Gervais Jacques started his career in 1991 as a chemical engineer with Alcan. He has gone on to hold numerous plants, business leader and functional positions, as well as senior management roles including COO, B&A Atlantic operations. He then became Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) position at Rio Tinto, the global leader in the aluminium industry and he was until January 2020,  Managing Director – Atlantic operations, Aluminium. He was managing all product group operations, more than 6000 employees in 6 different countries generating an EBITDA of US$1,9 billion. Gervais was the Chairman of the International Aluminium Institute from 2018 to 2020.  He is currently Chairman of Nemaska Lithium, Excecutive Chairman of Airex Energy, NED of 5NPLUS (VNP:TO), NED of Alliance Magnesium and NED of Enerkem ECV. Gervais graduated from Laval University and he completed the Strategic Leadership Program at the London Business School.

Johan is today Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at Investment AB Latour. Johan Menckel started his career at Accenture as management consultant in the industrial engineering sector in Sweden. At Accenture Johan Menckel worked for several large international industrial clients globally. In 2004 Johan Menckel joined Gränges Europe as sales engineer with responsibility for Gränges largest global customer accounts. Johan Menckel led Gränges Asian operations and was stationed in Shanghai during the company’s most extensive growth years during 2007-2012. Between 2013-2021 he was the President and CEO of Gränges AB. Johan holds a Master of Science in Engineering from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

Philippe BIDEAU started his career in 1980 at Hewlett Packard as sales field engineer and distribution manager in the USA. He then created and led the McKinsey European Operations Practice, headed the Industry sector in France and sat several years on the worldwide senior partners’ evaluation committee. During his time at Mc Kinsey (1983-2012) he served the most prestigious companies worldwide in Metals and Mining, Automotive and Aerospace Industries. Since 2013 he is a Partner Emeritus of Mc Kinsey and he runs his own strategic and financial advisory firm that he created in New York City. Philippe graduated from Ecole Centrale de Paris and Supelec and holds a Master in Economic Systems from Stanford University.

Stéphane Mangin is a fellow of the American Physical Society, a fellow of the IEEE Magnetic Society and a fellow of the Churchill College at Cambridge University. Stephane Mangin is a Co-Founder of the French-US International Associated Laboratory on Nanoelectronics at UC San Diego. He is the scientific director of a unique tool (TUBE-Davm) : a 70 meter Tube under Ultra High Vacuum which connects 30 equipments to growth and characterise material down to the atomic scale. Stephane holds a PhD in Physics from Université Joseph Fourrier in Grenoble. He is a Full Professor at Université de Lorraine where he leads the research team Spintronics and Nanomagnetism at Institut Jean Lamour. 

Jean Sentenac started his career in engineering and construction in 1984 at Air Liquide until 1990. He then held positions in Business Unit management at Rhone-Poulenc and Rhodia. After 10 year of experience in this field he became Deputy Executive Director of IFP’s Industrial Division in 2000 and Deputy CEO at Axens in 2001. He was named Axens President and Chief Executive Officer in 2002, and guided the development of Axens as trustworthy supplier to clients in the hydrocarbon processing industries, providing reliable and effective technologies, products and services. Throughout his career his priorities have been towards ensuring advancing employees’ development and technical expertise while continuing to uphold safety in operations and respect for environment Jean Sentenac graduated from Ecole Polytechnique and IFP School (in French – École Nationale Supérieur du Pétrole et des Moteurs).

Professor in the Department of Strategy, Social and Environmental Responsibility at ESG UQAM, Corinne Gendron conducts research on the social representations of the economic and political elite, on the evolution of business as a social institution, and on the social acceptability of public decisions and new technologies – notably in mining. She has published 10+ books and 50+ research articles, including in Journal of Cleaner Production, Ecological Economics, and Journal of Business Ethics. In 2014, she was elected at the Académie des Technologies de France, where she co-chairs the Technologies, Economies & Societies cluster, and was elevated to the rank of Chevalier de l’Ordre national de la Légion d’Honneur de France in 2015. She was also made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2019.A graduate of the Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Law and holder of an MBA specializing in marketing and finance from HEC Montréal, she earned a Ph.D. in sociology from UQAM.