Speakers Bureau

On faculty at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, Melissa co-teaches the popular course Acting with Power. She lectures in the flagship Stanford Executive Program among others, and is an affiliate at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research. In the UK, Melissa is an Associate Fellow at the Oxford Character Project at the University of Oxford.

Off campus, Melissa works with executives and teams at top corporations and hyper-growth startups, as well as NGOs and national institutions. Trained as a performing artist in London and New York, she is a passionate advocate for equity in arts education and her international non-profit work focuses on social justice. She divides her time between San Francisco and London.

Jones Briggs helps people show up more effectively and responsibly in their leadership roles. She elevates leaders’ power and presence by combining research from the fields of social science with the practical application of performing arts techniques. Her approach is experiential, creative, and supported by leading and emerging social and psychological research.

Outside academia she designs and directs global leadership programs for corporations, NGOs, academic and federal institutions. Melissa speaks, coaches and leads inclusion initiatives for emerging and established leaders and teams navigating complex power dynamics. She addresses challenges of power and presence with students, executives, creatives, entrepreneurs, medical professionals, and political leaders around the world.

She serves as an associate fellow of the Oxford Character Project at the University of Oxford. She also teaches executive students in the flagship Stanford Executive Program, among others, and she co-directed the Stanford Executive Program for Women Entrepreneurs. Melissa taught at Stanford’s ‘d.school’ the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, and guest lectured at London Business School in the UK, Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland and the United States Naval Academy. An honors graduate of Wake Forest University, Melissa also studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, the Actor’s Center Conservatory in New York, and the Coaches Training Institute in San Francisco.

As Senior Business Development Manager, Myriam is responsible for business development activities in a number of our global markets. She oversees project development activities working closely with the local teams, development partners and represents BlueFloat Energy towards external stakeholders in the relevant markets.

Myriam has been working in the energy sector for more than 13 years.

Prior to joining BlueFloat Energy, Myriam worked in the Offshore Wind division at TotalEnergies. She was seconded in the Blue Gem Wind (Joint Venture between TotalEnergies and Simply Blue Energy) to develop the TotalEnergies’ first floating offshore wind projects, located in the Welsh waters of the Celtic Sea. She served as Contract & Procurement Manager where she was responsible for setting the contracting strategy for the EPC (Engineering Procurement Construction) phase for the Erebus project. Prior to this, she held the position of the Deputy Technical Manager, overseeing early-stage engineering activities, procurement of Geoscience and Metocean surveys to ensure timely delivery of the design, site characterization, energy yield assessment and environmental permit (consenting) application.

Previously, Myriam worked in the upstream division at TotalEnergies on the development of large scale onshore & offshore oil and gas facilities in multiple geographies (North Sea, Russia, Middle East, Africa, South-East Asia). She held various roles in Engineering, Contract & Procurement and Field Operations management, covering all stages of project lifecycles (feasibility study, Front-End-Engineering-Design, EPC) as well as Operations and Maintenance phases.

Myriam holds a MSc in Engineering from Centrale Lille (France) and an Advanced Master’s degree in Natural Gas Engineering & Management from Mines ParisTech (France).

Amanda has 6 years of experience as an energy consultant, energy analyst and economist with expertise in power markets and trading strategies for new energy types in Australia. Amanda provided power market and energy risk management training to over 800 energy stakeholders throughout Europe, Australia and Asia.

Since joining Pexapark in January 2019, Amanda has developed the research product line at Pexapark and led a variety of PPA negotiations across Europe.

Prior to joining Pexapark, Amanda worked for the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) in its operational team providing advice across a range of power market issues to both public and private stakeholders.

Angela Local joined Tekmar Group in 2018, and established Tekmar APAC Headquarter in Shanghai. She is responsible for the group portfolio in Asia Pacific, including Tekmar Energy Ltd., AgileTek Engineering Ltd., Ryder Geotechnology Ltd., and Subsea Innovation Ltd. Previously, Angela was the General Manager of the British Chamber of Commerce Shanghai. Since 2008, she has assisted many UK companies to develop their business in China. Endorsed by the UK Department for International Trade, Scotland Development International, and Renewables UK, she was the co-founder of UK-China Hub for Offshore Wind established in January 2017. Angela has attended and spoken at the Annual Sino-British Offshore Wind Collaboration Advisory Committee Meeting since 2016. Angela completed her undergraduate degree in management at FuDan University in 2004 and obtained her MSc. in 2005 at Loughborough University in the UK. She is a keen athlete and has been practising karate since she was a teenager. She has competed in many high-level karate competitions and has won a few national champion titles. Angela is married with one daughter.

Anna is the team leader for Offshore Product Mgm., which defines & executes competitive product/technology strategy for GE Renewable Offshore Wind. Before joining Offshore wind in 2017, she was Senior Product Manager for 3MW models in Onshore Wind, which included the development of the 3.X-137, the 3.2-103 and customization of the platform for regional use. Prior to that, Anna completed the Renewables Energy Leadership Program where she had high impact roles in various functions, and worked in Brazil for some time. Anna is based in Hamburg/Germany, and has a Degree in Business Management & Engineering from the University of Applied Science in Muenster, Germany.

Dr. Rabia Ferroukhi joined IRENA in 2011. She is currently the Director of the Knowledge, Policy and Finance Centre where she oversees the Agency’s work on knowledge, policy and finance, including: efforts to produce up-to-date and authoritative renewable energy data and information; analysis to identify best practice in renewable energy policies and finance; and advice and support to countries, tailoring policy and investment analysis to renewables deployment in the field.

Dr. Ferroukhi brought to this position over 25 years of experience in the fields of energy, development and environment. She worked in both public and private sectors, including with energy companies and governments globally, international institutions, and research centres.

Dr. Ferroukhi holds a Masters in Applied Economics and a Ph.D. in Economics from the American University in Washington DC.

Elizabeth Baxter is a Principal Banker on the Energy EMEA team at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). She leads origination, execution and monitoring of project finance lending for renewable energy projects in Europe. Since joining EBRD in 2010 she has signed almost a billion euros of energy financings. Prior to EBRD, Elizabeth was a financial associate at Biossence Ltd, a UK waste to energy developer. She began her career at Lehman Brothers in New York. She has a Bachelor in Economics and International Studies from Yale and a Masters in Management and Strategy from the London School of Economics.

Ha is the National Leader of KPMG’s State-Owned Enterprise (“SOE”) practice, where she is responsible for developing and implementing strategies that support the provision of services to, and development of, the SOE sector. She is also the Head of Infrastructure, Government & Healthcare Sector (“IGH”) at KPMG in Vietnam, coordinating advisory, tax and auditing services on projects for refineries, power plants, airports/ports, roads, real estate, smart cities, PPP and healthcare projects.

Ha has 20 years of experience in providing tax and consulting services, advising on investment forms, merger and acquisition, cross border transactions and investment structuring to leading multi-national corporations in Vietnam.

Kimberlee Centera is a leading risk management expert for the development and financing of large-scale generator energy projects. Under her leadership, TerraPro Solutions has generated over 10 GWs in renewables, making it the top risk management practice in the renewables market.

Kimberlee is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, a contributor to North American Clean Energy and a guest on various radio programs including National Public Radio’s Marketplace.

Marina Grilicka is a Risk Officer at Parkwind, a Belgian company that finances, develops and operates offshore wind farms with the goal to become the preferred green energy partner of communities, governments and suppliers. In her role as Risk Officer, she is responsible for identification of risks related to the development, construction and operation of offshore wind farms, as well as risk monitoring and reporting to the Board of Directors. Before making a transition to offshore wind sector in 2019, she has gained more than 10 years of Audit and Risk experience in the automotive, telecom and manufacturing sectors, as well as the European Court of Auditors. She has a Bachelor degree in Business Administration from London South Bank University and a Masters in Management Sciences from ICHEC Brussels Management School.

Sarah is the Offshore Consents Manager for the Moray West Offshore Wind Farm and was responsible for securing necessary development consents for the project within 18 months of joining Ocean Winds (formerly EDPR). Sarah has 20 years’ experience coordinating and managing Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), Habitat Regulations Appraisals/Assessments (HRAs) and Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs) for a wide range of project, 14 years of which have been focused on projects in the offshore renewable energy and subsea cable/interconnector industry.

Prior to joining Ocean Winds in December 2017, Sarah worked as a Principal Environmental Consultant for Xodus Group where she was responsible for the management and delivery of a number of projects.

Suma Gopal is Operations Analytics Manager at Utopus Insights, responsible for Strategic account operations, driving company’s customer analytics strategy, contract management & customer facing business operations. Prior to this, Suma was the head of Global Customer Relationship Management organization at Utopus Insights and was responsible for driving customer engagement strategies, commercial strategy, managing 220+ customers across 46+ countries worldwide with teams in USA, Europe & India.

Prior to this, Suma led Business development activities for renewable IPP & Service provider, BLP Clean Energy based in India. In this role, Suma managed global customers with asset management, digital Operations & Maintenance needs through company’s products & services. She was instrumental in building Renewable Operations Control Center, defining & driving prioritization for company’s products & services focused on addressing digital transformation needs for renewable energy customers worldwide. In her stint with BLP, she also managed design, development, execution & maintenance (concept to commissioning) of Solar PV projects.

Titiana joined Mainstream in April 2019 and heads up the Economic Development and Socio-Economic Development function for South Africa. She is responsible for managing the ED & SED team and their outputs according to the requirements of the Department of Energy and the project Boards.

Her 25 years’ experience includes community and governmental stakeholder engagement, transformation, enterprise development, supplier development, socio economic development, sustainability, GRI, SRI, Carbon Disclosure Project, UNGC company reporting, implementation of human rights principles, project management, process and plant engineering, operation management, marketing relations, product quality, health, safety and environmental management, risk management, human resource management, industrial relations, employer representation at arbitration, mediation and conciliation cases at CCMA, skills development, employment equity.

Aysha has over a decade working in private equity and real estate investing for established investment and consulting firms around the world. Having worked and studied in New York, San Francisco, Zurich, Dubai, Amsterdam, and the UK, she encountered very early the many challenges of managing her personal finances when living abroad. In early 2017, Aysha lost her husband Karl in a road accident while she was expecting their second child. The new financial reality that followed inspired her to start a blog on investing for women (www.ayshavdp.com). By sharing her personal story and knowledge about investing, she helps millennial women get started with investing, do it the right way, and achieve financial security for the long term.

Bridget has over 12 years’ experience in clean energy markets, spanning a variety of private and public sector roles including banking, commercial negotiations and investment strategy. Since joining KPMG she has worked with many of the leaders in the sector defining their approach to the energy market and investment thesis to drive forward the clean energy agenda. She has worked with all major
renewable developers and a wide range of inward investors assisting them to understand the energy and investment landscape and facilitating their investments into the clean energy space.

Catalina Sarivan is the Product Manager at MHI Vestas Offshore Wind with responsibility for the 4 MW and 9 MW turbine platforms. Catalina has been in the wind industry for over 2 years, during which time she has been driving the product strategy for the 4 MW turbine platform in the emerging markets and working together with her team in Technology on the product development side for the 9 MW turbine platform.

Isabel has more than 10 years’ experience in renewable energy transactions in Europe and emerging markets. In this time she has led the origination, investment and financing of solar and wind energy projects globally. Before joining Glennmont she worked at Envision energy, based in London, where she was responsible for the origination and structuring of third party financing for all their LaTAM investments. Previous to Envision she worked in EDF ER in London managing renewable M&A activity for renewable energy projects in the UK and in Acciona energy in Madrid where she was responsible for the project financing of the company’s international Investments. Isabel holds an MSc in structural and civil engineering, from the Universidad Alfonso X in Madrid and an Executive development programme from the IESE Business school.

Karin joined GWEC as Director Market Intelligence on December 2018 to develop GWEC’s newly formed Market Intelligence unit. This unit is to support GWEC’s thought leadership and create GWEC-specific insights. Karin has 18 years of experience working in the field of market intelligence. Before joining GWEC, she was heading Vestas’ Market and Customer Intelligence focusing on market forecasting and customer insights in the renewable energy space. She worked on Vestas’ strategy development in the transitioning energy landscape, generating fact-based insights for Vestas’ leadership team. Prior to joining Vestas, Karin spent 10 years in McKinsey’s Research and Information unit as an analyst. Her focus was on the automotive and machinery industry also covering equipment manufacturing for energy generation, which eventually made her enter the renewable energy industry. Karin holds a master in Social Sciences from the University of Bonn, Germany and speaks German, English and Danish.

Liz Burdock is the CEO & President of the Business Network for Offshore Wind, a national 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, dedicated to building the US offshore wind supply chain. Ms. Burdock has extensive experience in running public/private partnerships. Prior to joining the Network, she managed Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing, a White House initiative, and the Chesapeake Crescent, a regional initiative aimed at growing a green economy in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. Her career is focused on convening and coordinating diverse stakeholders, including businesses, academics, government agencies, policymakers, community leaders, workforce organizations and strategic investors to develop sound solutions that facilitate the implementation of clean energy in the US. Ms. Burdock is a 2015 graduate of Leadership Maryland, and was named to Windpower Monthly’s 2018 list of Influential and Interesting leaders in the Offshore Wind Industry.

Lucy Craig is Vice President and Director of Technology and Innovation at DNV GL Energy, where she is responsible for digitalization, innovation and technical governance across service areas covering renewables advisory and certification, transmission and distribution advisory services, power component certification and energy management. She manages investments in innovation projects and DNV GL Energy’s strategic growth segments including offshore wind, energy digitalization, energy storage and solar. Prior to her current role, Lucy managed the region of Iberia and Latin America for DNV GL in Renewables Advisory. Lucy has 30 years’ experience in the renewables industry, originally in wind energy and over the last 10 years also in solar. She has a PhD in electrical power engineering and is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology.

As a mindsetter, Maren Wölfl has worked in the area of coaching and business training for over 10 years with extensive experience in multinational companies. She is an expert on female empowerment, mental fitness and work-private-life balance. Maren tries to create a better working world by bringing her most important values like respect, passion and courage to a company setting.

Mary Quaney is Chief Financial Officer of Mainstream Renewable Power. She is a member of the Global Leadership Team, is Group Company Secretary and a member of the Risk & Investment and the Safety & Corporate Social Responsibility Committees. She has responsibility for all areas of finance and IS; including financial planning, financial reporting, treasury, tax and has significant transactional and structuring experience. Mary has 17 years’ experience in finance and corporate tax. She has been with Mainstream since 2009 and has previous experience with an Irish headquartered plc and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mary is a Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) and Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) with graduate and postgraduate qualifications from University College Dublin.

Monica Stancu is the Diversity and Inclusion Programme Manager at the Royal Academy of Engineering. Previously she has worked in diversity and inclusion at Sodexo and F. Hoffman La Roche. Monica has also worked in international affairs and human rights at the European Medicines Agency
(EU agency) and the United Nations. She holds an MA in Women’s History from Sarah Lawrence College, USA and was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Research on Women, Gender and Sexuality at Columbia University in the City of New York. In 2015, Monica was selected as a Global Champion for Women’s Economic Empowerment by UN Women.

Regina is the Business Development Manager for UL RENEWABLE in LATAM, the biggest consultancy and certification company for the renewable industry from USA. Regina is Argentinian and holds an Industrial Engineering degree (UTN) as well as a Master of Energy in CEARE – UBA. Regina has 8.5 years’ experience in renewable energy in Argentina and the LATAM region. She has experience in manufacturing wind turbines and also in developing different renewable technologies. Regina is a member of the Global Energy Council and a researcher in renewable energy and logistics in UTN. She is also Director of an executive program in UCEMA, about development and financing of renewable
energy. She is also a foundation member for AMES ARGENTINA, a civil organization for women in energy, looking for gender integration in the infrastructure and suitability sector.

Susanne Landskröner has worked for DNV GL Energy, Renewables Certification, as a civil engineer for seven years. She is a technical expert on steel structures, on- and offshore and a project manager for Type and Project Certification. After finishing her studies at the Technical University of Dortmund she has worked with steel structures for nearly 25 years. She started her career as a structural designer in a steel construction company, then she changed to one of the most recognized consultants for civil engineering in Germany, WTM Engineers. There she was involved in projects with the focus on steel structures, from sophisticated architectural designs to power stations.

Toni is based in Cape Town, South Africa and is responsible for driving GE’s sales strategy in South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Procurement Programme as well as exploring opportunities in other Southern Africa states that are increasingly leaning towards adding wind to their energy mix. Toni brings 12 years of experience in the energy sector across oil and gas and renewable energy. She’s predominantly held roles in legal, governance and compliance and consulting. More recently she served as Country Manager and Compliance Specialist for Vestas Southern Africa. Toni is an admitted attorney and holds B.Juris, LL.B degrees from the University of Namibia, and an MBA degree in International Oil & Gas Management (with Distinction) from the University of Dundee, Scotland. She also recently completed a second Master’s degree through the University of Dundee in Energy Law and Policy (with Distinction), and is a qualified Conveyancer and an accredited Certified Director of the Institute of Directors of South Africa.