Agenda 2023

Stella Farrington has been writing about energy markets for over 20 years, working at Futures World News and Dow Jones Newswires before moving to Energy Risk in 2004. She spent eight years as the editor of Energy Risk and six as a writer, before moving into her current role as Energy Risk’s head of content and a commercial editor with Infopro Digital’s Ignite team.

Stella Farrington has been writing about energy markets for over 20 years, working at Futures World News and Dow Jones Newswires before moving to Energy Risk in 2004. She spent eight years as the editor of Energy Risk and six as a writer, before moving into her current role as Energy Risk’s head of content and a commercial editor with Infopro Digital’s Ignite team.

Elisa Scarpa is Deputy Director Market Strategy & Structuring at Edison, EDF Group.
Her activities concern the development of market strategies on power, oil, gas and LNG markets, the implementation of pricing models for structured energy products and the evaluation of the optionality in Edison portfolio. She has been working for Edison for the last 16 years. Previously Elisa has been involved for four years in several projects at Fondazione ENI Enrico Mattei in the International Energy Market Unit. She holds a degree in Economics (DES) from Bocconi University and a master’s degree in Energy Finance and Trading from Politecnico of Milan. She is the author of papers on commodity finance and price forecasting. She conjugates the activity at Edison with lectures on Energy economics and Energy fundamentals and she is part of the steering committee of the European Energy Analyst meeting. She is the Leader of the Topic Energy & Utilities for Bocconi Alumni Community.

Ana Maria is an Energy Consultant and Training Facilitator with international experience in power, academia and natural gas industry. She holds BSc and MSc in Electrical Engineering degrees.  

Ana began work in Colombia with Electric Utilities and Gas Distribution Company, and also worked at Universidad de Norte, becoming Chairman of the Electrical Engineering Programme.

In UK she has worked as Energy Consultant in great variety of projects, such as: European Gas Model, Worldwide Gas Production and Transportation Costs, Natural Gas Markets of several countries, Advising the electricity regulation in Bosnia & Herzegovina and Nigeria's Presidential Task Force on Power. She worked as individual contractor for UNFCCC.

Since 2013 she has been designing and delivering Energy Training programmes in Africa, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and Europe.

From the beginning of 2021, Ana Maria has been working as energy analyst for IEEFA’s Europe team on topics related to gas, LNG, hydrogen, as well as other relevant European energy issues. 

Languages: English, Spanish

Paul Horsnell is the Head of Commodities Research at Standard Chartered Bank, leading a team that covers the key metals and energy markets. He was previously Head of Commodities Research at Barclays, and Head of Energy Research at JPMorgan. Prior to becoming a financial analyst, he was Assistant Director for Research at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and Praelector in Economics at Lincoln College, Oxford.  Paul is a former Chairperson of the British Institute of Energy Economics and holds a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and a doctorate in Economics from Oxford University. He is the author of the Oxford University Press books “Oil in Asia” and (with Robert Mabro) “Oil Markets and Prices”.

Stella Farrington has been writing about energy markets for over 20 years, working at Futures World News and Dow Jones Newswires before moving to Energy Risk in 2004. She spent eight years as the editor of Energy Risk and six as a writer, before moving into her current role as Energy Risk’s head of content and a commercial editor with Infopro Digital’s Ignite team.

Mr. Jäger currently serves as Head of Industry Solutions Group responsible for ION’s Commodity Management Solutions. In addition to his Product Management responsibilities, he heads up ION’s Berlin office.

Since joining ION/Openlink in 2004, Mr. Jäger has been involved in numerous European and international product implementations, eventually transitioning from consultant to sales support to product management responsibility.

After the ION acquisition of Openlink in 2018, Mr. Jäger took over the role as Head of Industry Solutions Group in the Product Management Team, where he leads a global team of market SMEs overseeing ION’s Energy and Commodities product portfolio.

Mr. Jäger holds a Master of Science in Management from Stevens Institute of Technology and Diplom-Ingenieur (Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen) degree from the Technische Universität Berlin.

Mat Stone is the founder and Managing Director of PRIMA, an award-winning research and data firm specializing in the low carbon transportation fuel markets since 2015. PRIMA joined Resourcewise in 2022 to work alongside verticals in forestry, pulp and paper, petrochemicals, methanol and biogenic carbon. Mat has worked across energy and agricultural commodities in pricing, research and broking in the US, Europe and Asia since 1998. He has established several listed price benchmarks for emerging low carbon commodity streams as well as pioneering market research into new energy streams. PRIMA’s data and analytics are widely used across the energy industry for their insights into the renewable energy interface between policy, markets and fundamentals.

Latif Faiyaz, Head of Energy Trading & Strategy,Northern Gas and Power (NGP Ltd)

Latif has a wealth of experience from within the energy industry, currently at Northern Gas and Power, Latif heads the Trading department of six Traders and two Analysts, managing over 450 commercial customers with over 6TWh of energy under management. 

He has experience in developing carbon projects and trading carbon internationally. Latif has also worked at utilities; Engie and Orsted, implementing the integration of energy service offerings (PPAs, CHPs and Demand Management) into supply contracts. His experience is varied too. He’s worked ‘on the other side of the fence’ as an Energy Manager for the NHS, before returning back to energy trading for LG Energy and Yorkshire Energy.

EVIA MISSION STATEMENT 

The European Venues and Intermediaries’ Association promotes and enhances the value and competitiveness of Wholesale Market Venues, Platforms and Arranging Intermediaries by providing members with co-ordination and a common voice to foster and promote liquid, transparent and fair markets. It maintains a clear focus and direction, building a credible reputation upon 50 years of history, by acting as a focal point for the industry and providing clear direction to their members when communicating with central banks, governments, policy makers, and regulators. 

Its core strength is the ability to consolidate views and data and act as a common voice for an industry operating in a complex and closely regulated environment, by acting as a central point for the industry and providing clear communication with central banks, governments, policy makers, and regulators.  

It provides specific standards and maintains a clear focus and direction for the participant s and stakeholders across the market ecosystem, building upon a credible reputation from over 50 years of experience.  

ALEXANDER MCDONALD – BIOGRAPHY 

Alexander McDonald has been CEO of European Venues and Intermediaries Association (“EVIA”), previously known as the Wholesale Market Brokers Association (“WMBA”) and the London Energy Brokers Association (“LEBA”) since 2009. 

EVIA/LEBA member firms are global and wholesale venues and intermediaries, providing services and arranging transactions in the cash and derivative Rate, Credit, Foreign Exchange, Equity and Commodity marketplaces. He currently also holds a SM1 permission as Benchmarks Administrator to two Specified Indices under the UK authorisation, EURONIA and RONIA. In the decade until 2020 he was also responsible for SONIA which was subsequently taken over by Bank of England as the UK RFR. 

Prior to joining WMBA, Alex has spent his career as Managing Director in the Treasury and Trading divisions of JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse, before moving into Fund Management where he worked for Bluecrest, Olea and BSAM as either Portfolio Manager or Principle. He holds an MA from Cambridge University in Geophysics/Geochemistry. [see notes[ii] for details]. 

He has over twenty years of experience as a market maker, franchise leader, macro trader and portfolio manager, focusing on risk in commodities, fixed income and currencies worldwide. Additionally, he was a director, in charge of Emerging Markets and currency trading at CSFB for eight years, and prior to that he was Executive Director at Goldman Sachs on their fixed-income proprietary trading desk. He joined JP Morgan in 1988 and subsequently traded with and managed their futures, fixed income arbitrage and FX teams.  

George Christoforou is the Head of Market Risk at Petrocas Energy Group, a vertically integrated petroleum products distributor and logistical service provider.

He is the product owner of a CTRM while also leading the whole spectrum of risk identification, risk processing, and risk design of the Group’s business activities.

Adept Mathematician with a First Class Bachelor from the University of the West of England and Certified Financial, Sustainability, and Climate Risk Manager from the Global Association of Risk Managers.

Louis Redshaw is the CEO and founder of Redshaw Advisors and Net Zero Markets. He has been an advocate of the use of carbon markets to combat climate change from early in his career, having been active in the sector for more than 20 years.

Notably, Louis established Barclays’ Environmental Markets Team which he led for ten years. His insights and advice are sought by governments, legislatures and corporations, while also frequently being asked to participate in conferences to share his expertise.

In 2014, he established Redshaw Advisors which has grown to become one of Europe’s leading environmental markets advisory and procurement firms. Additionally, in 2022 Louis launched Net Zero Markets, which aims to transform the voluntary carbon market through increased standardisation and transparent tradability of carbon solutions.

Director, Research

Stephanie Mielnik, CFA, is Director of Research at the Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute (AFII), a research organisation empowering fixed income investors to drive the climate transition. She is currently leading extensive research projects on sustainability-linked bonds and integration of nature considerations into fixed income investments.

Stephanie has a master’s degree in software engineering from HEI Lille and a M.Sc. in financial engineering from Skema Business School. Prior to joining the AFII, she was a Vice-President in Northern Trust Asset Management’s Strategic Products Team where she led the development of sustainable strategies and worked on the implementation of SFDR. Stephanie started her career at Natixis as a quantitative analyst before joining the equity derivatives desk as a structurer.

Stephanie is a passionate mountain sportsperson and is a member of the non-profit Protect Our Winters.

Riccardo Rossi is an economist and energy commodity markets’ expert. Since 2020 he has been leading the renewables origination activities in Southern Europe for Centrica. He joined the Centrica Group in 2017 as Head of Energy Trading Regulation, leading a team of international experts advising on trading, route-to-market and LNG market rules. He worked for Gazprom Marketing & Trading between 2013-2017 with responsibility for energy trading regulation. He developed his experience in energy markets in the E.ON group from 2006. He worked for the German group in Dusseldorf and Milan. He started his career in the energy sector in Dalmine Energie (Tenaris Group) in 2003.

Georges Panaghoulis is the head of price risk and hedging at Island Oil Holdings, a physical supplier of marine fuel headquartered in Cyprus.

He has been working in risk management since 2015 where he has had various roles and been involved in the set-up of hedging procedures & strategies, exposure reports, clearing accounts, implementation of ETRM’s as well as derivatives trading and live price evaluation.

Georges is an engineer specializing in Mechanics Energetics and started his career in 2011 as an area sales manager, and he was in charge of developing sales for a manufacturer of flexible heating elements across various industries and applications.

Latif Faiyaz, Head of Energy Trading & Strategy,Northern Gas and Power (NGP Ltd)

Latif has a wealth of experience from within the energy industry, currently at Northern Gas and Power, Latif heads the Trading department of six Traders and two Analysts, managing over 450 commercial customers with over 6TWh of energy under management. 

He has experience in developing carbon projects and trading carbon internationally. Latif has also worked at utilities; Engie and Orsted, implementing the integration of energy service offerings (PPAs, CHPs and Demand Management) into supply contracts. His experience is varied too. He’s worked ‘on the other side of the fence’ as an Energy Manager for the NHS, before returning back to energy trading for LG Energy and Yorkshire Energy.

Ana Maria is an Energy Consultant and Training Facilitator with international experience in power, academia and natural gas industry. She holds BSc and MSc in Electrical Engineering degrees.  

Ana began work in Colombia with Electric Utilities and Gas Distribution Company, and also worked at Universidad de Norte, becoming Chairman of the Electrical Engineering Programme.

In UK she has worked as Energy Consultant in great variety of projects, such as: European Gas Model, Worldwide Gas Production and Transportation Costs, Natural Gas Markets of several countries, Advising the electricity regulation in Bosnia & Herzegovina and Nigeria's Presidential Task Force on Power. She worked as individual contractor for UNFCCC.

Since 2013 she has been designing and delivering Energy Training programmes in Africa, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and Europe.

From the beginning of 2021, Ana Maria has been working as energy analyst for IEEFA’s Europe team on topics related to gas, LNG, hydrogen, as well as other relevant European energy issues. 

Languages: English, Spanish

Nick leads the origination business for Trailstone Renewables in UK and Ireland, Nick has more 15 year’s experience working in diverse sectors as micro generation for domestic, to large coal and gas fired power stations.   Currently working in a trading environment at Trailstone Nick is responsible for offering risk management solutions to generators, utilities and asset managers to protect against wholesale market exposures.   

Sujoy joined SBI Shinsei International Limited, a subsidiary of SBI Shinsei Bank in 2019, having previously worked at Santander Bank. At Shinsei International, Sujoy is responsible for the Bank's deal sourcing, advising and international syndication & distribution activities in the renewables, infrastructure, real estate, aircraft and shipping sector. In this role, he was instrumental in the development of the Bank’s international investments platform and originate to distribute model.

Over fourteen years of experience in debt syndication and structuring transactions. For the past eight years, much of his focus has been on the EMEA renewables and infrastructure sector. While working alongside many major sponsors, developers, lenders as well as with a variety of commercial banks, export credit agencies and institutional investors, he has built a strong experience in the debt syndication, structuring, advising and negotiations of large and complex project finance transactions.

Joe Miletic – Head of Asset and Portfolio Management

Joe Miletic joined Amberside Energy in July 2022, a renewables development and management company, providing investor support and asset/portfolio management on solar projects in the UK. He previously worked for Foresight Group as senior portfolio manager (portfolio lead for solar, ~1GWp) and head of JLEN solar. Prior to that, Joe held senior asset management roles for UK and international solar projects at John Laing, Armstrong Energy and Sonnedix. He holds a master’s degree in engineering from ENSIP and an advanced master’s degree in renewable energy from Mines Paristech.

Georges Panaghoulis is the head of price risk and hedging at Island Oil Holdings, a physical supplier of marine fuel headquartered in Cyprus.

He has been working in risk management since 2015 where he has had various roles and been involved in the set-up of hedging procedures & strategies, exposure reports, clearing accounts, implementation of ETRM’s as well as derivatives trading and live price evaluation.

Georges is an engineer specializing in Mechanics Energetics and started his career in 2011 as an area sales manager, and he was in charge of developing sales for a manufacturer of flexible heating elements across various industries and applications.

Aurel Mindrican, Commercial optimisation & market insights director, CEZ Romania 

Aurel holds a license degree in Hydroelectric and environment and a master’s  in Optimisation of Hydro Power Plants operation from Universitatea Politehnica Bucharest followed by another master’s in Energy with FABIZ – ASE, Romania. He was a founding member of the Board of Directors of electricity suppliers’ association in Romania (AFEER) in 2006-2008. After 5 successful years as a senior engineer in Hidroelectrica (the biggest power producer in Romania) contributing to the start of electricity market in Romania, he took the position of Trading Director in Romelectro, one of the top 5 trading companies in Romania. From 2008 to 2021 Aurel was Trade Development Manager and General Manager in CEZ Trade Romania, as well as  Trading Manager in Ovidiu Development (CEZ Wind farm) from 2016 to 2021. Since 2021 he has taken the position of Trading and Market Strategies Director in CEZ Romania Group. 

EVIA MISSION STATEMENT 

The European Venues and Intermediaries’ Association promotes and enhances the value and competitiveness of Wholesale Market Venues, Platforms and Arranging Intermediaries by providing members with co-ordination and a common voice to foster and promote liquid, transparent and fair markets. It maintains a clear focus and direction, building a credible reputation upon 50 years of history, by acting as a focal point for the industry and providing clear direction to their members when communicating with central banks, governments, policy makers, and regulators. 

Its core strength is the ability to consolidate views and data and act as a common voice for an industry operating in a complex and closely regulated environment, by acting as a central point for the industry and providing clear communication with central banks, governments, policy makers, and regulators.  

It provides specific standards and maintains a clear focus and direction for the participant s and stakeholders across the market ecosystem, building upon a credible reputation from over 50 years of experience.  

ALEXANDER MCDONALD – BIOGRAPHY 

Alexander McDonald has been CEO of European Venues and Intermediaries Association (“EVIA”), previously known as the Wholesale Market Brokers Association (“WMBA”) and the London Energy Brokers Association (“LEBA”) since 2009. 

EVIA/LEBA member firms are global and wholesale venues and intermediaries, providing services and arranging transactions in the cash and derivative Rate, Credit, Foreign Exchange, Equity and Commodity marketplaces. He currently also holds a SM1 permission as Benchmarks Administrator to two Specified Indices under the UK authorisation, EURONIA and RONIA. In the decade until 2020 he was also responsible for SONIA which was subsequently taken over by Bank of England as the UK RFR. 

Prior to joining WMBA, Alex has spent his career as Managing Director in the Treasury and Trading divisions of JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse, before moving into Fund Management where he worked for Bluecrest, Olea and BSAM as either Portfolio Manager or Principle. He holds an MA from Cambridge University in Geophysics/Geochemistry. [see notes[ii] for details]. 

He has over twenty years of experience as a market maker, franchise leader, macro trader and portfolio manager, focusing on risk in commodities, fixed income and currencies worldwide. Additionally, he was a director, in charge of Emerging Markets and currency trading at CSFB for eight years, and prior to that he was Executive Director at Goldman Sachs on their fixed-income proprietary trading desk. He joined JP Morgan in 1988 and subsequently traded with and managed their futures, fixed income arbitrage and FX teams.  

George Christoforou is the Head of Market Risk at Petrocas Energy Group, a vertically integrated petroleum products distributor and logistical service provider.

He is the product owner of a CTRM while also leading the whole spectrum of risk identification, risk processing, and risk design of the Group’s business activities.

Adept Mathematician with a First Class Bachelor from the University of the West of England and Certified Financial, Sustainability, and Climate Risk Manager from the Global Association of Risk Managers.

Riccardo Rossi is an economist and energy commodity markets’ expert. Since 2020 he has been leading the renewables origination activities in Southern Europe for Centrica. He joined the Centrica Group in 2017 as Head of Energy Trading Regulation, leading a team of international experts advising on trading, route-to-market and LNG market rules. He worked for Gazprom Marketing & Trading between 2013-2017 with responsibility for energy trading regulation. He developed his experience in energy markets in the E.ON group from 2006. He worked for the German group in Dusseldorf and Milan. He started his career in the energy sector in Dalmine Energie (Tenaris Group) in 2003.

Georges Panaghoulis is the head of price risk and hedging at Island Oil Holdings, a physical supplier of marine fuel headquartered in Cyprus.

He has been working in risk management since 2015 where he has had various roles and been involved in the set-up of hedging procedures & strategies, exposure reports, clearing accounts, implementation of ETRM’s as well as derivatives trading and live price evaluation.

Georges is an engineer specializing in Mechanics Energetics and started his career in 2011 as an area sales manager, and he was in charge of developing sales for a manufacturer of flexible heating elements across various industries and applications.

Latif Faiyaz, Head of Energy Trading & Strategy,Northern Gas and Power (NGP Ltd)

Latif has a wealth of experience from within the energy industry, currently at Northern Gas and Power, Latif heads the Trading department of six Traders and two Analysts, managing over 450 commercial customers with over 6TWh of energy under management. 

He has experience in developing carbon projects and trading carbon internationally. Latif has also worked at utilities; Engie and Orsted, implementing the integration of energy service offerings (PPAs, CHPs and Demand Management) into supply contracts. His experience is varied too. He’s worked ‘on the other side of the fence’ as an Energy Manager for the NHS, before returning back to energy trading for LG Energy and Yorkshire Energy.