Roger Emmott is a highly regarded management consultant, business developer, innovator and advisor to the global metals and mining sector. For over more than 20 years he has advised more than 50 clients in over 50 countries. Roger has held senior positions with Steel Business Briefing, Atkins Plc in the UK and Hatch Associates of Canada. In these roles he gained in-depth experience of strategic, due diligence, market and feasibility studies including interview and research techniques, information synthesis, validation and presentation.

David Howes has spent over 35 years in the domestic and international Steel Trading business. Following a recent spell with Trade Finance Partners [TFP], opening up opportunities for transactional trade finance in the steel space, he is currently consulting and lecturing on steel processes and international trade markets, whilst looking for new challenges in the steel sector. Prior to that he spent 20 years as Senior Steel Trader for Stemcor focused on bottom-line profits by building and developing long-term trading relationships with suppliers and customers. He has traded steel globally and has a long career in looking at opportunities in Africa. David is fully versed in all aspects of global trading activities including: supplier/customer negotiation, finance, shipping, logistics and documentation procedures. He is well versed in regional customs and business practices, negotiations of trades, clean execution and follow-up and has an extensive knowledge of steel-making processes and steel products. He is also a fluent French speaker.

Chris Ash is a qualified banker with over 30 years’ experience in corporate finance, with particular specialities in corporate restructuring and structured trade finance. He is currently CEO of Trade Finance Partners Ltd, a leading independent provider of global trade finance to commodity traders and importers and exporters both in the UK / Europe and Asia. He has held senior positions at other Trade Finance providers as well as restructuring roles at First National, Lloyds and Barclays. Chris has also worked in manufacturing and service sector companies at Board Level.

Rod Beddows received his first degree in Philosophy and Politics from Bristol University in the UK. After a period in the Information Technology sector he attended Business School and obtained an MSc from Durham and a doctorate from Harvard University School of Business. He held academic positions and served as a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at Harvard. Whilst he was there he co-authored a book entitled; “Managing Large Scale Research and Development Programs”. From 1979 he owned and ran his own Strategy Consulting firm gradually focusing on the Ferrous sector. Later he sold the business to Hatch Associates, a major technology and engineering firm specializing in the Mining and Metals sectors and joined their board. Recently he has co-founded a boutique financial advisory firm focused on the same sectors. His clients are confidential but have comprised most of the major firms and many minor ones in the ferrous value chain. Rod's new book, Steel: 2050, How steel transformed the world and now must transform itself, is available for purchase from September 2014.

Richard Thomas has over 35 years experience in shipping and logistics in commodities. He spent the last 19 years with Stemcor Holdings, where he was Director Shipowning, Freight and Chartering. Prior to that he has worked in various capacity for companies like March Rich + Co, Clarkson, Maersk Lines. Richard has extensive experience in Chartering and S&P for Dry Handy, Supramax, Ultramax, Post-Panamax, Capesize PLUS TANKERS (clean/dirty). Richard is a member of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers London from 1977 and elected member of the Baltic Shipping Exchange since 1978

Rory Macdonald is Product Development Manager for Freight Investor Services (FIS), based in London. Prior to that he was Director, eMetals for Platts, based in Singapore. He started his career as an Iron Ore Analyst at The Steel Index (TSI), based in London, before moving to Shanghai as Head of Iron Ore Operations. Between TSI and Platts, he spent three years with FIS in Singapore as a commodity derivative broker.