Pega Hrnjak

Professor Hrnjak is Co-Director of the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Center (ACRC) at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, an NSF founded university–industry cooperative research center. Pega is also a founder and President of R&D company CTS, which bridges ACRC activities (precompetitive research in function of education) and industry. He is an active member or fellow of ASME, ASHRAE, IIR, SAE and IIAR, and an editor or member of the boards of several professional scientific journals. He is a recipient of Gustav Lorentzen, J&E Hall and Rittinger medals among other awards.

Nina Masson

Nina has been working with shecco for 11 years in various roles, including Deputy Managing Director shecco SPRL and Chief Market Development Officer shecco group. Today, as Chief Strategy Advisor for Special Projects, she is responsible for EU and UN projects for natural refrigerants and sustainable HVAC&R solutions. She holds two Masters’ degrees in Business Management and in Environmental Management. Nina has been the lead author on various publications. She serves as an independent expert for UN and EU agencies on policy analysis, capacity building, renewable energies and energy efficiency.

Eric Delforge

Eric Delforge joined Mayekawa in 2004. Previously he worked for several screw compressor manufacturers managing European activities. At Mayekawa, he handles European sales in industrial refrigeration, gas processing, cryogenics, heat pumps and food processing. The main focus of his work consists of the integration of heating and cooling into smart energy and thermal storage solutions. He advocates natural refrigerant-based technology applications across all industrial markets. He represents Mayekawa in various market sector organizations, actively informing its members on Mayekawa product developments and innovative applications. He also acts as a consultant and business lead with Mayekawa's large global accounts.

Ákos Kőszegváry

Ákos Kőszegváry has a Master of Science with specialization in Environmental Technologies from the University of Technology of Budapest and holds a Master of Business and Engineering from the Steinbeis University of Berlin.

Ákos started his career at UNIDO in November 2000. Since then he has been working mainly in environmental project management in the implementation of the Montreal Protocol, and during the period 2005-2008 in the implementation of the Stockholm Convention. He is also Coordinator for reporting to the Multilateral Fund. He has many years practical experience in the development and implementation of country strategies and sector plans for the phase=out of CFCs and HCFCs, in all regions including large and low volume consuming countries. Among others, he is responsible for the implementation of the HCFC Phase-out Management Plan in the Room Air Conditioning Sector in China as well as the HCFC Phase-out Management Plan in Mexico.

Juergen Hierold

After working in Germany in the private sector in the late eighties, Juergen was assigned to the German Agencies in Sudan from 1991-1993 and in the Philippines from 1994-2001. He joined the Agro-Branch of UNIDO in 2001 as a Project Manager with a focus on Wood-processing until 2011, and since 2012 he has been assigned as GEF-Coordinator facilitating the UNIDO-GEF portfolio of the various technical branches including the Montreal Protocol branch.

Cornelius Rhein

Cornelius is a German lawyer who worked as Assistant Lecturer for EU and environmental law at the University of Würzburg, Germany, and as associate in an international law firm before he joined the German Federal Ministry for Agriculture in 1998. In 2000, he started to work for the European Commission, first on veterinary legislation and since 2007 on ozone-depleting substances and fluorinated greenhouse gases.

Wang Yong

Wang Yong is a Deputy Manager at the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP/FECO) in Beijing. His main function is to oversee projects relating to the CFC and halon sectors under Montreal Protocol. He is in charge of  the implementation of the CFC phase-out in the foam sector under Montreal Protocol and the preparation of the HCFC phase-out management plan in the PU/XPS/solvent sectors. Before the MEP/FECO, Mr. Yong was a Project Officer at the UNEP (The Hague Office).

Agustin Sanchez Guevara

Agustin Sanchez Guevara has been a Professor of Economics in the Metropolitan Autonomous University. Since 2003, he is the National Coordinator of Ozone Protection Unit in México, carrying out several projects such as the CFC national phase-out plan and the carbon tetrachloride phase-out project. He also coordinated the CFC production phase-out project. He has been awarded by the Montreal Protocol and US Environmental Protection Agency for his project implementation in benefit of the ozone layer and the global climate. Currently he is in charge of the implementation of the HCFC Phase-out Management Plan in México and is part of the negotiation team for the HFC phase-down amendment proposal to the Montreal Protocol. Agustin is the current Chair of the Executive Committee of the Montreal Protocol.

Juergen Brenneis

Juergen has started at Red Bull in March 2008 as Product Manager Retail within the Global Purchasing Department and since February 2013, Juergen is heading the Global Purchasing Team for Point of Sale Materials. He has implement the ECO Cooler strategy and has successfully driven the phase out of HFC refrigerants since 2008. In his position he is globally responsible for all technical and commercial aspects for the Red Bull Cooler fleet.

Hajime Yabase

Since 2009, Hajime Yabase has been in Engineering Office of the Kawasaki Thermal Engineering Co. Ltd., located in Japan. He obtained a Masters of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tokyo and before Kawasaki worked as a Senior Section Chief Researcher at Daikin Industries.

Hajime Yabase's direct experience with natural refrigerants lies in the research and development of direct-fired absorption chillers-heaters, and various kinds of absorption chillers. Hajime Yabase is the recipient of the Science Award from the Japanese Association of Refrigeration in 1993 concerning the academic research of absorption chiller.

Kiyoshi Saito

Mr. Saito is a professor at in the Deptartment of Applied Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, School of Fundamental Science and Engineering, at Waseda University. Mr. Saito is also the Director of the Institute for High Technology Production Systems in Tokyo as well as the Managing Director of the Japan Society of Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers. Mr. Saito presently serves as a committee member for many academic societies and governmental boards.

Mr. Saito's major research field is in System Dynamics and Control for refrigeration and air-conditioning systems such as heat pumps, desiccant systems and absorption chillers that use natural refrigerants. He especially has a great deal of experience in simulation technologies.

Carlos Arruda

Carlos Arruda holds a degree in Architecture and a post-graduate degree in Urbanism from IUP, University of Paris. As a project manager for COHAB, government agency involved in the construction of popular housing neighborhoods, Carlos tested sustainable constructive methods and later went on to computer technology, developing administrative systems in Brazil. Today, as a consultant for Verdemar located in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Carlos works as a web systems and ergonomic practices counselor.

Tingxun Li

Tingxun Li, member of the RTOC of UNEP, has been involved in phase-out of CFCs since 1993, and  as an expert of China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection he provides consultation on alternatives to HCFCs for the air-conditioning industry. As an associate professor at San Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, Dr. Li has been engaged in research on refrigerant thermodynamics for many years.

As a Project Manager, Tingxun Li is responsible for the Demonstration Project for Conversion from HCFC-22 to Propane (R290) at Midea Room Air-conditioner Manufacturing Company since 2009, which is funded by MLF.

Reinhold Resch

Dipl. Ing. Reinhold Resch is the Head of Research and Development at AHT Cooling Systems GmbH located in Rottenmann, Austria. He studied Industrial Engineering at the Technical University of Graz, in Austria. In 1987 he worked as an R&D engineer at KNAPP Logistics for approximately 5 years. Reinhold began his career at AHT in 1993.

Ole Nielsen

Ole Nielson graduated from the Technical University of Copenhagen in 1988 as Mechanical Engineer specialized in Energetics and Refrigeration. He worked in the Danish refrigeration industry until 1996 and acted as an independent technical consultant on Montreal Protocol project formulation and implementation until 2003. Ole returned then to the private sector as sales manager for refrigeration equipment and in 2011 joined UNIDO as Chief of the Refrigeration and Aerosols Unit within the Montreal Protocol Branch. Ole has been involved in the Montreal Protocol since 1993.

Daniel Colbourne

Dr Daniel Colbourne has done extensive scientific and analytical work on environmental safety and efficiency related aspects of refrigerants and refrigeration systems. He is a member of the UNEP Refrigeration Technical Options Committee (TOC) for the Montreal Protocol as well as a number of European and international standardisation committees. Committed to international cooperation, he played a major role in various demonstration projects supported by the German GIZ.

Michael Englebright

Mr. Englebright holds Refrigeration and HVAC accreditations from RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) in Melbourne Australia. He has over 15 years of experience in Natural Refrigerant Technologies in both subcritical and transcritical applications from around the globe with different retailers and OEMs. Mr. Englebright served as Global Applications Engineering Manager in his previous employment at Danfoss. In this position he was responsible for managing specialized CO₂ projects, the development of CO₂ refrigerated products and services, and formulating and implementing training procedures for safe and efficient CO₂ system installations. Mr. Englebright used to serve as CAREL's Global Key Accounts Manager for Retail, promoting natural refrigerants and energy solutions to end users and OEM’s. He is also very active in lobbying for the use of natural refrigerants at leading international seminars. Currently he serves as the Head of Engineering at Woolworths.

Caleb Nelson

Caleb Nelson is a Mechanical Engineer and has specialised in commercial refrigeration systems since 2005. One of the main goals of his group at CTA is to lead the industry in providing unique solutions for end-users to meet their own efficiency and stewardship goals. The use of Natural Refrigerants has played an essential role in meeting those goals and has been a primary focus for Caleb for the past several years. Caleb is an active member of the IIAR and continues to seek out ways to fine-tune the use of NH₃ and other natural refrigerants for commercial use.

Torben Funder-Kristensen

Torben Funder-Kristensen has a Master degree in Engineering (physics) and he received his Ph.D. in 1994 from the Technical University of Denmark (laser processing). Since 1995, Torben has been with Danfoss in Denmark holding various positions from consultancy within materials science and manufacturing processing to product development of controls components. He has been the Vice President of Product Development and from 2011 the head of Public Industry Affairs for refrigeration and air conditioning controls. He is a member of several internal and external boards and working groups within the industry.

Lothar Serwas

Lothar Serwas started his professional life with an apprenticeship as Instrument Mechanic. After completion his studies he joined the former Linde Kältetechnik – later acquired by Carrier Corporation - in 1995 working as Application Engineer in the field of commercial refrigeration in the international sales department and has come in touch with many types of different food retail applications.

After having taken over different management positions in the areas of project engineering and sales he has been appointed as Manager CO₂OLtec Sales focussing on transcritical CO₂ turnkey solutions for all types of Food Retail shop formats.

Juergen Usinger

Juergen Usinger has been acting as a policy advisor for governments in the field of ozone and climate conventions since 1996. In this function he has assisted in the preparation of negotiations, specifically for the Meeting of the Parties of the Montreal Protocol and the Executive Committee of the Multilateral Fund. He has an educational background in Engineering and Social Science and is a member of various technical subcommittees on ozone and climate in Germany and the EU. Since more than 15 years Juergen has participated in the development of guidelines, sector strategies and numerous publications on CFC, HCFC and HFC replacement. Since 2007 his involvement has been in the design, planning and supervision of projects funded under the German International Climate Initiative by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment. He has implemented mitigation projects and sector plans in more than 30 countries worldwide, including China, India, Southern Africa and Brazil.

Samba Bajie

Since 2009, Samba Bajie has been a Programme Officer at the National Ozone Unit (NOU), National Environment Agency in Gambia. He is responsible for the development and implementation of programmes creating public awarness of Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) through the media. He conducts training sessions for stakeholders on the protection of the Ozone Layer. Based on ODS data collection, Samba reports annually to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to ensure Gambia is compliant to both Vienna and Montreal Protocols as well as subsequent ammendments. Samba represents Gambia internationally at policy meeting on the protection of the Ozone Layer.

As a National Ozone Officer, Samba is a strong advocate of Natural Refrigerant implementation in Africa.

Iqbal P. Sheikh

Mr. Sheikh is a graduate engineer, working as Chief Executive at IN Consult (Pvt.) Ltd., an Engineering and Management Company in Pakistan since 1990. He has over 38 years of experience in various disciplines and has carried out a number of assignments with UN organisations in the environmental field of since 1999. Iqbal has worked to establish the largest common effluent treatment plant in tanneries, the first Cleaner Production Center and implementation of the Montreal Protocol in Pakistan, including the preparation of investment projects in solvent, CTC & HCFC sectors and their implementation. He also prepared HPMP Pakistan and is involved in the preparation of HPMP for Libya as a foreign consultant. He was involved in the development of energy efficiency standards and labeling for domestic appliances and their harmonisation in the region.

Anshu Kumar

Anshu Kumar began his career in 1983 as Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Service Technician and now holds a Ph.D. degree in Training. From 2000 onwards he has been working on the phase-out of Ozone Depleting Substances. Anshu has many years of practical experience working with hydrocarbons. He has served as a Consultant to different agencies such as UNICEF, INFRAS, GIZ Proklima, UNDP, UNEP, BEE, ICPCI & Ozone Cell and MoEF India, and was responsible for the training activities on ODS phase-out in India and abroad. In 2012 Anshu joined the UNEP CAP-ROAP Team in Bangkok. He worked  in India on the HCFC Phase-out activities and travelling across Asia handling the respective training workshops. Anshu has co-authored the “Guide for Trainers on Good Servicing Practices in the Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Sector for HCFC Phase-out". From January 2017 he is working as Technical Advisor, MPU/Chemicals, Bangkok Regional Hub, UNDP.

Vincent Grass

Vincent Grass is Refrigeration Team Leader in the Corporate Operations – Engineering Services department at Nestlé. He is responsible for expanding Nestlé‘s use of natural refrigerants worldwide.

He is involved in implementing natural refrigerant projects in Nestlé facilities across the globe, as well as risk mitigation related to using natural refrigerants. Prior to joining Nestlé seven years ago, he spent two years at Johnson Controls (JCI) and 10 years at Cofely Axima (formerly QUIRI). During that time he was primarily involved in projects using natural refrigerants ammonia and CO₂.

Risto Ciconkov

Risto Ciconkov teaches refrigeration, air conditioning and energy saving at the University of Ss. Cyril & Methodius, since 1976. He is an author and co-author of more than 160 references presented at scientific meetings and in journals, most of them covering the topics of ozone protection and climate change.

Risto Ciconkov is Editor in Chief of the First National Communication of Macedonia for climate change under the UNFCCC, nominated as an international expert of UNEP and UNIDO. In addition, he is a Member of IIR ExCom, ASHRAE, Eurammon, IIAR, KGH and a reviewer of the scientific journals published by Elsevier.

Risto Ciconkov is also President of the Organizing Committee of the Int. conference on Ammonia Refrigeration Technology, organized together with the IIR in 2005; 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013.

Jan Boone

After finishing the mechanical engineering degree in Brussels, Jan Boone started working with MAYEKAWA (MYCOM) since 1979 in heavy duty industrial gas compressors. His experience was built-up as member of most of the company divisions from sales, engineering, production, quality, and service activities with profound interaction with Mayekawa Japan with focus on customer relations and optimised product-operation in the field.

Mayekawa focuses on natural refrigerants. In fact, the company is applying NH₃ since more than 85 years and CO₂ as well as hydrocarbons since more than 40 years.

Erich Wagner

Erich Wagner is the Founder and Director of Alfa Contracting, based in Halle Germany with offices also in Moscow and Kiev. Erich’s background is in foreign trade and economics, marketing, contract law, industrial refrigeration, sports buildings and sites, and the food processing industry. He graduated from the University of Applied Sciences in Moscow.

Riccardo Savigliano

Riccardo holds a PHD in Plant Pathology and Pest Management, with a specific focus on horticulture. He graduated from the University of Torino, Italy, as Agricultural Engineer with a focus on Agro-Environmental Protection. Before joining UNIDO in 2008, he served the Italian Ministry of Environment Land and Sea, dealing with implementation of the Montreal Protocol at national and international level.

At UNIDO Riccardo is responsible for a number of projects in various countries and industrial sectors, including refrigeration and air conditioning. This includes actions to improve and expand the food cold chain in developing countries in order to reduce food losses and GHG emissions. Projects are designed to stimulate the application of innovative refrigeration technologies with the involvement of governments, end-users, technology supplier and financial investors.

Bernd Kaltenbrunner

Bernd Kaltenbrunner is the Managing Director of KWN Engineering GmbH, an engineering consultancy for machine construction and refrigeration technology in Seekirchen, Austria. Bernd Kaltenbrunner has a degree in industrial engineering and a Master's degree (MSc). Since 2010 he is member of the board of Eurammon.

KWN is an expert in planning and consulting systems with natural refrigerants and has done projects in Austria, Germany, Sweden, Russia, Slowakia, Slowenia, Portugal, Slowenia, Serbia and South Africa.

Gloria S. Correa

Gloria S. Correa graduated Cum Laude in a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at Baliuag University of the Philippines. She is a registered Civil Engineer in the Philippines and an active member of the following organisations: PSVARE (Philippine Society of Ventilation and Refrigeration Engineering), ACCI (Architectural Center Club, Inc.), PICE (Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers), PhilGBI (Philippine Green Building Initiative) and NACE (National Association of Corrosion Engineers).

Gloria presently holds the position of President at Gloscore Philippines Construction Inc., waterproofing contractors and exclusive distributor to Index Construction System Waterproofing of Verona, Italy, Danosa of Spain, Kangnam and Kukdo of Korea, and Graco tools and equipment of Minneapolis, USA. Gloria is also a Chairman of the Technical Working Group (TWG) on phasing-out 141b blowing agent in the spray foam sector. In cooperation with DENR-EMB and UNIDO, she works on the testing of super-critical CO₂ as an alternative blowing substance in the modified Graco spray foam equipment (Achilles, Japan), Solstice LBA (BASF) and Ecomate. The company has been a spray foam applicator since 2002.

Risto Ojala

Risto Ojala graduated with a B.Sc. in Chemical Process Engineering in 1981 from the Finland Advanced School of Technology in Kokkola and also studied Advanced Studies in Polymeric & Plastic Chemistry at Helsinki University. He participated in a Master of Environmental Management & Responsible Business in 2010.

Mr. Ojala has more than 30 years work experience in the polyurethane industry specifically in positions which require project management skills. He has worked as a Production Manager, R&D Manager, Technical Advisor in factory start-ups, the UN and the WB foams and  aerosol sector as an Expert in development and implementation of production lines. Mr. Ojala has wide experience in conducting safety audits and in the preparation of Explosion Protection Documents (ATEX).

Karl G. Almen

Karl G. Almen graduated from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1955. From 1963 to 1975 he worked in research and development for several refrigeration companies and from 1975 to 1992 he worked as a manger in this field of competence. From 1996 to 2004 Karl G. Almen was a local expert for UNIDO Austria during the phase-out of CFCs in Brazil.

Marc Chasserot

Marc Chasserot is a specialist in natural refrigeration with over 15 years of experience in the HVAC&R sector, starting as the Marketing Manager for the Norsk Hydro business unit specialised in CO₂ transcritical refrigeration and heating. He worked closely with several Japanese manufacturers selling the market innovative "CO₂ Ecocute heatpumps".

In 2006 Marc founded the industry leading website for CO₂ cooling and heating experts worldwide, called www.R744.com. This was followed by three additional industry resources for hydrocarbons, water and ammonia (namely: www.hydrocarbons21.com, www.R718.com and www.ammonia21.com).

Marc is co-founder and CEO of shecco, an independent market development company specialised in bringing Natural Refrigerants 'faster to market', working with numerous companies worldwide. Marc has chaired and organised several international workshops bringing together leading policy and industry experts to discuss 'how to bring natural refrigerants' faster to market, known as 'ATMOsphere'. He is also an active member of ASHRAE.

Wolfgang Lohbeck

Wolfgang Lohbeck studied architecture at the RWTH Aachen and, after receiving his diploma in 1971, worked as an architect for 12 years. Wolfgang left his architectural career to join Greenpeace in 1983. After some years of campaigning, for issues mostly related to air quality issues, traffic, and forestation, in Germany and Switzerland, he started working against CFCs and F-gases in 1987. After the launch of Greenfreeze in 1993 Wolfgang became responsible for solutions and "positive projects" for Greenpeace Germany. In the context of campaigning for peace and disarmament since 2002, he completed his Masters degree in Peace Research at Hamburg University.

Janos Maté

Janos Maté, M.A. is a Senior Consultant to the Political Business Unit of Greenpeace International. Since 1992 he has represented Greenpeace International at the Montreal Protocol and other international meetings related to crossover issues between ozone layer and climate protection. He has been a strong advocate for the phasing out of fluorocarbons and the uptake of natural refrigerants and environmentally sustainable technologies. He is the author of numerous papers and has been published in several governmental, academic, and industry publications.

Janos co-initiated the SolarChill Project, which he has led since its inception in 2000. The SolarChill Project developed an award winning, solar direct drive, led storage battery free, hydrocarbon based vaccine cooler and food refrigerator for off-the-grid regions of the world.

Janos is the recipient of the United Nations Montreal Protocol Partner Award (2007), and the US EPA 2010 Montreal Protocol Award.

Sidi Menad Si Ahmed

Recently retired from his position as the Director of the Montreal Protocol Branch at UNIDO, Mr. Si Ahmed is shecco's International Chief Advisor.

Originally a meteorologist with a specialisation on numerical forecast, he graduated from the Institut Hydrometeorologique de Formation et de Recherche of Oran (Algeria) and the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (atmospheric pollution).

Before joining UNIDO as a Protocol Coordinator, and later as a Director of the Multilateral Environmental Agreements Branch, Mr. Si Ahmed was the Director on Environmental Studies at the Ministry of Environment in Algeria. He was also a lecturer on Environmental Impact Assesment at the University of Algiers.