Aliakbar Akbarzadeh

Aliakbar Akbarzadeh received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Wyoming in USA(1975). He has worked as an academic at Pahlavi (Shiraz) University, University of Melbourne, UC Berkeley, and RMIT University in Melbourne Australia.
At present Aliakbar is a Professor in the School of Engineering and also the Leader of the Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Group. He has been the first supervisor of about 40 PhD candidates to completion by research. He has over 100 refereed publications and three books.
Aliakbar who is a thermodynamicist has been working for the last 40 years on salinity gradient solar ponds as a source of industrial process heat and at present his research team is world leader on industrial applications of solar ponds.

In the past 10 years he has been working on applications of thermoelectric generators for power generation from waste heat and renewable sources, as well as thermal energy storage systems. Aliakbar’s current research concentrates on sustainable water desalination using renewable energy.
As part of his community activities, he is board members of not for profit organisations of Migrant Information Centre (MIC) as well as House of Persia Community and Cultural Centre(HOPE).
Aliakbar as a volunteer looks after isolated elderly people through Wesley Mission DO CARE.

Mike Baker

Mike Baker is a degree qualified Mechanical Engineer who spent his first 15 years working in Western Australian thermal power stations. 

He moved into the family business, Baker Refrigeration in 2005, and has progressed from Project Engineer to the Managing Director. The business has expanded rapidly, with the fourth generation company now having offices in every mainland Australian state. 

He has been involved in the implementation of both cascade CO₂ and transcritical CO₂ technology to independent and major supermarket chains in Australia and Mike hopes to see the continued roll-out of this new and exciting technology into the future.

Ricardo Claussen Hoffmann

Mr. Ricardo Claussen Hoffmann, M.AIRAH MIEAust, Sales Engineer for Industrial Refrigeration at Johnson Controls Australia, started in YORK, later Johnson Controls, in 2001, in Brazil.
Since them, he has passed through much business inside of JCI organization, such as Engineering Systems, Unitary Products, Marine & Offshore and Industrial Refrigeration. Natural Refrigerants are a big trend to Mr. Hoffmann and it can help ourselves to reduce the CO2 footprint and, consequently, reduce the global warming issue.
One of his biggest interests is to promote the utilization of Heat Pumps to the market, which can reduce the consumption of fossil fuels used in the boilers and improve energy productivity in industrial process.

Rod Cumming

Rod Cumming is the General Manager, Compliance and Training at the Australian Refrigeration Council (ARC).
Rod has a trade and training background, having been a successful owner of a commercial refrigeration and air conditioning business, including many years at Box Hill TAFE involved with the RAC training program. 
He is a passionate advocate for the industry and brings a unique mix of trade, training, business and regulation experience to his role.

Alvaro de Oña

Alvaro is a shareholder and co-founder of shecco as an independent entity. He was instrumental in the early success of shecco’s communication platforms (R744.com, hydrocarbons21.com, ammonia21.com) and market research services. With a background in social sciences and international relations, he has spent the last six years working at the European Commission as an Human Resources expert, overseeing several change projects and helping to set up two new Agencies of the EU from scratch. As of March 2016, Alvaro is back at shecco to help its further international development and lead the media team in its efforts to share relevant stories, news and updates on the global transition towards natural refrigerants.

Jon Dee

Jon Dee is an award-winning broadcaster, campaigner and social entrepreneur. On Sky News Business channel, Jon has written and presented 115 episodes of the ‘Smart Money’ business sustainability TV programme. Using real world case studies, it was the first programme to regularly look at how businesses were utilising natural refrigerants in HVAC&R.   
His guidebooks ‘Sustainable Growth’, ‘EnergyCut’ and ‘EnergySmart’ have shifted over 140,000 copies. These books have showed how businesses can save money by being more efficient and sustainable in their use of raw materials and energy.  
In 1991, Jon co-founded Planet Ark with Pat Cash and headed the organisation for 15 years. Together with Olivia Newton-John, Jon co-founded National Tree Day and One Tree Per Child. He also initiated the successful ‘Ban The Bulb’ campaign to phase out incandescent light globes.In 2007, Jon and Pat launched the DoSomething Foundation. Through this, he has played a key role in the phasing out of plastic bags, laundry phosphates and microbeads. Jon also consults to businesses and is currently the Chief Sustainability Advisor to the David Jones retail group. He is also about to launch the ‘Smarter Futures’ business sustainability podcast.

Jan Dusek

Jan holds a Doctor of Engineering degree in System Design from Hosei University in Tokyo and a Master’s degree from the Czech Technical University in Prague. During his studies, and research undertaken in the USA, Europe and Japan, Jan has centered his academic focus on environmental technologies and marketing strategies. Having lived in Japan for over 8 years, Jan communicates fluently in Japanese and has a rich experience cooperating with Japanese industry. Jan is currently based in Tokyo, responsible for business development activities and monitoring Asian markets on behalf of shecco Japan.

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.

Wynand Groenewald

Wynand Groenewald holds a Master degree in Mechanical Engineering, his thesis ‘a Techno-economical analysis of a CO2 heat pump’ being the first thesis on the subject CO2 in Africa. He joined his current company Commercial Refrigeration Services in 2010 and played an integral part in the development of Africa’s first CO2 refrigeration systems and other related CO2 products. Currently he holds the position as Head of Engineering at his company, where his team strives daily to reach higher frontiers within the development and implementation of natural refrigerants.

Jonathon Hare

Jonathon holds a Batchelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. He studied in the United States at both North Carolina State University and Old Dominion University where he focused on Fluid Dynamics, Heat and Mass Transfer, and Aerodynamics.
Upon moving to Australia, he began working in the industrial refrigeration & HVAC sector as a design engineer. He currently is based in Shepparton Victoria, and works in system design, energy efficiency, and natural refrigerant systems integration. He is also involved in industry through ARIAH Refrigeration Special Technical Group Secretary, as well as industry promotion in regional Victoria working with local TAFE institutions.

Brett Hedge

Brett Hedge is the Marketing Manager - Parts and Refrigerant, for Heatcraft Australia, where he is in command of related product portfolios and associated market initiatives to drive continued sales growth and customer engagement. 
His technical leadership, proven sales record and business acumen have seen Brett progress from Refrigeration Capital Equipment Category Manager to Heatcraft Commercial Manager and now Marketing Manager.
Brett is a qualified Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technician with a Bachelor of Business (Operations Management).

Douglas Herkess

Douglas Herkess is the National Accounts Segment Engineer for Heatcraft Australia and has been with Heatcraft for over 15 years in various sales and engineering roles.
With over 25 years of HVAC&R industry experience, Douglas’ experience spans across most segments of refrigeration from industrial to light commercial.
Douglas holds a national certificate in mechanical engineering and advanced trade certificates in refrigeration and air conditioning.

Tim Hill

Timothy Hill is a carpenter by trade and a Quantity Surveyor by profession. Prior to joining Costco in 2011, he was Managing Director of Northcroft Australia Pty Ltd.
He has a Bachelor of Construction Management from University of Newcastle, Graduate Certificate in Project Management from University of Sydney and Graduate Diploma in Legal Studies from University of New England. 
His role at Costco includes procurement of sites and facilities including building services and equipment.

Mads Holst Nielsen

Mads is experienced within trans critical CO2 systems where he has been involved in the design and development of systems especially within electronic controls.
October 2017 Mads joined Danfoss as segment manager Food Retail with the task to focus on the Danfoss portfolio within natural refrigeration systems.

Mads holds a Bachelor in Technology Management and Marine Engineering. He brings experience from his previous positions as R&D and electrical engineering manager at Advansor, a leading OEM within trans critical CO2 systems.

Naimul Islam

Naimul has 30 years of comprehensive technical, R&D and management experience in diversified engineering fields specializing in commercial refrigeration, renewable energy, energy auditing, power plant, regulatory compliance etc. and thrives in challenging and changing environments. Naimul has completed his Bachelor of engineering in Electrical and Master of engineering in Energy Technology.  
His accreditation further extends to grid connected solar system designer from Clean Energy Council (CEC) of Australia and energy assessor (NABERS) by Department of Environment, Climate Change & Water, Australia. He has worked as an international energy consultant for United Nation Development Program (UNDP) and World Bank.
He has participated several international conferences as speaker and is an active member of IEAust, IEEE & AIRAH.

Stefan Jensen

Stefan Jensen graduated in 1978 in Denmark with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. His professional career commenced in 1978 with Danfoss in Denmark followed by two years at SABROE Refrigeration A/S also in Denmark as a Project Engineer. In 1983, he joined Wildridge & Sinclair in Brisbane, Australia, as Technical Manager in Industrial Refrigeration. He later became co-inventor of the Rotadisk flake ice maker. In 1988 he joined the food machinery manufacturer Heat and Control Pty. Ltd. and was in 1992 appointed General Manager of the Heat and Control Refrigeration Division.

In April 1996, Stefan co-founded Scantec Refrigeration Technologies. He currently holds the position of Managing Director. Stefan is a Fellow of AIRAH and an Engineers Australia Fellow. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Queensland and also included in the National Engineering Register. He has authored over 40 technical papers for AIRAH, IIR and IIAR conferences, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration (IIAR) in Washington, USA.

Stefan is a member of the scientific committee for the 8th International Ammonia and CO2 Refrigeration Technologies conference to be held in Ohrid, Macedonia in April, 2019.

Jonathan Jutsen

Jon is the Chairman of The Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity. He has been in the role for seven years.  The focus of the Alliance is to double Australia's energy productivity by 2030 (2XEP) www.2xep.org.au 
He is also the CEO of a Cooperative Research Centre bid on energy productivity and network integration.  Jon recently completed a two-year term on ARENA’s board, Jon is an engineer by trade with a Master’s Degree in Applied Science. He is a leader in energy and carbon management and has provided advice to executive teams and government globally, as well as communicating on these topics for 35 years.

Greg Lewis

Countdown Engineering Manager - 2014 to Present: Greg Has being working in the supermarket Refrigeration/HVAC space for the last 20 years, working across all disciplines.
With the evolving challenges the New Zealand Emission Trading scheme and the planned HFC phase out is putting on end users of the Refrigeration/HVAC industry Greg has been key in developing and driving the changes required in the Countdown store Kit and Carbon Strategy to deliver the Businesses aggressive 20/20 Sustainability targets, and send the message to other large end users that the key issues effecting them can be developed and managed with minimal impact on the business.

Kim Limburg

Kim Limburg has over a decade’s experience running a family-owned refrigeration and air-conditioning business. Kim established the Australian Refrigeration Mechanics Association (ARMA) in 2015, after experiencing first-hand the devastating effects of the take-up of shortcut Certificate II and III courses on the industry, which pushed and continue to push qualified air-conditioning and refrigeration tradespeople out of their jobs. As ARMA’s CEO, Kim is passionate about the inclusion of education about natural refrigerants in all levels of refrigeration and air-conditioning vocational training and upskilling.

Petar Lujic

Petar has over 25 years’ experience in various segments of the retail industry – from shopping centre development both locally and overseas with the likes of Westfield and other international organisations. Petar entered the independent retail sector via Metcash as part of a transition program into owning and operating his own independent supermarket.

Petar established Kamen Group in 2012 and they are involved with supermarkets, liquor outlets, property and hotel accommodation. 
Kamen Group recently opened IGA Market Central – Wentworth Point.

Jatinder Masson

Jatinder is an experienced leader in the refrigeration and air-conditioning industry. For more than 25 years, he has worked in various leadership roles within engineering industry with the last 15 years within HVAC/R segment.
Since Jatinder joined Danfoss in 2016, he has led Cooling segment within Australia and New Zealand, and in 2018 his role expanded to include South East Asia. Earlier, he has held several leadership positions within wholesaling of HVAC/R equipment's/parts & mechanical engineering industry including power generation, metering, analysing & mixing technologies.
Jatinder continues to achieve profitable growth for the businesses he leads with a strong emphasis in building talent. He holds Mechanical Engineering degree, management certification & is Black Belt in Six Sigma/LEAN.

Patrick McInerney

Patrick McInerney is Director of the International Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Section in the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy.
He has worked on ozone layer protection and synthetic greenhouse gas policy since 2003.
Patrick co-chaired Montreal Protocol negotiations that led to the 2016 Kigali Amendment to phase-down HFC production and imports.
Patrick led Australia’s review of ozone protection and synthetic greenhouse gas policy which resulted in the Government deciding in 2016 to implement a range of measures to further reduce emissions, including the HFC phase-down. Patrick was responsible for establishing Australia's end use controls in the fire protection and refrigeration and air conditioning industries. He was awarded the Public Service Medal in 2016 for his contribution to ozone layer protection and climate system protection.

Marcus Meier

Marcus holds a Master’s degree in Science from the University in Gelsenkirchen (Germany). During his studies in Germany and Ireland, Marcus has centered his academic focus on retail with business administration and marketing strategies. Having lived in Germany for over 30 years, Marcus has over 20 years of experience with ALDI in areas of operations and property management.

Marcus is currently based in Melbourne, responsible for property development in VIC and refrigeration development activities for Australia.

Trent Miller

Trent Miller has over twenty years’ experience within the plumbing and water treatment industry’s to which he holds applicable industry accreditations and licenses and a family history in the Plumbing Industry dating back to 1925. He has worked previously in both pre sales and after sales management positions which included National and International roles.

Trent has strong enthusiasm for the use of natural refrigerants for the production of Hot Water and his current focus is promoting MTH hot water heating products to the Australian and New Zealand markets.

Currently, Trent serves as the A2W Manager for MHIAA Oceania region.

Peter O’Neill

Peter has been involved in the refrigeration industry for over thirty years, having previously worked for another major international organisation. He is currently responsible for the sales and marketing of Mayekawa products in Australia and has held this role for just over two years. He is an ardent supporter of natural refrigerants in his role with Mayekawa and is interested in developments within the refrigeration sector that encompass natural refrigerants.

Andrew Reid

With over 30 years of experience in the Australian refrigeration industry, Andrew has been involved in the development and advancement in cabinet and equipment technology.

Since joining Arneg in 2012, Andrew has contributed to the introduction of Transcritical Co2 equipment and more recently Water Loop technology to the Australian Retail sector.
Together with Arneg Technical Team, Andrew has successfully promoted the implementation in Australia of developments made in Europe, like Arneg most recent R&D into the application of Inverter Controlled Natural Water Loop solutions.

Based in Melbourne, Andrew is responsible of all the business development activities for Key Accounts at national level.

Inderpal (Indy) Saund

Indy has worked in the refrigeration & air conditioning industry for the past 23 years, mainly around natural refrigerants within the commercial and industrial refrigeration sector.

Over the past 14 years, he has been involved in a number of CO₂ projects within APAC and running training programs across the region to promote the use of CO₂.

Having recently joined Beijer Ref, Indy is tasked with further promoting the use of natural refrigerant solutions and products across the Asia-Pacific Region.

Stuart Saville

Stuart has in excess of 25 years’ experience in Supermarket Refrigeration industry. 
After elevating his way through the many roles associated with engineering, maintenance and installation of Supermarket refrigeration systems with two key installation partners, Stuart transitioned into the Coles Engineering team to hold the position of National Refrigeration Engineering Manager from 2013 where his focus has been driving innovation and efficiency.
In 2018 Stuart expanding his portfolio to encompass Mechanical and Electrical Engineering along with Maintenance.

Miriam Solana Ciprés

Miriam Solana Ciprés has a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Padova, and is the author of several technical publications on supercritical CO2 technologies, having completed study and research periods at several universities in Italy and Spain, as well as at the USDA in the United States.

Currently, she works at the HVAC/R Knowledge Centre at CAREL headquarters, whose objective is to strengthen specific technical competencies inside the Group through training programs, and lobbying activities amongst the most influential associations worldwide.
Over the last two years she has focused her activities on studying of refrigerant and energy efficiency regulations, disseminating information through seminars, conferences, white papers and the corporate blog.

Ian Tuena

A passionate, active and ongoing commitment best describes his involvement within the Refrigeration Industry. As Managing Director of CA Group Services Pty Ltd he has implemented best practice principals, code of ethics adherence, and governance protocols.

He has extensive experience having been some 40 years in the industry and has been involved in the design, installation, commissioning and service of industrial ammonia refrigeration systems, commercial systems, supermarkets as well as secondary refrigerant re-circulation systems.

Moral commitment has driven his involvement in low GWP natural refrigerants, having undertaken several research trips to Europe in recent times to investigate market trends and technological breakthroughs.

As Director, and principal Owner of CA Group Services, he has been able to enhance, develop and encourage this passion for technology in the staff employed at CA Group Services. A commitment to imparting knowledge and increasing expertise in the Refrigeration Technicians at CA Group Services, has been the corner stone of business strategy, and focus over 20 years.

Klaas Visser

Klaas Visser has an extensive international experience in the design, building and trouble shooting of medium to large ammonia systems with involvement in more than 800 NH3 projects during the past 45 years.

The world’s first Multi Function 2 Stage Transcritical CO2 Refrigerating System with Parallel Compression (MF2STCCO2RSPC) has now been operating seven years, performing six cooling and nine heating functions at a small food processing plant.
Commissioning of the second MR2STCC02RSPC system near Sydney has been delayed. It is the first CO2 system in the world employing an evaporative condenser/gas cooler (ECGC). 
A case study comparing ECGCs and Adiabatically Assisted Air Cooled CO2 Gas Coolers in terms of their Energy and Water Consumption and the COP Improvement of the refrigeration systems at ambient Wet Bulb Temperatures up to 28 degrees C – not exceeded in 98% of the World’s climates - achieving 31 degrees C Gas Cooler Exit Temperature.   
The design of a MF2STCC02RSPC with an ECGC for a −30°C 40,000 cubic metre cold store near Kuala Lumpur is complete and waiting for building approval.

Phil Wilkinson

Phil is a qualified engineer and worked as a Mechanical Building Services Engineer before joining AIRAH. His key roles at AIRAH include developing and maintaining AIRAH’s presence with key stakeholders across the government and the industry as well as the membership and
management of the technical intellectual property of AIRAH, including technical manuals, guidelines, digital, hard and soft copy information. Phil’s notable industry roles include: Member of the Building Codes Committee (ABCB), Chair of NABERS stakeholder advisory committee, executive member of the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC) and Chair of the advisory committee at the University of Wollongongs Sustainable Building Research Centre. His vision is to drive his industry into a sustainable and prosperous future, and to enhance the profile and visibility of the HVAC&R industry that keeps Australians safe, healthy, comfortable and productive.

Marek Zgliczynski

Marek Zgliczynski studied at the Turin Politechnic in Italy where he earned his degree in mechanical engineering. In 1979, after completing his degree, Marek began his career as a researcher and project leader of new product development at Aspera Spa. 

A few years later, Marek transitioned to Embraco, becoming the Manager of Compressor Design. His successful efforts led to many promotions, including European Commercial Product and Technology Manager, Commercial Refrigeration Product Corporate Director and Corporate Fellow Researcher for the Commercial Refrigeration Segment. 

His main responsibility includes the development of household and light commercial refrigeration products. He also provides technical assistance to the sales team in order to promote Embraco products that align with customer feedback. 

Throughout his career, Marek has earned three U.S. patents and Gold Whirlpool Quality Team Award and he has published several pieces of literature for international conferences and events about refrigeration technology. In 2016, he was elected to a Chair of the IEC/SC61C Committee, in charge of the development of international product safety standards for refrigeration segment. He is also member in several other standardization bodies like ISO TC86/SC1/WG1, CEN TC182WG6 and WG12, IEC SC61DWG16 and UL STP471, Ashrae Member. 

Augusto Zimmermann

Mr. Zimmermann joined Heatcraft on May 2014 as Lead Engineer for the Alternative Systems Center of Excellence where he develops products and technologies for the commercial refrigeration industry using CO₂ Transcritical, Ammonia/CO₂ Cascade systems among others. He has about 15 years of experience in R&D in the Refrigeration field in technologies ranging from Thermoelectric and Stirling cycles, to Vapor Compression cycles using both conventional and Alternative Refrigerants. He holds both B.S. and Master’s Degrees in Mechanical Engineering-Thermal Sciences from the Federal University of Santa Catarina – Brazil, and is a PhD candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, ACRC Research Center.