Speaker Biographies

Keynote Speakers

Speakers

Moderators

Daniel Calleja Crespo

Director-General, DG Enterprise and Industry, European Commission

Biography to be added shortly...

Karl Falkenberg

Director General, DG Environment, European Commission

Karl Falkenberg has a long experience as a negotiator in the European Commission. He started his career in the Commission as textiles negotiator, has dealt with international fisheries issues and since 1985 with the GATT. In 1990, he served as foreign policy advisor to EU President Jacques Delors, with particular focus on the German unification process. He was involved in the Uruguay Round negotiations and has been negotiating the telecommunications and financial services agreements in WTO. From 1997 to December 2000 he was in charge of the coordination of all WTO issues. In 2001 he was appointed Director in charge of sectoral trade policies and bilateral trade relations with North America, Japan, the Mediterranean area and the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and in 2002 Director for Free trade agreements, Agricultural trade questions, ACP. From 2005 to 2008 he coordinated all bilateral trade policies as Deputy Director General. In January 2009, he took up the position of Director General of the Environment, covering the EU's environmental policy in both its domestic and international dimensions. Karl Falkenberg is a trained economist and journalist.

Thomas White

Deputy Chief of Mission, US Mission to the EU

Mr. Thomas J. White arrived in Brussels on August 1, 2010 to assume his duties as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Mission to the European Union. He previously served as Consul General at the U.S. Consulate in Sao Paulo, Brazil. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, he has served as Economic Minister-Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in France and as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Liberia.

Mr. White has held several Washington assignments, including as chief U.S. aviation negotiator and as lead negotiator on the OECD Convention on Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. He has served previously in Brazil, Jerusalem, and Italy.

A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mr. White earned a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Eisenhower College, a Masters in Public Affairs in economic development from Princeton University, and is a Distinguished Graduate of the National Defense University. He is married to the former Theresa Cunningham of Havertown, Pennsylvania and is the father of four children.

Adrian Harris

Director-General, Orgalime, Chair, Alliance for a Competitive European Industry

Adrian Harris is the Director General of Orgalime, the European Engineering Industries Association, which speaks for 34 trade federations representing some 130,000 companies in the mechanical, electrical, electronic, metalworking & metal articles industries of 22 European countries. The industry employs some 9.7 million people in the EU and in 2010 accounted for some €1,510 billion of annual output.

Adrian Harris has taken on the chairmanship for the Alliance for a Competitive European Industry (ACEI) for two years starting on 1 January 2012. The ACEI includes representatives of major industry sectors (ACEA, CEFIC, CEMBUREAU, CEPI, EURATEX, EURELECTRIC, EUROFER, EUROMETAUX, EUROPIA, FoodDrinkEurope) as well as BusinessEurope.

Before joining Orgalime in 1996, Adrian Harris worked for 20 years for a number of general contractors for the construction of complete plants, essentially in the agro-industrial and beverage area.

Adrian Harris was born in 1952 and graduated with an M.A. in languages from Jesus College, Oxford University and an MBA from the University of Leuven.

Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker

Co-Chair, International Resource Panel, UNEP

Born 1939, Living in Emmendingen, Germany, married since 1969 w/ Christine von Weizsäcker, née Radtke, five children.

1972 Professor of Biology, 1975 University President (Kassel), 1981 Director at UN Centre for Science and Technology for Development, New York, 1984 Director, Institute for European Environmental Policy, 1991 Founding President, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, Energy. 1998 Member of Parliament, Germany, and Chair of the Bundestag Environment Committee. 2006-2008 Dean, Bren School for Environmental Science and Management, UC Santa Barbara, California. English books: 1992 Ecological Tax Reform. 1994 Earth Politics. 1997 Factor Four (w/ A & H Lovins). 2005 Limits to Privatization (w/Oran Young & Matthias Finger). 2010, Factor Five (w/ Charlie Hargroves and his TNEP team).

Amb. Jun Yamada

Deputy Chief of Mission, Mission of Japan to the EU

April 1982 Entered Ministry of Foreign Affairs
June 1983 Embassy of Japan in the United Kingdom
September 1985 Embassy of Japan in the USSR
July 1988 Disarmament Division, United Nations Bureau
December 1990 Soviet Union Division, European & Oceanic Affairs Bureau
(January 1992- Russian Division)
October 1993 Deputy Director, Science & Nuclear Energy Division, Arms Control & Science Department
June 1995 Embassy of Japan in Russia
January 1998 Senior Coordinator for G8 Summit, Economic Affairs Bureau
July 1998 Administrative Reform Task Force, Cabinet Office
August 2000 Director, Second International Economic Affairs Division, Economic Affairs Bureau
August 2002 Counsellor, Embassy of Japan in the United States
March 2005 Minister, Embassy of Japan in Thailand
February 2009 Consul-General in Vladivostok, Russia
April 2011 Ambassador, Deputy Chief of the Japanese Mission to the European Union

Achille Bassilekin

Assistant Secretary General and Head of the Sustainable Economic Development & Trade Department, ACP Group

Mr Achille Bassilekin III, born on 20 March 1969 in Yaoundé (Cameroon), is Assistant Secretary General in charge of Sustainable Economic Development and Trade in the Secretariat of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States. As a career diplomat, he joined the Ministry of External Relations of the Republic of Cameroon in 1993 before his recruitment in ACP Secretariat in 2001. He successively served as Counsellor (2001-2007) and Deputy-Head (2008-2010) at the Permanent Delegation of the ACP Secretariat Office in Geneva. His work is focused on multilateral trade, commodities, agricultural development, environment and climate change as well as trade related issues such as customs cooperation and market access.


Mr. Bassilekin is a graduate of the International Relations Institute of Cameroon, from where he earned Master’s degree as well as a Doctorate in international relations. He also holds a Master’s in International Trade from the International Studies Institute at Complutense University in Madrid. He has undergone professional training in several international institutions, among them: the Diplomatic School of Madrid, the Diplomatic Institute of Beijing (China); the International Institute of Public Administration of Paris; and the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. He is fluent in French, Spanish and English. He is the author of several articles and research papers on international trade..

Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy MEP

Rapporteur, Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe

Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy is a Member of the European Parliament for the ALDE group, representing the Dutch social liberal party D66.

Mr Gerbrandy studied Public Administration at the University of Leiden (NL) and Scranton University (USA). After his graduation he became the political assistant of Joris Voorhoeve, Director of the Institute for International Relations Clingendael. From 1994 to 1998 he was the policy adviser of Doeke Eisma (MEP). Afterwards Mr Gerbrandy became the Secretary General of D66 in the Dutch parliament (Tweede Kamer). Since 2004 Mr Gerbrandy was a senior political adviser at the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature, and Food Quality. At the same time he was the International Secretary of D66.

In the European Parliament Mr Gerbrandy is vice-chair of the ENVI (Environment, Public Health and Food Safety) committee, a full member of the CONT (Budgetary Control) Committee and a substitute member of the Budget Committee. Mr Gerbrandy is also the Parliaments Liaison Officer for the European Environmental Agency and the Vice President of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, as well as a Member of the EP Delegation to Moldova. Currently Mr Gerbrandy is the European Parliament's Rapporteur for a Resource-efficient Europe.

Reinhard Bütikofer MEP

Rapporteur, Raw Materials Initiative

Reinhard Bütikofer is a Member of the European Parliament for the German Green Party.

He is a member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, the Subcommittee on Security and Defense and a substitute member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. He sits on the Delegation for Relations with the United States as well as the Delegation for Relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. He is also a substitute member of the Delegation for Relations with China. Mr. Bütikofer is a vice-chair and the treasurer of his political group, The Greens/European Free Alliance in the European Parliament. Furthermore, he is delegation speaker for the parliamentarians from the German Green Party (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen).

From 2002 until 2008 Mr. Bütikofer was the national party chairman of the German Green Party. He was secretary general from 1998 until 2002. Prior to that he was the state chairman of the Green Party in Baden-Württemberg. He served as a member of the Baden-Württemberg state parliament from 1988 until 1996. His career with the Green Party began when he was elected to the city council of Heidelberg in 1984.

Mr. Bütikofer is a member of the board of the Aspen Institue Berlin, the advisory board of the American Jewish Committee’s Ramer Center in Berlin, the Europe/Transatlantic advisory board of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, the German- Chinese Dialogue Forum, the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU), and the European Green Foundation.

Mr. Bütikofer was born in Mannheim, Germany, in 1953 and grew up in Speyer. In 1969-70 he spent a year in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Kevin Bradley

President, Nickel Institute

Dr Kevin Bradley is currently President of the Nickel Institute, the global representative body of the nickel metal and mining industry. The institute has 26 member companies including the top five multi-national mining conglomerates.

An environmental scientist with more than 20 years experience in international and EU public policy, regulatory affairs and issues management, Dr. Bradley has worked within a variety of public and private organizations and institutions including the European Commission (DG ENV), the Nickel Institute and the international trade association for the major beverage carton manufacturers and their paperboard suppliers (ACE). He was a Director and head of the Dublin Office of Environmental Resources Management (ERM) and founder and managing Director of Coolegad Services, a consultancy providing EU environmental policy and regulatory issues management services to companies and trade associations which he ran for three years.

He has written extensively on environmental impact and strategic environmental assessment as well as numerous other articles and contributions on environment and sustainable development. In 1987 and 1988 he was a member of the teaching faculty of the WHO International Summer Course on EIA held at the University of Aberdeen.

Gwenole Cozigou

Director, Metals, Mechanical, Electrical and Construction Industries; Raw Materials, DG ENTR, European Commission

Gwenole Cozigou is Director for Chemicals, Metals, Mechanical, Electrical and Construction Industries, Raw Materials, in the European Commission Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General

An economist by training, he is official in the European Commission since 1985 in the fields of Enterprise and Industrial Policy and of External Relations.

A former Deputy-Head of Office of Commissioner Liikanen in charge of enterprise and industrial policy, he has occupied several management positions in services:
- Food Industry and Biotechnology;
- Coordination of the internal market legislation for goods;
- Enterprise and Industrial policy;
- Defence, Aerospace and Maritime Industries.

Since December 2008, in his present function.

Volker Steinbach

Director, German Mineral Resources Agency

1980 – 1885 Study of geology at the Technical University "Mining Academy of Freiberg“

1987 Ph. D. of the Technical University "Mining Academy of Freiberg“

1987 - 1988 Scientific assistant at the Mining Academy of Freiberg;

1988 - 1990 Senior research associate at the China University of Geosciences, in Wuhan, P.R. of China

1990 - 1998 Geologist at the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) with extensive experience in economic and regional geology of SE-Asia; responsible for the German Chinese co-operation in the field of geosciences

1998 - 2000 Geologist at the Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology of Germany (delegated by BGR)

2000 - 2007 Head of Section “International Cooperation Europe, Asia, Oceania” at the BGR

2007 - 2008 Head of Department “Natural Resources, International Cooperation” at the BGR; special focus on mineral and energy resources, groundwater, international cooperation / Technical Cooperation

since 2009 Head of Department “Energy resources, Mineral Resources” at the BGR; since 2010 also Head of the “German Mineral Resources Agency” DERA at the BGR

Richard Morgan

International Government Relations Advisor, Anglo American

Previously Head of Public Diplomacy at the British Foreign Office (2008-2010). Seconded to Unilever as Director of Public Affairs for Africa, Middle East and Turkey (2005-2008). Posted to British Embassy Paris (Head of Press and Public Affairs 2000-2004), South Africa (Political and Development 1995-2000) and Tokyo (Commercial 1986-1990). Foreign Office Press Office 1992-1995.

Degree in modern languages from University of Oxford.

Guillermo Valles

Director, Division on International Trade in Goods and Services and Commodities, UNCTAD

Ambassador Guillermo Valles is a career diplomat with over 35 years of professional experience. He has served in several bilateral and multilateral diplomatic missions including Japan, Argentina and Ambassador to China, EU, WTO. He held several relevant political positions including that of Deputy Foreign Minister of Uruguay. He graduated from the School of Law of the Universidad de la República in Uruguay with the title of Doctor in Diplomacy and has received several decorations from governments and NGO´s.

Göran Bäckblom

Vice President Public Affairs, LKAB Group

After graduation at the Luleå Univ. of Technology in Sweden 1977, Göran Bäckblom has been involved in R&D, engineering and construction for power utilities, radioactive waste management and mining business.

Within the utility Sydkraft (present Eon) he was e.g. managing 28 km of tunnel construction, design and construction of hydropower and design for underground gas storage. In 1986 he continued an international carrier in radioactive waste management through Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management, where he e.g. managed the Swedish geoscience programme for final disposal of spent nuclear fuel. He was also responsible for planning and implementing the integrated research programme and construction of the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory at a virgin site from surface down to a depth of 420m below surface.

He was in 1997 invited to work as an advisor in Japan to the Japanese radioactive waste programme through PNC (present Japan Atomic Energy Agency). In 1999 he was invited to work at mining and smelting company Boliden , where he was responsible for development of mining technology in the operations in Canada, Chile, Spain and Sweden. From 2001 Bäckblom run his own, independent consultancy. He was managing the Bergforsk research foundation and the share-holding company RTC as well as several major, international consortia related to mining. Besides technical work for the mining and waste community he has been involved in management consultancy (e.g. acquisitions, strategic/business/risk management plans, feasibility studies.)

Since 2011 Göran Bäckblom is employed as Vice-President Public Affairs LKAB Group and Corporate Advisor in Technology and Business Development (www.lkab.com) , stationed in Brussels. He is a member of the Euromines Steering Committee (www.euromines.org ) . He chairs the Steering Committee of the European Technology Platform Sustainable Mineral Resources (www.etpsmr.org ). Since 2008 Göran Bäckblom is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (www.iva.se ) . He has over the years published more than 50 papers.

Guy Thiran

Director General, Eurometaux

G. Thiran is a 53 year-old Belgian citizen, married, with two children. He is a chemical and business engineer who started his career in 1983 as a Research Engineer at LABOFINA (Research Centre of the Belgian Petrofina Group). In 1988, he joined CEFIC (European Chemical Industry Council) as Counsellor for Environmental Affairs (industrial pollution, waste management, environmental auditing, environmental standards, eco-taxes, etc.). In 1992, he became Director of the Environment, Health and Safety Department of EUROMETAUX (Association of the European Non-Ferrous Metals Industry) based in Brussels. In 1996, Mr. Thiran joined ICME (the International Council on Metals and the Environment), based in Ottawa, Canada, as Executive Director - Products. In 1999, he briefly returned to CEFIC as Director of Product Management.

Mr. Thiran has been the Director-General of Eurometaux since June 2000.
Eurometaux constitutes the interface between the European non-ferrous metals industry and the European authorities and international or intergovernmental bodies. It is committed to establishing dialogue with the latter in order to ensure early consultation in all fields of policy and legislation that may affect industry and to asserting the sector's views and positions in this respect. It asserts the contribution of the European industry and its products to sustainable development, as well as this industry's views and positions, whenever the opportunity to do so arises across all sectors of society.

Throughout his career, he has occupied several leading positions in European and international negotiations on behalf of industry. Guy Thiran has been chairing the group of mining and metals associations worldwide from 2006 to 2010, thereby playing an important role in ensuring greater cohesion and cooperation across the mining and metals industry worldwide.

Teresa Presas

Director General, CEPI

Teresa Presas was born in Portugal in 1952 and has worked in the paper industry since 1982 when she joined Tetra Pak Portugal as Director of Communication and Marketing Services. She later went on to become Director of Communication and Environment for Tetra Pak Europe, Middle East and Africa and then, Vice Prsident of European Affairs for Tetra Pak Europe and Director of Corporate Environmental Affairs for Tetra Pak International. She has been the Managing Director of CEPI since September 2003

Teresa has a degree in psychology from the Instituto de Psicologia Aplicada, Lisbon and in 2008 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Helsinki University of Technology.

Réne Kleijn

Assistant Professor, Leiden University

René Kleijn is an Industrial Ecologist, working as an assistant professor and project manager at the Department of Industrial Ecology of the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) , Leiden University. The focal point of his research is the systematic analysis of sustainability issues using tools like Life Cycle Assessment, Substance and Material Flow Analysis and Environmentally Extended Input Output analysis. Currently, within the institute, he is working on the development of more dynamic and comprehensive tools that can be used to study the effects of large scale transitions i.e. Life Cycle Sustainability Analysis (LCSA). He applied these different tools in many domains including chemical industry, agriculture, aquaculture, and energy systems. In recent years, he studied the apparent new epoch of material scarcity and has performed a series of case studies in which the material constraints for different fossil fuel based and renewable energy technologies have been studied. Rene Kleijn co-authored over 30 peer reviewed scientific journal papers as well as many research reports, conference papers and columns. He has been a subject-editor of the Journal of Industrial Ecology and a member of the Council of the Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE). He has over 20 years of experience in scientific research with a focus on substance and material flow analysis, lifecycle assessment and resource scarcity. He has been involved in over 10 large European research projects on topics such as Material Flow Analysis, Eco-innovation and Life Cycle Assessment. He has been actively involved in the development of the EUROSTAT Data Centre for Natural Resources and Products. He also member of the consortia that are involved in two major European research projects that are related to the flagship initiative Resource Efficient Europe. He was one of the initiators of the Dutch Platform on Material Scarcity.

Luciano Mazza de Andrade

Head of the Trade and Economic Section, Mission of Brazil to the EU

Luciano Mazza de Andrade is a Counsellor at the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations and Head of the Trade and Economic Section of the Brazilian Mission to the European Union, where he has been serving since April 2010. In his career in the diplomatic service he has worked extensively with trade and integration policies, both is his posts abroad and his assignments in Brazil. Before moving to Brussels, he was General Coordinator for WTO Dispute Settlement, in Brasilia. Previously, he served at the Brazilian Embassy in London and at the Permanent Representation of Brazil to the Latin American Integration Association and to Mercosur, in Montevideo. He has a Masters degree in European Law (LLM) from the LSE and defended a thesis of High Studies on Mercosur’s institutions at the Brazilian Diplomatic Academy.

Jose Correia Nunes

Head of Unit, Economic Analysis, Public Finance and Budget support, DG DEVCO, European Commission

EDUCATION

Ph.D. in Economics, University of Laval, Québec, Canada
M.A. in Economics, University of Montréal, Montréal, Canada


CAREER

With the Commission
2007-2009 Desk officer for West Africa - DG DEV, European Commission
2005-2007 Executive Director - North South Centre of the Council of Europe-
2003-2005 Head of section "Economic and Regional Cooperation" - Delegation of the European Commission, Lusaka, Zambia
1999-2003 Head of section "Macroeconomic Support and Good Governance" - Delegation of the European Commission, Maputo, Mozambique
1994-1999 Desk officer for West Africa - DG DEV
1991-1994 Economist - DG ECFIN, European Commission

Before the Commission
1987-1990 Economist - Ministry of Finance, Québec, Canada
1987-1990 Lecturer in Macroeconomics, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
1985-1987 Economist - Ministry of Revenue, Québec, Canada
1983-1985 Research Assistant, Université de Montréal and National Institute for Scientific Research, Montréal, Canada

Peter Borkey

Environment Directorate, OECD

Peter Börkey has been working on international and local environmental issues for more than 15 years. For the past 12 years he has worked for the OECD, primarily on issues relating to water, business and environment, and infrastructure finance. He is now leading OECD work on waste and resource productivity.

Before joining the OECD, Mr Börkey worked as a consultant, specialized in environmental economics. Mr Börkey holds degrees in Economics and Engineering from the Technical University of Berlin and University of Grenoble in France.

Raymond Van Ermen

Executive Director, European Partners for the Environment

Raymond Van Ermen is Executive Director of European Partners for the Environment (EPE), Board Member of the European Water Partnership.

European Partners for the Environment is facilitating the ‘Resource Efficiency Alliance (REA).

The REA made proposals for and an assessment of the resource-efficient Europe Flagship Initiative and Roadmap under the Europe 2020 Strategy.

The REA has hosted laboratories on sustainable material management of the scarce resources value chain.

Dan Baxter

Senior Vice-President & Partner, Fleishman Hillard

Dan Baxter is a public affairs and reputation management specialist who has worked with clients across a wide range of industries, including energy, environment, transport, security and defense, and retail. Previously, he served as an aide to several senior Canadian political figures. A member of the American and British chambers of commerce and fluent in French and English, he also has worked in Toronto, Mumbai and Beijing.