The sulphur world is constantly shifting. TSI brings you expert individuals to share the latest market information, projects in sulphur, and global predictions. Whether it is a review of leading industry practices or an analysis of the sulphur and sulphuric acid supply and demand forecast, our speakers incorporate information on the entire industry value chain.
Please regularly check our website for speaker updates.
Please contact Sarah Amirie with any questions regarding the speaker program.
Fiona Boyd - Presentation
Acuity Commodities
Fiona Boyd, based in Houston, Texas, has covered the global sulphur and sulphuric acid markets since 2008 with a specialized focus on the North American market. Her expertise was developed under the mentorship of her father, Dr Robert Boyd. She has conducted numerous consultancy projects and regularly presents to clients and at industry events.
Freda Gordon - Presentation
Acuity Commodities
Freda Gordon, based in London, UK, complements the Acuity team with a focus on short- to medium-term market analysis in the global sulphur and sulphuric acid markets, which she has dedicated her career to analysing since 2010. She honed her experience and analytical skills editing several key price assessment publications and giving papers at international conferences.
Richard Hands - Presentation
BC Insight
Dr. Ismail Cakmak - Presentation
Sabanci University
Ismail Cakmak earned his PhD at the University Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany, and full Professor at the Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey. Published 230-peer-reviewed articles, named among the “highly cited researchers” by Clarivate Analytics (Thomson Reuters) and ranked in the top 0.05 % of most influential scientists in all scientific disciplines in 2022 by Stanford University, based on Elsevier’s Scopus Database.
He has received IFA “International Crop Nutrition Award in 2005, Australian Crawford Fund “Derek Tribe Medal” in 2007, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation-Georg Forster Research Award in 2014, International Plant Nutrition Institute-IPNI Science Prize in 2016 and the World Academy of Sciences-Agricultural Science Prize in 2016. He edited 3 books and 8 Journal Special Issues and made scientific speeches in 60 countries. He is an elected member of “The Academia Europaea” and “The Science Academy” of Turkey.
Andy Jung - Presentation
The Mosaic Company
As Mosaic’s Vice President of Market and Strategic Analysis, Andy provides analysis supporting the company’s short-term operating decisions, as well as evaluation of strategic initiatives and long-term growth opportunities. He is a member of Mosaic’s global commercial council, which provides oversight of Mosaic’s commercial functions. Prior to joining Mosaic in 2013, he worked as a consultant at CRU for 10 years, including as manager of their phosphate research program and led a wide range of strategic consulting assignments around the world, across agriculture, crop nutrient and raw material sectors.
Malcolm Hawkesford - Presentation
Rothamsted Research
Malcolm leads the Institute Strategic Programme, Designing Future Wheat. He has published widely on the biochemistry and molecular biology of plant nutrition and is internationally recognised for contributions in the field of plant nutrition, particularly with regard to nitrogen and sulphur. He also leads the field phenotyping project at Rothamsted Research.
Anna Fleming - Presentation
Project Manager (Consulting) at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence
In her role as Project Manager at Benchmark Minerals, Anna delivers strategic consultancy projects for clients across the lithium-ion battery supply chain. In particular, she specializes in economic analysis and forecasting of global battery raw materials markets and good governance in the mining sector. Anna holds a MA in Economics with Environmental Studies from The University of Edinburgh and is based in Glasgow, Scotland.
Dr. Shamie Zingore - Presentation
Director of Research and Development for the African Plant Nutrition Institute (APNI)
Dr. Shamie Zingore is Director of Research and Development at the African Plant Nutrition Institute (APNI), based in headquarters at Benguérir, Morocco. Dr. Zingore is an internationally recognized expert in soil fertility management and pioneered the introduction of 4R Nutrient Stewardship program in Africa. In his current role he is leading and coordinating programs supporting sustainable plant nutrition management in Africa through research, education, and outreach. Before joining APNI, he worked for the International Plant Nutrition Institute as Regional Director for the sub-Saharan Africa Region. Dr. Zingore has also worked as a scientist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture. He holds a PhD degree in Soil Science and Farming Systems Analysis from Wageningen University and Msc and Bsc degrees in Soil Science from the University of Zimbabwe. He has authored more than 50 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, and has produced a wide range of book chapters and extension publications.
Dr. Alan Blaylock - Presentation
Nurtien
Dr. Alan Blaylock earned a Ph.D. in Soil Fertility from Iowa State Univ (1989) and BS and MS degrees in Agronomy from Brigham Young Univ. He supports marketing, sales, and product development for Nutrien and has managed research and education programs in key global markets, such as No. America, Europe, and China. He joined Nutrien (formerly Agrium) in 1996 after serving as Extension Soils Specialist at University of Wyoming.
Alan has served numerous regional and national committees, and as chair of multiple divisions in the American Society of Agronomy (ASA) and Soil Science Society of America (SSSA). He was recognized in 2018 by SSSA with the Soil Science Industry and Professional Leadership Award and in 2010 by ASA with the Agronomic Industry Award. Alan is a recognized expert in the fertilizer industry on various nutrient management topics and has spoken on nutrient management at numerous regional, national, and international conferences.
Dr. Rob Mikkelsen - Presentation
Yara
Rob Mikkelsen received his Ph.D. in Soil Science at the University of California. He has served in a variety of professional positions, including a soil chemist at the TVA National Fertilizer Development Center, a professor at North Carolina State University, the Vice President of the International Plant Nutrition Institute, Director at the African Plant Nutrition Institute, and he now serves as Director of Agronomy for Yara International.
He has been active in scientific activities around the world and received recognition for his service from the Soil Science Society of America, the American Society of Agronomy, the American Society of Horticultural Science, the Fluid Fertilizer Foundation, among others. His team at IPNI were the developers of the 4R principles of nutrient stewardship that are now taught around the world. He is currently assisting Yara with research and educational projects in across North America.
Paul McConnell - Presentation
S&P Global
Paul McConnell leads the Outlooks and Scenarios practice at S&P Global Commodity Insights. Paul’s work covers energy and carbon markets, long-term decarbonization and net-zero trends, climate policy and emissions, and strategic responses to climate change and the energy transition.
Paul has been working in the energy and climate space for over 20 years, and is highly experienced in the development of long-term energy outlooks and scenarios, as well as their application in assessing climate-related risk and opportunity for organisations across the oil & gas, power, industry and financial sectors. He is a recognized thought leader around emergent and disruptive risks to the global energy sector.
Prior to S&P Global, Paul ran the climate risk centre of excellence for ERM. From 2006 to 2018, Paul held a variety of roles at Wood Mackenzie, latterly as a Research Director leading a product covering global, long-term energy trends, and developing global cross-commodity low carbon scenarios. Earlier in his career Paul was an analyst on commercial energy trading desks for EDF Trading and American Electric Power.
Paul holds an MSc in Global Environmental Change and International Policy from Imperial College, London.
Andrei Potlogea - Presentation
University of Edinburgh
Ghigo Ravano - Presentation
IFCHOR
Giovanni (Ghigo) Ravano is the Executive Chairman of IFCHOR GALBRAITHS, a merger which joins together two historic shipbroking companies – dry-bulk oriented IFCHOR and tanker and sale-and-purchase specialist GALBRAITHS. The company is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland with 21 offices around the world and over 300 employees. IFCHOR GALBRAITHS aims to deliver a truly innovative service through sophisticated and personalized advisory. The entity further invests in areas such as digitalization, research, offshore, renewables and environmental transition services.
Prior to his position as Executive Chairman at IFCHOR GALBRAITHS, Ghigo was co-Chief Executive of IFCHOR which he joined in 2020.
Earlier, he spent over 20 years at the agribusiness commodity leader Bunge. Having first joined the business in 1999 as a trader, he has worked in Singapore, New York, and Rome where he progressed in various commodity trading and regional roles.
In 2008, Ghigo became the Vice President of Ocean Freight, based in Geneva, a position he held for 8 years. In his last 4 years at Bunge, Ghigo was Vice President of Global Trading.
Ghigo is a highly experienced commodity trading and shipping professional with a strong executive background.
Ghigo graduated from the University of Lausanne with a degree in International Politics and holds an Executive MBA from IMD in Lausanne.