Speakers

Bio

Mr. Francesco Tornieri is Principal Social Development Specialist (GAD) at the South Asia Department (SARD) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and a member of the Gender Equity Community of Practice. Mr. Tornieri has been working passionately for over 20 years in the area of social development, with a focus on gender equality, women’s empowerment, social justice, post-conflict rehabilitation and reconstruction, gender-responsive policy/legal and governance reforms, and gender-related capacity development across SubSaharan West, Central, and East Africa and across the Asia-Pacific. He is the Gender and Social Inclusion Focal Point at the South Asia Region Department (SARD) of the ADB. Mr. Tornieri joined ADB in 2004 working in the Poverty Reduction, Gender, and Social Development Division (RSGS) in the Regional and Sustainable Development Department (RSDD). Prior to his current role, Mr. Tornieri has worked as Social Development Specialist (GAD) at the Africa Region of the World Bank (1996-2004), Washington DC, where he was involved in the implementation of a broad range of gender-related initiatives and directly responsible for the Gender and Law Program in Sub-Saharan West, Central and East Africa.

Bio

Dr. Fraser Thompson is the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Sun Cable, which is building the world's largest solar farm, undersea HVDC link and batteries to supply renewable energy from Australia and elsewhere to growing demand centres across Asia. He is a globally-recognised expert on sustainable development and energy transition issues, working with a range of governments, investors, and multilateral institutions.

Fraser previously worked with McKinsey & Company for almost 9 years as a leader in their sustainability practice (with particular expertise on carbon abatement and resource productivity) and with the World Bank before that. He is a Rhodes Scholar, with a PhD in Economics from Oxford University.

Bio

Mr. Chang combines over 25 years of venture capital, intellectual property investing and start-up company experiences in the US and China where he has conducted cross-border investments and helped build the businesses for international VC and intellectual property investment firms, as well as emerging climate-tech companies. Mr. Chang started his career in McKinsey & Company’s Greater China practice where he participated in a 30-year Energy & Environmental Policy project in Taiwan. Mr. Chang’s professional experience also includes General Electric corporate venture capital in Silicon Valley; Intellectual Ventures intellectual property fund in China; and a China RMB fund backed by the Shanghai government and leading state-owned enterprises. Mr. Chang attended Beijing University, the University of Michigan and the Wharton School of Business where he received an MBA/MA in Entreprenurial Finance.

Bio

Fritzie Vergel is driving the activities of the Energy Transition Partnership in the Philippines as Country Program Coordinator. She has over ten years of experience working on clean energy policies, financing, capacity building and energy access in the Philippines and the region. Prior to joining ETP, she was part of ADB's Sustainable Energy for All Initiative for Asia and the Pacific and has worked with UNDP under the DREAMS Project.

Bio

Galen Maclaurin is a senior energy researcher and manager of the Geospatial Data Science group at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). His research examines techno-economic potential of renewable energy at national and continental scales. He leads a geospatial modeling team that develops scalable, innovative methods for understanding the barriers and opportunities for future solar and wind deployment from a cost-performance perspective.

Bio

Ganbat Enkhbayar is the Head of the R&D department for the Mongolian National Dispatching Center. He is an engineer with 15 years of experience in combined heat and power plant and energy systems. He graduated from the Mongolian University of Science and Technology in 2007 with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Bio

Garick Lee is a Senior Off-grid Advisor at the USAID-Papua New Guinea Electrification Partnership Activity (USAID-PEP) where he leads the program’s work on off-grid electrification. He has over 13 years of experience in developing, implementing and managing energy projects and programs in Australia, Southeast Asia, the United States, Africa and the Pacific. This includes roles in developing and implementing mini-grid projects in developing countries such as Myanmar and Liberia, as well as work on energy access programs focused on solar home systems, stand-alone solar and productive use of energy. He holds bachelor degrees in Engineering and Commerce from the University of Western Australia, and a Master’s degree in Renewable Energy from Murdoch University, Australia.

Bio

Gavin has worked across all facets of the Solar and Renewable Energy industries, including technical, project management, commercial, strategic, transactional, and advisory roles.

Prior to founding Coronium, Gavin worked with BP Solar as an Electrical Engineer, Project and Program Manager and finally as Project Developer, where he was a lead developer responsible for the Moree Solar Farm. He managed many of the key development activities including land acquisition, planning and permitting, and grid connection, as well as managing the EPC interface with the Consortium.

Gavin’s experience includes the successful delivery of several multi-million dollar solar power projects around Australia, the Pacific and Asia. Highlights include assisting Tonga Power Ltd. to implement their Renewable Energy Target and the hands-on implementation of 5,000 solar powered water pumping and drip irrigation systems in Sri Lanka.

Bio

Led the setup of REDstack Energy India Private Limited and is Co- Director and Lead REDstack Energy India Pvt Ltd. She is an Impact Investment professional with 14 years of experience. She has successfully closed transactions of over $1bn, in the clean energy financing space. Prior to REDstack, Geeta has worked with Hindustan Powerprojects Private Limited, SunSource Energy Private Limited and D.E. Shaw & Co. Geeta is also the Founder of Dazbog Power Private Limited.

Bio

Georgia Iordanescu provides strategic vision and leadership for DAI’s global portfolio of clean energy and climate projects, energy sector security, governance, and private sector engagement. She also provides technical support to expand DAI’s new business activities and advance thought leadership based on DAI’s project tools and results. Georgia drives a holistic approach to transition global systems towards sustainability, resiliency, and equity through her energy expertise and cross-sectoral in-depth knowledge of the climate-energy nexus, energy security, finance, and geopolitics. Georgia spent more than a decade of her career designing and implementing specialized approaches to increase the availability, access, and use of affordable, reliable, and sustainable clean energy technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia. She worked at the forefront of implementing high-profile USAID initiatives for the energy sector in Sub-Saharan Africa—the Africa Infrastructure Program and Power Africa Transactions and Reforms Program—demonstrating a distinguished ability to manage tactical and operational activities, utilize technical knowledge to develop technically and commercially feasible energy projects, and structure and negotiate ground-breaking mechanisms that bolstered energy sector investment and innovation.

Bio

Gilles is a Partner in the Strategy and Transactions practice of EY, based in Singapore, where he leads the firm’s activities in the Power & Renewables sector in Southeast Asia. Gilles has over two decades of experience in the Asian power markets, initially as a banker and now as a trusted advisor. He has helped clients develop over 20 GW of energy capacity and raised over US$30 billion of debt and equity capital. He provides management consulting services to boards and the C-suite to create shareholder value, assists clients in their transition to renewable energy and a low carbon economy, and advises on project development and financing. Gilles is the programme director for the UK Government's ASEAN Low Carbon Energy Programme, a 3-year ODA programme aimed at promoting greater activity in the Green Finance and Energy Efficiency space in ASEAN.

Bio

Gillian serves as the Chief Climate Officer and is responsible for directing and overseeing all climate and environment work across the agency. She also serves as Deputy Assistant Administrator, overseeing DDI’s Center for Environment, Energy, and Infrastructure and the Office of Environmental and Social Risk Management. Ms. Caldwell has worked to protect human rights and the environment throughout her career. Prior to joining USAID, she served as the CEO of Global Witness, which has a focus on tackling climate change and deploys investigations into corruption and natural resource extraction to drive systems change worldwide. From 2007-2010, she launched and led 1Sky, a highly collaborative cross-sector campaign with over 600 allied organizations to pass legislation in the U.S. to address the climate crisis. Gillian also has extensive experience consulting in the areas of strategic planning and organizational development with over 70 non-profits, foundations, and universities.