Andre Xavier

EMEA Operational Services Director

Nidec Power

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Adam Middleton

Director, EnergetIQ Advisory

Former VP, Siemens Energy in Western Europe

Adam Middleton has spent more than 35 years in the energy, Infrastructure, electrical power grids, construction and oil & gas industries.

Originally from the UK, Adam spent more than 35 years in engineering, projects and leadership roles with GEC / GEC ALSTOM / AREVA / ALSTOM Group companies in the UK and France, with GE Energy in EU & North America, with CG Power based in Belgium and Laing O’Rourke in the UK. For the past 9 years, Adam has worked with Siemens / Siemens Energy in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland & Western Europe.

Adam holds a First-Class Honours Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Bradford (UK) and an MBA from Warwick Business School (UK). He is a Chartered Engineer (C.Eng).

In autumn 2023, he was awarded the role of Honorary Professor in Systems Technology & Strategy at the University of Birmingham (UK), where he leads regular debates on the wider impact of the Energy Transition.

In October 2025, Adam launched EnergetIQ Advisory, a consulting and advisory company focused upon supporting energy and industrial leaders navigating change towards future readiness. Adam works with companies across Europe and North America, addressing growth opportunities and mentoring business leaders.

Chair of CIGRE UK during 2016-22, he was elected to the CIGRE Global Executive Steering Committee (SteerCo) for the period 2019 to 2022, where he mentors professionals based in three continents from the Women in Energy (WiE) and Next Generation Network groups.

Adam has a strong interest in the development of new and diverse talent within the engineering industry, the application of AI / digitalization to improve business operations and project delivery and has a passion for improving health and safety at work. He works extensively supporting inclusion, equity and diversity, mental health, experienced employee productivity, the Energy Transition and decarbonization initiatives in social media.

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Prof. Astrid Linder

Professor

VTI Sweden

Astrid Linder is a Professor of Traffic Safety at Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, VTI, an Adjunct Professor at Chalmers University, Sweden, and Adjunct Professor (Research) at Monash University, Australia.

She received her PhD in traffic safety from Chalmers from where she also has a MSc in Engineering Physics. Traffic safety, models of the human in crash testing, injury prevention and crash related countermeasures are main fields of her research. Prof. Linder initiated and led the research resulting in the world’s first physical dummy model based on the average female, the Seat Evaluation Tool (SET 50F) and the equivalent average male (SET 50M) for assessment of the vehicle occupant safety and was listed as one of 100 most inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2023 by BBC and on Forbes 50 Over 50 2025.

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Marcel Hilgers

Vice President Customers, Markets & Technology

thyssenkrupp Electrical Steel

Marcel Hilgers is Vice President Customers, Markets & Technology at thyssenkrupp Electrical Steel. 
He believes in listening to his customers and creating solutions to serve their true needs. 

With over 20-years of experience in the global steel business, and thereof over 10 years serving the transformer industry, he now works intensely on the green transformation of both steel and transformers.

Marcel leads the sales, technical customer engineering and communications team at thyssenkrupp Electrical Steel – the European market leader in grain oriented electrical steel.

His key priority today is to inform the electricity industry about options to decarbonize the grid and to form alliances across raw material suppliers, transformer makers and electric utilities.

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Marco Gubitosa

Engineering Director

Industrie Saleri Italo S.p.A.

Marco Gubitosa, Engineering Director, Industrie Saleri Italo s.p.a.

R&D Engineering Director at Industrie Saleri Italo S.p.A. He holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano. His expertise includes optimization and multi‑physics methods for product and system design. He has been a research fellow at KU Leuven and has held roles within the R&D teams of Siemens, Toyota’s European center, and Tenneco Automotive EU.

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