Prof. Dmitri Bessarabov was recruited for his current position from Canada in 2010. He obtained his Master’s degree in Chemistry in Moscow, Russia and in 1996 his doctoral degree from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. He worked in the industrial R&D sectors in Canada for Kvaerner Group, Ballard Power Systems and AFCC (Daimler and Ford JV). He is an internationally-recognised visionary with extensive industrial and academic decision-making experience. Current responsibilities include building effective teams with deep technical capabilities and managing these teams and providing leadership and management in the National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Programme (HySA). He is also involved in contributing to the South African National Hydrogen Road Map. He holds SA NRF rating C1, has co-authored more than 150 publications and serves on boards of various scientific committees locally and internationally. He is an expert in the area of hydrogen and electro-catalytic membrane systems for energy applications such as electrolysers and fuel cells. He is passionate about LOHC technology for hydrogen storage, electrolysers, PEM fuel cells, membranes, MEAs and catalyst layers structures.

Emanuele Bianco is an Associate Programme Officer at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), in the Policy and Renewable Energy Market Unit. His areas of interest cover the renewable energy policy issues across the whole spectrum of the energy system, in particular the system integration challenges. Therefore, after focusing on the immediate issues related to system integration of variable renewables, he focused on the fringes of the energy system, namely the hard-to-abate sectors. He is the author of the two recent IRENA’s Green Hydrogen Guides to policy making reports, which outline the main barriers that inhibit green hydrogen uptake and the policies needed to address these. During 2021, he is continuing the analysis of the policies needed to support the green hydrogen sector, focusing on the demand side. Emanuele’s contribution to IRENA’s work also includes analysis on the renewable energy market in Southeast Europe, auction design, heating and cooling policies and power market structures. Before joining IRENA, Emanuele worked in the International Energy Agency (IEA), where he actively contributed to IEA’s analysis on power system integration and renewable energy market evolution, and in the Italian state-owned agency GSE, where he supported national energy policy making. Overall, he has ten years of experience in renewable energy policy analysis. He received an M.Eng. in Nuclear and Energy Engineering from the Polytechnic School of Turin.

Cosmas holds a Doctorate in Experimental Condensed Matter Physics from the University of the Witwatersrand and has more than 15 years' experience in the field of materials fabrication and characterisation.  In his current post as Director: Power, at the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), Cosmas is responsible for the Hydrogen Infrastructure Centre of Competence, the CoalCO2 to X and Energy Storage Programmes.  His main role is to interact with public and private sectors in South Africa in order to develop and strengthen partnerships that are essential in promoting the uptake of emerging low carbon energy technologies, particularly those that beneficiate mineral resources found in South Africa and neighbouring countries. Cosmas’ current interests are in technology roadmap development, innovation management and technology commercialisation in collaboration with both national and international partners

Reg is a mining and resources executive with over twenty years of experience. Before his appointment at IDC, Reg was the Group CEO of Wescoal Holdings Limited, a coal mining company listed on the JSE. Reg has extensive investment banking experience from his 15-year tenure at Nedbank Limited that covered mergers and acquisitions, BEE structuring, capital raising, mining valuations and more. Before joining Nedbank in 2008, Reg was a commodity analyst at Renaissance BJM Securities, responsible for researching various minerals and metals commodities. He also held various roles including at the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (formerly Department of Minerals and Energy) as an inspector of mines and in academia at the University of Venda as well as at the University of Johannesburg (formerly Wits Technikon). Reg holds a BSc Mining Engineering (Wits) and an MSc in Mining Engineering (Exeter University, Camborne School of Mines).

Steven is a technical advisor for private sector engagement in the project “Promoting a Green Hydrogen Economy in South Africa”, which is managed by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. Before moving to South Africa, he worked for GIZ in Germany, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and the DRC, where he managed a project on artisanal cobalt mining for four years. In his current position, Steven seeks to support companies involved in the green hydrogen value chain in South Africa.

Siegfried Huegemann, commonly known as Siggi, is the initiator, co-founder and Secretary General of the AHP as well as Director of Hypowa. Hypowa is a UK-based company specializing in the development of hydrogen fuel cell powertrains for lightweight transportation vehicles and one of the two Founding Members of the AHP. Siggi holds a Master of Commerce (Finance and Quantitative Analysis) degree from University of Otago in New Zealand and is a Lieutenant Colonel of the German army reserve. He has more than 20 years of experience in banking technology and worked primarily on fixed income and derivatives-related projects for some of the largest asset management firms worldwide. 

Catherine Irura is a persuasive and diversely skilled executive leader with almost 10 years’ experience managing a broad spectrum of legal and compliance affairs related to project development, environmental and social governance. Catherine is the Managing Director of SOWITEC Kenya Limited, focusing on delivering a GW scale of solar and wind projects in Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In addition to the current development pipeline, Catherine also leads the development of green hydrogen projects to accelerate the green energy transition and decarbonize key sectors. These include an e-methanol project that is in early-stage feasibility and providing local development a green fertilizer plant. Catherine also serves as the Secretary of the Electricity Sector Association of Kenya, a business member organization that seeks to bring together private sector stakeholders in the electricity sector to encourage sustainable development of the electricity sector through collaboration, advocacy and data driven solutions. Catherine holds a Master of Science Degree in Environmental Governance (University of Freiburg, Germany), a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of Nairobi, and a Post-Graduate Diploma from the Kenya School of Law.

Salah leads Howden’s global hydrogen business segment. With over 20 years of professional experience, he has delivered high profile green and blue hydrogen and ammonia, including one of the world’s largest projects in this space in the Middle East. Prior to his current role with Howden, he held senior business and engineering positions in number of global companies such as Worley, Honeywell-UOP, AspenTech and ITM Power. Salah holds a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Suez University where he is also a visiting lecturer for energy transition studies, as well as a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Surrey in United Kingdom.

Rivhatshinyi Mandavha is an investment manager for Norfund, the Norwegian investment fund for developing countries with a mission to create jobs and improve lives by investing in sustainable businesses, in their southern African regional offices overseeing investments into renewable energy. Her finance career spans private credit, private equity, project finance and investment banking, focused on emerging markets across infrastructure, healthcare and manufacturing sectors. She started her career as an electrical engineer with Anglo American in their Secunda colliery and thereafter moved to join the investment banking division of ABSA. Prior to Norfund, she worked across infrastructure, climate and blended finance at IDC and BII, the British development finance institution. Rivha holds a B.Sc Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Cape Town, an M.Sc in Investments from the University of the Witwatersrand and a Master’s in Finance from the University of Cambridge.

Elizabeth works within the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Climate Business department where she identifies investment opportunities, new technologies and private sector approaches to scaling renewable energy and decarbonization technologies in emerging markets. Her current portfolio focuses on decarbonizing with green hydrogen and renewable energy, scaling energy storage and exploring VC climatetech opportunities. Additional areas of work include offshore wind, distributed energy, biodiversity finance, smart cities & transport and marine plastics reduction/solid waste management. Previous consultancies with IFC, UNDP and CGIAR included supporting private sector actors to achieve Côte d'Ivoire’s renewable energy goals, developing climate information systems in Papua New Guinea and creating equitable agricultural supply chains in Colombia. She has a B.A. in International & Global Studies from The University of the South in Sewanee, TN, a Master’s in Microfinance from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and a Master’s in Climate Policy & Development Economics from the Fletcher School at Tufts University in Boston, MA. She currently resides in Washington, DC.

Seten is an executive at Implats, leading the formulation of strategy in new commodities and hydrogen. Prior to joining Implats, Seten was a Fund Manager at Visio Fund Managers focusing on commodity market research and commodity equity investments globally. Prior to entering the asset management industry, Seten spent 7 years at Standard Bank achieving top ratings as a mining and commodities analyst focusing on the PGM sector. 

Fahmida is a Chemical Engineer by profession and has been in the PGM mining industry for 25 years. The last 14 years of her career has been focused on market development, particularly on the hydrogen and fuel cell sector. Fahmida leads Anglo American’s market development work on hydrogen in South Africa, where she works closely with the South African Government as well as local and international industry players. Her current focus is on the development of a South African Hydrogen Valley and a heavy duty hydrogen freight corridor.

Vinay Somera is the founder and CEO of Isondo Precious Metals. He has 30 years of experience within the platinum and associated industries and spent 25 years within the Impala Platinum group of companies working across many functional areas, and finally serving as the Implats Group Executive: Market Development and Strategy. While at Implats, he helped create and build Impala Refining Services (IRS), a subsidiary of Implats, from a zero base into a 1-million-ounce platinum refiner with a multi-billion-rand turnover. A strong proponent of beneficiation of metals in South Africa, he left Implats in 2013 and founded Isondo Precious Metals to help create a precious metals beneficiation industry. Vinay has a BSc degree in Mathematics and Chemistry, as well as a BCom (Hons) degree. He also holds an Executive MBA from the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business.

Ebrahim is the Founder and CEO of Green Hydrogen Solutions, a company focused on applying technology to the implementation and deployment of green hydrogen globally. Ebrahim has significant hydrogen and gas project development experience focused on the value chains, including with liquefaction and regasification systems, technologies applicable to hydrogen and gas logistics as well as pipeline systems. He has led project and deal financing business development, government and regulatory agency relationships, and deal execution teams covering legal, financial and technical considerations. Ebrahim’s current focus is on the application of this knowledge to assist companies, organizations and countries to meet net zero targets.

Natascha has served as Anglo American Platinum’s CEO since April 2020, also sitting on the Anglo American Platinum Board and the Group Management Committee of Anglo American plc. Prior to that, she spent five years as Group Head of Processing for Anglo American. Natascha is a seasoned senior executive, bringing 28 years of operational experience from across the mining industry, spanning many different countries, metals and minerals including, of course, PGMs. Viljoen's operational executive experience also includes six years at Lonmin, where her last post was Executive Vice President of Processing. Viljoen holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from North-West University, in South Africa, and an Executive Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Cape Town.

Alan Zhao started his career working for Cummins more than 20 years ago in Engine Product Development, Controls and Cummins China JV business operation, and then left to work for Motorola, where he led the first development and deployment of their 4G solution. He returned to Cummins in 2011 to lead the telecom power start-up business for power generation. He then joined Cummins Digital Organization, where he was engaged in product planning, product development, system-level engineering and IoT technology. Alan has a computer science degree, a mechanical engineering degree and a program management certificate. During his time leading the global telecom power business, Alan led the development, release and deployment of Cummins first battery-genset hybrid product into telecom cell sites in Myanmar. Since 2011, Alan has been a proponent of renewable energy within Cummins and with Cummins customers and partners where he has done strategic project work in fuel cell and hydrogen generation. He is now leading Cummins new power business for Africa & Middle East Region.