Organization categories/job titles:
Meena Chauhan, Head of Sulphur and Sulphuric Acid Research, Argus Media
Meena has over 14 years of experience in sulphur and sulphuric acid market intelligence and analysis. She leads Argus’ analytics products for sulphur and acid, focusing on long-term supply, demand and trade patterns. Meena started out her sulphur career in price reporting, leading to an in depth knowledge of market dynamics. She regularly presents at major conferences such as The Sulphur Institute (TSI) and the European Sulphuric Acid Association (ESA) and has become a notable expert in the industry.
Tom Scott is Head of Agribusiness Consulting for IHS Markit Agribusiness Intelligence and has extensive experience in business strategy, market research, feasibility studies, competitive analyses, M&A and due diligence. Mr. Scott overseas approximately 200 projects a year covering every geography and all sectors of the agriculture and agribusiness vertical.
Mr. Scott has been with the IHS Markit (and predecessor companies) since 1989 and has held positions of an analyst, head of transportation and logistics research, director of North American consulting and group leader of combined market analysis and consulting prior to his current role. Previously, Mr. Scott worked for nine years for Continental Grain Company (now part of Cargill Inc.) where he held a variety of trading, logistics and facility management roles.
In addition to analytic and consulting roles, Mr. Scott has conducted training courses and is a frequent speaker at industry functions.
Mr. Scott received his bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics and business from Cornell University and a master’s degree in business administration from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College where he was an Amos Tuck Scholar.
Patrick Heffer joined the International Fertilizer Association (IFA) in Paris in 2002 as Director of the Agriculture Service. In this capacity, he coordinated IFA’s global activities relating to fertilizer consumption. More specifically, his duties focused on agronomic, market and policy issues that relate to fertilizer and nutrient management in a global context. In addition, at the regional level, Patrick led IFA’s Africa programme. From May 2020 to January 2021, he acted as Interim Director General of the Association, before becoming Deputy Director General.
Before joining IFA, Patrick spent 15 years with the seed industry, including five years with the International Seed Federation in Nyon, Switzerland, where he advanced to the position of Deputy Secretary General, and two years with FAO’s Seed and Plant Genetic Resources Service in Rome, Italy.
Patrick is currently on the Steering Committee of the Global Partnership on Nutrient Management (GPNM). He has two M.Sc. degrees, in agronomy and in plant breeding.
Rajiv closely monitors agricultural markets – prices, policy and weather – to improve CRU’s forecasting of short, medium and long-term fertilizer demand. Rajiv joined CRU from LMC International, where he worked as an economist in the oilseeds team for over three years.
Rajiv holds a BSc in Geography with Economics from the London School of Economics (LSE) and an MSc in Development Studies from the School of African and Oriental Arts (SOAS).
Dr Malcolm Cook holds a degree and doctorate in Chemistry from University of Strathclyde in Scotland. He was then awarded a NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship for fundamental research at the Technical University of Munich, Germany.
After joining industry, Malcolm started his career in research & development before moving into technical service, commissioning, sales and business development. He now heads up the Business Development and Sales team for thyssenkrupp Uhde in the Middle East & Turkey and has been based in the GCC for the past 12 years.
Bart has an MSc in Process & Energy Technology from Delft University of Technology and an MBA from Imperial College London. Prior to joining Siemens Process Systems Engineering, he worked as a fuel cell researcher at the Energy Research Center of the Netherlands, and at Tri-O-Gen, developing 100 kWe Organic Rankine Cycle units, creating power from low-temperature heat sources. Since joining Siemens PSE in 2006, Bart has taken up roles in project execution and delivery – to customers in R&D and in operations, technical sales and team leadership. He is currently Siemens PSE’s Sustainability Lead, where he helps the process industries achieve their sustainability goals through advanced process modelling.
Mr. Smulders joined Stamicarbon in 2015. Mr. Smulders holds a degree in Chemical Engineering.
He started his career in 1989 at DSM. At DSM he worked in various Commercial and Bussiness Management positions. In 1999 he held the position of Vice President Marketing and Sales at Philips.
In 2014 Mr. Smulders rejoined DSM, where he hald various Business Unit Management positions. Before joining Stamicarbon he held the positions of Vice President Corporate Strategy.
Rajiv Ram, Senior Analyst – Fertilizers, CRU
Richard Ewing, Global Ammonia Market Editor, ICIS
Dr. Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun has been Secretary General of the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) since 2009, following a career of more than three decades in the GCC region’s petrochemical and energy sectors.
His career began in 1990, as a Senior Researcher at SABIC Research and Development Center in Saudi Arabia. He has since taken senior executive positions at several prominent regional agencies, including the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC), and Al-Sharq Plastic Industries Co., and PetroBaas for Industrial Investment Co.
In 2020, he served as the B20 Sherpa, Saudi Arabia responsible for operational management of the B20 Secretariat, content preparation, delivery and advocacy of the policy recommendations.
Dr. Al-Sadoun had been a member of the Steering Committee of the International Council of Chemical Associations since 2012 and also served as ex-member the Board of Trustees of the Riyadh Economic Forum and the Arabian Society for Human Resources Management.
Dr. Al-Sadoun is the author of two books narrating the evolutionary journey of the chemical industry in the Arabian Gulf region – ‘Molecules, Mind and Matter: How the Arabian Gulf Became a Global Petrochemical Hub’ (published in English language) and ‘A Voyage to Leadership: How the Arabian Gulf Became a Global Petrochemical Hub’ (published in Arabic language).
He holds a PhD in the field of Industrial Chemistry granted by King’s College, University of London, United Kingdom, in addition to being a graduate of the General Management Program (GMP3), Harvard Business School (HBS), Harvard University, USA.
