The complete programme and the full list of speakers will be released in due course, please find below the list of confirmed speakers to date:
Mr. Alzayani holds a Baccalaureate degree in Business Administration from the American University of Beirut.He is the Founding Partner of Al Zayani Investments Group, and serves as Chairman of Midal Cables, Bahrain Welding Wire, Bahrain Specialist Hospital, and Midal Solar. He is also the President of the Arab Cable Manufacturers Association and the International Cable Federation (Vienna).He also holds the positions of Managing Director of Metal Form and Aluwheel.
Robert O’Connor is the Chief Executive Officer of SuperNode, having previously held the position of Chief Commercial Officer since the company’s inception in 2018. Prior to joining SuperNode, Rob was a member of the commercial team at Sefaira, subsequently acquired by Trimble SketchUp. He holds an MBA from IE Madrid and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. Rob has been a member of the executive leadership and strategy teams at SuperNode for over 7 years. He also serves as a member of the company’s Board of Directors.
Yijia Huang, Senior R&D Engineer at Shanghai Electric Cable Research Institute. He is primarily responsible for the performance testing of superconducting materials and cables, as well as research on welding processes and properties of superconducting materials and cable joints. As a key research member, he has contributed to multiple projects, such as the Shanghai Strategic Emerging Industries Project titled "Kilometer-scale Domestic High-temperature Superconducting Cables Demonstration Project" and more.
He is the Vice General Manager & CTO of Jiangsu ShangShang cable group, Ltd, China . He has twenty years experiences on wire and cable industry. He has more 20 scientific papers published and is co-author of book Global cable industry-materials/markets/products. His research interests include HV&EHV power cable, nanocomposites polymer dielectrics, HFFR cable compounds.
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.
Dr. Tim Heidel is Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer at VEIR. Tim served as VEIR’s first Chief Technology Officer from January 2020 when the company was founded until February 2023. Prior to VEIR, Tim was a member of the investments team at Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), investing in companies that leverage innovative technologies to significantly address climate change. He served as Deputy Chief Scientist at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), where he helped lead technology scouting and research and development activities on behalf of the 900 non-profit, member-owned electric utility members. He served as a Fellow and Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), leading the development of 3 new programs and managed a portfolio of over 75 research projects, focusing on approaches for controlling and optimizing the transmission and delivery of electric power and managing programs focused on high-efficiency power electronics
Michael Weiss has been leading the Siemens Purchasing Council (PuC) for Cables since mid-2011. Prior to this role, he headed the Strategic Product Portfolio Management Department for Medium Voltage Switchgears. Earlier in his career, he worked within the Business Excellence organization of the Power Transmission and Distribution Division, as well as in various internationally oriented sales departments for medium-voltage components.Furthermore, Mr. Weiss developed in-depth expertise in the cable commodity through his assignments at Siemens cable factories in Berlin and Mudanya, Turkey, where he held several positions in R&D and Quality Management. He also gained experience in the high-voltage cable business of Siemens.
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.
Aisling joined CRU’s Wire and Cable Market Outlook team as editor in January 2022. Her work involves analysing trends and developments across the global metallic wire and cable industry.Before joining CRU, Aisling worked as a market research analyst within the platinum group metals (PGM) industry, with an emphasis on the environmental, social and governance performance of the PGM producers. She has also worked as a base and precious metals exploration geologist with field experience in East Africa. Aisling holds a MSci in Geology from the University of Southampton and is a member of Women in Mining UK.
Bud Vos, President and CEO of MetOx International, Inc. (MetOx) is a seasoned professional with a two-decade career in the distributed energy sector. He has a successful track record of establishing companies in the rapidly advancing energy field, specializing in grid, transmission, and distribution markets. Serving as President of Generac Grid Services, Bud was instrumental in propelling technological advancements, steering global expansion, and supervising the growthof a flourishing business within Generac, which was acquired through the Enbala Power Networks acquisition in 2020.Prior to his tenure at Enbala, Bud held the position of Chief Operating Officer at Simple Energy, contributing to the company's strategic growth. His previous roles encompass Chief Technology Officer and Senior VP of Utility Sales at Comverge, where he managed technology architecture and led projects utilizing smart grid technology. Bud also held key leadership roles at Comverge, including SVP of Product Strategy and VP of Marketing, Products & Alliances.
Chenfei is Head of CRU's Wire and Cable team and a Principal Analyst. He works across the full portfolio of products analysing key trends and developments in both the metallic wire and cable, and optical fibre industries.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, Electricity Transmission Market Outlook, Optical Fibre and Cable Market Outlook as well as Optical Fibre and Cable Monitor. Chenfei spent 3.5 years in CRU London office and he is now based in CRU Shanghai office. 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.
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.
Chi is a Wire & Cable Analyst at CRU based in London. She is the editor of CRU’s Electricity Transmission Market Outlook. Her work involves analysing the market of High-Voltage (HV) and Extra High-Voltage (EHV) submarine and land cables for offshore wind, submarine interconnector and electricity grid applications. Her primary focus is in the EMEA region. She joined CRU in 2025 after two years’ experience working as a sustainability analyst in the rare earths industry, where she evaluated the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices of upstream mining and refining companies. Chi holds a Bachelor’s degree in Politics and International Relations from the University of Hertfordshire in the UK and spent a study-abroad year at the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Japan.
Simon is Director of Energy Transition at CRU, which provides business intelligence on the metals and materials driving the global economy, including steel, aluminium and copper. He focuses on the technologies and materials that will drive decarbonisation, including solar power and lithium-ion batteries. An electrical engineer, Simon began his career in the steel industry before spending several years in the US as a journalist, analyst, and latterly CEO of a software developer. In 2008 he made the switch into renewable energy as a co-founder of a solar cell technology startup, and two years later he co-founded a solar module factory design business. In 2015, Simon founded Exawatt to forecast the cost and performance of technologies that deliver decarbonisation through electrification. These include solar power, batteries, electric vehicles, and power conversion and transmission. Exawatt was acquired by CRU in early 2023.
Zaid is a principal analyst covering primary and secondary aluminium, value-added products, aluminium raw materials, and carbon products in North America and worldwide.Prior to joining the aluminium analysis team, Zaid spent six years with CRU’s consulting division as head of aluminium consulting. Before CRU, he worked for several years at Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) in the UAE 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 a number of commodity-focused firms as an analyst, including Thomson Reuters and Diapason Commodities Management, where he managed the precious and base metals research unit. He began his commodities research career in 2002 as an economist with AUPEC, an oil and gas consultancy firm. Zaid holds an MA 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.
Olivier Tissot has worked at the International Copper Association for over 25 years. He holds a PhD in science and began his career at the Copper Development Association in France, where he served as Director for 11 years, focusing primarily on the building sector. In 2015, he joined the European team and played a key role in developing a program dedicated to electrical safety. Since January 2025, he has been a manager in the Market Development team, responsible for power cable defense in Europe. Throughout his career, he has built broad expertise in copper, with growing involvement in sustainability and life cycle analysis—areas that are becoming increasingly strategic for the cable market