Vinod Aachi, was appointed as Global Head, Structured Trade Finance & Financing Solutions in 2013. He joined Standard Chartered Bank in September 2008 and previously held the role of Global Head, Regional Markets.

Prior to joining Standard Chartered Bank, Mr Aachi spent 11 years at Deutsche Bank. He joined the Global Relative Value Group in 1997, and led the Asia division from 2002. His team’s responsibilities were idea generation, pricing, regulatory clearance and desk coordination for all derivative products.

Previous to Deutsche Bank, Mr Aachi was a NDF swaps trader at JPMorgan in Singapore, a fixed income research analyst with ICICI Securities in Mumbai and a systems executive for TATA-IBM in Mumbai.

Mr Aachi has an Engineering degree from IIT, Madras (1991) and a Management degree from IIM, Calcutta (1993).

Yusuf Alireza was appointed CEO and a Board member of Noble Group in 2012. Prior to that he was Co-President of Asia (ex Japan) for Goldman Sachs and a member of the firm’s Global Management Committee.

Mr Alireza joined Goldman Sachs in 1992 in New York, moved to London in 1997 where his last position was Head of EMEA Sales and Structuring Efforts. In 2008 Mr Alireza moved to Hong Kong to lead Goldman’s Asia Pacific Securities Division. He also serves on the Global Board of Room to Read.

Mr Alireza has a joint undergraduate and graduate degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Marco Alverà has been Chief Executive Officer of Eni Trading and Shipping, which manages all the commodity Trading and Shipping activities for Eni since 2011. In 2012 he was appointed Senior Executive Vice President of Eni Trading. As of 2013, he is also nominated Senior Executive Vice President of Eni Midstream Department, which is generated in order to foster the integration of commercial and trading activities with portfolio optimization, supply and LNG activities.

In 2008 Mr Alverà moved to Eni’s Exploration & Production Division where he was appointed Executive Vice President for Russia, North Europe and Americas. In these countries he managed operations and led negotiations with governments and other international oil companies.
He has served on the Board of Gazprom Neft and is Chairman of the Board of Eni's Russian subsidiaries. In 2006 he was appointed Director of Supply & Portfolio Development at Eni’s Gas & Power Division and Chief Executive Officer of Bluestream and Promgas. Mr Alverà joined Eni in 2005 as Assistant to the CEO for special initiatives.

From 2002 to 2005 Mr Alverà joined Enel as Head of Group Corporate Strategy before becoming in 2004 Chief Financial Officer of Wind Telecom, overseeing the sale of Wind to Orascom.
Marco Alverà started his career at Goldman Sachs in London in 1997 in M&A and Private Equity. In 2000 he co-founded Netesi, Italy’s first broadband ADSL company.

Marco Alverà graduated from the London School of Economics in 1997 in Philosophy and Economics. He is currently an Associate Fellow at the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation, where he specializes in developing and teaching case studies on doing business in Africa.

Shekhar Anantharaman is the Executive Director - Finance & Business Development with oversight responsibility for Corporate Finance & Accounts, Shared Services, Banking & Treasury, Audit & Corporate Affairs, Strategic Investments, Investor Relations and the Manufacturing and Technical Services functions.

Mr Anantharaman has been an Executive Director on the Group’s Board of Directors since 1998. He has over 27 years of working experience, of which the last 21 years has been with Olam. Within Olam, Mr Anantharaman has held senior roles in Country Management and has also been the Global Product Head for many of its current businesses.

He holds a degree in Aeronautical Engineering and a postgraduate degree in Business Management, and has completed the Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School.

Michel Antakly joined Morgan Stanley in 1989 and is a senior Managing Director in the M&A Department. He advised on a number of merger, acquisition and financing transactions across various industries in Europe. Recent transactions include the defence of Arcelor, the defence of Scania, the acquisitions of Gambro and Mölnlycke by Investor, the Glencore pre-IPO convertible, the IPO of Glencore an the Glencore-Xstrata merger.

Mr Antakly graduated from the École des Hautes Etudes Commerciales in 1989 and received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1993.

Lionel Barber has been Editor of the Financial Times since November 2005. In his 28 years with the FT, he has been US Managing Editor, Editor of the European edition, News Editor, Brussels Bureau Chief and Washington Correspondent.

Paul Conway is Vice Chairman of Cargill Incorporated, a position he has held since June 2011. He was appointed to Cargill’s executive Leadership Team in October 2006 and elected to the company’s Board of Directors in September 2008.

A British national, Mr Conway joined Cargill as a graduate trainee in 1979 from the University of Bristol’s School of Law and the London Inns of Court School of Law. He held a number of merchandising roles in the United Kingdom, USA and Switzerland before becoming a Division Head of UK corn processing in 1989. Throughout the 1990’s he worked in the European processing businesses, becoming Executive Vice President of Cargill’s European Food Processing Businesses in 1997. In 2006 he was appointed President/Regional Director of Cargill’s business in Asia, based in Singapore, where he lived until 2009 when he relocated back to the UK.

Mr Conway sits on the Boards of both the US-China and the US-India business councils, organisations dedicated to expanding commercial relationships and deepening two way business opportunities through eliminating trade and investment barriers and operating in rules based, transparent commercial environments. On both Councils, Mr Conway brings a specific focus to issues on international trade, food safety, and global supply chains within the food production and agricultural sectors.

As an international industrial leader and one of Cargill’s ambassadors on the subject of food security, Mr Conway publicly advocates the principles of free and open markets to support the world’s ability to provide safe, sustainably developed and sourced food to its growing population.

In 2010 Mr Conway was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in recognition of his services to the agricultural industry.

Mark Cutifani, BE (Mining Engineering), was appointed as Chief Executive of Anglo American in 2013. He has 37 years’ experience in the mining industry.

A trained mining engineer, Mr Cutifani has worked across six continents, 25 countries and more than 20 commodities.

He has built a reputation based on his broad industry technical and commercial knowledge, and is recognised as an industry innovator with a track record of building high performance teams and delivering improvements across all facets of business performance.

In his previous role as CEO of AngloGold Ashanti, Mr Cutifani led the revitalisation and restructuring of its global mining business, delivering significant business improvements, ranging from safety, operations, capital discipline and project delivery, exploration and financial restructuring.

Mr Cutifani has also held the positions of COO for Inco and Vale’s global nickel business, as well senior executive positions with the Normandy Group, Sons of Gwalia, Western Mining Corporation, Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines and CRA (Rio Tinto).

Amongst a number of advisory council commitments around the world, Mr Cutifani is on the International Advisory Council of the Kellogg Innovation Network, is chairman of the ICMM and was Chairman of the South African Chamber of Mines until November 2013. He was awarded an honorary doctorate for services to safety in the mining industry by the University of Wollongong (Australia) in December 2013.

With a leadership style that puts its focus on people development, accountability and the delivery of sustainable value, Mr Cutifani has placed an emphasis on developing strong investor, labour, industrial, government and community relationships.

Christopher Delbrück has been Chief Executive Officer of E.ON Global Commodities (EGC), one of the leading participants in international wholesale energy markets, since October 1, 2013. Under Mr Delbrück’s leadership, EGC is responsible for optimizing one of Europe’s broadest and most diverse power and gas portfolios and for identifying new opportunities to create value in global energy commodity markets.

With more than 18 years of experience in the energy sector, Mr Delbrück has held a number of senior management positions in the E.ON Group including CFO of E.ON Global Commodities in Düsseldorf, CFO of E.ON Sweden in Malmö, Managing Director of Business Development for E.ON Sweden, and Vice President of Corporate Development Central Europe and European Gas for E.ON AG in Düsseldorf.

Prior to joining the E.ON Group, he held a range of management positions including working for The Boston Consulting Group in Hamburg focusing on energy topics.

Mr Delbrück holds a Master in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School, where he was a McCloy Scholar. He also holds a degree in economics from the University of Kiel and a BA from Heidelberg University.

Jeffrey Dellapina is a member of the Vitol Executive Committee. Mr. Dellapina joined Vitol in January 2005 from JPMorgan Chase, where he was a Managing Director in the Investment Banking/Sales and Trading division. Mr. Dellapina holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame.

Graham Donnell joined the Group in June 2007 as Group general counsel and was appointed a director of Stemcor in December of the same year. He holds overall responsibility for all Group legal affairs. Prior to joining Stemcor Mr Donnell spent 19 years with the international law firm Allen & Overy, 12 as a partner, and was managing partner of the firm's offices in Warsaw, Prague and Madrid. He is qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales and Hong Kong and is a member of the Czech and Madrid bar associations.

Marco Dunand is Chairman and Group Chief Executive for Mercuria Energy Group, one of the five largest independent energy and commodity groups. The Group activities span in more than 50 countries, and employ over 1000 people that operate from 38 offices worldwide.

Previous to this, Mr Dunand successfully spearheaded the launch of Sempra Energy in Europe and Asia. He left the company in 2004 to found Mercuria together with Daniel Jaeggi.

From 1994 to 1999 he was appointed Managing Director of the European and Asian operations at Phibro, Salomon Brothers in London. Mr Dunand previously joined the J.Aron division at Goldman Sachs, based in London, where he was Managing Director of the European crude oil business. At the beginning of his trading career, he worked with Cargill International SA.

Mr Dunand graduated from the University of Geneva, where he earned a degree in Economics and Management.

Peter Eigen, a lawyer by training, worked in economic development for 25 years, mainly with the World Bank in Africa and Latin America. From 1988 to 1991 and from 1999 to 2001, Professor Eigen directed the World Bank’s regional mission in East Africa. He has also provided legal and technical assistance to the governments of Botswana and Namibia.

In his development work, Professor Eigen saw how systematic corruption perverts policymaking, leading to poverty, conflict, violence and widespread desperation. Armed with this first-hand knowledge, in 1993 he founded Transparency International, now the world’s leading non-governmental organization promoting transparency and accountability in development. Since then, the World Bank, many major corporations and many national governments have adopted tough regulations cracking down on bribery.

Born in 1938 in Augsburg, Germany, Professor Eigen has taught at the universities of Frankfurt, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, Harvard and Berlin’s Freie Universität. In 2005, Professor Eigen chaired the International Advisory Group of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). He was chair of the EITI from 2006 to 2011 and is now EITI Special Representative.

1995 - graduated from Novosibirsk State University
1998 - received a Master's degree of the University of Washington

Professional activities:
1998 - 2005 - Executive Director, Vice President, Morgan Stanley (London)
2006 - 2007 - Managing Director, UBS (Moscow)
2007 - 2010 - Managing Director and Senior Advisor, Morgan Stanley (Moscow)
2010 - 2012 - First Vice-President, of OJSC NK Rosneft for Finance and Strategy
2012 - 2013 - Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation
2013 - 2014 - Deputy CEO for Strategy and Business Development
2014 to present - Executive Director - First Deputy CEO

Ivan Glasenberg joined Glencore in April 1984 and has been Chief Executive Officer since January 2002. Mr Glasenberg initially spent three years working in the coal/coke commodity department in South Africa as a marketer, before spending two years in Australia as head of the Asian coal/coke commodity division.

Between 1988 and 1989, Mr Glasenberg was based in Hong Kong as head of Glencore’s Hong Kong and Beijing offices, as well as head of coal marketing in Asia, where his responsibilities included overseeing the Asian coal marketing business of Glencore and managing the administrative functions of the Hong Kong and Beijing offices. In January 1990, he was made responsible for the worldwide coal business of Glencore for both marketing and industrial assets, and remained in this role until he became Chief Executive Officer in January 2002.

Mr Glasenberg is a member of the health and safety, environment and communities committee. Mr Glasenberg is a Chartered Accountant of South Africa and holds a Bachelor of Accountancy from the University of Witwatersrand. Mr Glasenberg also holds an MBA from the University of Southern California. He is currently a non-executive director of United Company Rusal plc. Before joining Glencore, Mr Glasenberg worked for five years at Levitt Kirson Chartered Accountants in South Africa.

Jean‐François Lambert is leading the bank’s commodity and structured trade finance expansion, fulfilling enhanced customer requirements through full service along the entire supply chain.

Mr Lambert is a seasoned international banker with over 30 years of recognised industry expertise in commodities and in trade. In previous roles with HSBC, he has served as the Global Head of Trade and Supply Chain Business Development and Head of Eurozone Trade Services, with responsibility for leading and developing traditional trade services, supply chain and structured trade businesses.

Mr Lambert has also held a number of senior positions in Crédit Commercial de France’s (CCF), including heading the short‐term international activities of the Bank, General Manager of CCFs Hong Kong Branch and Senior Manager in Greece.

Mr Lambert has a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the Université Paris IX Dauphine and is an active member of the Trade Export panel of the World Trade Organisation. He is also a reputed Basel 2&3 expert and key industry voice on regulatory impact on Trade.

Pierre Lorinet joined Trafigura in 2002 and assumed the role of Chief Financial Officer in January 2007. He relocated to Singapore in August 2012 to take on the added role of Managing Director of the Asia-Pacific region. His responsibilities include the global management of all finance and accounting activities of the group, as well as managing the Group’s Asian operations. Mr Lorinet is a member of the Board of Directors for Trafigura Beheer BV and also for Puma Energy Holdings Pte Ltd.

Established in 1993, Trafigura is a leader in the commodities business. Trafigura has achieved substantial growth in recent years, growing turnover from USD18 billion in 2004 to USD120.4 billion in 2012. The Group’s primary trading businesses are the supply and transport of crude oil, petroleum products, renewable energies, coal, refined metals, ferrous and non-ferrous ores and concentrates.

Before joining Trafigura, Mr Lorinet worked for five years at Merrill Lynch London in the securitisation team where he was responsible for origination, structuring and execution of corporate structured finance transactions in France. Prior to that, Mr Lorinet worked for two years at Banque Indosuez in the Middle East as a member of the trade finance team participating in the structuring and execution of international trade transactions.

Mr Lorinet graduated from Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris in France and holds an MSc in Finance with distinction from Lancaster University in the UK.

Margarita Louis-Dreyfus has been Chairperson of the Supervisory Board of Louis Dreyfus Holdings B.V. since 2011 and has served on this Board since September 2007. She has also been a Member of the Supervisory Board of Louis Dreyfus Commodities Holdings B.V. since April 2011 and was appointed Deputy Chairperson of this company in 2013. Furthermore, she is founder and President of the Paris-based Louis Dreyfus Foundation.

Ms Louis-Dreyfus has held a number of positions in accountancy, sales and marketing and graduated with a Diploma in Accounting from St Petersburg School of Commerce in 1981.

Juan Luciano oversees the commercial and production activities of ADM’s corn, oilseeds, and agricultural services businesses, as well as its research, project-management and risk-management functions. He also oversees the company’s Operational Excellence initiatives, which seek to improve productivity and efficiency companywide. Mr Luciano has led the company’s efforts to improve its capital, cost and cash positions.

Mr Luciano joined ADM in 2011 as executive vice president and chief operating officer, following a successful 25-year tenure at The Dow Chemical Company, where he last served as executive vice president and president of the performance division.

Mr Luciano is a national trustee of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America Midwest region and holds an industrial engineering degree from the Buenos Aires Institute of Technology.

Jan-Maarten Mulder is responsible for the bank’s agri commodities, metals commodities and energy commodities banking activities within ABN AMRO’s Energy, Commodities & Transportation (ECT) business. He is a member of the ECT management team, as well as the capital allocation committee of the bank’s Large Corporate & Merchant Banking division - of which ECT forms a part.

Prior to joining ABN AMRO in September 2013, Mr Mulder was Global Head Corporate Finance & Treasury at Trafigura where he led teams involved in financing and investments, and helped to transform the company into a corporate borrower with a deep and widely diversified funding pool. He joined Trafigura in 2006 with responsibility for Corporate Finance and in 2009 also took over the Group Treasurer role.

Mr Mulder started his career in the Corporate Finance & Capital Markets team at MeesPierson, before moving to Fortis’ Global Commodities Group in 2004 where he focused on financing for Metals & Steel clients.

Mr Mulder holds MSc in Chemical Engineering from Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands.

Brett Olsher is co-head of the Global Natural Resources Group in the Investment Banking Division (IBD) at Goldman Sachs. He is a member of the IBD Operating Committee, the Firmwide Commitments Committee and the Growth Markets Operating Committee. Mr Olsher joined Goldman Sachs as a partner in 2010.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr Olsher worked at Deutsche Bank from 2001 to 2010, during which time he was global head of Emerging Markets and prior to that, co-head of the bank’s global Mergers & Acquisitions business. He was also a member of the Executive Committee for the Corporate and Investment Bank and chaired the Global Clients Executive Committee, which is responsible for the firm’s priority client relationships. Previously, Mr Olsher spent four years at J.P. Morgan in London as a top-ranked equity research analyst.

Before embarking on a career in investment banking in 1997, Mr Olsher spent 10 years as president of Olsher Metals Corporation, a global commodities trading, processing and distribution firm. From 1983 to 1986, he was a member of the professional staff at Price Waterhouse, where he qualified as a CPA.

During his career, Mr Olsher has advised on $362bn of M&A transactions as well as $98bn of financings, including the AUD 57bn merger of BHP and Billiton, the $100bn unification of Shell, the $3.2m IPO of China Shenhua Energy Co., Statoil’s $2bn acquisition of Encana’s Gulf of Mexico business, the €32bn merger of Arcelor and Mittal, Xstrata’s $18.8bn acquisition of Falconbridge, Tata Steel’s $12.1bn acquisition of Corus Group, ENI’s $5.8bn acquisition of 100% of OAO Arctic Gas Company, ZAO UrengoilInc, OAO Neftgastechnologia and 20% of OAO Gazprom Neft and Xstrata’s $90bn agreed merger with Glencore.

Mr Olsher earned a master’s degree in international economics and politics from Columbia University’s Graduate School of International and Public Affairs. He is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board of the school.

Paul Reed became Chief Executive of Supply and Trading in 2010. Previous board positions included Interconnector UK, China Aviation Oil (Singapore), TransOccidente S.A, and the Futures and Options Association.

Mr Reed spent 20 years in supply and trading roles, trading Rotterdam barges, crude oil and establishing commodity derivatives trading. Following roles in natural gas departments including establishing as Commercial Director the UK Gas Interconnector (linking the grids of England and Europe), he worked in head office running BP´s Mergers and Acquisitions until the completion of the BP Amoco merger, after which he became general manager for global strategy in refining and marketing. In 2001 he became the Head of oil supply and trading in Europe and Africa followed by other leadership roles in oil and gas supply and trading.

Mr Reed graduated in Classics from Durham University, and spent 33 years in BP in London, Germany, Holland, USA, Colombia and Spain. In 1990, he attended the Program for Management Development at the Harvard Business School.

Christophe Salmon joined Trafigura in 2012. With a turnover of USD 133.03 billion in 2013, Trafigura is one of the world’s leading physical commodities trading and logistics groups. The company manages every process involved in the sourcing and trading of crude oil, petroleum products, non-ferrous and bulk commodities.

Between 2001 and 2012, Christophe contributed to the development of the energy franchise for BNP Paribas leading the Europe-Middle East and Africa region for Commodity Finance activity.

Christophe is a graduate from Sciences Po in Paris and holds a master degree in finance. He started as a credit officer in the credit insurance group Euler and joined BNP Paribas in 1995 in the internal audit department where he spent 5 years.

Mr. Schroder became CEO, Bunge Limited, in June 2013, and serves on the company's board as a Director. From 2010 to 2013 he was CEO, Bunge North America, leading Bunge’s business operations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Since joining Bunge in 2000, he has served in a variety of agribusiness leadership roles at the company in the United States and Europe. Prior to joining Bunge, he worked for more than 15 years at Continental Grain and Cargill. Mr. Schroder is a Member of Rabobank International’s North American Agribusiness Advisory Board. He received a B.A. in Economics from Connecticut College.

David Silbert served as Managing Director and Head of Deutsche Bank Global Commodities from March 2007 to February 2013. At Deutsche Bank, he organically built a global, balanced, and sustainable commodities platform with deep physical and financial capabilities across energy, metals & mining, and agriculture.

During Mr. Silbert’s tenure, the division quintupled revenues over a five year period and became the third best performing investment bank in terms of revenue and the second most profitable, from a position of 10th prior to his tenure. Front office staff, located predominantly in Singapore, London, New York and Houston, grew from 120 people in 2006 to 320 people by early 2012. Deutsche Bank’s commodity platform ranked second among the top tier investment banks by productivity per commercial employee.

Before joining Deutsche Bank in 2007, Mr. Silbert was a Managing Director and Head of EMEA Commodities at Merrill Lynch, from September 2004 to October 2006. He joined Merrill Lynch after its acquisition of Entergy-Koch Trading, where he served as CEO of its European division.

From May 2003 to August 2004, Mr. Silbert served as CEO of Entergy-Koch Trading Europe, and from August 1996 to April 2003, Mr. Silbert held various trading roles at Koch Industries, and in particular at Koch Energy Trading. Mr. Silbert started is career in the energy markets as a physical and financial gas trader for Texaco Natural Gas from 1993 to 1996, and as a Volume Analyst for Tenneco Gas Pipeline between September 1992 and October 1993.

Mr. Silbert graduated from the University of Texas, Austin, in 1992, with a Bachelors of Business Administration.

Michiel has long experience with audit and advisory for large, international oil & gas companies. As Global Leader of one of KPMG's major international practices - Energy and Natural Resources - Michiel leads over 16,000 professionals based across the globe, delivering audit, tax and advisory services to organisations in the Oil & Gas, Power & Utilities, Mining, Energy Services and Renewables industries. The key ENR clients include large energy companies, such as Anglo American, BHP Billiton, BP, Chevron, E.on, ExxonMobil, PetroChina, Petrobras, Petronas, Rio Tinto, RWE, Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil and Total.

The role has provided the opportunity for Michiel to continue to drive the development of KPMG's Global Energy Institute, which sets and continues to drive the highest standards of client service and thought leadership to representatives within the oil and gas and broader energy industry.

Based in London, Michiel serves currently as Global Lead Partner for Royal Dutch Shell. In his role as Global Lead Partner, Michiel has worked with management in most of Shell’s key locations.

In his role as Global Chairman, Michiel meets frequently with management of some of the largest companies in the energy and natural resources industry.

Swithun Still is the Director of Solaris Commodities S.A., which specialises in the trade of milling wheat, corn and barley,and other agricultural products from Russia.

The company has traded over 2 million tons from Russia and Ukraine. Having graduated from Durham University in 1994 with a degree in Russian Mr Still worked in the publishing sector and then for an oil trading company before accepting an opportunity involving Agriculture in 1999. He has been actively involved in the Russian agricultural market ever since, initially working for a large agroholding, importing machinery into Russia and working for a variety of companies, involved in operations, freight and in trading. In his spare time Mr Still also acts as an Arbitrator at GAFTA (the Grain and Feed Trade Association) in London, revolving trade disputes.

Ian Taylor comes from a Scottish family and was educated at King’s Macclesfield and Merton College Oxford where he graduated with an MA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. Since graduating he has been primarily involved in the energy business for the past 30 years.

He joined Shell in 1978 and worked in South America and the Far East before moving to Vitol in 1985. Since joining Vitol he has set up the global crude oil trading team and was involved in the formation of Vitol’s many international operations in the energy markets. He was Managing Director of Vitol Asia between 1992 and 1995, based in Singapore. He returned to Europe to take up the post of Chief Executive in late 1995 since then he has been actively involved in expanding Vitol’s businesses on a global basis including adding upstream and downstream petroleum assets as well as natural gas and power to their portfolio.

Vitol is today one of the world’s largest independent physical oil and gas trading companies, with a 2012 revenue of US$303 billion.

Torbjörn Törnqvist co-founded Gunvor Group Ltd in 2000. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of the international oil markets, he established Gunvor as one of the world’s leading oil trading companies, and is focused on integrating Gunvor’s diversified operations to grow its position as a leading commodities trading house.

Mr. Törnqvist received business degree from Stockholm University, and is Honorary Consul of Sweden in Geneva. Before co-founding Gunvor, he was managing director for the oil division of Intermaritime Group Petrotrade. Previously, he worked at British Petroleum from 1977 to 1983, and then became head of oil trading at Scandinavian Trading Co AB until 1989. Mr. Törnqvist has more than 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry.

Having more than 25 years of experience in the Energy sector, Marcel van Poecke is primarily an Entrepreneur, Investor and Executive Manager. He is the Chairman of AtlasInvest, a private holding company he founded in 2007. AtlasInvest is engaged in investments across the broad energy spectrum.

Mr van Poecke is a Managing Director for Carlyle International Energy Partners (CIEP) and is the Head of the Carlyle International Energy Partnership. CIEP focuses on the energy sector outside North America with a particular focus on oil and gas: upstream, midstream/downstream; and oil field services.

Mr van Poecke is also: the Chairman of Oranje-Nassau Energie (ONE), an AtlasInvest portfolio company with Oil&Gas assets in the North Sea and West Africa, with a long track-record of running a diversified upstream portfolio; Vice Chairman of the Energy Intelligence Board; and a non-executive Director on the Boards of Argos-North Sea Group, Hestya, VARO and Discover Exploration.

Prior to forming AtlasInvest, he founded Petroplus from a management buyout in 1993 and successfully led its growth into the largest independent oil refiner in Europe through several major acquisitions and divestments. Petroplus was taken private in 2005 in a transaction led by Carlyle/Riverstone and management. In 2006, Mr van Poecke exited Petroplus following the company’s successful IPO on the Zurich stock exchange. The transaction was the highest multiple return investment for the Carlyle/Riverstone Energy Fund.

Mr van Poecke has a degree in Agricultural Business Administration from the University of Wageningen and a Masters in Business Administration from the William E. Simon School of Management of the University of Rochester, USA.

Vitaly Vasiliev has been the Chief Executive Officer of Gazprom Marketing & Trading since 2004. He is responsible for the strategic development of the Company in line with Gazprom’s global strategy. Mr Vasiliev’s wide-ranging business experience includes working in a variety of roles for Gazprom export and Gazprom.

Mr Vasiliev specialised in International Economics at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and in 2003 completed a MSc. in Management at Stanford Graduate School of Business in the USA.

Guillaume Vermersch is the Group Chief Financial Officer and a Group Board member of Mercuria Energy Group (Mercuria). Mr Vermersch is part of the founding team of Mercuria, after 5 years as Head of the Credit and Finance Risk department of Sempra Oil Trading for Europe and Asia where he was responsible for establishing, deploying and monitoring the full scope of the Sempra Energy credit and financial strategies, from trading business requirements to banking, finance and risk management responsibilities to support the oil and energy division’s expansion.

Prior to that, Mr Vermersch spent ten years in the energy, metals and mining commodities and structured finance departments of ING/BBL Bank and CIB in Geneva and Paris. Mr Vermersch started his career as auditors with Arthur Andersen in Paris. He holds an MBA from the Manchester Business University and is also graduated from Ecole Superieure De Commerce De Paris (ESCP Europe).

John Whittaker has been a partner for over 20 years and works closely with the firm’s associated offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg. He also spent five years in Singapore setting up the Clyde & Co office and is still closely involved with the firm’s Asian practice.

Mr Whittaker’s primary focus is on international arbitration and litigation arising from commercial and energy disputes. He has handled cases before many international arbitral bodies and before the Commercial Court in London. This includes a number of significant cases in the countries of Russia, the former Yugoslavia and the Far East. Mr Whittaker acts for and against sovereign states. He has been involved in sanction issues since 2000 when the EU first applied sanctions against the former Yugoslavia.

Mr Whittaker is recommended in various editions of the legal directories Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners for commodities, commercial litigation, public international law and international arbitration.

Martin Wolf is Associate Editor and Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times. He was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) “for services to fi nancial journalism”. He is an associate member of the governing body of Nuffi eld College, Oxford University; honorary fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford; honorary fellow of the Oxford Institute for Economic Policy (Oxonia); and a special professor at the University of Nottingham.