The Selection Committee consists of the following senior representatives from around the world:
Ziad Tassabehji, Director of Innovation and Investments, Masdar, UAE
Ziad Tassabehji has more than eighteen years of experience in strategic business planning, business development and joint ventures & acquisitions. Ziad Tassabehji is also the executive director of the Masdar Clean Tech Fund, a $250 Million VC fund that was established by the Innovation and Investment unit as a joint venture with Credit Suisse. His current function entails developing successful joint ventures in Abu Dhabi in the sustainability and clean energy sector.
Tassabehji is an expert in corporate development and strategic growth operations of international companies and governments in the Middle East with emphasis in energy and IT solutions. In his previous assignment, Tassabehji was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Interactive Limited, an Internet development and for-profit incubator where he raised capital for start-ups and formed them into commercially viable businesses. Tassabehji has a degree in industrial engineering from Texas A&M University.
Dr. Thomas J. Wilbanks, Corporate Research Fellow, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Dr. Thomas J. Wilbanks is a Corporate Research Fellow at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and leads the laboratory’s Global Change and Developing Country Programs. The designation “Corporate Fellow” is roughly equivalent to a chaired professorship in a university, limited to about 25 individuals from a research staff of about 1400. A CF since 1986, during the periods 1999-2002 and 2005-2008 he has chaired the laboratory’s Corporate Fellows, in essence serving as ORNL’s chief scientist.
Wilbanks is a past President of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), one of only two non-academics to serve as the president in its more than 100 years, and has been awarded a number of honours in that field. He conducts research and publishes extensively on such issues as sustainable development, energy and environmental technology and policy, responses to global climate change, and the role of geographical scale in all of these regards. He is the author, co-author, or co-editor of eight books and more than one hundred journal articles, book chapters, and other open-literature publications. Recent books he has co-edited include, Global Change and Local Places (2003), Geographical Dimensions of Terrorism (2003), and Bridging Scales and Knowledge Systems: Linking Global Science and Local Knowledge (2006). Recent invited presentations include Harvard, Yale, Minnesota, Iowa, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Academies of Science, the National Science Foundation, and the Energy Modeling Forum.
Prof. Peter Droege, Chair, WCRE, Asia Pacific, Australia
Prof. Peter Droege is the author of 'Renewable City' (Wiley) and editor of 'Urban Energy Transition'. He is a founding chair of the World Council for Renewable Energy, representing Asia Pacific and leading programs of renewable energy application in regions, cities and towns. He was the initiating director of the IEA-auspiced Solar City research development initiative (1999-2004), and has held professorial and advanced positions at MIT, University of Tokyo, University of Sydney, Beijing and Newcastle (Australia), where he presently is a conjoint professor. He is principal of Epolis, the Sydney-based renewable development and design consultancy.
Razan Al Mubarak, Managing Director, EWS–WWF (Emirates Wildlife Society – World Wide Fund for Nature)
Razan Al Mubarak has served with EWS-WWF since its inception in 2001, establishing the local WWF office and its local associate Emirates Wildlife Society. As Managing Director, she oversees all projects undertaken by EWS-WWF, leading on strategic engagement on sustainable development, ensuring financial viability and implementation in accordance with WWF International policies and standards, taking into account plans and recommendations as approved by the EWS Board.
In her capacity, she plays a key role in forging partnerships and agreements with government authorities in the UAE, conceptualizing the delivery of campaign and communication strategies, documentation of local knowledge and its use in environmental decision making, as well as developing and maintaining relations with businesses and industries.One of the projects Razan is directly involved in is the Coral Reef Conservation Project whichuses latest technology and scientific thought to conserve and protect the unique and threatened coral reef habitats in the Arabian Gulf.
Razan has held various senior level positions within EWS-WWF, supervising new and on-going projects and implementing key communication strategies. Prior to joining EWS-WWF, she was the Strategic Planning Officer for the environmental government authority in Abu-Dhabi, Environmental Agency (EAD). Her work involved designing and execution of an evaluation and monitoring system for the agency's programmes and to advise and conduct research on the UAE's role in implementing international environmental conventions. She has also implemented educational programmes in the emirate of Abu-Dhabi.
Razan holds a MSc in Public Understanding of Environmental Change from the University College London, UK, where her dissertation documented and analysed the traditional laws of the sea (al urf) used by tribes to govern fisheries in Abu-Dhabi during the pre-oil era. She also holds a BA (Hons) in Environmental Studies and International Relations from Tufts University, Medford, USA.
Prof. Nigel Brandon
Prof. Nigel Brandon holds an engineering degree and PhD from Imperial College London, where in 1998 he returned as a faculty member. His research interests are focused on energy systems, and in particular the development and application of fuel cell technologies. He spent the first fourteen years of his career in energy research roles with BP and then Rolls-Royce.
In 2004 he was appointed to the Shell Chair in Sustainable Development in Energy, in 2005 as Executive Director of the Imperial College Energy Futures Lab, and in 2006 as Senior Research Fellow to the UK Research Councils Energy programme. He is a founder and Chief Scientist of Ceres Power, an AIM listed fuel cell company spun out from Imperial College, and he was awarded the 2007 Silver Medal from the UK Royal Academy of Engineering for his contribution to engineering leading to commercial exploitation.
He is a chartered engineer, a Fellow of the Energy Institute, a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, and Fellow of City and Guilds. He sits on the Editorial Boards of the Journals of Renewable Power Generation, Chemistry and Sustainability: Energy and Materials, and Power and Energy.
Dr.-Ing. Robert Pitz-Paal, Head of Solar Research Unit, DLR (Germany)
Dr.-Ing. Robert Pitz-Paal graduated from the Ludwig Maximillians University in Munich with a degree in physics in 1988. Until 1992 he worked as a research scientist at the Ruhr University in Bochum in the field of solar energy. In 1993 he received his PhD in mechanical engineering. In 1993 he joined the German Aerospace Centre’s Solar Division in Cologne. He held various positions in this division and spent a sabbatical at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, USA in 1997. In 2003 he became the manager of the DLR solar research unit with approximately 60 member staff located in Cologne, Stuttgart and AlmerÃa, Spain. This position jointly assigned with a professorship for Solar Technology at the RWTH Aachen University.
He published many papers and serves as associate editor for the ASME Journal on Solar Energy Engineering and the ISES Journal of Solar Energy. He has served in various roles in the SolarPACES (Solar Power and Chemical Energy Systems) implementing agreement of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and is its vice-chairman today. His team was awarded the title “Centre of Excellence” in the field of Concentrating Solar Technology by the DLR Board of Directors in 2006.
Jean-Paul Jeanrenaud,
Director, Corporate Relations
WWF International (Gland, Switzerland)
Jean-Paul joined WWF in 1990. In December 2000, he was appointed as director of the Corporate Relations Department at WWF International. His current responsibilities include, planning, initiating and leading the WWF Network’s engagement with the private sector and developing and tracking innovative business partnerships for sustainable development. He is also responsible for One Planet Leaders, WWF’s applied sustainability programme for business managers and senior executives.
Before assuming leadership of the Corporate Relations Department, Jean-Paul was Head of WWF International’s Forests for Life Programme for six years.
Jean-Paul is a founding director of One Planet Living (OPL), an innovative partnership initiative which aims to build a worldwide network of OPL communities to demonstrate how sustainable living can be easy, attractive andaffordable.
Prior to joining WWF he spent 10 years as a forester, researcher and project manager working in a number of countries in South East Asia and West and Central Africa. He holds a Master's degree in Forestry and Land Management from Oxford University, a Bachelor's degree in Development Studies from the University of East Anglia, and a Teaching Diploma from the Royal Society of Arts.
Mika Ohbayashi,
Adviser on Climate Change Projects and Policies, Energy and Environment Section, British Embassy to Japan
As an experienced coordinator in the energy and environmental field, Mika Ohbayashi serves as Adviser on Climate Change Projects and Policies at British Embassy to Japan. She started to work for
UK government in September 2008, and served as Deputy Director, the second position at the organization, Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies (ISEP), Japan for 8 years. ISEP was founded in 2000 to establish an independent scientific institute in Japan, on energy and environmental issues.
She started her career in the energy fields by joining Citizens' Nuclear Information Center in 1992, after some years work experience. There, she was in charge of energy / climate change issues and Asian energy policies. After leaving CNIC in 1999, she founded ISEP together with other energy experts and environmentalists.
As the Deputy Director at ISEP, she coordinates many international conferences, scientific study projects, takes leadership to team up
various networks including parliamentarians and local authorities, domestically and internationally to improve sustainable energy society. She also worked as Vice-Chairperson/co-founder of Green Energy Law Network Japan from 1998 to 2007, and Leader of Environment Unit at 2008 G8 Summit NGO Forum Japan from 2007-
2008.
Michael Liebreich, Chairman and Chief Executive of New Energy Finance
Michael Liebreich is Chairman and Chief Executive of New Energy Finance, the leading independent provider of information and research to investors in clean energy and the carbon markets.
Michael serves as a Member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Alternative Energies, Advisory Board Member for the Energy and Climate Change working group of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) and Steering Group Member for a number of IEA RETD projects. Michael is a member of the Energy Leadership Forum of E+Co and an Advisory Board Member of the Wilderhill New Energy Global Innovation Index. He is on the Selection Committee for the annual Euromoney and Ernst & Young Global Renewable Energy awards. Prior to founding New Energy Finance in 2004 Michael helped to build over 25 companies as a venture capitalist, entrepreneur and executive.
Michael earned his Masters in Engineering from Cambridge, winning the Ricardo Prize for Thermodynamics, and has an MBA from Harvard. From 1986 to 1993 he was a member of the British Ski Team, competing in the World Cup and the 1992 Albertville Olympic Games. He is Chairman of the St Marks Hospital Foundation, a medical Charity.
Jonathon Porritt, Founder Director of the Forum for the Future and Chairman of the UK Sustainable Development Commission
Jonathon is an eminent writer, broadcaster and commentator on sustainable development. Established in 1996, Forum for the Future is now the UK’s leading sustainable development charity, with 70 staff and over 100 partner organisations, including some of the world’s leading companies.
Jonathon was appointed Chairman of the UK Sustainable Development Commission in July 2000. This is the Government's principal source of independent advice across the whole sustainable development agenda. In addition, he has been a member of the Board of the South West Regional Development Agency since December 1999, and is Co-Director of The Prince of Wales's Business and Environment Programme which runs Senior Executives' Seminars in Cambridge, Salzburg, South Africa and the USA. In 2005 he became a Non-Executive Director of Wessex Water, and a Trustee of the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy.
He was formerly Director of Friends of the Earth (1984-90); co-chair of the Green Party (1980-83) of which he is still a member; chairman of UNED-UK (1993-96); chairman of Sustainability South West, the South West Round Table for Sustainable Development (1999-2001);
a Trustee of WWF UK (1991-2005).
Jonathon received a CBE in January 2000 for services to environmental protection.
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