Speakers at this Event

Naoya ITO is Assistant to General manager at Green Chemical Business Development Dept. Joined Sumitomo Corporation in 2009, initially working in agrochemical trade within the AgriScience Dept. Later transitioned to the cosmetics team in the Medical Science Dept. before being assigned to a Brazilian cosmetic materials distributor in 2017.

In 2020, Naoya applied and was selected for the The “0?1 Challenge,” entrepreneurship program making new business ideas possible by Sumitomo Corporation Group.  With the goal of breaking new ground, he developed new business ideas while keeping himself close to nature, particularly on his favorite mountain hiking activities.

Jing Xieng (JX) is a strategic thinker across oil, LNG, biofuels and energy sectors with a proven track record in corporate development and planning, and execution of business growth activities in the form of asset investments, M&A and the setting up plus implementation of new business strategies and functions. As General Manager of GoodFuels Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, she is accountable for setting the Singapore operations including incorporation, introducing GoodFuels to key market players in the biofuels bunkering sector in Singapore, contracting offtake and sales, establishing supply and logistics, day to day operations, hiring and recruitment. The goal of GoodFuels is to create a better world by accelerating the energy transition in these transport segments for which biofuels are one of the best or only viable alternatives in the foreseeable future and Jing Xieng is very proud to play her part in creating a better world for her three children and our future generations.

Jiwon is Senior System Manager and ISCC PLUS Team Lead at International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC).

Jiwon has bachelor’s in forestry engineering and for her master’s, she graduated from University Cologne, Germany in environmental sciences. She has several years of professional experiences in sustainable certification scheme and its supply chains.

Jiwon is working globally on topics of renewable resources, sustainability, renewable energies, climate change, carbon markets, land use and land use change, the circular economy and bioeconomy and sustainability certification for all markets. Currently as ISCC PLUS team lead, she’s involved in continuous development of ISCC PLUS standard with the team.

Joris is Yilkins' Business Development Manager for Europe and Asia.  Being a mechanical engineer from education with over 25 years of experience in the international Pulp & Paper industry through several different functions including the development of sustainable solutions to produce paper within Norske Skog.

Since the start of Yilkins in 2015 part of the team as a business developer supporting the growth of the company and realized the sale of three projects last year. 

Loic Brachet’s extensive experience in the biofuels industry spans over 15 years and three continents. He has covered all the aspects of the industry, from operations to middle-office and risk management to trading. Constantly looking for new pockets of growth, and exploring routes less travelled, Loic has developed many new outlets in Europe and set up two businesses from scratch in Asia. He has successfully structured, negotiated, and closed business opportunities both on feedstock supply and finished product trading. He regularly shares his insights at high profile conferences.

David has been an Executive Director of PIO Hardwoods since 2002 and an Executive Directive of Rainbow Pellet since 2016. He has 20 years’ experience of manufacturing and export of timber products to Europe and South Africa, and since 2014 has been involved in wood pellet production.

David oversaw the construction of Rainbow Pellet’s four pellet production facilities, which make the company the largest wood pellet producer in Malaysia. Managing the export of wood pellets to Europe and Asia is amongst David’s responsibilities.

Since 2019, David has been a committee member of the Timber Exporters Association of Malaysia.

David has a BSc in Marketing and Finance from the University of Bradford, UK.

Fiona is a bioenergy consultant and market analyst with fourteen years’ experience in the renewable energy industry. She joined Hawkins Wright in 2013 and is now responsible for overseeing the company's bioenergy activities. She is the co-author of Hawkins Wright’s market-leading Outlook for Wood Pellets service and Editor of the monthly Forest Energy Monitor. Fiona regularly undertakes consultancy projects for clients in Asia, Europe and North America on topics including wood pellet and biomass markets, sustainability, and energy policy. She has a degree in Physics from the University of York and is an APMP qualified Project Manager.

Rachael has been working in the bioenergy sector since 2014, joining Hawkins Wright in August 2017 where she contributes to Hawkins Wright’s monthly Forest Energy Monitor report, the quarterly Outlook for Wood Pellets service and the Asia Pacific Biomass report.

Prior to joining Hawkins Wright, Rachael worked at commodity price reporting agency Argus Media on its biomass editorial team. Her previous role involved price reporting, news coverage and in-depth analysis of the market with a focus on international trade. Prior to her work in bioenergy, Rachael spent five years reporting on and analysing the fixed income markets. Rachael holds a biological sciences degree from the University of Leicester.

Alvin Lee is Regional Head for APAC at Puro.earth, the world’s leading crediting platform for engineered carbon removal. He is responsible for leading the company’s regional engagement with developers of negative emissions technology projects which are aligned to methodologies within Puro Standard, as well as engaging with corporations which are active in voluntary carbon markets and stakeholders including financial institutions, exchanges, and regulators.

Prior to joining Puro.earth, Mr. Lee served as Head of Southeast Asia Coverage at MSCI, and at IHS Markit, now part of S&P Global, where he worked with governments and exchanges on their ESG disclosure regimes and carbon credit registries. He started his career in JPMorgan’s Risk Management Advisory team and is the author of the CorporateMetrics Technical Document.
Mr. Lee received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Engineering from Stanford University. He is now based in Singapore with Puro.earth, a partner company of Nasdaq, and is a member of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.

Dr. Phuc Xuan To has a PhD in resource governance. He has been working extensively in the global academic and political arenas for more than 20 years. His work focuses on the dynamics of natural resource use and management in Vietnam and Southeast Asian countries. His research examines the dynamics of cross-border trade of forest-risk commodities such as timber, rubber, cassava. His recent work has been focusing on emission reductions in Vietnam.

Phuc works with Forest Trends as a senior policy analyst. He has provided policy advice to the governments of Vietnam, Laos, US, UK, among others in sustainable resource management and trade. He has been collaborating closely with private sector in Vietnam. In recent years, he has advocated for the transition from fossil fuel to biomass products including wood pellets. He strongly supported the establishment of the Vietnam Wood Pellet Association in 2022 and has been servicing as an advisor to the association since then.

Graduating from Chuo University with BA in Economics, Hiroaki Sugimori started off his career working for an investment management company. He joined ANA in 1998 and has over 25 years of experience in the airline industry. In the past 5 years, he has been engaged in various projects pertaining to the control and reduction of GHG emissions within the ANA group with a particularly strong focus on introducing sustainable aviation fuels into the Japanese market.
He and his team have worked very closely with SAF producers in the US to inspect fuel quality at each step of the manufacturing process and other areas critical to usage, including transportation logistics and fuel blending for loading onto aircraft. This successful flight was a major step toward full-scale sustainable aviation fuel use for ANA. With this experience, his team was able to establish a procurement supply chain from Europe to Japan together with a leading European SAF producer. He also played a key role in launching the “SAF Flight Initiative Program” for ANA’s corporate customers.

As of May, 2023.

Mr.Goto joined Erex in December 2016 as Deputy Manager of Energy Trading Department and has been doing procurement & sales activity of biomass fuel. From October 2019, he changed its activity base from Japan to Singapore where is more accessible to suppliers in Asia Pacific region. After Covid-19, in 2021, he was back to Japan and he is still actively working for biomass fuel procurement, such as PKS and Wood Pellets etc.

Prior to joining Erex, he worked for a Japanese trade house based in Tokyo, Osaka, Australia and Singapore in the fields of minerals & resources business and business development for over 25 years.

Takehiro joined BloombergNEF in December 2012. After engaging in research for Japan’s renewable energy sector and frontier power sector (distributed energy for unreliable and off-grid areas in emerging countries), he joined the Commercial Transport Team that covers commercial vehicles, aviation and shipping sectors in April 2021. The team launched research on aviation decarbonization, and Takehiro wrote insight reports on airline decarbonization strategies, investment in low-carbon aviation technology startups, and electric aircraft.

Prior to BloombergNEF, Takehiro worked for the Japan Science and Technology Agency. He completed a master’s degree in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science at Lund University in Sweden, and a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at Tohoku University in Japan.

Patrick Lapointe is Chief Commercial Officer for Airex Energy, leading the company’s business development and marketing activities. Patrick has 25 years of experience in the development and sales of technology. After graduating in Engineering Physics from Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal and earning a MBA degree from INSEAD, he held product development and sales roles within the L’Oreal Group and Sony Electronics. Prior to joining Airex Energy, he headed the product development strategy for Walter Surface Technologies, an industrial metal working equipment manufacturer, as Vice-President R&D.

Airex Energy is a leading manufacturer of biomass torrefaction and carbonization equipment. Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Airex Energy operates since 2016 a torrefied pellet plant in Becancour Canada, and is currently building the largest North American biochar / biocarbon plant in Port-Cartier, Canada.

Maarten Herrebrugh is CEO and co-founder of Blackwood Technology, a Dutch torrefaction technology company. He joined Blackwood’s predecessor Topell Energy as COO in 2009 and became its CEO in 2014. In his former roles at Topell he was responsible for the successful construction and operation of the world’s first industrial-scale torrefied pellet plant.
 
Before entering the biomass industry, he worked as interim CEO and executed several successful turnarounds for medium-sized companies in different sectors.  Earlier in his career he worked for Akzo Nobel and the Boston Consulting Group. Maarten holds a MSc degree in Aerospace engineering from Delft University of Technology and a MBA degree from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Mads is the managing director of the world-leading value-adding biomass aggregator and producer, CM Biomass.

His role revolves around managing the global biomass portfolio (wood pellets in particular) together with the Deputy CEO of CM Biomass with a key focus on caretaking the company’s commercial activities in Europe and Asia. His activities strives towards balancing supply and demand through flexible and efficient logistics solutions in a market characterised by constant change and volatility, where adding value throughout the value chain from the suppliers to the end-users is considered vital. With a strong diversified portfolio along with a continued growth of own-production in the US, CM Biomass is positioned to expand its network further around the world.  

Before joining CM Biomass 5 years ago, he spent several years working within the shipping and commodity industry already back then focusing on energy commodities, in particular.

Naoki Kawamoto is graduated from the Faculty of Engineering at Kyushu University in 1984. His graduation thesis was on coal liquefaction. After graduation, he joined Idemitsu Kosan. Since joining the company until 2019, he has been consistently involved in establishing and expanding the coal value chain.

The first seven years were spent in oil-to-coal fuel conversion activities and coal sales, followed by 16 years in the development and purchasing of coal resources in Australia, China, Indonesia and Russia, both at the head office and in Beijing, China.

From 2008, he was responsible for crude oil, fuel oil and coal sales to Japanese power and steel companies in the Sales Department at head office for six years, followed by five years as Deputy General Manager of the Coal Division and three years as Managing Director of Idemitsu Australia, the operator company of three coal mines in Australia. After 35 years in the coal supply chain, from mine development to coal procurement and sales, he was Head of Black Pellet Business Development from 2019 until June 2022, when he stepped back and now works in the BP business as a senior.

Edisham Mohd Sukor graduated from University of Technology Malaysia with a Bachelor Degree in Chemical Engineering and a Diploma in Chemical Engineering. He is recognized as an industrial expert in Environment and Landscape Sector under the Department of Skills Development, Ministry of Human Resources, Malaysia.

Edisham has been in SEDA Malaysia since 2012. Amongst his roles are in-charge of the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) and Net Energy Metering (NEM) program, RE Industry development, performing technology assessment, encouraging RE technology, innovation and commercialization. Edisham also involves in the human capital development related to RE trainings and supports the relevant parties/stakeholders.

Edward Choi is the Group Head of Strategy & Investment of Apeiron Bioenergy, one of Asia's largest used cooking oil collectors. He oversees the group's investments, M&A and corporate finance activities. Edward was educated at University of Warwick and London School of Economics and qualified as a New York Attorney before transitioning to finance. Edward has experience in public and private equity investments and worked in the deal team of Horizons Ventures, where he participated in over 60 investments globally and was responsible for the portfolio's ESG impact assessment.

Nicolas joined SBP in January 2022 as Technical Director. A senior sustainability professional with extensive agriculture and international supply chain experience, Nicolas has proven technical and strategic competencies in advancing sustainability agendas.
Prior to joining SBP, Nicolas spent ten years at Bonsucro, a global membership organisation promoting sustainable sugarcane production, processing and trade. Key amongst his responsibilities were overseeing the maintenance of Bonsucro’s three standards, recognition of the standards by the European Commission and the Netherlands’ regulatory body, strengthening the certification and accreditation systems and growing Bonsucro’s presence in Asia. Nicolas started his career in the dairy industry, with a focus on quality management, technical specification and compliance audits, before moving on to the seafood industry, including two years at the Marine Stewardship Council, a leading global certification scheme for sustainable seafood.

Nicolas holds a Master’s in Quality Management in the Food Value Chain from the National School of Agricultural Engineering in Bordeaux, France, and an Advanced Master’s in Strategy and Management of International Business from the ESSEC Business School in Cergy, France.    
Nicolas is based in the UK.

Carsten Huljus is Chief Executive Officer of the Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP), a not-for-profit multi-stakeholder organisation that has developed an independent third-party certification system to provide assurance that woody biomass is sourced from legal and sustainable sources. Initially trained as a forester he has been working in the voluntary sustainability certification sector with schemes like FSC, PEFC and SBP in global forest industries for more than 21 years, in various management positions.

Ryuu is the newly appointed Head of Asia Trading at CM Biomass, a world-leading value-adding biomass aggregator and producer with its headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark. 

His role revolves around building further on CM Biomass' presence in the Asian biomass market towards balancing supply and demand through flexible and efficient logistics solutions, in a market characterised by constant change and volatility, by adding value throughout the value chain from the suppliers to the end-users. With a strong diversified portfolio along with a continued growth of own pellet production in the US, CM Biomass is positioned to take expand its network in this region. 

Before joining CM Biomass, he spent 9 years working at Hanwa as one of the founding members of their Renewable Energy Department, in which he was responsible for the overall sourcing of biomass materials, and sales of biomass to regions out of Japan and Korea, as well as new project developments.

Brodie Govan currently runs biomass operations at Voyage Power. Prior to this he spent three years at PVM Environmental Products brokering physical and financial biomass business from the head office in London. He joined PVM from Argus, where he launched the Argus Bioss desk and created and managed the weekly market report and index for five years. Before this, he spent two years at Brewin Dolphin Securities' trading division. Following spells as a reporter for a local newspaper in the US state of Missouri and at Scotsman Publications in Edinburgh, Brodie spent time as a foreign correspondent in Southeast Asia covering business, trade and travel news.

Hinako Yoshida joined Hanwa Co., Ltd since 2020, and has been practicing trading of PKS and wood pellet. She has also started to conduct an advisory services to support companies to achieve GGL and RSB certification.

Mr Yasunari Abe joined Hanwa Co., Ltd. in 2016 and was assigned as one of the member of the renewable section.  He is responsible of sales and vessel companies.

Recently in 2020, he was transferred to Hanwa Thailand, where (till now), he takes charge of PKS procurement.

Mitsunari is Assistant to GM of Forest Resources business unit.  He joined Sumitomo Corporation in 2016, initially assigned to logs and lumbers trade from North America and New Zealand to Asian countries.  Transferred to Russia as language trainee in 2018. After schooling at Saint Petersburg University, engaged in a subsidiary of wooden industry in the Russian Far East for 1 year.

Since moving back to HQ in 2020, had handled Russian logs, lumbers, veneers and woodchips to Asian countries.  In late 2023, he started to handle wood pellets, mainly been responsible for the issues against suppliers.

Mr. Wang Weiquan has 18 years of work experience in renewable energy and climate change, mainly engaged in policy analysis, industry research, and technology promotion. Familiar with the current development status and trends of the renewable energy industry, participated in many research topics, and published many articles.

In the field of biomass energy, participated in the development of China Renewable Energy Law Implementation Evaluation - Biomass Energy Industry Evaluation, Summary of China's Renewable Energy Development Experience, China Biomass Heating Cases and Policy Compilation, China Scattered Coal Governance Report 2019-2023, China Clean Heating Industry Development Report 2021, China Biomass Heating Status and Policy Suggestions, and Zero Carbon Biomass Energy Potential Blue Book.

Successfully developed China's first straw power generation Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project - the 24MW straw power generation CDM project in Jinzhou, Hebei. Participated in the development of two group standards: Project-based greenhouse gas emission reduction assessment technical specifications for agricultural and forestry biomass power generation projects, and Project-based greenhouse gas emission reduction assessment technical specifications for Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) waste incineration power generation projects.

With nine years of bunker trading expertise in the Asia market at CPN, KK currently excels as the Head of Alternative Energy.

Following the MEPC 75 in 2020, he led his team to pioneer alternative fuels, concentrating on the Hong Kong market. Under his leadership, CPN debuted Hong Kong's first B24 Marine Biofuel supply in 2023, establishing CPN as the sole provider capable of satisfying the growing demand at the port.  His commitment to innovation and market acumen propels CPN's role in offering sustainable fuel solutions.

Ms. Duong Thi Hong Mai is the Chief Customer Officer of Vietnam Smartwood JSC, one of the leading company in wood pellets business in Northern Vietnam.  Ms. Mai also acts as the chief secretary for the Vietnam Wood Pellet Association.

Flyn van Ewijk is Regional Director, Asia Pacific for LanzaJet where is responsible for the planning, development and execution of the company’s strategic objectives and sustainable aviation fuel projects across Asia Pacific.  Flyn has close to two decades of experience in the aviation and sustainable aviation fuel sectors, and prior to joining LanzaJet Flyn was Director, Project Development for Fulcrum BioEnergy where he led the development of a municipal waste to sustainable aviation fuel project near Chicago, Illinois. Flyn has also managed and led sustainability programs at Qantas and Virgin Australia, including sustainable aviation fuel, energy strategy and environmental management functions.

Graduated from Waseda University's Faculty of Law, joined Sumitomo Coporation in 1978, experienced two times assignments in overseas office in Saudi Arabia and South Africa. My business carrier covers pulp & paper industry, particularly woodchips procurement for paper making as well as management of overseas tree plantation project. Biomass business involvement starting from 2007 and now continuing.

Douglas is a Director in Provident Capital Partners, a Southeast Asian-focused investment group.  Douglas manages Provident’s biomass trading business that he helped start in 2011.  Today Provident Biofuels is one of the leading suppliers of biomass in Southeast Asia handling both palm kernel shells as well as wood pellets.

Prior to joining Provident, Douglas spent ten years at Citigroup in its Special Situations Group as well as Investment Banking Division.  Douglas received a BA in Economics from the University of Melbourne

Takanobu Aikawa is a senior researcher, Renewable Energy Institute in Tokyo, since June 2016. In April 2018, he was appointed as a member Biomass Sustainability Working Group organized Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. He is a board member of Japan Woody Bioenergy Association.

He was previously employed in a senior research consulting position for Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting Co., Ltd. from 2004 to 2016 and was involved in investigations and consulting activities on the forest sector.

He obtained his Master's degree in forest ecology from the Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University. In March 2016, he completed his doctorate in agricultural studies on the theme of human resources development policy in the area of forest management.

Toshio Okamura, who has joined Hanwa Corporation in March 2018 and promoted to the role of Chief, has accumulated over a decade of experience in the biomass sector. His responsibilities include not only overseeing Japanese power plants and engaging in international investment projects but also collaboratively developing value in NON FIT projects with customers, demonstrating a partnership approach that goes beyond mere negotiations to foster meaningful business relationships in the renewable energy landscape.

Shisei Goto, Ph.D., is the General Manager of Business Transformation Promotion Office, which was established in 2021. He is coordinating new business developments related to carbon neutrality, such as biorefineries that mainly use woody biomass materials and carbon recycling.

He is leading a cellulosic ethanol project made from woody biomass in Japan called the “MORISORA PROJECT” and a member of the certification task group of the distribution WG in the "Public-Private Council for the Introduction and Promotion of SAF".

Since joining Nippon Paper Industries in 1995, he has been engaged in R&D regarding paper chemistry, wastepaper recycling and process optimization for about 25 year. In 2007, he completed the doctoral program at the University of Tokyo Graduate School and received a doctoral degree in agriculture.

Mr Olaf Naehrig graduated with the classic German “Diplom” degree in Business Administration and Industrial Engineering from the university of applied science Nordakademie Elmshorn/Hamburg, Germany. He joined Amandus Kahl's sale division in 1996, and has been active in various position and industries.

Currently Mr Naehrig is Amandus Kahl's Senior Area Manager in charge for Asia / Pacific, Middle East and Africa. He is well-experienced with complete plants and single machinery for wood and biomass pelleting, and is also well-knowledge with regional raw materials such as rubber wood, acacia, Eucalyptus, empty fruit bunches, oil palm fronds, bagasse, rice husk, straws, etc.  He is also a competent specialist for the new pelleting applications in the areas of torrefaction and steam explosion.

Jiro Omura is the managing director of Control Union Japan.  He has been with Control Union for 15 years, began his career with CU as inspector for numerous sustainable certification schemes including FSC, PEFC, RSPO and etc.  Since 2012, he assumed the role of general manager for inspection division, as well as business development in biomass related businesses in Southeast Asia.

After studying electrical engineering at the graduate level, Mr. Doi joined RENOVA to take charge of corporate operations including human resources, finance, accounting, and legal affairs, he was engaged in the operation and management of biomass power plants in Akita City, Akita and Kanda. Currently, as General Manager of the Biomass Division, he oversees all biomass power generation projects under construction and in operation.

Vaughan Bassett is SVP Biomass Sales & Logistics at Drax, leading the sales of biomass to third parties and identifying opportunities for new markets and customers. He is also past-President of the Wood Pellet Association of Canada. Vaughan has an extensive career in international forest products businesses. Previously, he spent almost 20 years with Sappi, a global pulp and paper company. As the executive in charge of their world-wide pulp sales, he was stationed in Hong Kong for 10 years before moving to Canada in 2007. He joined Pinnacle in 2011.

Mr Yasuhisa Okamoto is Managing Director for Drax Asia, leading the organisation's business development team and Tokyo field office in Japan. Mr Okamoto has an integral role in achieving Drax’s target to double biomass sales to 4Mt pa by 2030, to support the net-zero transition.

Mr Okamoto established Sumitomo Corporation's biomass business in 2002 and led its growth in wood pellets in Japan. While at Sumitomo, Mr Okamoto played an active role in establishing the company’s upstream integration into wood pellet manufacturing in South America and Canada. Following Sumitomo’s investment in Pacific Bioenergy, Mr Okamoto went on to support their sales team as SVP of Sales and Logistics, focusing on the long-term sustainability and traceability of wood pellets and wood chips.

Yushi Horita is the account manager at Mitsubishi Corp's Environment Energy Group and NextGen CDR AG.  His responsibilities in this role include developing and investment in Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) projects, engaging with off-takers of CDR credits in the Asia Pacific region, and procurement of CDR credits from biomass-based projects (Biochar, BiCRS).

Prior to this, Yushi was in charge of sales & marketing, and business management of fuel cell-related components at a chemical company.

Koji is the manager of Biomass Fuel Business Section at ITOCHU. ITOCHU, been in biomass business since 2014, is one of the leading distributor of biomass fuels throughout Asia.

Since 2020, Koji has been involved in biomass fuel sourcing business along with biomass power plant development. Prior to biomass, he was in charge of solar and energy storage system retail business, another form of renewable energy, for more than 4 years at ITOCHU.

Mr. Seo graduated from Korea University with a Degree in Metallurgical Engineering.  He worked at Korea's SK Networks(in SK Group) for 20 years in charge of domestic Oil marketing.

Now he is the head of Marketing division in JC Chemical, and from 2024, he is also appointed as the president of Korea Bio-energy Association.

In 1983, Yoshihiro Hamaguchi completed the master's program at the Department of Physical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University and in the same year, he joined Osaka Gas. After working in the LNG-related business for 20 years, he was transferred to a power generation subsidiary and gained experience in thermal power and renewable energies which includes wind, solar, and biomass.

In particular, since fiscal year 2011 to 2018, he served as a director and head of the electric power business department at Gas & Power, and had experience in planning, construction, and O&M for biomass co-fired and dedicated biomass power plants.

Being rehired after his retirement, he is currently in charge of the energy business including biomass and thermal power, as a general manager specially appointed.

Yoshihiro Nakatani joined SHI in 1990, started as a piping designer, and then working as a basic engineer of combustion.
Currently as general manager, he focuses mainly on performance design for CFB boiler, and also conducted presentations and trainings in some seminars in Japan.

As Co-head of Technology Investment, Shingo works on investment, hands on management, and Sinar Mas Group portfolio management. Also, as business development specialist, Shingo works on almost 20 existing joint venture companies most of which are with partners from Japan, and works on development for other business expansion and synergies.

Naoya Ishida has almost 10 years bunker industry experience and was a member of the committee that prepared guidelines for the handling of biofuels on ships for the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism in 2022.

Since 2023, he has been the manager of the renewable section and is involved in the trading of 2 million tons of PKS and WP per year. and also as the head of the Bio Liquids team, he is responsible for trading biofuel feedstock and establishing a system for biofuel supply at Japanese ports.

Alisa Schackmann is the lead for sustainability at Boeing Japan, where she is responsible for coordinating the company’s in-country sustainability strategy. She also serves as chief of staff to the president of Boeing Japan and is president of the Boeing Women Inspiring Leadership (BWIL) employee resource group’s Japan chapter.

Prior to joining Boeing Ms. Schackmann spent 15 years engaging top industry leaders and senior government officials as an energy & climate security analyst and diplomat. Her experience spans sectors ranging from energy and electric power, to cybersecurity and export controls, with most of her time based in Washington, DC and Tokyo. She has co-authored publications on energy security with the Brookings Institution and has held positions in Japan including international climate policy advisor at the Federation of Electric Power Companies, and US Foreign Service Officer at the American Embassy in Tokyo. Ms. Schackmann holds a master’s degree in International Energy, Environment & Technology Policy from the University of Texas at Austin, and a bachelor’s degree in Italian and International Relations from the University of Southern California. Outside of work she is an avid recreational athlete, pilot, and cross-culture advisor.

Having been on the ground in sawmill and woodlands operations, as well working in as the corporate finance aspect of the industry—working in mergers, acquisitions and project financing—Gordon Murray joined the Wood Pellet Association of Canada in 2009. Today, he works as an ardent advocate on behalf of Canadian producers, traders, ports, terminals, shipping companies, equipment suppliers and all those who want to participate in growing a safe and prosperous wood pellet industry.  Gordon is a member of the board of directors for Bioenergy Europe, the European Pellet Council, and the British Columbia Forest Safety Council.  Most recently he spent five years as a member of the standards committee for the Sustainable Biomass Program.  Gordon has a BSc in forestry. He is a Registered Professional Forester and a Chartered Professional Accountant.

Tom Connor is a Senior Process Engineer with over 20 years experience in the alumina and chemicals industry. He specializes in process optimisation, problem solving and project implementation in complex chemical processes. He has a deep interest in driving decarbonisation opportunities in high temperature chemical industries.

Mr.Takashima joined Raizen Asia in 2022 as the 1st Japanese in Raizen to be responsible for new business development in Asian region.

He had worked for Japanese trading house for long years for Chemicals field including 5 years stay in each of South Korea and Brazil.

Mr. Kobayashi has joined Marubeni Corporation in 2012 and had belonged to Energy Division for 13 years and used to work for Marubeni Qatar/Doha office and China/Beijing office in past. He is in charge of bunker trading business including bio-bunker and also do UCO/UCOME feedstock trading business as well.

Kazuaki Makino has been involved in oceangoing shipping operations and has been stationed in Long Beach, USA and Brussels, Belgium.

In his current position, he is in charge of company-wide environmental strategy and new fuel procurement.

Takeda joined NYK in 2010. After working in the dry bulk division and other divisions, he was appointed to the Fuel Group in 2020. He is in charge of fuel procurement, including conventional fuel, biofuel, and LNG fuel.

NYK has started to use biofuels (small-scale trial) from 2019, the current demand for biofuels is on the increase.

Ir. Ts. Dr. Gideon Tan began his professional journey with an MEng from Imperial College London, entering the industry as a Technical Executive in the Downstream Division of FGV. In this role, he managed significant responsibilities at oil and fats refineries and manufacturing plants, where he developed a profound understanding of technical operations.

As he advanced in his career, he took on a strategic role in the CEO office of FGV Holdings Berhad, coordinating group-level technical initiatives. His contributions were vital in implementing a range of improvement projects across the supply chain, encompassing research and development, estate management, and production processes.

In 2020, he was appointed Head of the Transformation Management Office at FGVHB. In this capacity, he leads initiatives to enhance business and operational efficiencies, drives strategic enhancements, and oversees the development of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives. His work is pivotal in advancing FGV's commitment to the Net Zero Agenda, focusing on integrating solar, biomass, and other green technologies in alignment with the national energy transition roadmap.

Kristof Van Passel has more than 10 years’ experience in leading large international procurement teams. In 2021, Kristof joined Cathay as the Head of Procurement Operations and Development.

In his capacity at Cathay Pacific, Kristof looks after Cathay Pacific’s operational procurement categories, which include jet fuel, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), ground services, and other projects related to the procurement policies and systems. He has been actively involved in the development of Cathay Pacific’s sourcing strategy for SAF and is a strong advocate for putting Cathay Pacific on the map as one of the world’s most sustainable airlines by 2030. He also takes great interest in improving Cathay Pacific’s capabilities with regard to supply chain risk and sustainability management.

Kristof holds a background in economics with an undergraduate degree in International Economics from Spain and a master’s degree in Business Economics from Belgium.