Dr. Anna G Stefanopoulou

Huei Peng Distinguished University Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan

Dr. Anna G. Stefanopoulou is the William Clay Ford Professor of Technology and the Huei Peng Distinguished University Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan. She has mentored 50 Ph.D.s and taught a generation of engineers on the automation of advanced power and energy systems through classroom, online, and asynchronous courses. Dr. Stefanopoulou has been an advisor of new curricula, training needs, and research in modeling, estimation, control, and fault detection for engines, fuel cells, and batteries, with findings documented in a book, 25 US patents, and 400 publications. She has been recognized with many prestigious awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Recognition from NAATBatt and the Nyquist Lecturer, and she is a Fellow of the ASME, IEEE, and SAE. Dr. Stefanopoulou has served on two US National Academy committees (2015 and 2020) on vehicle fuel economy standards and the transition to electrified powertrains.

Dr. Rajit Gadh

Director of Smart Grid Energy Research Center (SMERC), UCLA Samueli School of Engineering

Dr. Rajit Gadh is a Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and the founding director of the UCLA Smart Grid Energy Research Center and the Connected and Autonomous Electric Vehicles Consortium. Rajit has more than 25 years of experience in research and development, leading technology teams to investigate and develop advanced technologies and products. He has received numerous recognitions for his achievements including an award for outstanding contributions to the IEEE's Power and Energy Society Chapter and the Southern California Community. Rajit is a fellow of the ASME and holds a PH.D. in engineering from Carnegie Mellon.

Preston Moore

Manager, Power Solutions - Electric Powertrain & Charging Systems, John Deere

Preston Moore, Manager, Power Solutions - Electric Powertrain & Charging Systems, works with more than 20 electrification vehicle teams around the John Deere enterprise. He also works with KREISEL Electric (KREISEL) and its customers to determine what batteries John Deere and KREISEL should produce and use. Additionally, crafting the charging portfolio to enable these electric vehicles is a key focus of his work. Moore’s 16 years of experience at the company have offered him valuable knowledge not only in vehicle application integration but more importantly in how the customers use Deere equipment and what matters to them. He has worked on more than 60 vehicle programs during his time with John Deere.

Rich Byczek

Global Chief Engineer - Batteries, Intertek

Rich Byczek is the Global Chief Engineer, Batteries at Intertek. He has 30+ years of experience in automotive product development and validation testing, over 20 of which have been spent at Intertek. Rich is experienced in the areas of energy storage, audio/infotainment equipment and EMC testing. Rich sits on several SAE, IEC, UL and ANSI standards panels, focusing on electric vehicle, battery, and emerging vehicle technologies. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan, and is based at the Intertek facility located in Plymouth, Michigan.

Azita Soleymani, Ph.D.

Chief Technology Officer, HeatSync

Dr. Azita Soleymani is the Chief Technology Officer of HeatSync, a Silicon Valley–based thermal consulting firm specializing in advanced thermal solutions for electronics and battery systems. With nearly two decades of experience in thermal architecture, simulation, and reliability, she leads multidisciplinary teams delivering high-impact solutions across diverse industries. She previously served as a Member of Technical Staff at Meta and has co-authored more than 40 technical publications. Her work combines industry-ready design with advanced simulation and testing to optimize performance, safety, longevity, and energy efficiency. Azita has led the end-to-end design and production of thermal management systems for two EV battery packs and one battery energy storage system (BESS) for Tier-one companies. She is passionate about advancing electrification and enabling next-generation battery and thermal technologies.

Jonathan Carrier

Founder and CEO, Allye Energy

Jonathan Carrier is an automotive engineer with more than 25 years of technical and strategic automotive, mobility, and transportation experience at FIAT, McLaren, and JLR, who is the founder and CEO of Allye Energy. He has led cross-functional technical teams and developed a range of vehicles, from city cars to SUVs and super-cars. He is the founder of InMotion Ventures, building and investing in mobility start-ups, and has since worked in transportation innovation and electrification, developing flying cars for urban air mobility and planning lithium-ion battery giga-factories. Jonathan has acted as a consultant and non-executive director for various startups including Hiyacar, AeroMobil, Hilo, Munro Vehicles, and advisor Futurice on corporate innovation and digitalisation. He has engineering expertise in EV technology, demonstrated through co-founding ZipCharge, pioneering portable EV charging solutions. Jonathan holds a first-class (honours) degree in mechanical engineering, an MBA from Imperial College, and a post-graduate degree in business from University of Cambridge.

Sergio Mendoza, Ph.D.

Senior Manager - Materials Science and Electrochemistry, Exponent

Dr. Sergio Mendoza a Senior Manager in Exponent’s Materials Science and Electrochemistry practice. He has more than a decade of experience in mechanical engineering, with a focus on battery systems, system dynamics, and control, as well as the safety and performance of lithium‑ion energy storage technologies. His expertise includes battery management systems, data‑driven modeling, software and hardware verification, and root cause analysis of battery failures. Sergio has authored numerous peer‑reviewed publications on battery aging, state‑of‑charge estimation, and failure characterization and holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Penn State.

Isaac Squires, Ph.D.

Co-founder and CEO, Polaron

Dr. Isaac Squires is the CEO and Co-founder of Polaron, building the intelligence layer for materials science. Driven by a passion to accelerate the development of sustainable materials, Isaac blends expertise across AI, materials science, and engineering. His research at Imperial College London applied cutting-edge AI to lithium-ion battery design. Now, Isaac leads Polaron in translating cutting-edge AI into tangible, scalable, industrial solutions to power a sustainable future.

Chara Diaz

Application Sales Engineer, Element

Chara Diaz is an Application Sales Engineer at Element with a background in chemical engineering emphasized on renewable energy. Her experience stems from R&D and operations. She has worked her way through the industry starting from a startup battery company where she coated, calendared, stacked, and tested her own pouch cells, which ultimately led her to managing external testing for an electronics OEM as a battery engineer. Within Element, she has worked alongside the lab as a program manager and has also managed the lab out in Boston. She now serves as a technical liaison for the commercial team.

Niloofar Kamyab, Ph.D.

Applications Manager, COMSOL

Niloofar Kamyab is an applications manager at COMSOL, with a specialized focus on electrochemistry including batteries and fuel cells. She holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of South Carolina, where her research focused on the mathematical modeling of battery systems.

Meisam Babaie, Ph.D.

Lecturer, Institute of Thermofluids, University of Leeds

Dr. Meisam Babaie is currently a lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Leeds. He has work experience across various industries, including automotive manufacturing. He has also contributed to different academic institutions and laboratories, such as the Biofuel Engine Lab Facility in Australia, Gunma University in Japan, and the Automotive and Autonomous Vehicle Technology Laboratory in the UK. His research interest in transport decarbonization includes powertrain design and thermal management for fuel cell/hydrogen, battery electric, and autonomous vehicles in both light and heavy-duty applications including agricultural vehicles, some of which are funded by different organisations.

Dave Jones

President, DE Design Works

Dave Jones is an experienced engineer who founded and serves as President of DE Design Works. His engineering career started in the late 90s with a NASA joint venture after shifting from a music scholarship to an engineering degree. He now manages a team of industry experts at his product development consultancy, serving some of the largest corporations in the US.

Richard Stocker, Ph.D.

Principal Engineer – Battery Testing Business, Horiba

Dr. Richard Stocker serves as the Principal Engineer for the Battery Testing Business at Horiba Automotive. He has spent 10 years in the battery industry focusing on testing, analysis, control, and modeling applications. Richard worked at HORIBA MIRA in the UK for 9 years before moving to HORIBA Automotive in Troy, Michigan. During this time, he also completed a Ph.D from Coventry University, specializing in practical understanding of Li-ion cell aging mechanisms. Richard also holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Nottingham University.

Paul Arkesden

CEO, Hydrohertz

Paul Arkesden is a Chartered Engineer and automotive engineering executive with more than 25 years of experience in advanced vehicle development, powertrain integration, and high-performance mobility systems. He has held senior engineering and product development roles at Rolls-Royce, Jaguar Land Rover, and McLaren Automotive, where he led multidisciplinary engineering teams responsible for the development and launch of complex vehicle programs. His work has included advanced powertrain systems, hybrid and electrified vehicle architectures, vehicle integration, and performance engineering within both high-volume and specialist low-volume environments. Paul later served as Vice President of Engineering and Product Development at Singer Vehicle Design in California, where he led engineering strategy and program delivery for a number of highly bespoke performance vehicle programs, combining modern engineering technologies with heritage vehicle platforms. He is the founder of PKe Consultancy, an engineering and strategy advisory firm supporting OEMs, specialist manufacturers, and technology companies on program delivery, product strategy, and engineering transformation. Paul is currently involved in the development and commercialization of advanced thermal management technologies as CEO with Hydrohertz, focusing on intelligent fluid control architectures for electric vehicle battery systems, power electronics and multi-zone thermal networks. His work in this area explores how next-generation thermal routing strategies can improve energy efficiency, system reliability, and vehicle performance in increasingly complex electrified platforms. Paul regularly advises OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, and technology startups on the integration of emerging technologies into production vehicle programs and participates in industry forums discussing the future of vehicle architecture, electrification and thermal management.

Daniel Rosero

Applications Engineer, Fujipoly America

Daniel Rosero is an Applications and Sales Engineer at Fujipoly America. He has experience working across multiple Fujipoly locations, contributing to team collaboration and day‑to‑day operational support. Daniel holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Alexander Richter

Technical Engineer, Havel metal foam GmbH

Alexander Richter is the Technical Sales Engineer for Havel metal foam, GmbH, where he has worked fro nearly 10 years. He studied automotive engineering, with a focus on materials, and began his career as a development engineer before progressing to project manager before and finally to sales engineer. Alexander works to further develop Havel metal foam's technology and adapt it to a wide range of requirements in automotive and rail vehicle manufacturing, mechanical engineering, and defense applications, with the automotive sector as the primary focus, particularly since the rise of e-mobility. In this context, he and the company have identified the battery box, the underbody protection, and the thermal management system as the most promising components.