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.

Shannon Baldock

Shannon Baldock is a lecturer at TAFE SA, who will speak about how he and his team are developing innovative and immersive content for the training of refrigeration and air conditioning apprentices.

In this project, TAFE SA has combined the latest in digital learning strategies with a tradesperson’s no-nonsense approach. For Shannon and his team, the project has created innovative training products by simplifying the development of content.  Students have access to high risk worksites from the safety of the classroom enabling them to be better prepared for the real world of work while improving engagement and retention in their studies.

You will also hear about how e-learning and digital strategies has been used to enhance the digital literacy of staff and increase their engagement with the development process; critical to supporting the adoption of these technologies.

Michael Bellstedt

Michael is the CEO of the Minus40 Group of companies, which includes the exciting new IoT startup company, Metis Monitoring, providing cutting edge remote monitoring and predictive fault detection technology to the refrigeration and air-conditioning industries. The Minus40 Group also includes the established refrigeration consulting firm Minus40 Engineers, well known for their services in the refrigeration and air-conditioning sector. Michael is a frequent public speaker and educator in these and related areas and recently conducted a series of Refrigeration Masterclasses in Victoria. Minus40 has helped many companies across Australia reduce their energy bills by improving the energy efficiency of their existing heating and cooling systems, and advises companies on the best technical and commercial options for new installations.

Pieter Boon

Pieter's apprenticeship started in the Netherlands in his home town of Venhuizen. For 10 years he worked as a refrigeration mechanic and electrician/instrumentation technician in heavy commercial refrigeration, mostly in the vegetable and flower industries. 

Pieter moved to Australia to follow a Tasmanian backpacker home, and then applied for a position with Degree C as a refrigeration mechanic. Degree C introduced him to the industrial side of refrigeration, and he got to work on quite a few large Ammonia plants in the state. After five years in the field, the role of project manager became available, and hr was asked to fill this position. 

In his current role, Pieter is responsible for the design, quotation and project management for heavy commercial and industrial refrigeration projects. 

Peter Brodribb

Peter Brodribb is a professional engineer with extensive hands on experience. Peter has a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering Degree (Hons) and an MBA, both from the University of Melbourne. Peter has more than two decades experience in the Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning and the refrigerated cold chain (HVAC&R) industries. In 2006 he founded the Expert Group, providing research and independent technical consulting services for Federal and State policy makers, inter-governmental agencies, industry associations and corporations in Australia and New Zealand. Energy efficiency, refrigerants, technical standards, good policy and best practice are a primary focus of the business. One of many Expert Group publications is the Cold hard facts series.

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.

Shaun Davis

Shaun is passionate about his customers, his people and the green solutions they can provide.

Dario Ferlin

Dario Ferlin graduated with an honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from Melbourne University. He entered the refrigeration industry in 2001 as a rack design engineer for EPTA (Italy) and collaborated in the first transcritical CO₂ projects being piloted in Europe. In 2004 he starting working for EPTA as an applications engineer in the export department and oversaw turn-key projects for key supermarket accounts in developing countries. In 2009 he relocated to Sydney to work for Woolworths; firstly in the capacity of a refrigeration engineer focusing on developing the showcase and refrigeration plant specifications and more recently in the role of innovations engineer.

Chris Fox

Chris Fox Managing Director of Link Logistics International, Chris  commenced is working life in transport logistics at the age of 18 working for one of the Mayne Nickless group of Companies working in the Australian domestic express parcel business, Chris made the switch to International Logistics in 1996 with Danzas as the Tasmanian Manger. In 2007 Chris made the transition & commenced operations under Link Logistics specialising in export perishable cargo.

Ricky Gatti

Ricky Gatti is General Manager of Coolphase, a Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Electrical contractor based in Queensland. Ricky started his career in the HVACR Industry as a refrigeration apprentice and believes training and apprenticeships is the key to the Refrigeration Industry’s longevity and growth.

Tony Gleeson

Tony is the Chief Executive of the Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air-conditioning and Heating (AIRAH), Australia’s peak membership body for the HVAC&R industry. He leads, promote, represent and support the HVAC&R and related services industry and membership which produces a variety of publications, communications and training programs aimed at championing the highest of industry standards. AIRAH encourages world’s best practice within the industry and has forged a reputation for developing the competency and skills of industry practitioners at all levels.

Prior to AIRAH Tony has held key positions within both professional services and not-for-profit organisations, including Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, CPA Australia, and the Australian Institute of Management (AIM).

Tony holds an Bachelor of Science (Honours) and Bachelor of Science Education from the University of Melbourne and a Masters in Business Administration from the of Canterbury University.

Mack Hajjar

Mack graduated from the University of New South Wales in 2009 with a Bachelor of Engineering, majoring in Mechanical Engineering with Class 1 Honours.  He has been working in the Australian industrial refrigeration industry since 2010 and has been involved in the Australian Refrigeration Association since its inception in 2011. 

In his first few years in Industry, Mack was active in the energy efficiency space, promoting both the NSW Energy Savings Scheme (NSW ESS) and NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) Industrial Refrigeration Energy Saver Program to local industry in addition to preparing energy efficiency business cases and predictive energy consumption calculations.  He was a contributor to literature used by the OEH for their programs and developed the primary procedures used to create most of the Energy Savings Certificates created for Refrigeration and HVAC chiller upgrades in NSW since 2008, under the NSW ESS.

Since 2013, Mack has been a projects engineer and projects manager with Tri Tech Refrigeration Australia, an industrial refrigeration contractor in Sydney, Australia.  In this time, he has been responsible for the tendering, conceptual and detailed design and delivery of two and single stage ammonia plant projects (both greenfield and plant extensions), and more recently, sub critical CO₂ / ammonia cascade refrigeration plants also. 

Scott Hamilton

Scott is a highly experienced senior executive with 30 years’ experience in energy, climate change, water, waste and natural resource management.

In his recent role as Executive Director Renewable Energy for the Victorian Government Department of Environment Land Water and Planning (DELWP), Scott led the development and delivery of renewable energy policy and programs across Victoria. Highlights included the Victorian Renewable Energy (Jobs and Investment) Act 2017 and Australia’s biggest renewable energy auction.

He was Director climate change strategy in DELWP and established the landmark Climate Change Act 2010 for Victoria

He worked for ten years at the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) Victoria. After working at the Sustainable Energy Authority (now Sustainability Victoria) and on greenhouse policy at DEPWP, he spent three years working as senior advisor to the Deputy Premier and Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water. He also has had a number of short-term assignments in south east Asian countries.

Scott is a current member of the Australia-German Energy Transition Hub - Strategic Advisory Panel and works as a consultant. He is a Melbourne based author and has written multiple articles on major policy issues. Scott was a Non-executive Company Director of the Moreland Energy Foundation Ltd, School, and a member of the Monash Energy Systems and Materials Institute (MEMSI) Industry Advisory Board.

Derek Harbison

Derek works with clients to increase their renewable energy usage and has recently been working with local councils throughout Australia to investigate the integration of energy systems in their aquatic centres. With first hand experience in the operation of these centres gained whilst training as a PE/Science teacher in Victoria Derek has now engaged with refrigeration experts, academics and centre managers to find the best combination of technologies to drive down costs in aquatic centres.

Jannie Howards

Jannie studied Industrial Engineering in the Netherlands followed by a post grad in Industrial Refrigeration. Jannie moved to Australia after obtaining a job as Application Engineer for an industrial compressor manufacturer in 1997.

She has worked in Australia in the field of industrial refrigeration and HVAC for different companies, in different capacities and disciplines over a period of 22 years. During this time, she has gained an in-depth knowledge of the refrigeration and HVAC requirements for the food processing, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. She has worked for component manufacturers, component and synthetic refrigerant importers, in the field of professional services and with industrial refrigeration contractors. The experience gained during her career and her passion for the environment has culminated in a keen interest in natural refrigerants and their wide range of applications.

In 2017 Jannie joined the team at Gordon Brothers Industries as Marketing Manager. Gordon Brothers is Australia’s leading industrial refrigeration and specialist air-conditioning provider, leading in the field of ammonia refrigeration for nearly a 100 years.

Jannie’s role provides an ideal platform to promote the use of natural refrigerants and help to drive a sustainable refrigeration industry.

Nis Jensen

Nis is a Project Engineer and Project Manager with Scantec Refrigeration Technologies Pty. Ltd. in Brisbane, Australia. He has been responsible for the design and delivery of the majority of the fourteen low charge ammonia refrigeration systems installed by Scantec over the last five years. The most recent project was handed over in January 2018. With a total refrigeration capacity of 1100 kW servicing a refrigerated volume of 114,000 m³, this is the largest system of its kind delivered by Scantec in Australia to date.

Nis is a Mechanical Engineering graduate from Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. The subject of his final year thesis was a theoretical comparison between refrigerants R134a and CO2 as applied in a commercial refrigerated distribution facility situated in a subtropical area. The project was undertaken in the lead up to Australia’s introduction of the now repealed carbon equivalent HFC levy in July 2012.

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.

Shannon Lovett

Shannon Holds a Diploma in HVAC/R, and has over 29 years of experience in the industry. Most recently nine of those at Emerson Climate in both technical and Management roles. Shannon has been involved in Natural refrigerants in commercial applications since the introduction of subcritical systems and now transcritical systems.

Currently based in Newcastle, he is responsible for the Cold Chain Business in Australia and New Zealand.

Simon Lovich

Simon Lovich is the founder and managing director of Air Engineers Pty Ltd, an air conditioning contractor / manufacturer.

Simon has been involved in the refrigeration and air conditioning sector through his family business from his early years. He officially started his career in the industry over 34 years ago, where he worked as an apprentice for a local refrigeration manufacturer. Simon later returned to study and completed an advanced diploma of engineering (refrigeration/air conditioning).

Simon worked in most areas of the business with several contractors, equipment manufactures and an engineering consulting firm and has held various roles in installation, service, commissioning, technical support, quality assurance as technical coach, applications engineer, design engineer, project manager and senior management.

Glenn Marsh

Head Teacher for Air Conditioning & Refrigeration at Newcastle NSW, TAFE NSW Glenn has been in the industry for over 26 years and has worked in a majority of the sectors, working with CFC, HCFC, HFC, HC, CO₂ and Ammonia, on plant from all sizes from light commercial to industrial. Glenn has been a teacher of RAC for over 10 years starting as a Military instructor in the UK, to Head of department in a college in UK, to Department Lead teacher in Fiji, to now Head Teacher for TAFE NSW.

This wide variety of international experience and teaching has ignited Glenn’s passion for the future of the industry especially in the realms of bringing the teaching up to date with the industry’s direction. He has seen how different countries are doing this on the grass roots level and moving the future technicians forward with new developments

Andreas Meier

Andreas Meier has several years of experience in management functions within the refrigeration sector. He has been a member of TEKO's management since August 2015. He was previously President of Sales D / A / CH at GEA Refrigeration Technologies, based in Berlin - Germany, and before that he was the Head of Marketing and Product Management at GEA Küba GmbH.

He also worked in Zug - Switzerland, as Sales & Marketing Manager at a Japanese manufacturer for industrial refrigeration.

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.

Mike Nolan

Mike holds a Bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Melbourne, and has completed various sustainability studies including the Sustainability Essentials for Executives (Food Industry) course, University of NSW.

He has 25+ years in food industries with stints at Cadbury, Kraft and Patties Foods. As well he has significant experience in the area of energy efficiency and related areas, as an end user. Mike has worked in Victoria, Tasmania and Asia, and grew up in a farming community in northern Victoria.

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.

Alan Pears

Alan Pears AM has worked on clean energy and climate policy for four decades. His activities span all sectors of the economy, and include policy and program development, education and site level projects. He is a Senior Industry Fellow at RMIT University and a researcher at Melbourne University’s Climate and Energy College. Over the past few years he has worked with the Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity on industrial innovation, with a focus on process heat and high temperature heat pumps.

Esequias Pereira

With large experience in a multicultural environment in Asia-Pacific, Esequias holds ability to manage the development and implementation of global products and processes. Background in R&D, Quality, Sales and Finance areas. Graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Universidade Estadual de Santa Catarina (UDESC), he has also International MBA from Peking University & Vlerick Business School  - Leuvent-Belgium and Master in Global Finance from Peking University and Fordham University of NY-USA. Currently he is Sales Senior Manager for Asia-Pacific.

Terry Plaisted

As a licensed electrician and advanced Type-B gas technician, Terry had worked in the Australian HVAC industry for 16 years as a partner in Automatic Heating Pty Ltd. He was involved in pioneering the first condensing boilers sold into Australia in 2002 and have since continued to ensure Automatic Heating remains at the forefront of the high efficiency and quality condensing boiler market.

Dave Redden

Dave Redden has been the Principal of Refrigeration Innovations P/L since 2001. Has over 50 years of experience in the refrigeration industry. Dave was educated in the UK and qualified through East Midlands College of Technology. He is also a fellow of AIRAH. 

Michael Riese

Dr. Michael Riese completed his initial schooling and trade qualifications in Cologne, Germany before moving to Cardiff, Wales to undertake his engineering degree.

Subsequently Michael moved to Australia to complete his PhD in experimental fluid dynamics. Since leaving research in 2007, Michael has held positions as a consultant in the defence industry, managed to construction of Southeast Asia’s second largest wind tunnel, worked as the principal engineer and BDM for a company in the sheet metal fabrication industry as well as taught product development and operations management at the University of Adelaide over a period of 8 years. In 2013, Michael joined Cold Logic as the Contracts Division Manager for the next four years. Since October 2017, Dr Riese is heading up the newly established Defence Division and is also responsible for Cold Logic’s R&D effort.

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.

Gaku Shimada

In 1996, Gaku Shimada graduated from WASEDA University (with a Major in Applied Physics) and entered SANYO Electric Co.Ltd as a Mechanical Engineer of compressors. After receiving a Master degree in 2006 from Boston Univ., School of Management, he became the compressor sales manager as well as a strategic business planning manager of the new technology research department. Since 2017, Mr. Shimada has been the Manager of Strategic Planning of Condensing Unit Business and Overseas Sales, Cold Chain Business Division of Panasonic Corporation.

Ian Skelton

With over 28 years experience in the refrigeration industry, Ian has been witness to the many changes within the trade over recent years. Starting his journey with a refrigeration trade back ground and progressing to a career within the CAREL group ( now over 18yrs). In this time, he has had involvement within sales, commissioning, technical support / project management and currently holds the role of National Sale Manager (Refrigeration). Ian is passionate about delivering high level solutions, service & training to support customers using natural refrigerant alternatives.

Iain Stewart

Iain Stewart is a Senior Analyst at ClimateWorks Australia. In this role he conducts energy and emissions modelling, particularly in the buildings and industry sectors, evaluating sector specific opportunities for decarbonisation. For the Decarbonisation Futures project, Iain lead the modelling, working closely with CSIRO to produce scenarios analysis which  explore a range of possible futures for Australia in a world transitioning to net zero carbon emissions. Previously to ClimateWorks, Iain worked as an Energy Engineer in the buildings sector, performing energy audits and Energy Performance Contracts for a range of clients.

Jarrod Swaine

Jarrod started at Ritchies 36 years ago as a casual after school job and became a full time employee after completing his high school degree. Jarrod became a store manager at age 21 amd moved into supervision at age 25, when Ritchie had 9 stores at that time. Shortly after this, Jarrod took on a duel buying and supervisory role.

As Ritchies grew he took on store development role with over 30 major refurbishments completed.

Ritchies currently has 75 stores and Jarrod heads up the buying team, marketing, pricing and store development.

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.