Li Xinchuang has served in many roles previously including those approved by the State Council. He was Professor Senior Engineer, Vice Secretary-General of China Iron & Steel Association (CISA), President and Chief Engineer of China Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute (MPI), and Director of Technical Economics Branch of the Chinese Society for Metals.

Uğur has been working as the CEO of Colakoğlu Metalurji for many years now. Ugur is also a board member of the Turkish Steel Producers’ Association (TCUD), the Turkish Steel Exporters’ Association (CIB) and of IREPAS, the International Rebar Exporters and Producers Association and an Executive member of Worldsteel Association (WSA). Ugur holds a BSc degree in Metallurgy and Material Science from METU.

After graduating from Oxford University in 1977, with a degree in Mathematics, Dick has spent the last 42 years permanently employed in the steel trade. Over half of those years with current employer Stemcor. Dick’s experience ranges from his earlier years importing flat rolled steel and long products into the UK market, through a period trading long products across the globe, then a decade trading raw materials for steel making, and for the last five years looking after much of Stemcor’s European import and distribution business. Three times Chairman of the International Steel Trade Association, Dick has a wealth of experience, both sourcing and marketing steel products and steel making raw materials, across the globe.

VR Sharma is Managing Director-Designate for Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. Prior to joining JSPL, he was Group CEO of AbulKhair Group and managing its Steel, Power, Cement & Mining business and previously he was Deputy Managing Director & CEO of Jindal Steel & Power Limited. He has also worked as Executive Director of Ispat Industries Ltd, Joint MD & Director of Bhushan Group. He also worked in management position with other steel companies overseas including Socialist Steel Limited Libya, Lloyd Steel Group and Arrasate Steel Spain. Extremely passionate for steel, he has given 36 years to the industry while leading multi-locational steel, power, cement, and mining operations, innovative cost-effective large steel project management and was instrumental in bringing in transformation changes of various steel corporates. VR Sharma is a graduate in Mechanical Engineering and has completed his Master's in Business Administration from UK.

Alexis is a London based director at Simpson Spence Young (SSY), one of the world’s largest shipbroking organisations. He is part of the SSY Consultancy & Research team analysing dry bulk shipping markets and related industries, including steel and iron ore. With more than eight years of experience in dry bulk research, his areas of work include speaking at industry events, presenting to SSY’s clients, writing for company publications and supporting broking staff, both in London and overseas.

Ian is a highly regarded industry analyst, with over 20 years experience in metals, starting at CRU in London. Since 2003 Ian was based in Shanghai, China initially with Steel Business Briefing and then Macquarie, before a five-year stint at Rio Tinto running their iron ore analysis. Since 2010 Ian worked as a sell-side analyst with CLSA, Macquarie and others based in Shanghai and Singapore and continues to bring his leading-edge thoughts on the markets as an unbiased independent analyst. 

Andrii has 15-year experience in investment banking and commodities market analysis as head of research and head of trading department. Graduated from Donetsk University of Management Production management faculty in 2005. His expertise are in: global steel markets, oil & gas, financial markets, and industrial policy issues. Andrii covers financial and strategic issues, improving cost-management, budgeting systems building, and audit for steel companies in consulting projects.

Fernando is the Presedent of EUROMETAL, a position he has held since December 2018, and is the Managing Director of Layde Steel (Tata Steel Europe) since January 2009. As a senior executive leading transformation through growth, customer oriented actions and full involvement of the organisation, Fernando has more than 20 years of experience in highly demanding commercial organisations, of which 10 years acting as Managing Director promoting the change and market focus to take back to profits a complex entity. Involvement includes all stakeholders, and all levels of the company, including management of the multinational.

Francois-David held executive roles in Asia and Europe for many years, working in various fields and industries. After obtaining his degree in mechanical engineering, Francois-David served in numerous leadership positions at companies including thyssenkrupp, Siemens and ZF Friedrichshafen. Francois-David most recently held the office of President & CEO China at Danieli & C. Officine Meccaniche S.p.A. Francois-David’s reputation includes international recognition for his expertise in the fields of supply chains and operational excellence and in the successful implementation of growth strategies. Apart from implementing the new Group strategy at Becker Stahl-Service GmbH, Francois-David Martino focuses on expanding the product and processing portfolio as well as technical expertise in manufacturing while also enhancing the service level for customers and partners.

Alessandro (born 1970) holds the position of Director of Economic and Market Analysis at the European Steel Association (EUROFER) based in Brussels, where he carries out economic research and analysis linked to the steel sector. Prior to joining EUROFER, he held for over ten years equivalent positions at other Brussels-based European trade associations (namely in the mortgage lending sector and the cement sector) and, before that, he worked for the Economic Studies Office of a leading cement and construction group in Rome, Italy, and for the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) in Maastricht, the Netherlands. He holds a PhD in Economics (1999) and a Degree in political science (1995) from the University of Pisa, Italy. He has dual nationality (Italian and Belgian) and is fluent in English, French and Italian.

Todd is the Senior Key Account Manager in the Commercial Department at Midrex Technologies. He is instrumental in the promotion and negotiation of new contracts for MIDREX® Plants. Prior to his present role, he held numerous engineering and project management positions within Midrex. He has more than 20 years of experience in large-scale industrial project management and construction management in both Europe and Asia. He holds six US and European patents in various mechanical and process applications. Todd earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech and a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Thomas is Vice President Sustainability & Public Affairs, at SSAB. He has an MBA from Uppsala University and an MSc from KTH in Stockholm. Thomas has vast experience in general management, sales, market intelligence as well as sustainability. Thomas’s previous roles include Managing Director of Ruukki Sverige, Senior Vice President & International Sales at Ruukki Metals Ltd, Vice President at Atlas Copco Dynapac and Vice President Corporate Marketing & Sales at steel provider Ovako. Thomas’s career started at ABB, which he left as Vice President in 2004, after almost 13 years of management positions in the metals industry activities. He has unique insights into the incorporation of sustainability into the business model of the organization.  

Sander is Director Business and Commercial Development at Tata Steel in the Netherlands. He has a master’s in business administration from the Rotterdam School of Management. Sander’s career at Tata Steel started in 2003 where he built experience in sales, product & market development and marketing roles focused on the Packaging and Automotive market sectors. Currently Sander is responsible for marketing, business and commercial development for Tata Steel across all market sectors.

Friso was born in 1970 in the Netherlands. He earned a MSc degree at Delft University of Technology in Materials Science. He took several classes in marketing, strategic management and governance at Henley, IMD and Erasmus. Friso has worked and lived in the USA, Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands. After his start in R&D and production management with Volvo Aero and Aluminium Pechiney, Friso held several commercial positions in the steel industry with Corus and Tata Steel. He was, amongst others, responsible for mill sales to service centers in South-Europe and for the EMEA sales of specialty plated strip products. He was appointed CEO of a Tata Steel JV active in trade, steel service and fabrications. He is founder and initiator of Steelport Maastricht. His broad and international experience from mill sales, trading and service centers all the way down the supply-chain to manufacturing, strengthened and inspired him to launch himself into entrepreneurship. He acquired his own steel trading/service organisation early 2019.

Tomas is the Managing Editor Asia for Kallanish and produces editorial content on the region, with a focus on China, as well as overseeing Kallanish's operations in East Asia. He is based in Shanghai, where he has lived and worked for the last six years. Tomas speaks Mandarin as well as English and Spanish. He has also spent three years in Beijing studying and working. Previously, Tomas worked at Steel Business Briefing, where he joined shortly after graduating with a masters degree in Asian politics from SOAS in London.

After training as a journalist in Italy, Emanuele started covering the steel market back in 2010 when he joined SBB in London. In 2014, he became managing editor for the EMEA steel market for Platts. Emanuele joined Kallanish in 2016 and he is the editor for Kallanish Steel Weekly. He speaks five languages and love art as much as steel.

Having graduated from university in England's steel city of Sheffield, Adam was destined to end up in a career related to the steel industry. He has worked at Kallanish since 2014 as an editor for The Middle East and Turkey, as well as CIS and Eastern Europe, contributing his experience gained from five years in Dubai of the vibrant and fast-growing Middle Eastern and Turkish markets. Adam regularly attends events in the Middle East and Europe, moderating and speaking at some of them. He was previously steel editor at Platts in Dubai and before that Central and Eastern European reporter for Steel Business Briefing in London. Adam prides himself on providing friendly, informative and accurate journalism. He is currently based in Frankfurt and speaks fluent Polish and intermediate German. 

Dan is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - the birthplace of the US steel industry - and he started in the industry in 2009 with the original Steel Business Briefing. Prior to that, Dan covered police and military affairs in Beaufort, South Carolina, and spot news for the Valley News Dispatch in Tarentum, PA. As part of the North American Kallanish team, Dan covers flats, tubular products and specialty steel products.