Speaker Biographies

Dr. Parvin Adeli manages the Batteries Program at the Nickel Institute. She also develops strategies for stakeholder engagement and sees partnerships to success. She is the host of Battery Chats with Parri, a series of online interviews with leading experts in the field, and a contributor to the Nickel Magazine and the Chronickels Blog. In June 2023, she developed the program and moderated the Inaugural Nickel Institute Battery Day where more than 500 delegates from 70+ countries attended. Prior to joining the Nickel Institute in 2020, Parri held a prestigious postdoctoral fellowship with the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa where she worked on energy storage material formulation and optimization, particularly on solid-state batteries and composite electrolyte materials. She earned her PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo (UW) in Canada. Parri is the recipient of multiple awards including the distinguished “Nickel Institute President Award”, Merit Scholarship from UW and the Nanotechnology fellowship from the Waterloo Institute of Nanotechnology. She has authored and co-authored several peer-reviewed papers in the field of batteries in well-reputed journals.

Sabrina Bouchard has graduated from Laval University in Public Affairs and International Relations and holds a master's degree from ENAP in Public Administration. In parallel to her studies, she worked at the Government’s Whip Chief Cabinet of the Quebec National Assembly, namely as a researcher. She began her professional career at Quebec International, the economic development agency for the greater Quebec City region in 2013 and worked there for 8 years, namely as a Foreign Direct Investment business development director for the Americas. She actively worked on attracting foreign companies, accompanying them in their establishment and on the reinvestment of foreign subsidiaries of all sectors. She then joined Investissement Québec, the organization which operates the provincial government green battery production strategy, in 2021 where she works in the Foreign Direct Investment division as Senior Project Director for the Battery Sector. She covers the Mauricie and Centre du Québec regions, including Becancour and the greater area, working on a daily basis at the implementation of battery materials projects and the supply chain.

Member of Roland Berger Americas automotive team and Advanced Technology Center with focus on lithium-ion battery Consulting experience spanning entire LiB value chain from OEMs/cell makers to material suppliers and policymakers Focus on growth strategy, market entry strategy, supply chain/ vertical integration strategy & due diligence.

Martin Jackson leads CRU's battery raw material analysis, bringing together industry-leading knowledge on commodities affected by the rise of energy storage technologies and vehicle electrification. Following a career as a geological consultant for the mining and mineral exploration industry across Africa and the Middle East, Martin joined CRU in 2018. Martin holds an MSc (Eng) in Mineral Economics from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and a BSc in Economic Geology.

Michelle Lynch is the CEO of Enabled Future Limited, a boutique consulting company based in the West Midlands, UK offering supply chain consulting, reports, and training courses in the advanced materials, batteries, catalysts, chemicals, energy, and sustainable manufacturing sectors. Michelle has a PhD in Chemicals and Catalysis and is a Chartered Chemist/Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (CChem FRSC). As a dedicated consulting professional with 26 years of experience, Michelle’s deep technical and strategic insights reach clients globally including startups, multinationals, investors and financial institutions, stakeholder and funding organizations, and academic institutions.

Arumugam Manthiram is the George T. and Gladys H. Abell Endowed Chair of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin). He served as the Director of Texas Materials Institute at UT-Austin for 11 years during 2011–2022. After receiving his PhD in chemistry from Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 1981 and working as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford and at UT-Austin, he became a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UT-Austin in 1991. He has authored 900 journal articles with 95,000 citations and an h-index of 152. He has mentored 300 students and postdoctoral researchers, including the graduation of 69 PhD students. Dr. Manthiram is a recipient of the Battery Division Research Award and Technology Award and the Henry B. Linford Award for Distinguished Teaching from the Electrochemical Society, and the International Battery Association Research Award. He delivered the 2019 Chemistry Nobel Prize Lecture in Stockholm on behalf of Professor John Goodenough.

A veteran of the automotive industry, Michael is the Director, EV Policy and Regulatory Affairs for General Motors. He has worked in the Electric Propulsion space for over 10 years as part of GM’s Product Planning and Strategy group. He led the advanced planning effort for GM’s next generation of battery electric vehicles, debuting in the form of the Cadillac Lyriq and Hummer EV. Michael has worked all over the globe for GM on electrification and strategy projects, including a three-year assignment in Germany with GM’s former subsidiary Opel. He leads GM Policy work on EV incentive, infrastructure, supply chain, and regulatory topics. He is a Chair of the Indiana EV Product Commission, and also sat on the advisory panel for Drive Change, Drive Electric, a public/private partnership between automakers and Northeast states to promote electric vehicles. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Dr. Mark McArthur is the Director of R&D at NOVONIX Battery Technology Solutions in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. He and his team focus on discovering and developing useful materials and production methods for the energy storage ecosystem. Since 2020, Dr. McArthur has led the NOVONIX cathode team in developing and scaling up its patented all-dry, zero-waste cathode synthesis technology, which is expected to significantly reduce the costs and environmental impact of nickel-based cathode production. Prior to his role at NOVONIX, Dr. McArthur worked at Tesla Canada, uncovering new lithium-ion battery materials and technologies for the EV and ESS sectors. He completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering at McGill University on energy storage materials and his M.Sc. in Physics at Dalhousie University under the supervision of Prof. Jeff Dahn.

Yang-Kook Sun is presently Professor of Energy Engineering at the Hanyang University in Seoul, South Korea. He received his PhD in chemical engineering at the Seoul National University in 1992. He was group leader at Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology and contributed to the commercialization of the lithium polymer battery. His major research interests are design, synthesis, and structural analysis of advanced energy storage, and conversion materials for application in electrochemical devices, lithium-ion, lithium-sulfur, lithium-air, and sodium-ion batteries. One of his major achievements is the discovery of a new concept of layered concentration gradient NCM cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries. Sun has several international collaborations around the world. He is the author of more than 474 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals and 341 registered and applied patents.

Jorge Uzcategui has over 5+ years of experience in the mining and metals industry, specialising in the analysis of base and battery metals markets. Jorge is currently a Senior Analyst at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence where he covers the nickel and cobalt markets, analysing and forecasting the demand, supply, prices, and production costs of these key battery raw materials. Previous to Benchmark, he worked on similar roles modelling the supply, costs, and carbon emissions of the copper and gold industries and has in the past practiced as a geology consultant, contributing to various resource modelling and technical review projects across multiple commodities. Jorge holds a combined degree in Petroleum Engineering and Geoscience from the University of Adelaide, Australia

Bart Verrecht obtained his Master in Chemical Engineering from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium) in 2004, followed by a PhD in Water Sciences at Cranfield University (United Kingdom). After several roles in sales and process design (at Waterleau, Belgium) and business development (at Hach, Germany) in the water sector, Bart joined Umicore R&D in 2016 to lead the Competence Centre on Environmental Technologies. In 2019, Bart took up the role of Senior Program Manager for Battery Recycling. In this role, he is overseeing the technical development roadmap for Umicore’s battery recycling flowsheet, validating key unit processes at lab scale and in our industrial pilot facility in Hoboken, to support future upscaling.

Ashley Zumwalt-Forbes is an engineer with twelve years’ experience in acquiring, financing, and developing both greenfield and brownfield natural resources projects around the globe. Ms. Zumwalt-Forbes currently serves as the US’ Deputy Director for Batteries and Critical Materials. Ms. Zumwalt-Forbes has deep expertise in starting and scaling energy supply chain ventures, having served as Co-Founder and President of Black Mountain Metals (private nickel mining company) and Black Mountain Exploration (private natural gas company - successfully IPO’d). She was key to both the IPO and business combination for Metals Acquisition Corp, having served as its Senior Advisor from 2021-2023. Prior to joining Black Mountain in 2017, Ms. Zumwalt-Forbes worked in several Lead Engineering roles at ExxonMobil and XTO Energy, managing drilling, completions, and planning aspects of international shale exploration, laying the groundwork for >US$1 billion capital deployment. She is on the Advisory Board of both TCU’s Energy Institute and OU’s School of Petroleum Engineering. Ms. Zumwalt-Forbes graduated summa cum laude from the University of Oklahoma with a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. Ms. Zumwalt-Forbes was highlighted as the featured honoree on the 2020 Forbes 30 under 30 in Energy list, a 2021 Oil & Gas Investor Forty under 40 award winner, and one of the top 25 women in business in DFW by Dallas Business Journal. She now resides in Washington, DC with her husband, daughter, and two cats.