Talal K. Idriss

Eng. Talal Khalid Idriss was born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He pursued his education in the United States where he earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering followed by Master of Science Degree in Civil Engineering, majoring in Geo-technical Engineering, both degrees from the University of California at Berkeley.

Eng. Talal Idriss holds Executive Positions in many commercial businesses and charitable institutions. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Electric House Establishment, a family business established in 1955 with diverse business activities in manufacturing, sourcing, supply and distribution of materials and parts in the electrical industry throughout Saudi Arabia and GCC.  

He is also the Chief Executive Officer of Bahra Advanced Cable Manufacture Co. Ltd., one of the leading companies operating in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia rapidly building a fine reputation for its quality wiring and cabling manufactured products.

Alan Mathers

Alan is qualified as a Management Accountant and also a Treasury Accountant. He has worked in professional services for 30 years including almost 20 years at Accenture where he was a Managing Director/Partner and then 8 years in Private Equity. Alan led a team of 1,700 people and has received multiple awards for inspirational leadership.

Alan has extensive international experience and has worked on subsea pipeline projects in Africa, Europe and in the UK. This has included building and operating a pipe coating factory at a greenfield site in Nigeria. 

Xavier Vallez

Xavier Vallez serves as Global Head of Renewables Business Unit, where he is responsible for leading sales, marketing, product development and developing go-to-market strategy. A seasoned industry senior with over two decades of experience in electrical products in many different segments: automation and motion control, safety cabinets & electrical protection, utilities sector, nuclear… , is working for Prysmian from 2007 and active on Renewables (PV Solar and Wind) segment from 2016. Mr. Vallez holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics Engineering and an executive Master of Business Administration from Barcelona Business School.

Pratik Agarwal

Pratik Agarwal is the Managing Director of Sterlite Power, a leading power transmission company in India and Brazil, that leads with the core purpose of empowering humanity by addressing the toughest challenges of energy delivery.

With his deep commitment to reversing climate change, Pratik aspires to build a carbon-free world, and he is actively working towards this goal through his role as Director for Serentica Renewables. This decarbonisation platform is focused on providing large energy-intensive industries in India with round-the-clock clean energy, making renewable energy a viable alternative for industries across the globe.

Under his leadership, Sterlite Power has grown from a USD 150mn project in 2010 to developing 31 projects across India & Brazil, worth ~USD 6bn. In 2017 Sterlite spun-out its Indian operating assets into a yield platform called IndiGrid – India’s first power sector Invit (Infrastructure Investment Trust). IndiGrid, was subsequently acquired by a consortium of Infrastructure funds and co-investors.

Pratik has pioneered the use of cutting-edge technologies in the design, engineering, and construction of transmission systems, including the use of heli-crane technology for the first time in Asia. In 2019, Sterlite Power won the coveted International Project Management Association Gold award (highest honor) in the mega-projects category, and the Standard & Poor Global Platts Energy Award for Construction Project of the year.

In addition to his current portfolio, Pratik is also a non-executive director at Sterlite Technologies Limited and Sterlite Investment Managers Ltd. Previously, he has held directorship positions in Sterlite Ports, Vizag General Cargo Berth Ltd, and Sterlite Networks Limited.

¬In 2022, Pratik was named the Economic Times CEO of the Year Award at the Energy Leadership Summit. In 2018, he had also received Economic Times 40 under 40 award, which recognizes young business leaders under the age of forty.

Pratik is the chairman of sub-committee on Power Transmission at the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), co-chair of the committee on Infrastructure and Real Estate at IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry, member of the Indian advisory board of the India Brazil Chamber of Commerce (IBCC) and the current President of Electric Power Transmission Association (EPTA) of India.

He has a Bachelor of Science degree from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA degree from the London Business School.

Michael Hellemann

Michael Hellemann is a Danish citizen, based in Hamburg, Germany. Mr Hellemann joined Aurubis AG in 2020 and is heading the Commercial organisation (Primary and Secondary Raw Material Procurement, Sales & Marketing of Products, Intermediates and Co-products)

Linus Karlsson

Linus Karlsson joined Borealis in 2010 and, has since been working in development and marketing roles related to wire and cable applications. Since 2014, he has held the marketing responsibility of Borealis’ flame retardant products, driving the growth of halogen-free materials and introducing new solutions for solar PV cables, automotive wire and energy cables. In 2023, Linus moved into the position of Business Growth Manager, Circular Economy Solutions Energy, where he is responsible to lead the growth and implementation of sustainable material solutions in Borealis Energy portfolio. Linus has more than 15 years of experience with wire and cable materials and holds a M.Sc. in Material Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Polymer Science, both from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden.  

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.

Paul J. Wagner

In 1985, Paul J. Wagner joined the 56-year-old family business in sales. Mr Paul became President in 1992 and Chairman/CEO in 2000. He greatly expanded the company’s market exposure to include medical, defense, and space technology sectors. He provided strategic direction to evolve the business into a high technology development house primarily through federal research and development grants.

He won the prestigious Tibbetts Award in 2007 for excellence in Small Business Innovation Research and is a currently a member of Business Executives for National Security (BENS). In 2021, Minnesota Wire was nominated for the White House National Medal of Technology and Innovation award.

Xinliang (Lucas) Lu

Mr Xinliang (Lucas) Lu joined ZTT in 2010 and now is deputy general manager of international business division, ZTT Marine Industry Group. He is responsible for strategic management of international sales & marketing, project risk management, contract compliance and also overall management and goverance of teams' performance. Mr. Lu holds a Bachelor of Arts form Harbin Engineering University and a Master of Business Administration from Shanghai Jiaotong University. Being a market leader of cable & wire industry in China, ZTT is now providing an alternative to the shortage of HVAC and HVDC cables of the highest voltages in the European market and many other geological regions.

Juan Mogollon

Juan Mogollon is the Executive Vice President of the Energy Division of the Prysmian Group. Before joining Prysmian, Mr Mogollon spent 2 years at General Cable as Senior Vice President of General Cable Latin America. Prior to joining General Cable, he served as President of Emerging Markets at Tyco International, and President of Security Services for United Technology in Europe. He started his career at General Electric where he held various global leadership positions, including Global Commercial Director for GE Capital Equipment Services; Commercial Director for GE Consumer & Industrial in Europe; General Manager for Global Services of GE Healthcare; and Managing Director for GE Medical Systems Brazil. He has a bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Arizona and a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.

Deborah Graham-Wilson

Deborah leads Eland Cables’ sustainability and ESG work, in addition to their wider communications efforts, ensuring actions and communications to stakeholders internally and externally is both relevant and delivers value. Over the last 8 years as part of the senior management team, she has helped Eland Cables take the lead in its sustainable actions and to build a corporate website that is used as a reference tool across the electrical industry. Deborah also works closely with the Electrical Industries Charity, sitting on an advisory board and fundraising to benefit those in need. Deborah is passionate about sharing knowledge in a clear and accessible way to help raise standards across the industry.

Leon Bost

Leon Bost is CRU’s European Economist. Prior to joining CRU, he worked at the Institute for Applied Economic Research in Germany and in the office of the Chief Economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London. Mr Bost now works in the CRU London office and holds a master's degree in economics from the University of Hohenheim in Germany.

Sebastian Holzer

At HIS they have set themselves the task to provide operators of photovoltaic plants with comprehensive and integrated cabling and switching solutions with which they can achieve their objectives and maintain their long-term position in the market. Together with the owner of the group, Sebastian developed HIS from foundation for 13 years to European´s leading manufacturer for eBOS components & solutions in the PV industry. Since then, HIS supplied PV plants totaling > 40.0 GW across Europe and Overseas.

Sebastian Holzer gained profound knowledge about PV market cable needs collect installation numbers and project lists for all major markets in Europe. Currently Mr Sebastian is working on a extension of current business to convert HIS to full one-stop-provider for integration of Renewables.

Björn Spiers

Björn Spiers is 55 years old and circulating around in the electrical industry since Mr Spiers did his apprenticeship in a company developing and building electrical switches for low- and medium voltage with only a short interruption for studying ceramic engineering. He is working for NKT now for more than 15 years and taking fulltime care about offshore cable accessories now since 2016.He is working now in the role as Head of Competence center wind power cable accessories at the NKT site in Nordenham Germany.

Malte Witowski

Malte Witowski is the managing director of Friesland Kabel and joins the company in 2020. Friesland Kabel is the market leader in the trade of cables and wires with a focus on maritime applications and offers full service. In addition to leading shipyards, electrical installation companies and service providers, Friesland Kabel’s customer portfolio also includes network operators. Friesland Kabel is part of Klaus Faber AG, one of the largest cable distributors in Europe. Before joining Friesland Kabel, Mr Witowski spent 17 years in international Japanese corporations in various sales, marketing and planning positions with multinational teams.He graduated with a bachelor's degree in international management.

Tom Claessen

Ir. Tom Claessen graduated in 1996 at KU Leuven and has gathered over 25 years of experience in thermoplastics, thermosets and biobased chemistry. At Cardolite Corporation, AEP Polymers, Greenseal, Vito and KU Leuven Ir Claessen has developed applications and market opportunities for cashew nutshell liquid, lignin, furanics, biopolyols and other biobased feedstocks in the coatings-, composites-, foam- and adhesives-market. At Avantium Renewable Polymers, he is responsible for the valorisation of humins, a 100% biobased sidestream of the production process from sugars to PEF.

Victor Manuel Villalobos Ruiz

Chief Operating Officer for the Condumex Group and Industrias Nacobre, both companies headquartered in Mexico City. Seasoned executive with more than 35 years of experience in Operations Management including, Production, Manufacturing, Logistics, Plant Engineering, Product and Process technology as well as R&D. Extensive I&T prowess with emphasis in Lean Manufacturing, Industry 4.0, HR management and Leaderships Programs. Over his tenure holding numerous board seats in different companies of the Group domestically and international with extensive international exposure for Key accounts in the Automotive and Industrial Sectors. Member for the Mexican Electrical Manufacturing Chamber (CANAME) leading the Electromobility Section. Mr. Villalobos holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the ITESM (Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Monterrey) and a MSc in Manufacturing Technology and Machine Tools from the University of Birmingham in Birmingham, UK.  

Aisling Hubert

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.

Emir Ersahin

Emir is an analyst in 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, primarily focusing on EMEA region.

Emir joined CRU in early 2021 as an intern and then joined the Wire and Cable team as analyst in 2022. At CRU, Emir works in multitude of different products such as Wire & Cable Outlook, Optical Fibre Monitor and HV and EHV Cables Market Outlook.

He holds an BA in International Development from Kings College London. Emir is located in CRU’s London office.

Erik Plieth

Erik Plieth is actually Deputy Head of Sales and Execution as well responsible for the Project Management at Suedkabel in Mannheim Germany. Main responsibilities are the coordination and steering of all worldwide business activities related to Extra-High-Voltage- (EHV) and High-Voltage- (HV) Cable Systems. Suedkabel is specialised for design, engineering, production and construction of Large projects for AC- as well as DC-Landcables.

Max Yates

Max Yates is an Executive Director in the Morgan Stanley European Capital Goods Equity Research team, responsible for covering Industrial Equipment and Cables companies. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in 2022, he worked at Credit Suisse from 2011 to 2022, where he was one of two lead analysts covering the Capital Goods sector and also selective parts of the Healthcare Equipment sector. Max holds a BA Hons degree in History from Trinity College Dublin.

Natalie Noor-Drugan

Natalie Noor-Drugan is a content driven journalist and editor with 15 years' experience in daily, weekly and monthly business-to-business publishing for the petrochemicals, fertilizers, steel and wire & cable industries.She has a proven track record in product launches, change management, online and print content creation and content improvement projects. She writes and commissions articles which analyse the wire & cable industry.