Dr. Derya Ercikan is a Chemical and Environmental Engineer with MSc and PhD degrees. He is the Secretary General of Turkish Chemical Manufacturer’s Association and the External Affairs and Technology Adviser for Ege Kimya. Moreover, he is a reserve Board Member of the Composite Manufacturer’s Association.

Born in Istanbul in 1960, he studied at the Istanbul Technical University where he obtained a BSc and PhD in Chemical Engineering. He also studied at the University of Leeds and obtained an Master in Environmental Pollution Control. 

Lisa is working on responsible sourcing, human rights and sustainability topics within the procurement department at Mercedes-Benz AG. Her focus lies on battery raw materials, especially cobalt and nickel. Before joining Mercedes-Benz AG she used to work with the German Development Cooperation – GIZ – where she was advising the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development on responsible raw material extraction in partner countries of the German development cooperation. Lisa has a background in political sciences and development studies.

Harry is a Project Manager at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence in the Forecasting and Consultancy Division. He supports clients with market analysis and strategic decisions throughout the lithium-ion value chain, with a particular focus on cobalt and nickel. Harry has more than 7 years of experience in commodity markets and prior to Benchmark he was in charge of cobalt and battery market analysis at CRU.

Dr Yanchen Wang is the managing director of SMM UK office, which was established in May 2021. Currently He focuses on the base metals market research and SMM overseas business development.

Dr Yanchen Wang is a well-known analyst in the global commodity industry. His areas of expertise include base metals market, coal and power industry, carbon emission market. In recent years, he has extended his research into the battery metals markets. He has visited more than 100 base metals assets around the world. Dr Yanchen Wang has more than 16 years commodity market research experience. He also often attends technical and market conferences and gives presentations as a key-note speaker.

Before joining SMM, he was the principal analyst at CRU and the head of Chinese aluminium market research. Dr Yanchen Wang had worked at CRU for 15 years. 

Yanchen has a PhD in Engineering from Chinese Academy of Sciences. 

Mitchell Smith is the Founder, CEO and Director of Global Energy Metals Corp. A publicly listed company providing shareholders investment exposure to the battery metals supply chain through a growing portfolio of jurisdictionally safe exploration critical mineral projects in close proximity to end-use application.

Mitchell is Director of the Battery Metals Association of Canada, a trade organization of entrepreneurs, explorers, developers and producers of battery metals and materials, who have joined together to support a rapidly changing energy landscape leading an effort to ensure Canada fully captures the abundant economic potential of its massive resources through the responsible and sustainable growth of Canada’s battery metals supply chain. – Mitchell is an important stakeholder and board member for several private and public natural resource companies having over 15 years of executive leadership, entrepreneurship and capital markets experience at all stages of the junior mining lifecycle, and is experienced with start-ups and mature companies in diverse industries both private and public.

Molly McCoy was appointed in November 2021 as the Associate Deputy Undersecretary for International Labor Affairs at the Department of Labor in the Biden-Harris administration, following a 20- year career in the U.S. and global labor movements. Her focuses at the Department of Labor include promoting worker voice within the Department’s international technical assistance programs and spearheading the roll-out of M-POWER, the Multilateral Partnership for Organizing, Worker Empowerment, and Rights. Prior to joining the Department of Labor, Ms. McCoy served as the policy director for the Solidarity Center, a U.S.-based worker rights NGO focused on union organizing and worker empowerment globally. Ms. McCoy holds master’s degrees in international relations and international affairs from Columbia University and the Institut d’études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) Paris.

Mrs Marie-Chantal Kaninda joined Glencore DRC 3 years ago as Vice-President of Corporate Affairs . Since January 2023 , she is The President of Glencore DRC  and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kamoto Copper Company-KCC(since July 2022) ,a joint venture between Gécamines ( 25%) and Glencore (75%) in the DRC.  She has over 25 years of professional experience in the mining sector in major international groups such as Ashanti Goldfieds, AngloGold Ashanti, Debeers Group and Rio Tinto.

Marie-Chantal holds a degree in economics from the University of Liège, in Belgium, and for two years was the first woman to helm the World Diamond Council. Married with two daughters, she has long advocated for greater access to training for girls and women, as well as for greater inclusion in the mining sector. She is a mentor to several young women entrepreneurs in the DRC, the founder and creator of a not-for-profit association (the MCKM Foundation), which addresses the issue of girls’ education in the DRC. She is a member of several boards of directors.