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 Menckel started his career at Accenture as management consultant in 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 lead Gränges Asian operations, and was stationed in Shanghai, during the company’s most extensive growth years during 2007-2012. In 2013 Johan Menckel was appointed CEO of Gränges group. Johan holds a Master of Science in Engineering from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. 

Johan Menckel  will become Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at Investment AB Latour in August 2021. Johan also holds positions as board director in Saab AB, Securitas and Nederman group.

Philippe VARIN started his career in 1978. He held various R&D, plant and Business Unit Management roles at Pechiney in France and the USA and he was Group Executive Vice President for the Aluminum sector when he left Pechiney to become the CEO of the Anglo Dutch steel conglomerate Corus in 2003, based in London. The Corus turnaround led to the acquisition by the Indian Group Tata in 2007. Philippe Varin remained two years with Tata, in Mumbai and in London.  He then moved to the French car making Group PSA Peugeot Citroen where he was Chairman of the Managing Board between 2009 and 2014. He is currently Chairman  of the Board of the nuclear cycle and equipments companies Areva and Orano and  Chairman of the Audit Committee of the Board of Saint Gobain. As Chairman of  « France Industrie » and Vice Chairman of the « Conseil National de l’Industrie », he plays an active role for developing the French industry.
Philippe graduated from Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole des Mines de Paris.

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).

Sam Riggall is Chief Executive Officer of Sunrise Energy Metals Ltd, a world leader in ion exchange technologies to extract metals at extremely high efficiency. Mr Riggall is also a director of VRB Energy, a leader in vanadium redox flow battery technology. Prior to Sunrise, Mr Riggall led business development and strategic planning at Ivanhoe Mines and, before that, worked for over a decade in a variety of senior executive roles at the Rio Tinto Group.  He brings significant insight to the impact of disruptive technologies on metal markets and has a strong track record of identifying and building value through innovation.  Mr Riggall recently served on the Australian Government’s Advanced Manufacturing Taskforce for Critical and Strategic Minerals and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy. Mr Riggall has law and commerce degrees from the University of Melbourne and a Master of Business Administration from Melbourne Business School.