications Engineering by Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Barcelona) with a MBA from Esade Business School (Barcelona)and an Executive PDG from Iese Business School (Barcelona) and SDA Bocconi (Milan). He joined Prysmian in 1998 and since then he has developed his professional career within the telecom business holding several positions as Business Manager and Sales & Marketing Director.
Before joining Prysmian he worked in the telecom sector as a Consultant and Head of Systems of the Air Traffic Control Center of Barcelona Airport.

Managing Director,  Midal Cables

Mr. Hamid Rashid Al Zayani a Baccalaureate in Business Administration from American University, Beirut holds position of Honorary Counsellor of the Republic of Albania in Bahrain.
He is the Founding Partner of Al Zayani Investments, a dynamic company with a proven track record in the fields of Industry, Banking, Automobile Distribution, Property, Hotels and Services. He is the Chairman of Bahrain Welding Wire, Bahrain Specialist Hospital, Al Jazeera Tourism Company and heads the Industry and Energy Committee that was formed to draw strategy to the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce & Industry Board on issues relating to Industry and Energy.
 He is the Managing Director of Midal Cables Limited, Metal Form and also Chair’s the Board of all the subsidiaries of Midal at their international locations, such as UK, Turkey, Saudi, Canada, Kenya and Mozambique. He also holds a position as Director in Imerys Al Zayani Fused Minerals W.L.L 
He is the Vice Chairman of Rashid Alzayani Foundation, Madem Gulf Industries and Arab Federation for Engineering Industries.
He is the President of Arab Cable Manufacturers Association and International Cablemakers Federation (Vienna) along with being the Board Member of Gulf Closures WLL and Child Care Home.
 Mr. Hamid Rashid Al Zayani’s past positions include that of the President and Board Member of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Bahrain.

CEO,  Sarkuysan A.S
Sevgür Arslanpay had been graduated from Technical University of Istanbul, as Chemical Engineer in 1983. Following his graduation, Arslanpay started working within the same year at Sarkuysan A.S. which is the largest copper rod&wire producer in Turkey. Since then, he has worked at various positions within the Company and finally was appointed as General Manager as of July 1st, 2015. In addition to his position at Sarkuysan A.S. he is the member of the board at Demisas A.S., Sarmakina A.S., Sark Wire in Usa and Sark - Bulgaria in Bulgaria. He is also active in various business councils and professional organizations; as Vice Chairman of Turkish Exporters Non-Ferrous Association and Turkish-Bulgarian Business Council.

Director General,  FTTH Council Europe
Erzsébet Fitori joined the FTTH Council Europe as Director General on 1 September 2016. Erzsébet Fitori brings to this position more than 10 years of experience in regulatory affairs and public policy, including four years as Director at the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA), a trade association representing over 100 pro-competitive operators across Europe. During these years she has overseen ECTA’s public policy, regulatory and PR activities as well as being responsible for the association’s engagement with the EU institutions, national regulators and governments among other responsibilities. Prior to joining ECTA as Regulatory Affairs Manager in February 2008 Erzsébet was Head of Regulatory Affairs at Telenor Hungary in Budapest. In her early career she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of European Law and Private International Law at the University of Miskolc in Hungary.

Director of Public Affairs,  Europacable
Volker Wendt is the Director of Public Affairs of Europacable, the association of the leading European wire and cable manufacturers. He is responsible for the association’s lobbying engagements covering energy, telecommunication, environmental and industry policies. Before joining Europacable, Dr. Wendt spent 10 years with Burson-Marsteller, one of Brussel´s leading public affairs consulting firms. As Director and Deputy Chairman of the EMEA Energy Team, he developed and led public affairs campaigns in Brussels and across Europe. On a pro-bono basis, he served as Director to the European Fire Academy, EFA, a network of senior European fire officers. He holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Passau, Germany. He and his wife have one daughter.

Chief Economist,  CRU
Jumana Saleheen is Chief Economist at CRU, where she is Head of Economics. She has over 20 years of experience in economic analysis, and over 10 years of experience leading diverse teams.Jumana joined CRU in July 2018 from the Bank of England where she worked for over 20 years. In her most recent role at the Bank, she was Head of Division in the Financial Stability Directorate, working to assess financial market risk. Prior to that, Jumana worked in various roles, advising the Banks’ Monetary Policy Committee on their interest rate decisions. She has published her research in a number of books and leading journals, including Economica and the Journal of International Economics. She has also written a number of influential policy papers on labour markets, productivity and finance. Jumana has a PhD in Economics from University College London, and a M.Sc. and B.Sc. from the London School of Economics.

Industrial Analyst,  Credit Suisse
Max Yates works on the Credit Suisse Industrials Equity research team focusing on a range of end markets including cables. He has nine years of experience working as a financial analyst looking at both developed market and emerging market companies. Specifically, on the cables he has written detailed reports on consolidation trends in Cables and the Submarine cable market structure and covers related companies, Prysmian, Nexans and NKT. He graduated with a BA (hons) degree from Trinity College Dublin.

Analyst,  CRU
Chenfei joined CRU as an Analyst within the Wire and Cable Team and is the current editor of CRU’s Wire and Cable Market Outlook. Prior to CRU, Chenfei spent 4 years working at Rolls-Royce in a variety of engineering leadership roles, with a focus on aeroengine technology development and process improvement. He holds an MSc in Advanced Materials Science and Engineering (Distinction) from Imperial College London, and a BEng (Hons) in Chemical and Materials Engineering (First Class and Dean’s List) from the University of Auckland.

Secretary General,  Union of the Electricity Industry - Eurelectric

Kristian Ruby is a widely recognised expert with a strong communication profile and extensive experience in political affairs. He joined Eurelectric from Wind Europe, where he served as Chief Policy Officer and was in charge of development and implementation of the political strategy.
Prior to this, Ruby worked as a journalist and served seven years as a public servant in the Danish Ministries of Environment, and Climate and Energy and in the European Commission in the cabinet of the former Climate Action chief, Connie Hedegaard. Kristian holds a master degree in history and international development.

Chief Executive Officer,  Ducab
In 2018 UAE-based Ducab had worldwide sales of Euro 1.2 billion from its three divisions – Cables, High Voltage and Metals. The company is a regional leader in wire and cables up to 400kV and supplies both copper and aluminium rod to international customer base. Prior to joining Ducab in 2017, Andrew served as the CEO of Prysmian Cables and Systems, China. Andrew has a degree from Imperial College and a MBA from London Business School.

Principal Consultant,  CRU
Richard Mack joined KMI in 1988 and became a CRU analyst when CRU acquired KMI in 2006. He has been involved in fibre optics as an editor and analyst since 1981. He is a regular contributor to CRU’s bi-monthly Optical Fibre and Cable Monitor and the semi-annual Telecom Cables Market Outlook. Mack has a BA from the University of Delaware and an MS from Boston University.

Head of Wire and Cable,  CRU
Michael 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. Michael joined CRU Analysis in 2015 gaining experience across several commodities including; nickel, chrome, molybdenum and stainless steel. Before Joining CRU, Michael gained experience as an exploration geologist focusing on precious and base metal mineralisation in North Africa. He completed his undergraduate studies at Cardiff University where he attained a First Class degree with Honours in Geology. He also holds an MSc in Mining Geology (Distinction) from Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter.

Director Strategy and Business Development,  CommScope
Rudy Musschebroeck is Director, Market and Strategy Development with CommScope's Network Cable and Connectivity Business Unit. Since joining CommScope in 2011, Rudy has worked in the fields of product management and business development, translating market environment and technology trends in product solutions, driving R&D development programs and leading the market development efforts. His recent focus has been on fixed-wireless network convergence, network virtualization, central office and datacenters solutions and automated infrastructure management. Before joining CommScope, he was active for 11 years in the consumer electronics industries with Philips Electronics, where he held various management positions in business development, product management, marketing and sales, after starting his career in research and development. Rudy holds a master’s degree in electronics engineering from the Free University of Brussels (VUB), Belgium.

Telecom Business Unit Director,  ACOME Group
Stéphane Samson has been in the Telecom industry for over 15 years. Civil Engineer graduated from the ESTP he started as a financial analyst at Arthur Andersen then move to the Telecom industry. He started his career at Prosodie-Cap Gemini to develop customer experience solution before moving to Anovo Group to manage reverse logistic and supply chain solutions to some of the european’s largest telecom operators. He joined Acome Group in 2012 as a Sales Director for the telecom division. He is now the Telecom Business Unit Director with responsabilities on Sales, Technical, Marketing and Production and member of the Group Executive Committee. With more than 500 M€ turnover, Acome is a telecom and automotive cable manufacturer, one of the european leader. More than 50% of the turnover is done outside France.

International Market Director Cables & Wires,  Sonepar
William Toulemonde is a global executive with extensive experience in the Cables & Wires Industry. He joined Sonepar International Services, based in Geneva Switzerland, 4 years ago. He is coordinating the Cables & Wires Sonepar business Worldwide. Sonepar is an independent family-owned company with global market leadership in B-to-B distribution of electrical products, solutions and related services. In 2019, Sonepar group is celebrating its 50 years anniversary, it operates in 44 countries through 170 Operating companies with close relationship with thousands of customers and business partners. Sonepar develop long-term partnerships with high-quality manufacturers including Cables & Wires Industry leaders. William will share together with Ulrich Köhler, Global Supply Chain Director Sonepar about Cable distribution market and supply chain challenges and opportunities.

Chief Executive,  European Copper Institute
Bernard Respaut, a Belgian national, holds a degree of Engineering in Applied Mathematics from the University of Louvain and an MBA degree from the University of Chicago. Having started his professional journey with McKinsey & Company, he passed through the food, flat glass and industrial minerals industries where he worked across a number of areas including strategic development, mergers and acquisitions and corporate restructuring. He took the helm at the European Copper Institute in January 2017. A fluent speaker of six languages and a keen violinist, Bernard’s aim is to make the European Copper Institute a “go-to organization”, ensuring copper’s role in securing a sustainable future for Europe is well recognized and integrated.

Manager of Statistical Analysis,  International Copper Study Group
Shairaz Ahmed is the Manager of Statistical Analysis at the International Copper Study Group in Lisbon. He has been with the Study Group since 2014. His responsibilities include the preparation of the industry-renowned Monthly Copper Bulletin, Directory of Copper Mines & Plants, World Copper Factbook and providing ICSG’s macroeconomic forecasts. Shairaz holds more than ten years’ of experience in base metals research. Prior to joining the ICSG, he worked for CRU and Thomson Reuters GFMS in London as a Senior Analyst. Shairaz read Economics & Geography from Queen Mary University of London in 2007 and holds an MSc in Financial Markets & Derivatives from London Metropolitan Business School in which he achieved a Distinction.

Head of Aluminium, Consulting,  CRU
Zaid Aljanabi joined CRU Consulting in January 2017, bringing extensive experience from the aluminium and nonferrous metals industry. Prior to CRU, Zaid spent more than six years in the Middle East working for Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), where he led the market research unit and held various positions within marketing and sales, corporate strategy and finance. He previously worked in London for several years for a number of commodity-focused consultants as an analyst, where he also managed the precious and base metals research unit at Diapason Commodities Management. He began his commodities research career in 2002 as a global energy economist with AUPEC, an oil and gas consultancy firm. Zaid holds an MA with honours in Economic Science from the University of Aberdeen and an MSc in Economics from the University of Amsterdam. Zaid is fluent in Arabic and French.

Director,  Futong Group
Mr. XU Jianzhong (Greg), is the Member of the Board of Futong Group. He has been working in the industry of optical fiber, wire and cable about 22 years since 1997 in a variety of management roles. He started his career since 1992 to 1997 in the industry of electrical security and building automation systems. He holds MS degree of Optoelectronics from Chinese Academy of Sciences and BS degree of Optoelectronics from Harbin Institute of Technology in China.

Principal Analyst,  IDATE DigiWorld

Roland Montagne joined IDATE in 1998 and he is now Principle Analyst. In his position he is responsible of IDATE Consulting and Research activities covering Broadband and FTTx fields. Mr Montagne played a leading role in previous IDATE International studies. He has carried out several studies dealing with European Broadband roll out as annual Surveys on Broadband Access for the DGInfSo. Since 2004, Roland Montagne is leading FTTx works at IDATE and is also the project leader, twice a year, for the FTTH Council Europe European FTTH projects panorama (16th edition in 2018). Since 2013, on yearly bases, Roland is conducting FTTH projects Panorama for Latin America FTTH Chapter (14 countries covered), FTTH Council APAC (14 countries studied/5th edition), FTTH Council MENA (19 countries covered), and leading an annual worldwide FTTx watch service proposed by IDATE and covering more than 70 countries (10th edition). In 2017, Roland conducted the second FTTH Panorama for Africa (FTTH Council Africa).

Roland Montagne in his position of Director Business Development is also responsible for IDATE DigiWorld commercial strategy.

Roland Montagne is a Telecommunications Engineer (ENST Paris, 1994) and received a Master on Electronics (University Paris 6, 1994). He also worked for AT&T Bell laboratories (USA) as Engineer on DWDM Optical Networks and ATM technologies. He started his carrier in the France Telecom R&D labs working on optical communications.

CEO & Founder,  JST Consulting Inc.
Takashi Hasegawa started his carrier in Sumitomo Electric Industries as a Process Engineer, and spent two years as VP of Chengdu SEI fibre optics in China from 1999. After that in charge of Sales Engineer, Oversea Contract and Start-up of Joint Venture Company, and after the final position of Principal Analyst, Team leader of Marketing & Business Planing team, he left Sumitomo in 2018, established his own firm. Now he is the CEO of JST Consulting Inc. and providing Business strategy consulting & Market research service.

Operations Manager FOXROD,  Aurubis AG
Wouter Haels joined Aurubis in 2016 where he started as a Process Engineer for production of ETP-copper. Since 2018 he is responsible for the production of Oxygen-free copper and alloys.

Managing Director,  Enertechnos
Dominic Quennell is Managing Director and a founder of Enertechnos – a pioneering energy technology innovation company dedicated to enabling ‘better electricity’. The business aims to reduce electrical losses in the energy system through its research and innovations, including the ground-breaking ‘Capacitive Transfer System’ (CTS) cable. Dominic previously worked for many years in the hi-tech printing machinery industry, establishing and running distributor operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He spent six years based in Japan with Duplo Corporation as Vice President of Global Marketing. He managed the transition of the business from conventional ink-based printing to commercial-scale digital printing. This was a significant disruption to the established industry but one which is now accepted as providing benefits to producers, users and customers alike.

Technical Manager,  Ampashield NV
Peter Walmsley – BSc Hons (Open University 2003). He started his career in the aerospace industry moving onto the non-ferrous extrusion industry; design and manufacture of machines and then transferred into the production and R&D departments for Copper products for the electrical technical industry. He is considered as an expert in the process of continuous Copper extrusion.

CTO,  ZTT Preform Rod
Jiang Xin Li has Ph.D. in Physics from University of Massachusetts. From 1997-2012, he was senior Engineer in Lucent and OFS, where his work focused on the innovation of preform manufacture process and the development of the new products. He was Distinguished Member of Technical Staff of OFS.

 

He joined ZTT group in 2012. Currently, he is CTO of ZTT optical fiber preform factory and is leading the development of various single mode, multimode and specialty fiber products. He has authored and co-authored 40 papers and holds more than 15 patents.

Commercial Manager for Germanium Products in Europe and Asia,  Umicore
Pieter graduated at Ghent University as a Master in Materials Chemistry. After a brief period as a researcher at Ghent University he joined Umicore in 2013 as Process and Product Development Manager for the germanium semiconductor department. After obtaining a Master in Business degree from Solvay Business School in Brussels, he joined the Umicore Germanium Commercial Team in 2017. He now supports both the supply and the sales of germanium related products with a strong focus on developing a sustainability framework for germanium.

Venture Partner,  THINKT Digital GmbH
Virginia’s expertise results from her experience in the Startup industry, from founding her first company at the age of 16, as a business developer for high-growth startups, an analyst at a global VC-fund, Startup Mentor, and consultant for large companies making ‘digital transformation’ a company strategy. At NKT's Digital Hub, Virginia is managing several projects, with the mission to build digital solutions for the entire cable and energy sector. Virginia will share the latest solution for cable- and drum tracking, which has been build in an agile way to solve the needs of cable users globally.

CEO,  Clobbi Cable & Wire
During 15 years of Dmitriy’s experience in Clobbi he led, actively participated and successfully completed a number of digital transformation and business processes optimization projects in Ukrainian, Russian and international companies. Among the achievements there are projects for process optimization in the largest Russian and Ukrainian cable companies like Uncomtech, Kamsky Cable, Kirscable, Cable Alliance Holding, Nexans-RUS, Interpipe Group, Antonov aircraft and others. Dmitriy’s main competencies are industrial consulting, business process re-engineering and optimization, development, delivery and implementation of advanced production management system (APS\MES), management of equipment repairs (EAM,RCM), manufacturing quality control based on the Industry4.0.SmartFactory ideology.

Technical Manager,  BASEC
Glynn holds a Bachelor of Technology in Polymer Science and Technology from Brunel University London. He has held technical management positions at several British and European wire and cable manufacturers, followed by a number of years consulting in technical and market specific projects prior to joining BASEC. He has significant experience in product development, technical management, business development, product management, and has worked alongside a range of multi-national industrial and governmental organisations.