As Director of the Office of the Chief Scientist at Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), Clay oversees research, communications, and diverse interactions both within and outside RMI, an independent, entrepreneurial, non-profit think-and-do tank that drives the efficient and restorative use of resources. Clay also serves as Project Manager for RMI’s latest initiative, Reinventing Fire: China, a partnership with the Chinese government to examine the maximum feasible share of renewables and efficiency technology in the Chinese energy economy through 2050. The project’s aim is to develop a transparent, adjustable, and enduring model to inform China’s energy future. Clay has worked on energy strategy in more than a dozen countries including Japan.

Prior to joining RMI, Clay worked in viticulture, marketing, and social-business incubation, and was the founder of an import company dedicated to the international distribution of Mexican wine and spirits. As a Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician, he has led expeditions in the Sierra Nevada, Himalaya, and Rocky Mountains. He holds a BA in Agriculture, Ecology and Philosophy from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an MBA focused on natural resource management from Bainbridge Graduate Institute in Washington State.

Monica Araya is an advocate, adviser and communicator who has incubated several initiatives in Latin America. She founded Costa Rica Limpia (costaricalimpia.org)to bring people closer to clean, smarter technologies that improve their everyday life. Her work focuses on consumer and citizen engagement in the shift toward renewable energy and zero emissions electric mobility.

Her group pioneered www.movilidadelectrica.org– the first electric mobility platforms in Latin America devoted to the education of consumers about electric vehicles. She also co-founded the Electric Mobility Association in Costa Rica and is Vice President of the Board.  Her blog, “Essentially Electric” is hosted at the business newspaper La República. She writes frequently for international and local media and has given talks in Latin America, Europe and Asia.

Dr Glen Peters is Research Director at CICERO Center for International Climate Research in Oslo. He is also lead author of IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report and one of the main contributors to the Global Carbon Project.  Peters performs research on the causes of recent changes in carbon dioxide emission trends at the global and country level, and how these changes link to future emission pathways consistent with global climate objectives. He is particularly interested in how emission scenarios are created, interpreted, and used, and how this relates to ongoing policy discussions. He has a background in mathematics and physics.

 Julie Furber is the Executive Director of the Electrified Power segment at Cummins. She is responsible for overseeing the development and acceleration of Cummins knowledge and capability in electrification, positioning the company to be the leading provider of electrified powertrains in commercial and industrial markets. 

A disruptor at heart, Julie has been at the forefront of identifying the products and solutions critical to the success of Cummins customers. Prior to leading the Electrification business, Julie was responsible for product planning and product management across the company’s $8-billion Engine Business, the largest of Cummins’ four business segments. This included all new product programs, market-based innovation and new business incubation.

Julie joined Cummins in 2005 as the Global Finance Director for Cummins Generator Solutions, based in Stamford, England. She then moved to the United States where she has held a variety of key commercial roles, which included leading the global off-highway business for Cummins Emission Solutions, serving as the Global Integrated Account Management leader for PACCAR, Cummins’ largest customer, and leading the entire North American Truck team.

Prior to joining Cummins, Julie had more than 15 years of business leadership experience in sales, operations and finance in diverse industries, including security printing, glass and food. 

A native of the United Kingdom, Julie is a qualified accountant and holds bachelors and masters degrees in mathematics from Oxford University. She is a Court Appointed Special Advocate for Children. Julie and her husband, Paul, have two daughters, Megan and Ella, and reside in Columbus, Indiana.

Jack Cheng is Co-founder and Executive Vice President of NIO, and the Chief Executive Officer of XPT. As a pioneer in the automotive industry, his focus is to empower a joyful future and mobilise the world through affordable autonomous electric cars.

Barbara Vollert has been with Porsche for 17 years and has since May 2017 held the title of Vice President Region Europe. Previously, she’s acted as the company’s Director Quality Method & Systems, Director Global Training and Vice President Sales Network Management & Development.

She was born in Hof/Saale in Bavaria, Germany. Prior to joining the automotive industry in 1984, Vollert studied Chemistry and Rubber Technology in Bayreuth and Hannover.

Professor Pål Johan From is a world leading expert on farm robot systems. Together with his students at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences he has developed a system of automated farm robots powered on electricity. His invention has the potential to revolutionize food production as we know it.

Dr. Oleksii Riabchyn is a Ukrainian politician from Donetsk region. In October 2014 was elected to the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) on the party list of Batkivshchyna. He chairs the subcommittee on energy saving and energy efficiency of the Energy Committee.

He has participated in lobbying and introducing numerous energy reforms in Ukraine. He personally championed initiatives supporting e-mobility, renewable energy and those focused on creating an energy efficiency market in Ukraine.

Dr. Oleksii Riabchyn represented Ukraine in Conferences of the Parties to the UNFCCC in Paris, Marrakesh, Bonn and Katowice. He is focused on promoting renewables, sustainable development, green economy and supporting displaced universities that were relocated from Donbas and Crimea.

Colin McKerracher manages coverage of the transport sector at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the clean energy and carbon markets division of Bloomberg LP. Colin’s team covers the technology, policy and economic factors influencing the evolution of the transport sector. This includes electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, biofuels, fuel cell vehicles, connected cars and other new vehicle technologies.

Colin previously managed BNEF’s coverage of the global smart grid industry. He has over 10 years of experience in the clean energy sector and presents regularly at industry events. Colin’s past roles include Director of Sales and Marketing for Neurio, a smart grid technology company, and Business Development Manager for a Canadian biofuel company. Colin holds degrees from the London School of Economics and the Sauder School of Business at UBC. He is based in London, UK.

World Press Photo award winner Matjaz Krivic and crisis reporter Boštjan Videmšek will present their Lithium Road photo project at the Nordic EV Summit.

Lithium Road  illustrates this new gold rush for the modern age. Batteries are the social and industrial game changers of our time. As the need for effective climate protection gets stronger, the development of cleaner energy is gaining momentum. At the same time, a key part of the solution, lithium, and the production of the material, is not without its own hazards and sins.

The photographic project follows the tracks of lithium, from investment and prospecting in the US, to mining in Bolivia, production of batteries and cars in China and to the small oil state Norway leading the way to electrify all of its transportation – cars, buses, planes and boats.

Ellen Hiep is board member of the Dutch Electric Vehicle Drivers Association (Vereniging Elektrische Rijders) and CEO of HiePRactief, a Dutch communications agency specialized in smart eMobility.

HiePRactief is an official and active partner of the S4C Smart e-Mobility Holland- Westcoast Program that promotes knowledge and innovation exchange in the field of smart eMobility between the Westcoast of the US and the Dutch government, universities and industry.

Ellen Hiep is also one of the founders of Adventures 2 a smarter world,  a program that connects kids from different parts of the world with exciting (online) challenges in the field of smart mobility, solar and climate change.

Fraser has worked for Dundee City Council since 2001. In 2011 he was appointed Assistant Manager of the newly formed Corporate Fleet Department.

He has been at the forefront of implementing electric vehicles and infrastructure in Dundee as well as surrounding local authorities.

Pro-active in the council’s drive towards the EV uptake of the city’s taxi industry he has presented at many UK/European conferences where he has articulated his knowledge and expertise in the practicalities of electric vehicle adoption.

Since becoming a Saturn car salesperson at age 17 to pay for university, then joining the General Motors EV1 electric vehicle program in the 1990s, Chelsea Sexton has amassed unparalleled expertise in advanced transportation and related technology deployment, including product development, go-to-market strategy, stakeholder engagement, retail processes, public policy, infrastructure, marketing, and communications. 

Chelsea led the initial creation of the Automotive X PRIZE, which awarded $10 million to winning teams and inspired similar prize efforts to catalyze innovative transportation and smart city solutions.

As a Senior Advisor to VantagePoint Capital Partners’ cleantech practice, she helped guide the firm’s transportation-related investment priorities, most notably an early stake in Tesla Motors.

Chelsea’s diverse adventures have also involved advising companies, NGOs, and government agencies around the world, including: Audi, Nissan, Tesla, Chevrolet, Electrify America, Google, Best Buy, Edison Electric Institute, Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, California Energy Commission, and many others. She also co-founded Plug In America, the largest consumer-oriented electric drive advocacy group in the US, and remained its Executive Director for several years.

Chelsea is featured in various books, TV shows, and films, including Sony Pictures Classic’s Who Killed the Electric Car? and National Geographic’s Years of Living Dangerously. She is quoted frequently in a variety of media outlets, occasionally writes for one of them when a topic gets under her skin, and her candor makes her a more popular public speaker than her organic shyness would prefer.

Bakur Kvezereli is Co-founder and CEO of Ztractor, a Palo Alto based Autonomous Electric Tractor company. Ztractor’s mission is to rethink current farming practice and introduce AI powered, future agriculture machinery. The startup has partnered with OEMs in the United States and Europe, and the first model will be delivered to customer in California in 2019.