Shmuel De-Leon, CEO, Shmuel De-Leon Energy Ltd.

Shmuel De-Leon, Founder and CEO of Shmuel De-Leon Energy Ltd., is a leading international expert in the business of energy storage. Prior to founding the company, for over 21 years, Shmuel held various positions as an energy storage, electronic engineering, and quality control team manager. Shmuel holds a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Tel Aviv University, and an M.B.A. in Quality Control and Reliability Engineering from the Technion Institute in Haifa, as well as an Electronic Technician's diploma.

Yi Cui, PhD, Professor, Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Stanford University

Yi Cui is a Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University. He received BS in Chemistry in 1998 at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), PhD in 2002 at Harvard University. After that, he went on to work as a Miller Postdoctoral Fellow at University of California, Berkeley. In 2005 he became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University. In 2010 he was promoted with tenure. His current research is on nanomaterials for energy storage, photovotalics, topological insulators, biology and environment. He has founded three companies to commercialize technologies from his group: Amprius Inc., 4C Air Inc. and EEnovate Technology Inc. He is a Fellow of Materials Research Society, a Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry and a Fellow of Electrochemical Society. He is an Associate Editor of Nano Letters. He is a Co-Director of the Bay Area Photovoltaic Consortium and a Co-Director of Battery 500 Consortium. He is a highly proliferate materials scientist and has published more than 400 research papers. In 2014, he was ranked NO.1 in Materials Science by Thomson Reuters as “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds”. His selected awards include: Blavatnik National Laureate (2017), MRS Kavli Distinguished Lectureship in Nanoscience (2015), the Sloan Research Fellowship (2010), KAUST Investigator Award (2008), ONR Young Investigator Award (2008), Technology Review World Top Young Innovator Award (2004).

Thomas D. Gregory, Owner and Consultant, Borealis Technology Solutions LLC

Tom Gregory received his BS in chemical engineering from Case Western Reserve University in 1978 and his MS in 1979, specializing in electrochemical engineering. His 34-year career at Dow Chemical encompassed a variety of R&D roles including development and scale-up of production technology for organic, inorganic, polymer, and ceramic materials. He led pioneering rechargeable magnesium battery R&D and engaged in development of novel lithium ion battery and fuel cell-related technologies. Tom is currently a consultant specializing in chemical process analysis, design, and scale-up and electrochemical energy generation and storage. He is active in both AIChE and The Electrochemical Society and frequently serves on proposal review panels for the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy. He is the inventor or co-inventor on 16 U.S. and 42 foreign patents and has published or presented 25 papers in scientific journals and conferences.

Andrew Miller, Chief Operating Officer, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, Ltd.

Andrew Miller holds the position of Product Director at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence Ltd (Benchmark), a London based research and consultancy firm focusing on critical raw materials and energy storage supply chains. Andrew oversees Benchmark's supply chain research and analysis, which stretches from downstream assessments of anode, cathode and battery production through to price assessments and forecasting for the key lithium ion battery raw materials – lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite. At Benchmark, Andrew regularly delivers industry presentations and travels to active mines and processing plants across the world. He has also advised some of the world’s leading institutional investors, auto OEMs, battery producers and mining companies, and manages a portfolio of subscription services which provide in-depth market data and reference pricing for the lithium ion battery supply chain.

Simon Moores, Chief Executive Officer, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, Ltd.

James Kaschmitter, CEO, SpectraPower LLC

James Kaschmitter is the CEO of SpectraPower, which he founded in 2002. SpectraPower operates a battery research facility in Livermore, CA that performs contract energy storage research, consulting and expert witness services for government, private companies, law firms, startups and investors. Jim has founded, or co-founded, several companies in the energy storage field. He began research in Li-ion batteries in 1989 at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). He was co-founder and CEO of PolyStor Corporation starting in 1993. PolyStor is the only U.S. company to have commercially manufactured in high volume in the U.S. all form factors of lithium-ion cells, including cylindrical, prismatic and polymer. In 1997 Jim founded PowerStor Corporation to commercialize the carbon aerogel supercapacitor that he co-invented at LLNL. PowerStor supercapacitors are now manufactured and sold in high volume by Eaton Bussman. He founded UltraCell in 2002, which successfully developed the world’s first reformed methanol micro fuel cell. UltraCell’s micro fuel cells are currently manufactured and sold by Brentronics and are deployed with U.S military and intelligence units, and are in use in combat in the Middle East. Jim holds a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and has a bachelor’s degree in the Physics Honors Program from the University of Utah. He holds more than 20 patents in the alternative energy field. He owns, maintains and operates an experimental aircraft and holds instrument and multi-engine ratings.

Venkataraman Thangadurai, PhD, Professor and Associate Head (Graduate), Chemistry, University of Calgary

Dr. Venkataraman Thangadurai is full professor of chemistry at the University of Calgary, Canada. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, United Kingdom. He received his BSc from Sacred Heart College in Tirupattur, India in 1989 and his MSc from Muthurangam Government Arts College in Vellore, India in 1991. He received his PhD from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India in 1999 and did his PDF at the University of Kiel, Germany. He received a prestigious PDF fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, Germany. Dr. Thangadurai received his Habilitation degree from the University of Kiel in 2004 and started his independent career in Calgary in 2005. He received the prestigious Keith Laidler Award from the Canadian Society for Chemistry (CSC) in 2016 for his outstanding contributions to physical chemistry. His current research activities include discovery of novel ceramic membranes and mixed ion and electron conductors for all-solid-state batteries, solid oxide cells, and electrochemical gas sensors.

Eric Gratz, PhD, Co-Founder & CTO, Ascend Elements

Dr. Eric Gratz, Co-founder and CTO of Battery Resourcers, is a former Assistant Research Professor at the Metal Processing Institute at WPI, has expertise in recycling, battery materials and extractive metallurgy. Dr. Gratz is responsible for the technical development of novel recycling processes at Battery Resourcers. He served as the CEO of Battery Resoucers from 2016 to 2020 where he grew Battery Resourcers from a 300sq ft lab to a fully vertically integrated pilot plant providing shredding through cathode production services of spent lithium ion batteries and battery materials. He has been working on lithium ion battery recycling since 2012 and is recognized as a global technical leader in the space.

Haixia (Haishah) Deng, PhD, Ascend Elements

Dr. Haixia (Haishah) Deng joined in Ascend Elements in 2022. Before she joined in Ascend Elements, she served as a Sr. Director of Battery Materials in a silicon-valley based company. Dr. Deng has 20 years of experience in lithium ion battery. She focuses on high energy density cathode and anode materials development, manufacturing and Li-ion cell design, and fabrication. Dr. Deng authored more than 30 publications and patents and received 47th R&D 100 Awards for the accomplishment in Li-ion cathode materials.

Ahmad A. Pesaran, PhD, Chief Energy Storage Engineer, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

After receiving his Ph.D. from UCLA, Ahmad has been working at NREL on energy efficient technologies including electrified vehicles. Until 2017, Ahmad was the Manager of the Energy Storage Group researching science and engineering of high energy anodes and cathodes, battery thermal management, 3D electrochemical-thermal modeling, safety and thermal runaway modeling, battery second use, techno-economic analysis of batteries for EVs; he led the Computer-Aided Engineering for Electric Drive Vehicle Batteries for Department of Energy (DOE).Between 2016 and 2018 he was detailed at the DOE's Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) as technical advisor to the Battery program supporting battery processing, extreme fast charging and recycling. He was the Administrator for the first Phase of the DOE Battery Recycling Prize.Currently, Ahmad is pursuing energy storage business development activities for NREL and supports VTO with battery processing, manufacturing, solid electrolyte, and low-cobalt cathode projects.

Michael Sanders, Senior Advisor, Energy, Avicenne Energy

Mike has significant energy storage materials value chain understanding with an emphasis on lithium-ion batteries and systems with 13 years of market knowledge and relationships. Successful program leadership experience with significant business growth in ventures and existing businesses with a proven track record leading mergers and acquisition teams to enter the lithium-ion battery materials market. He joined AVICENNE in May of 2016 as a Senior Advisor. Since joining the AVICENNE team, Mike has been leading the US AVICENNE activity working with many clients holding strategy workshops, validation of growth opportunities, helping clients establish their growth plans in energy storage, and establishing M&A targets/diligence. Before joining AVICENNE, Mike had a very long career with DuPont, his most recent role was the Global Marketing Director – Energy Storage Venture where he developed significant understanding and insights for the energy storage materials market, device manufacturing, and systems while leading global marketing and customer interface efforts to establish programs to enter the $20B energy storage materials market. Executed strategic and market planning for opportunity evaluation, research, choices, and M&A activity for entry into rapidly growing new market. He has a degree in Chemistry from the University of Delaware and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers and Electrochemical Society.

Dee Strand, PhD, CSO, R&D, Wildcat Discovery Technologies, Inc.

Dr. Dee Strand is a Senior Scientist at Wildcat Discovery Technologies. Dr. Strand has over twenty years of experience in materials research, development, and commercialization, primarily in the areas of energy storage and electronic applications. Prior to joining Wildcat in 2013, Dr. Strand served as a Research Fellow at Dow Chemical, where she was the technical lead in Dow Energy Materials, as well as the Principal Investigator on external research programs with universities and national labs on battery materials. Dr. Strand also has extensive experience in patent analysis and technical due diligence of new technologies. Dr. Strand completed her PhD in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, under the supervision of Professor John Schrag. Her PhD research focused on rheology and birefringence of polymeric solutions. Dr. Strand also holds a Master of Science degree in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from North Dakota State University.

George A. Kerchner, Executive Director, PRBA Rechargeable Battery Association

Mr. Kerchner has served as the Executive Director of PRBA – The Rechargeable Battery Association since 2006. He represents PRBA and its members in the United States and internationally on issues associated with the safe manufacturing, handling, transport, storage, recycling, and disposal of lithium batteries. He also represents PRBA at international transportation forums such as the United Nations Subcommittee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, International Civil Aviation Organization Dangerous Goods Panel, and International Maritime Organization Sub-Committee on Carriage of Cargoes and Containers. Mr. Kerchner has also worked as a Senior Regulatory Analyst with the law firm of Wiley Rein LLP in Washington, DC since 2005 with expertise on the domestic and international transportation of new and waste lithium batteries, electric vehicles, and portable electronic equipment.

Kevin Konecky, Battery and Energy Storage Systems Consultant, Total Battery Consulting

Mr. Konecky brings over 20 years of xEV experience to his work, having worked on multiple complex designs for battery system development, charging system integration, and high-voltage powertrain integration. He is skilled in new product design and development, product testing, product safety, integration of multiple sub-systems for vehicles, new product launches and has expanded his skillset beyond batteries into power electronics. His experience in batteries includes multiple technologies (Li-ion, NiMH, UltraCapacitors, Lead-Acid). Mr. Konecky has worked for multiple OEM and Tier 1 battery suppliers (GM, Fisker, Byton, Cobasys, EnerDel, Lockheed Martin) and has a BS in Electrical Engineering from Clarkson University (Potsdam, NY) and MS from Purdue (IUPUI - Indianapolis, IN).

Vidyu Challa, PhD, Reliability Manager, ANSYS, Inc.

Vidyu Challa brings 20 years of industry experience with 10 years in the battery space. She has been involved in different levels of the battery supply chain including cell manufacturing, testing, root cause analysis, safety and battery risk mitigation. She has broad based expertise that includes engineering technology start-up experience, consulting, product development, R & D, and various roles in marketing and business development. Dr. Challa has led battery training courses at major conferences and for leading companies in consumer, medical, and automotive verticals. She has consulted for leading companies on Battery quality and safety and has developed battery qualification programs. Dr. Challa obtained a PhD from the University of Maryland, where her work was focused on electronics reliability.

Inaki Caldichoury, Scientist, ANSYS, Inc.

Graduated from French aeronautical engineering school ISAE in 2011. Joined LSTC, the company in charge of developing the finite element software LS-DYNA that same year. Worked on development, QA, and validation of the incompressible CFD (ICFD) and Electromagnetics (EM) modules. Joined Ansys in 2019 following the acquisition of LSTC.

Raja Badrinarayanan, PhD, Application Engineer, ANSYS, Inc.

Raja Badrinarayanan is a specialist in Batteries and Digital Twins at Ansys and brings OEM product development expertise. He has close to 10 years of battery experience working in various areas of battery simulation, testing, aging and design. Before joining Ansys, Dr. Badrinarayanan worked at a major automotive OEM contributing to the company’s early electrification program. Being part of the Ansys Twin Builder expert team in EMEA region, his current work focuses on helping companies realize their goals for digital transformation.