ASI Governance Elections 2024

Salman has spent the entirety of his career working in the aluminium industry, starting as an electrical apprentice in 1984.  

He has firsthand experience of the demands and challenges associated with working on the shop floor in smelting, power production and desalination. 

Salman has worked up from the shop floor to hold several management positions including General Manager of Power and Desalination, Chief Operational Officer and in 2010 Salman was appointed as Vice President of Operations with responsibility for running the world’s largest single site smelter. 

Today, Salman’s role as Executive Vice President includes overall responsibility for EGA’s Sustainability Team and bringing sustainability related issues to the attention of the EGA Board. Salman has been an avid supporter of ASI since 2016. 

Throughout his 35 years of experience, Salman has witnessed firsthand the changes in the industry and understands the current societal demands for a low carbon, responsibly produced Aluminium.

Julia Batho, Deputy CEO, Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB)

Julia Batho is Deputy Chief Executive at the Institute for Human Rights and Business, an independent non-profit thinktank, working to make respect for humanrights part of everyday business. Julia is a qualified lawyer and human rightsexpert with over 15 years’ experience on international labour standards and labour migration. She established IHRB’s presence in Southeast Asia and has managed the Institute’s work on labour rights, including its outreach in the GCC, since 2019. As Deputy CEO, Julia works closely with the CEO and COO on the strategic development, financial management and good governance of IHRB. Julia is one of the organisation’s safeguarding leads and also has oversight of IHRB’s Monitoring & Evaluation and impact reporting activities. Originally from Brazil, Julia has previously worked with the International Labour Organization in Southeast Asia and Geneva.

Jan Boekelman, Treasurer, Chimbo Foundation

Jan has followed a career in Finance since finishing an MSC in Econometrics at the University of Amsterdam.

Jan has many years of experience in the oil & gas extraction industry, of which 15 years with Royal Dutch Shell and eight years with EBN, the Dutch state owned investment company. He has worked at increasing seniority levels for various Finance roles in positions in three continents, including a number of Executive Board positions at C-level and a number of Supervisory Board positions over the last ten years.

At present, Jan is the Treasury of Foundation Chimbo, in addition to maintaining various Supervisory Board roles.

Dr. Gerald Rebitzer, Director Sustainability, Amcor

Dr. Gerald Rebitzer is Sustainability Director at Amcor. His role encompasses environmental management and social responsibility from an operations and product perspective as well as advocacy in packaging sustainability. Gerald has been working in sustainability for over 25 years, with a focus on packaging since 2006.  

In addition to his work at Amcor, Gerald is Chair of the Board and Steering Committee for CEFLEX, a non-profit circular economy value chain initiative for flexible packaging. He is also a Board Member of the Swiss aluminium recycling cooperative and Europen (European Organization for Packaging and the Environment). Gerald was also intensely involved in the creation and development of the first sustainability sourcing standard for the aluminium sector, which created the basis for ASI.

Steven Bater, Sustainability Manager, Emirates Global Aluminium

Steven started his career in 2003 overseeing environmental and community impact assessments for a variety of projects in the UK. 

By 2008, Steven was overseeing a team of technical environmental specialists and held responsibility for environmental management and sustainability reporting for a regional government contract.

In 2013 Steve started working on environmental and social aspects of projects around the world including country-scale infrastructure development, industrial facilities and a wide range of large-scale power projects. Steve joined EGA as the organisation’s. Sustainability Manager in January 2018 with responsibility for EGA’s sustainability strategy. Since then, Steve has been an active member with ASI and has overseen the preparatory work and certification of all of EGA’s facilities to date. With ample past experience of a range of relevant environmental and social criteria from different parts of the globe, Steve hopes to be a valuable and active member of the ASI standards committee.

Patrick Brading, Head of Environment, Group Sustainability, Norsk Hydro

Patrick has an academic background in biological sciences, with experience in applied research and business innovation related to sustainability topics. He has five years of experience within Hydro, in a corporate environment management position covering both operational and strategic responsibilities. 

Over his career, Patrick has gathered experience in management of biodiversity, water, waste and air emissions across the aluminium supply chain, is a member of the Biodiversity working group in ASI and the Water and Nature working groups in ICMM, and formerly performed HSE (internal) auditing within aluminium value chain and environmental strategy development and minimum requirement setting for aluminium chain.

Andy Doran, Senior Manager Government Affairs & Recycling Development, Novelis Inc.

Andy has worked in the resources field for thirty years in the public and private sector with local and national Government in the UK and Novelis. Andy joined Novelis, the world’s largest recycler of aluminium in 2006 with original responsibility for Used Beverage Cans collection in the UK market.  

In 2011, he changed roles to work on recycling development and sustainability activities within Novelis Europe, becoming increasingly involved in Government Affairs and customer engagement on sustainability topics activities as he helps Novelis become the world’s leading provider of low-carbon, sustainable aluminium solutions.  

Andy was a contributor to the original ASI Standards Setting Group 2012-2015 and is a current member of the Standards Committee 2021-2024 and Circularity workgroup.  

Within Novelis he is the subject matter expert on ASI and has coordinated certification of 11 plants within Novelis Europe –and continues to offer support to the global roll out of ASI within Novelis Inc. 

Gesa Jauck, Chief Compliance Officer and General Counsel, TRIMET Aluminium SE

Gesa Jauck joined TRIMET in 2014 as Chief Compliance Officer and General Counsel. As lawyer for TRIMET she is admitted to the bar in Germany. Since many sustainability aspects are strongly linked to compliance aspects, she is also responsible for sustainability within TRIMET.

Gesa has 20 years of international experience in law, compliance and sustainability – namely in responsible sourcing. She started her career as lawyer in an international law firm. In 2004, she moved on to the German legal department of Arcelor (later ArcelorMittal). In 2011, she moved to ArcelorMittal Global Purchasing in Luxembourg. Among others, she took on responsibility for the “Responsible Sourcing Program” with a worldwide scope.

Within TRIMET she implemented the compliance management system and – among others – the German Supply Chain Act.

Penny Laurance, Manager of ASI, Rio Tinto

Penny joined Rio Tinto in 2011 and has held a number of HSE related roles prior to her appointment as the Manager of ASI for Rio Tinto Aluminium (RTA) where she lead sustainability assurances for RTA. This includes: ASI; ICMM Performance Expectations; Towards Sustainable Mining; ISO certifications (14001 & 45001) and Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management.  

She has over 25 years of HSEC experience spanning the aviation, mining, manufacturing and civil construction industries. She has exposure across Bauxite Mining, Alumina Refining and Aluminium Smelting within the APAC region, Canada and Iceland. She is specialised in HSEC Management Systems, Risk and Assurance, having moved into sustainability assurance in 2018.  

Penny holds a Bachelor of Occupational Health and Safety majoring in Environmental Science issued from Central Queensland University, an Associate Diploma in Business and has completed the Oxford University Leading Sustainable Corporations Programme.

Dr. Olivier Néel, Senior Group Sustainability Manager, Constellium

Dr. Olivier Néel, Senior Group Sustainability Manager at Constellium, has been working in Sustainability and Life Cycle Assessment topics since 2007. He began his career with Pechiney, worked as R&D scientist and held various positions in the field of metal packaging and surface before moving to a full-time Sustainability assignment. In this field, he actively contributed to set up Constellium sustainability policy and practices, covering environmental, governance and social aspects, as well as interfacing with external stakeholders (customers, professional associations).

In recent years, he actively contributed to the ASI certification process of Constellium sites, providing support and guidance to the sites’ representatives, interacting with auditors and ASI staff to solve issues and validating the audit reports’ content. He actively contributed to the ASI standard revision process through its active participation to the GHG WG, in particular.

Graduated in organic chemistry from French Engineering school ENSCP, Dr. Néel holds a Ph.D. in polymer science and an Executive MBA in Organizations Social Responsibility from Strasbourg management school.

Guilbert Ebune, Environmental and Sustainability Director, Arconic Global Rolled Products  (“GRP”)

Guilbert joined Alcoa/Arconic in November 2012 as an Environmental Engineer focusing on Environmental compliance and sustainability. 

Guilbert moved up in the organization to the Facility Environmental Manager, then to the EHS Manager, and then to his current role as the Environmental and Sustainability Director for Arconic Corporation’s Global Rolled Products and Extrusions businesses.

In Guilbert’s current role, he is responsible for assessing business impacts of new and pending environmental regulations and legislation and environmental challenges as they may apply to all businesses. He leads and works with cross-functional teams and working groups across the corporation to drive change and develop environmental/sustainability strategies and roadmaps while establishing, tracking, evaluating, improving, and reporting critical sustainability KPIs, metrics, and targets. 

Guilbert works with all business units and manufacturing facilities within the company to develop work plans and tools/metrics for tracking sustainability performance.  He has been instrumental in establishing systems to improve data integrity related to Scopes 1, 2, and 3 emissions, as well as providing insight and narratives for Arconic’s Sustainability & ESG Reports. 

Guilbert’s in-depth process knowledge of Arconic’s aluminum rolling and extrusion operations and understanding of the entire aluminum value chain has been invaluable. His technical expertise and perspective would also be invaluable as a member of the ASI Standards Committee.

Yuri Herder, Social Sustainability Manager, Tetra Pak 

Since the start of her career, Yuri has been working strengthening corporate policy and conduct in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. First at a Dutch bank, ABN AMRO, where she worked on implementing human rights due General diligence, with a special focus on engagement with the bank’s corporate clients. And now at global food processing and packaging company Tetra Pak, where they are currently establishing their human rights due diligence approach. This includes collaborating with alufoil suppliers. She is very keen to be part of the ASI Standards Committee and looks forward to driving good practice across the aluminium value chain. 

Jason Koevoet, MD, VDL Bike Frame Technologies

Jason Koevoet is the Managing Director at VDL Bike Frame Technologies. Prior to his current role, he was employed as Program Manager at VDL Steelweld. He gained seven years of professional experience at VDL Steelweld, during which time he developed expertise in project management and strategic leadership.

Alexander Leutwiler, Head of Packaging Innovation, Nespresso

Alexander is the Head of Packaging Innovation, leading sustainable packaging innovation projects for Nespresso.

He is responsible for Aluminium sourcing from 2013 to 2020, and has explored Caps to Caps recycling and full traceability from Bauxite Mine to Capsules.

Dr. Marcel Pfitzer, BiW Engineering, Consulting and sustainability Aluminium, Mercedes-Benz Group AG 

After studying mechanical engineering with a focus on aluminium casting and forming technology, Marcel completed his PhD thesis for Volkswagen AG to improve light metal high pressure die casting process simulation. He worked in total seven years for two aluminium casting parts suppliers for automotive application in different positions like process development, R&D and technical consulting.

Since 2011, he has worked for Mercedes-Benz in different positions in RD and Quality department, remaining closely connected to aluminium.

He is also involved in the sustainability activities for aluminium as a key light-weighting material for a sustainable future mobility. Marcel has over 20 years of experience in aluminium automotive business and aims to develop and support the application of the ASI Standards in automotive business.

Judith Pietschmann, Sustainable Expert, RONAL, AG 

Judith is an open minded, determined and sociable person who likes to work together in a team. Working for RONAL AG with responsibility for the environmental management and the establishment and structure and further development of sustainability for the group. She has been with ASI from the very beginning and has made a significant contribution to the joining and certification of the RONAL GROUP.

Father Nicholas Barla, Secretary for Tribal Affairs, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI)

Father Nicholas Barla, a graduate in law and business administration, is a native of Sambalpur in Odisha, eastern India. For the past 24 years, he was engaged in various issues, affecting the lives of the tribal people in Odisha, especially in Rourkela and Sambalpur.

Louis Biswane, Indigenous Community Leader, Organisation of Kalina and Lokono Indigenous Marowijne (KLIM) 

Louis is an Indigenous community leader and active member of Indigenous Peoples in the Marowijne region including formal positions such as Deputy Village Chief and Manager of KLIM in support of Kalina and Lokono Indigenous peoples.

Michael Danielson, Energy and Industry Lead, Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) (proposed for appointment by the Board on April 15)

Michael is the Energy and Industry Lead in the SBTi’s Sectoral Decarbonization Team. For the SBTi he has led new sectoral resource development projects intended to facilitate emissions reductions in the industrial and energy sectors. Prior to joining the SBTi in 2021, Michael worked as an environmental consultant and process engineer. He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering and an MS in Environmental Engineering. Michael is from Pennsylvania, USA originally, and currently resides in Austin, Texas, USA.

Soumah Ibrahima Dominique, Adviser, IDNTIC 

Since 2020, Soumah has been working as a Project Coordinator within the NGO Initiative for the development of new information and communication technologies. He is a specialist in the development of young people in entrepreneurship. IDNTIC works in the mining areas of Kindia where it helps groups of women and men and young people to create businesses. Soumah coordinates the development of communities.

Vincent Ekka, Assistant Professor, Indian Social Institute

Vincent is currently an Assistant Professor at the Indian Social Institute, New Delhi, India. He obtained his doctorate in Social Sciences from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India. The indigenous communities and their knowledge system, indigenous system of self-governance, and indigenous perspectives are the areas of his interest. His interest and engagements have been interdisciplinary with a special focus on indigenous studies. His publications include four co-edited books. He recently completed an impact assessment study titled- “Indigenous-Led Participatory and Cumulative Impact Assessment Study on Traditional Ecosystem Services” in Bagru, Jharkhand and Niyamgiri, Odisha, sponsored by ASI. 

Francesca Fairbairn, Oceans, Commodities, and Academy Programme Manager, Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB)

Francesca is Shipping and Commodities Manager at the Institute for Human Rights and Business, an independent non-profit think tank, working to make respect for human rights part of everyday business. She oversees collective action and convening initiatives among commodity traders to help improve respect for human rights across their supply chains. She was responsible for creating the website www.commodity-trading.org, based on the Swiss Governments Guidance for Commodity Traders in Implementing the UNGPs. She oversees similar collective action in the shipping sector – bringing stakeholders together to ensure better protection and respect for seafarers’ rights in particular, but including shipyard workers also when and where appropriate/possible. Francesca has co-authored and/or produced a number of publications on seafarers’ rights, most recently a briefing exposing the extent of the charging of illegal recruitment fees to seafare.

Abu Karimu, CEO, Settle Ghana

Abu is the CEO of Settle Ghana, an organisation leading the campaign for responsible mining in indigenous territories in Ghana.

Dr. Wenjuan Liu, Manager, RMI 

Wenjuan is a manager with RMI’s Climate Intelligence Program. Her work supports the development and implementation of product-level carbon accounting frameworks for heavy industries (such as aluminum) to enable the development of a differentiated commodities market for products with low embodied emissions. Prior to joining RMI, Wenjuan received her Ph.D. in sustainability from Arizona State University, where she studied the social and environmental externalities of extracting critical minerals (such as lithium and nickel) for the low-carbon economy.

Throughout her Ph.D., Wenjuan strongly advocated for sustainable governance of critical minerals by actively engaging with diverse stakeholders such as communities, industrial players, and scholars. 

Sankon Mohamed, Advisor and Representative, Groupement Lanyi Fan

Orginally from Kamsar, a town in the Boke mining region in the sub-prefecture of Kamsar, Sankon obtained a Bachelor’s degree in applied biology in 2018 from the University of Labé. Today his community is directly impacted by bauxite mining. He lives less than 500m from the (GAC) concessions and the Chemins de fer that transports bauxite. 

From 2021 to the present day, He has been working as coordinator of the Groupement Lanyi Fan specialising in the field of processing fresh fish into dry fish to enable women to have a source of income.

The ONG LANYI FAN was created in 2021 in the bauxite zone of Boke/Kamsar, where it trains rural women in processing fresh fish into dry fish and contributes to food security. The ONG has trained more than 70 women in the techniques of processing fresh fish into dry fish and enabled them to have sources of income. Sankon continues these activities while coordinating the young people of his community to form groups to acquire training and work opportunities in cleaning the premises of mining companies in the Boke region. He also works towards raising the awareness of young people to bring social cohesion between mining companies and the local community.

José Rubio, Senior Technical Specialist, Fauna and Flora International

José is an environmental and political economist with extensive experience working in leading and managing applied research projects, economic analysis, natural resources management, conservation and social issues in Latin America, and leading and coordinating multi-disciplinary teams across multiple countries. His career is focused on generating evidence to improve forest conservation and management, developing multi-stakeholder networks, making incidence in public policy, liaising with national and international NGOs, grassroot organizations, and government officials.

He has capacity to understand the main issues and debates around smart infrastructure and extractive industries, blended and green finances, climate change, nature-based solutions and water security, and to effectively engage the relevant stakeholders in deliberations. 

Marina Wangurra, Director & Strategist, Nawa Nawa Consultants Pty Ltd

Marina Wangurra is a Yolŋu woman from the Warramiri Clan nation of East Arnhem Land in remote Northern Territory, Australia. Over the past 25 years, she has worked towards purposeful, and outcome-driven engagement, ensuring that traditional peoples are a key part of the developments on their traditional lands and ongoing economic and cultural futures.

She is an innovative intermediary with a natural ability to move across fields enabling solutions in complex cross-cultural environments, and remains motivated to continue this work, ensuring that Yolŋu people’s knowledge, value systems, and cultural legacy are integral to moving their communities in a positive direction for generations to come.

Piet Wit, Advisor, Chimbo Foundation and Secretary of the Directive Board, Daridibó

Piet Wit has 50+ years of experience in integrated management natural resources in 70+ countries, with a focus on Africa. The main focus of his work is the integration of biodiversity conservation in sustainable development. He has worked on assignments to clients that include Dutch government organisations; multilateral organisations such as UNDP/UNSO, FAO and the World Bank; NGOs such as IUCN, WWF and the private sector such as forest concession holders and travel agencies. He has served two times in Afghanistan for the Dutch army as an officer responsible for civil cooperation especially ecosystems. 

Piet has been applying the 12 principles of ecosystem management for project formulation and evaluation. He has a/o produced an instruction booklet on the integration of ecosystem management aspects in military operations. 

Mr Wit has a/o been Chairman of IUCN’s Commission on Ecosystem Management (2008-2016) and member of the Board of the Hustai National Park Trust (Mongolia). He is advisor to the Chimbo Foundation and secretary of the Directive Board of Daridibó (an NGO for chimpanzee conservation in Guinea Bissau and partner of Chimbo).

Margriet Biswane, Village Alfonsdorp, Suriname

Margriet is the village Chief of Alfonsdorp, it is one of eight villages impacted by decades of bauxite mining operations. Margriet with other village chiefs have been assessing the long term and direct impacts of bauxite mining, mine rehabilitation and legacy issues with traditional lands. Margriet has held senior positions in Suriname including government and non-government organisations.

Mamadou Kindy Diallo, Kanya Donse Fanyi

Originally from a bauxite mining town, Mamadou holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry obtained in 2016. Since 2021 Mamadou has been working on a project for the NGO KANYA DONSE FANYI,which specializes in agri-food processing and community-based child nutrition. Since its creation in 1992, the NGO has been working in the bauxite areas of Kindia and Boké, where it has trained thousands of rural women in agri- food processing and contributed to food security. It combats food insecurity in Guinea and child malnutrition, while helping vulnerable women affected by mining to create sources of income.

Over the past few years, Mamadou has been coordinating the implementation of a food security and nutrition project in Boké, in which the NGO has trained and mentored over 60 women and men in artisanal and semi-industrial food processing techniques and the production of micronutrient-rich infant flour for children aged 6 months and over, to complement breastfeeding.