Succession & Sustainability Conference Speakers

  • MAIN SPEAKER: Gavin Warner, General Manager – Sustainability, Shell Global Lubricants

    As the general manager for sustainability within Shell, Gavin Warner is helping to define and drive the overall sustainability transformation agenda within the business’ lubricants division.

    This means embedding sustainability into every stage of the business’ culture, systems, and processes, so that Shell can support the sustainability needs of its customers while putting its own Powering Progress strategy into action.

  • Mark Olpin, Executive Chairman, Slicker Recycling

    With over 35 years’ experience in the waste management and environmental sector, Mark is the executive chairman of Slicker Recycling, one of the largest B2B collectors and recyclers of used lubricating oil and other automotive wastes in the UK.

    Widely respected across the industry for his track record of business growth through driving innovation, forming effective partnerships, and placing the circular economy at the centre of boardroom decisions, Mark is also recognised for his commitment to developing the industry’s next generation of leaders.

    During his 11 years at Slicker Recycling, Mark has overseen the company’s expansion into a revered global hazardous waste specialist, which also leads large-scale projects for a variety of multi-nationals and heavy industries. Mark is also a board member of Slicker Recycling’s parent company, Greenbottle Ltd.

    Away from work, Mark is a huge sports fan and particularly follows football and cricket. He regularly attends matches at St James Park, the home of his beloved Exeter City Football Club.

  • Vladimir Dhondt, Sales Manager, Avista Green

    Working within the business since 2009, Vladimir Dhondt has vast experience in used oil re-refining and the related value chains.

    With an education background in Human Sciences and Modern Languages in his home country Belgium, he has held various posts within the AVISTA OIL AG group, covering the entire value chain and putting his language skills into use.

    From the used oil collection company in Belgium to the headquarters of AVISTA in Germany and most recently, the newest used oil re-refinery in Denmark, Vladimir has gathered extensive expertise in various scopes of the business.

    Currently responsible for the sales of Group I base oils as well as by-products from the re-refining process such as gasoil, bituminous components and others.

  • Emma Guthrie, Marketing and Digital Transformation Director – Lubricants & Energy, IMCD Group

    Emma Guthrie is a skilled professional working in the chemicals industry, combining a PhD in Organic Chemistry with over 20 years’ experience working in commercial, business development and marketing roles in the chemical, clean transport, and industrial gas sectors.

    Her roles have included coordination of flagship hydrogen fuelling projects and management of supplier relationships at a leading chemicals distributor – often working in positive collaboration with multiple stakeholders across countries and functions.

    In her current position, Emma uses her passion and experience in communications and strategic and operational marketing to support the growth and performance of IMCD’s Global Lubricants & Energy Business. This includes the execution and analysis of marketing campaigns, as well as working with her team to anticipate and develop product offerings to support our sector’s changing dynamics – in areas such as environmental sustainability, digital transformation and encouraging new talent into our sector.

    IMCD Lubricants & Energy offers customers a high-quality portfolio of base oils, additive components and packages used in automotive and industrial oils and greases. By working in close collaboration with our Principal partners, IMCD’s team of technical experts support customers to find solutions to their formulation and processing challenges.

    Emma lives in London with her husband and two daughters and in her spare time enjoys running, reading, and volunteering in her local park.

  • Andrew Gelder, Technical Product and Sales Development Manager – Lubricants, IMCD Group

    Andrew Gelder is an experienced lubricants professional, having spent 30 years in various Product Development roles encompassing, Industrial (Hydraulic, IGO, Slideway) Metalworking, Engine Oil, Driveline (MTF, ATF, AGO, FT, OH) at both major oil companies, (BP and Castrol) and additive companies (Lubrizol and Afton Chemical).

    Andrew now combines his technical expertise with commercial drive, to support oil companies both locally in the UK and more globally in their choice of Lubrizol Additives. He performs this in his current role as Technical Product and Sales Development Manager at IMCD UK Ltd.

    Andrew holds a degree and PhD in Applied Chemistry and lives with his wife and daughter near Reading in the UK.

  • James Moorhouse, Director, ABN Resource

    James Moorhouse is a director at ABN Resource with more than 15 years of recruitment experience in the global lubricants & fuel industry.

    His vision is ‘to provide growth through happy, high performing people that make a safer & more sustainable world’.

    In the presentation, we will be seeking answers to realise this vision, including leadership development, talent attraction, how to address skills gap in the industry amongst other key themes.

  • Yana Wilkinson, Vice President, Energy, Kline

    Based in London, Yana Wilkinson is the global leader of Kline’s Energy practice. With over 15 years of experience in management consulting, her practice focuses on downstream energy specialties, namely the whole lubricants value chain and adjacencies, including a broad range of automotive and industrial end-use applications. Engagements led by her team include strategy support and market intelligence. Examples of projects include market insight and intelligence, facilitating strategy review and development, business growth and market entry, opportunity identification, M&A, and more.

    Yana’s self-described ambition is to leave our clients better equipped to handle challenges and capture opportunities by separating the insight from the noise, especially important when converting mega themes like Sustainability, Mobility, and Digital into clear implications for the daily business of our clients.

    Yana holds a master’s degree from the Copenhagen Business School. She speaks several languages including English, Russian, and Ukrainian. She enjoys exploring the outdoors with her family including activities of cycling, running, and hiking.

  • Gabriella Twining, Associate Editor, Base Oils Europe & Turkey, Argus Media

    Gabriella is responsible for European base oil market coverage at Argus, contributing to spot prices, market commentary and analysis to Argus’s weekly global base oils report.

    Gabriella is an experienced commodity reporter having previously covered the Biomass desk.

    Prior to Argus she reported on and provided analysis for IHS Markit in its Maritime and Trade department after several years working in ship management at CMA CGM.