Richard Doisneau, Saft

Richard Doisneau has been Saft Group Chief Technology Officer since January 2007. He graduated as chemical engineer at ESPCI (now ESPCI ParisTech) then as Doctor of Science. He Joined Saft in 1974. His career, entirely spent with the Group, has included periods as site director in France, Japan and the UK then as Industrial Director of the Industrial Battery Group. He has been instrumental in the development of Saft's new technology portfolio.

Dan Funcannon, Komatsu

Dan Funcannon is Manager of Vehicle Development for Komatsu America Corporation. He joined Komatsu in 1994 as a design engineer in the components and systems group—moving to the new product development area as Chief Engineer in 2000. In his current role, he is responsible for all aspects of new product research and development for large mining trucks. Recent development projects include a new 360 ton AC drive haul truck, applying autonomous technology to large mining trucks, and Komatsu's first AC drive trolley assist truck. These products were recently featured at MinExpo in Las Vegas, Nevada. His design team has also participated with GE Transportation in hybrid vehicle research for large mining trucks.

Dan received his BSME from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.

Dr. Imre Gyuk, U.S. Department of Energy

After taking a B.S. from Fordham University, Dr. Gyuk did graduate work at Brown University where he was research assistant to Nobel Laureate Leon Cooper working on superconductivity. Having received a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Purdue University, he became a Research Associate at Syracuse. As an Assistant Professor he taught Physics, Civil Engineering and Environmental Architecture at the University of Wisconsin. Research interests included the theory of elementary particles, metallurgy of non-stoichiometric alloys, non-linear groundwater flow, and architectural design using renewable energy and passive solar techniques. Dr. Gyuk became an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at Kuwait University where he organized an international Workshop on the Environment of the Arab Gulf, and was a member of the Emir’s Taskforce on Technology and the Future of Kuwait.

After six years in the Gulf, Dr. Gyuk joined the Department of Energy to manage the Thermal and Physical Storage program. Later he managed DOE's research on biological effects of electric and magnetic fields. Currently he directs the Energy Storage research program of the Department of Energy which funds work on a wide variety of technologies such as advanced batteries, flywheels, super-capacitors, and Compressed Air Energy Storage.

Gary Henriksen, Argonne National Laboratory

Gary Henriksen is a Senior Electrochemical Engineer and Manager of Electrochemical Energy Storage at Argonne National Laboratory. He started his career in battery R&D in 1968 at the U.S. Naval Ordnance Laboratory, Silver Spring, MD, under their work-study program. He received his M.S. degree, under this work-study program, from Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, in 1972. Subsequently, he spent three years at National Steel Corporation’s R&D Center, helping to refine the operation of their primary magnesium electrolytic cells for cost reduction. Then he spent almost ten years at Energy Development Associates (EDA) working on the development of zinc/chlorine flow batteries for large stationary energy storage (SES) applications. As Director of Engineering for EDA, he led the successful engineering development of a full-scale 125-kWh 400-kW prototype battery system for SES applications. In 1987 he joined the Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory system as a manager of battery R&D projects at Idaho National Laboratory, where he led a major DOE assessment of advanced battery technologies for electric vehicle (EV) applications.

In 1990, he joined Argonne National Laboratory, where he has worked on a variety of advanced battery and fuel cell R&D projects. In 1998, he became Manager of Argonne’s Electrochemical Energy Storage Department. In this capacity, he provides overall direction of Argonne’s battery research, development, engineering, and testing projects. He is manager of DOE’s applied battery R&D program, focused on the removal of key barriers for lithium-ion batteries in hybrid electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle applications. This applied R&D program involves collaborative R&D with four other DOE laboratories (Brookhaven, Idaho, Lawrence Berkeley, and Sandia). Also, he is Argonne’s representative on the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium Technical Advisory Committee and the FreedomCAR Energy Storage Technical Team. His work has resulted in five patents and more than 100 technical publications, including chapters in two editions of the Handbook of Batteries.

Dr. David Hodgson, AIC

David joined AIC initially to oversee all strategic technology development for AIC Labs Europe and Plurion Ltd. He has worked in the electrochemical field for more than 20 years, in a range of technical, production and commercial roles.

He began his career at ICI, initially contributing to the development of new electrocatalysts for a range of electrochemical processes and their conversions to commercial products. In his last role with ICI, David led a business venture developing a novel coating system for fuel cell components, with full responsibility for R&D through to Sales on three continents. David then moved to position of Chief Technology Officer for Metalysis, a company developing an electrochemical process for the production of added-value metals and alloys, where he was responsible for all research and development, including research collaborations with universities and operations at three sites. He also served as Vice Chairman for the SCI's Electrochemical Technology Group.

David has experience working in both large corporations and startup environments, and is also experienced in fundraising and strategic business management. He holds a Masters of Science degree in organic chemistry and a PhD in electrochemistry. In 2007 David was awarded a visiting position within the University of Manchester’s department of chemical engineering and analytical science.

Giuseppe Lodi, FIAMM

Giuseppe Lodi graduated with honours in Electrical Engineering from the University of Bologna, Italy, in 1986. After obtaining his PhD in Electrical Networks Management, he joined the FIAMM Group in 1988 where he began his work in battery technologies. Over the years he has garnered large amounts of experience in battery design and development, battery testing and energy storage applications. Lodi works in all areas of battery technology ranging from electrical propulsion to back up power, including storage systems with batteries and fuel cells, renewable energies, electric and hybrid vehicles. In his current position as Research & Development Director of FIAMM Industrial Batteries he is responsible for design, development, laboratory testing and application engineering of electrochemical energy storage technologies. He is member of National and International Standards Committees and author of a number of papers and presentations.

Glen Merfeld, GE Global Research

Glen Merfeld is manager of the Chemical Energy Systems Laboratory within the Chemical Technologies & Material Characterization organization at GE Global Research. His group is pursuing the advancement of new chemistry-based energy storage and conversion technologies. Their efforts include electrochemistry developments for novel battery technologies to enable the electrification of transportation, including GE's Hybrid Locomotive, as well as for improved stationary power quality in potential applications ranging from grid utility, to renewables, to uninterrupted power supplies. Additionally, the research group leads the design & synthesis of molecules that make Organic Light Emitting Diodes brighter and more efficient, as well as the creation of material systems for Thin Film Solar devices and packaging systems to forestall their environmental degradation.

Glen joined GE Global Research in 1998 after earning a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

John F. Mizroch. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

John F. Mizroch is currently the Acting Assistant Secretary for the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). He was originally appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) in June of 2006. In his capacity as Acting Assistant Secretary, Mizroch is responsible managing the programs, staff and policies of EERE and interfacing with constituent groups in the efficiency and renewable energy sectors. With a $1.72 billion budget, EERE invests in a diverse portfolio of energy technologies to provide efficient, clean and renewable energy leading toward a stronger economy, a cleaner environment, and greater energy independence for America.

Mizroch joined the Department of Energy from his previous position as President and CEO of the World Environment Center (WEC). At the WEC, he worked to advance sustainable development by encouraging environmental leadership, helping improve health and safety practices worldwide, and fostering the efficient use of natural resources to protect the global environment.

Prior to leading the WEC, Mizroch promoted environmental technology transfer and investment in the developing world including Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe.

Mizroch has also been a member of the Trade and Environmental Policy Advisory Committee at the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office and also served on the Cleaner Fossil Fuel Systems Advisory Committee of the World Energy Council.

Mizroch, an attorney, has served as a Foreign Service officer in South Africa, a senior official at the U.S. Department of Commerce in the Reagan and Bush administrations, and as a senior advisor to the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress.

He received undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Virginia and a law degree from The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Karina Morley, Ricardo

Karina Morley has a BSEE and MSEE from the University of Michigan and a MBA from Wayne State University. She presently works at Ricardo and previously worked at Chrysler, Ford Motor Company, and Visteon Corporation. She has worked on multiple electronic vehicle systems and components over the past 25 years with a focus on powertrains for the last 7 years. In her present position, she is focused on improving fuel economy and emissions with electronic control solutions through powertrains, including hybrid alternatives.

Dickon Pinner, McKinsey

Dickon is a Partner in McKinsey's San Francisco office where he co-founded McKinsey's Cleantech Practice, is a leader in McKinsey's Global Semiconductor and High Tech Operations Practices, and convenes McKinsey's CTO Innovation Roundtable. In Cleantech, Dickon serves start-ups, PE firms, technology companies and utilities across the different cleantech segments. Some of his recent work in cleantech includes:

• Developing auto strategy and country-level roll-out plans for leading EV start-up
• Battery due diligence for private equity fund
• Developing the utility strategy for a leading US solar player
• Creating solar market entry strategy for a leading semiconductor player
• Creating the sourcing strategy for mature renewables technologies for a large US utility
• Defining the technology transfer strategy for a the largest climate change philanthropic foundation to support the Copenhagen 2009 negotiators

In the Semiconductor Practice Dickon's primary focus has been on serving leading companies across the global semiconductor value chain. His functional experience is in M&A due diligence, post merger management, manufacturing strategy, corporate and BU strategy, R&D strategy, lean manufacturing and procurement.

Dickon earned a Ph.D. in Organic Semiconductor Physics from Cambridge University. He received his M.S. in Physics from UC Berkeley as a Fulbright Scholar, and a B.A (Double First Class Hons) in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University, UK. Prior to his PhD, Dickon spent three years in the Netherlands as a Reservoir Engineer for Shell. Dickon serves on a panel of independent judges for the "Organic Semiconductor Industry Awards", serves alongside VCs, academics and entrepreneurs to select promising start-ups.

Raj Rajiyah, GE Transportation

Raj heads GE Transportation's Advanced Technology developments, including: Energy Storage, PM traction motors and After treatment technologies. He is also responsible for leading the Principal Engineers and External Technology Funding efforts.

Raj joined the GE Transportation technology team after spending five years at Cummins, where he was most recently Executive Director of Mid-range Engines Engineering. He was responsible for leading the B, C & L Engine Platforms introduction for the EPA '07 emissions compliance. Before his time at Cummins, Raj worked at GE for 12 years, where he held several leadership roles focused on Energy and Propulsion Engineering at both Global Research and Transportation. At GE Global Research he was the Laboratory Manager for Life Technology for the GE Infrastructure businesses and was Section Manager for Propulsion Engineering at GE Transpiration. Raj began his career at Georgia Tech where he was an Assistant Professor in the Center for the Advancement of Computational Mechanics for several years. Raj has published over 30 articles and holds 10 Patents.

Raj earned a Ph.D. in Theoretical & Applied Mechanics from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India.

Lou Rhodes, ENVI (a company within Chrysler LLC)

Lou Rhodes was appointed Vice President – Advance Vehicle Engineering and President – ENVI in March 2008. In this position he leads the teams that are responsible for engineering Chrysler products in the early stages of design including Computer Aided Engineering (CAE), Advanced Vehicle Concepts and Innovation, and Government Collaboration. Rhodes also serves as President – ENVI, a company within Chrysler LLC, and is responsible for bringing electric-drive vehicles and related advanced-propulsion technologies to market. Rhodes reports to Frank Klegon, Executive Vice President – Product Development.

Prior to this position, Rhodes was Director – Advance Vehicle Concepts & Innovation, leading Chrysler's strategic program verification process in the early stages of development. Lou's responsibilities also included architecture and platform strategy, Chrysler's Pacifica Studio Engineering in California, and Chrysler's concept vehicle engineering and fabrication groups (Chrysler ME Four-Twelve, Jeep Hurricane, and Dodge Tomahawk).

His work and academic background includes:

• Vice President – Advance Vehicle Engineering and President -- ENVI, March 2008
• President – ENVI, Chrysler LLC, September 2007
• Director – Advance Vehicle Concepts & Innovation, Chrysler, 2003
• Director – Design Engineering, Chrysler, 1999
• Senior Manager – Advance Design Engineering, Chrysler, 1997
• Supervisor – Production Design Engineering, Chrysler, 1995
• Design Engineer – Chrysler, 1993
• Director, CAD/CAE Services – MSX International, 1987
• Engineering Manager – Boeing Aircraft Company, 1986
• Senior Release Engineer – General Motors, 1983
• Ten U.S. Patents, including Stow-n-Go seating and storage concept
• Bachelor of Science, Engineering, Western Michigan University, 1983

Rhodes was born August 31, 1960 in Dearborn, Mich.

Sanjay Rishi, IBM

Sanjay Rishi is the Vice President and Global Automotive Industry Leader for IBM Global Business Services. In this role, Mr. Rishi is responsible for managing the global portfolio of clients across Automotive OEMs, Automotive Suppliers, and Heavy Equipment manufacturers. This responsibility includes client relationships, client satisfaction, and value realization related to the solutions IBM develops and implements with these organizations.

With over 20 years of consulting and industry experience, Mr. Rishi is recognized as an automotive industry leader in issues affecting manufacturers, suppliers and retailers. He has vast experience leading large, global, multifunctional transformation programs. Mr. Rishi is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. In his role, Mr. Rishi is also responsible for IBM’s thought leadership in the Automotive Industry.

Prior to his current role, Mr. Rishi was an IBM Partner and PricewaterhouseCoopers Partner in the Automotive Supply Chain and Manufacturing practice. Mr. Rishi has managed many large-scale business engagements including enterprise-wide supply chain re-engineering, business transformation outsourcing, strategic sourcing, post merger integration, and product management transformation engagements. He has also led IBM's Automotive Supplier business, and was responsible for consulting services at many tier 1 and tier 2 automotive supplier accounts.

Prior to joining IBM, Mr. Rishi has had leadership roles in Product Engineering and Manufacturing operations at both Automotive OEM and Supplier organizations. Noteworthy experiences include startup of new manufacturing operations and establishment of a new engineering design center for a major global OEM.

Mr. Rishi has a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from Florida Institute of Technology.

Chris Shelton, The AES Corporation

Chris Shelton leads the group assessing and investing in commercial energy storage solutions for the AES global portfolio of generation and distribution businesses. Chris has more than 10 years of technology related development and systems architecture experience and has been a leader in the origination of new business efforts in the areas of retail electricity, environmental offsets, telecommunications, and SmartGrid.

Robert Spotnitz, American Lithium Energy Corporation

Robert Spotnitz is a founding member of American Lithium Energy Corporation. He is responsible for design, modeling, and data analysis. Dr. Spotnitz also works with Battery Design LLC as a consultant and software provider for battery developers and users. He developed Battery Design Studio®, a virtual environment for battery design and simulation (see www.batdesign.com).

Before that, he was Director of Advanced Product Development for PolyStor Corporation where he led efforts to develop large lithium-ion batteries for hybrid electric vehicles, managing a $9.5 MM PNGV contract.

Before joining PolyStor, he was a Staff Engineer for Hoechst where he designed and then oversaw the Battery Applications Development Center for building and testing Li-Ion cells.

Prior to joining Hoechst, he spend twelve years at W.R. Grace & Co. starting as a research engineer and working up the technical ladder to a staff engineer. At W.R. Grace, Dr. Spotnitz was a co-inventor of the multi-layer shutdown separator that is widely used today.

Dr. Spotnitz teaches a short course on "High-Power Battery Design" at the Advanced Automotive Battery Conference and on "Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy of Batteries and Fuel Cells" for the Materials Research Company. He has a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a MS degree in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University. He has 18 patents and 33 publications including three book chapters.

Sven Thesen, Better Place

Sven Thesen, who joined Better Place in April 2008, is responsible for driving the company’s sustainability vision and strategic relations with key utility companies. In his role, Thesen leverages his deep technical expertise in electric transportation and environmental engineering to help Better Place achieve its greater goal of global oil independence.

Prior to joining Better Place, Thesen managed the Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) emission reduction team and assisted the United Nations in revising the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. As a result of his contributions to the IPCC, he and other contributing engineers and scientists were awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

In his most recent post at PG&E, Thesen served as Electric Drive Supervisor within company’s Clean Air Transportation Department. Under his direction, the Electric Drive Group secured its leadership position in utility-based EV initiatives by being the first utility to demonstrate Vehicle to Grid (V2G) technology.

Thesen received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University and has been recognized by the Schwarzenegger administration with the 2006 Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award. As an avid cyclist and zero emission activist, sets a good example for his two children and wife by biking to and from work and their residence in Palo Alto, California.

David Vieau, A123

David Vieau is the President and CEO of A123Systems. Mr. Vieau has served as A123Systems only President and CEO, joining the company in March of 2002, three months after the company's initial financing. He brings more than thirty years of experience and leadership in developing rapid-growth technology and component businesses. Applying his expertise to A123Systems, Mr. Vieau has led the expansion of A123 from its initial creation to currently more than 1,100 employees, and through more than $250 million in private financing.

Prior to A123Systems, Mr. Vieau held corporate officer positions at American Power Conversion [NASDAQ: APCC], serving as VP of Marketing and VP of Worldwide Business Development. During his nine years at APC, Mr. Vieau helped grow the company from $50MM to $1.5B, becoming the world leader in power protection for PC and IS markets and employing 6,000 globally.

Mr. Vieau serves as a Board Member for Avocent, a leading global provider of IT infrastructure management solutions for enterprise data centers. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Syracuse University in 1972.

Professor M. Stanley Whittingham, SUNY Binghamton

M. Stanley Whittingham is a professor of materials science and director of the Materials Science Program and Institute for Materials Research at the State University of New York at Binghamton. He received his BA and D Phil degrees in chemistry from Oxford University. In 1968, he joined the Materials Science Department at Stanford University as a postdoctoral research associate to study fast-ion transport in solids and in 1971 won the Young Author Award of the Electrochemical Society for his work on the solid electrolyte beta-alumina. In 1972, he joined Exxon Research and Engineering Company to initiate a program in alternative energy production and storage. He discovered there the role of intercalation in battery reactions, which resulted in the first commercial lithium rechargeable batteries. After 16 years in industry, he joined the Binghamton campus of the State University of New York as a professor of chemistry to initiate an academic program in materials chemistry. His recent work focuses on the synthesis and characterization of novel microporous and nano-oxides and phosphates for possible electrochemical and sensor applications. He was principal editor of the Journal Solid State Ionics for 20 years. He won the Battery Research Award of the Electrochemical Society in 2002, and was elected a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society in 2004. In addition he was awarded a JSPS fellowship in the Physics Department of the University of Tokyo. In 2007, he co-chaired the battery section of the US DOE Workshop on Energy Storage, and presented its recommendations at the National Meetings of the American Chemical Society and the Materials Research Society as well as in the April 2008 issue of the Materials Research Society Bulletin.