Mr. Vyas is the Vice President, Sales & Operations at Neelands Group Limited. He champions operational improvements and new business development with focus on sustainable energy projects, digital optimization, and productivity by refining business processes to reduce processing time, improve margins and remove inefficiencies. His focus is on creating value for the customer by developing and executing turnkey sustainable projects through integrating CO2 refrigeration with micro-turbines to reduce GHG emissions & creating energy resiliency via effective heat reclaim and bringing pieces together with a digital layer for remote monitoring, alarm management, control, and optimization saving operational costs for retail, commercial and industrial customers. Mr. Vyas manages all activities including business development, feasibility engineering, design & analysis, financials, project planning and execution. Mr. Vyas has am M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Texas Tech University, TX, USA. He also holds Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification from UMass Donahue Institute, MA, USA

Aer is a Director of Engineering for Lineage Logistics leading the Energy Efficiency and Energy Conservation Team. Aer’s previous experience includes Danfoss as Business Development Manager for the North American Industrial Refrigeration Market, Cargill as a Corporate Refrigeration Design and Specification Engineer, and Corval Group as Director of Refrigeration Engineering. Aer has 14 years of experience in the design, specification, installation, and operation of mechanical systems for refrigeration, utility, and food process systems. Aer is a 2008 graduate of Minnesota State University- Mankato with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. In the fall of 2012 Aer graduated from St. Cloud State University with a Master of Engineering Management. They are registered as a Professional Engineer in the States of Minnesota, Iowa, and Ohio. Aer holds a Certified Refrigeration Service Technician (CRST) credential from RETA. Aer is a member of IIAR and RETA. They are the Chairperson of the Board of Directors for RETA, the RETA Training Institute President, and Chairperson for the IIAR Energy Sustainability Committee.

Andre is responsible for supporting sustainable system-related innovation and leveraging Copeland’s global cold chain to drive adoption of integrated solution in North America. He most recently led marketing efforts pertaining to the company’s food retail and chiller markets. Prior to that, he had managed the Copeland product porfolio’s global CO2 development. Andre has more than 37 years of industry experience in sales, marketing, training and business development of HVACR system architectures and applications with compression and component technologies. He is a certified Mechanical Engineering Technologist C.E.T. (since 1984), and is a member of AHRI, ASHRAE and RSES.

Andy is a registered professional engineer and owner of YourCleanEnergy consulting based in Seattle. He has significant experience in the financial evaluation and design of commercial sized CO2 heat pump systems which are integrated into existing and new facilities. He has lived and worked for 18 years in Alaska, and has been based in Seattle since 2018 where his work has expanded into the shaping of regulations and policy regarding heat pump refrigerants. Andy is a regular presenter and speaker on the topic of natural refrigerants and the long-term financial and environmental benefits they can provide to commercial and institutional clients for clean heating and cooling. Andy’s work focus since 2008 has been on design of heat pump systems for large facilities in the Pacific Northwest, and for ocean source district heating in coastal Alaska. His key natural refrigerant project is the design of an 80-ton trans-critical CO2 heat pump system with heat recovery to offset an existing 500 KW electric boiler used for space, domestic hot water, and outdoor slab heat. Andy is currently leading the design of a 120-ton tidal source trans-critical CO2 heat pump system with heat recovery that will provide district heating to the Library, City Hall, Firehall, and Annex for the City of Seward, Alaska. Additionally, Andy has partnered with ATMOsphere in the past year to identify both opportunities and obstructions that exist in the US market for NatRef heat pumps. He has also been working to build a coalition of businesses that are dedicated to growing the NatRef heat pump market in North America and are committed to shaping common sense regulations and policy to advance this growth.

Avipsa Mahapatra is the Climate Campaign Lead at Environmental Investigation Agency, and drives the organization’s climate strategy using primary evidence to move systemic changes, influencing international and domestic policy on HFCs for over a decade. She has led world-changing exposés of climate-crimes and has been featured in the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Guardian, BBC and the Grist among others. Avipsa was an official member of the Indian delegation to UNFCCC COP 14, and has worked with the Earth Institute New York, WWF Norway, 350.org, Development Alternatives Delhi and PowerShift. She has MS degrees from Columbia University in Climate Science and Public Policy and from the Energy and Resources Institute in Natural Resources Management, and was awarded a research fellowship at Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies for innovation in sustainable development.

With close to 35 years of experience in the refrigeration industry, Benoit Rodier is a seasoned veteran and a go-to expert on natural refrigerant technology who is regularly quoted in leading trade publications. He is the Director of Business Development at CIMCO, a professional engineer, and a teacher who shares his expertise with the next generation of engineers, recognizing that they have a significant role to play in sustainability. He was an early adopter of, and is a strong advocate for, CO2 refrigerant technology, which has been used in most prestigious ice ribbon at the 2022 Winter Olympics. He’s passionate about technological development and industry trends, and believes in the power we all have to make better choices for the future.

Cindy Newberg is the Director of the Stratospheric Protection Division (SPD) at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Her Divison is responsible for implementing the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act to address hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), Title VI of the Clean Air Act to protect the ozone layer, and the domestic implementation of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. The Division develops and implements both regulatory and partnership programs. Ms. Newberg was previously the Branch Chief for SPD’s Alternatives and Emission Reduction Branch and the Phaseout Team Leader. She has also served on numerous delegations to Montreal Protocol meetings, including the Kigali Amendment negotiations. Ms. Newberg has a bachelor’s degree from the George Washington University and a master’s degree from the University of Maryland.

Dan has worked for Zero Zone for more than 25 years in progressively responsible roles among engineering, operations, sales management and now as the company president. He uses his knowledge to help customers devise unique solutions for their refrigeration strategies, while balancing their overall costs. With his wealth of experience, Dan brings Zero Zone’s collective mission of innovation, quality and responsiveness to life. Dan earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan Technological University and an MBA from the University of Minnesota.

David Behringer studied Environmental Sciences and Organismic Biology in Bielefeld and Marburg and received his PhD in Molecular Ecology from the University of Marburg in 2017. Since 2017, he works as a project manager at the environmental consultancy firm Öko-Recherche in Frankfurt/Main. His work is focused on ozone-depleting substances and fluorinated greenhouse gases in the context of environmental policy with a national and international scope

David J. Goldstein is a mechanical engineer based in New York City with 15 years of experience designing HVAC systems in residential and commercial buildings, including whole-building energy analysis and sustainability consulting. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in New York State as well as a LEED AP and WELL AP. He is co-chair of the AIANY building science committee. David is the CEO of Hydronic Shell Technologies, which he founded in 2020 with the mission of transforming buildings for a net-zero future. He is developing a modular central HVAC system that is integrated within prefabricated façade panels, leveraging the principles of industrialized construction to deliver deep energy retrofits and new buildings that achieve higher performance at lower cost. Hydronic Shell is a water-based system that distributes heating and cooling from efficient and environmentally friendly central equipment

David Sellers is the Director of Engineering for Hoshizaki America and is responsible for supporting the design of the manufacturer’s extensive refrigerator and freezer product lines. During his 23 years with Hoshizaki America, he has held key engineering and managerial roles relating to refrigerator and ice machine design. In his previous position with the company, as Senior Manager of Research and Development, David spent much of his time evaluating the potential applications of natural refrigerants. A graduate of Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, he holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering.

With more than 30 years of HVACR industry experience, Derek Gosselin currently serves as Director of Technical Product Support for all Hillphoenix products, a Dover Food Retail Company, located in Conyers, GA. Derek began his career as a store planner at Associated Grocers of New England in Manchester, NH, before joining Tyler Refrigeration as its New England district sales manager, then the National Account Manager. In 2009 as part of the Hillphoenix acquisition of Tyler, Derek joined Hillphoenix as a National Account Manager before moving into operations as a systems division Product Manager with a focus on business and product development. With the recent trends in the industry, he has moved into the lead position on a team to support the promotion and education for the application of natural refrigerant with the deployment of developing technology.

Doug Milu is the Refrigeration and Energy Program Manager for Publix Super Markets Inc. Publix has 1,248 supermarkets in 7 Southeastern states. Doug is a seasoned professional bringing 4 decades of experience in supermarket refrigeration, installation, service, and maintenance to his position. He is currently responsible for oversight of Publix’s refrigeration and HVAC equipment specifications, installation specifications, as well as having input to future refrigeration designs. Doug’s core team also facilitates research and development of advanced technologies in refrigeration systems, energy management, compliance, and sustainability.

Giacomo Favari, Head of Sales and Marketing – Refrigeration North America, Carel, supports the adoption of Carel’s high-efficiency technology and enhancing brand experience in the North American region. Giacomo was awarded a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Padua in Italy after completing a research period in Germany with an emphasis on thermodynamics. Specializing in high-efficiency refrigeration applications, Giacomo started working on optimizing CO2 transcritical cycles early in his career. After joining CAREL in 2012, he progressed through several technical, sales, and marketing roles in different geographies, including the Middle East, Southern Europe, South America, and North America.

After obtaining his Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2002, Giacomo Pisano worked for one year as a Project Manager for General Electric’s Oil & Gas division, where the core business is turbomachinery applied to the oil \\u0026 gas industry. He joined DORIN in 2003 in the R&D department, taking responsibility of the CO2 compressor development and being in charge of the product’s technical qualification. Giacomo Pisano then took over several application engineering roles and is currently responsible for the CO2 compressors’ business development. In the meantime he joined several ASERCOM working groups and was the Chairman for the association’s CO2 working group for many years.

Harrison Horning is Director of Maintenance for Retail Business Services, a subsidiary of Ahold Delhaize. His role is focused on supporting Hannaford and Stop & Shop, two grocery chains with approximately 600 stores in eight northeastern US states. His current work includes collaborative efforts to address sustainability and climate impacts. He has over 25 years of experience in the field of facilities and energy management.

Ignacio Chaparro is an integral member of the Kysor Warren Epta US leadership team where he serves as the Sustainability & New Technologies leader. His core operational responsibilities include the organization’s new systems product design and the deployment of strategies which help the organization develop solutions that reduce resource use, energy use, and is climate-friendly in North America. Chaparro has over 20 years of global commercial refrigeration experience with a wide range of knowledge in regard to new product development, refrigeration systems design, natural refrigerant technology benchmarking and sales. In his most current role, Ignacio champions the development and implementation new and innovative technologies with a concentration in new natural refrigeration systems design. In addition to his sustainability experience, Ignacio served as New Product Development Manager where he also served as lead trainer for the organization’s natural refrigeration training courses. Ignacio has led multiple trainings on natural CO2 refrigeration design over the past five years. He is a curious and brilliant engineer whose leadership grounded with passion and integrity. He continues to be a trailblazer in the industry in ushering in the next chapter of natural refrigeration technology, market acceptance and customer adoption. Mr. Chaparro holds a master’s and bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, specializing in Thermodynamics from Instituto Politécnico Nacional in Ciudad de México. Ignacio is also Six Sigma, Green Belt certified.

John Dowd is the Vice President of Strategy and Business Development for Diversified CPC and offers more than 40 years of experience. He is responsible for the corporate strategy and driving the company’s innovation process by aligning customer and corporate teams to address short- and long-term industry challenges. John joined Diversified CPC in 2016 following a 36-year career at the DuPont Company where he also played a vital role in commercial leadership and innovation. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry from the University of Scranton in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

John Prall studied at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. In 2012, Prall accepted his current position with Embraco, working as Application Engineering Expert for the United States and Canada. At Embraco, Prall’s responsibilities include providing engineering support for commercial and aftermarket customers, including assisting customers with selection and application of hermetic compressors. Prall also trains customers on compressor technology and market trends through customer visits, trade show presentations and webinar activities. Prall has 20 years of experience in the commercial refrigeration industry. Prior to his role at Embraco, he held several different roles ranging from engineering to product management at Hussmann Corporation.

John Tinsley is a Duke-educated engineer with 13 years of experience in supermarket and distribution energy efficiency, decarbonization, and capital planning. He founded Therm Solutions with Fritz Troller (Grainger, Groom Energy, Digital Lumens) and Jon Guerster (Charles River Ventures, Groom Energy, Digital Lumens, and Activate Capital). Therm’s mission is to accelerate North America’s transition to natural refrigerants.

CEO and founder of the HVAC and Refrigeration company Area Cooling Solutions www.areacooling.com. Our core values are innovation, sustainability and service. Since 1986 @ your side for HVAC and Refrigeration projects. We understand your business, and provide you with the best solutions to improve your product range. Over 12 years’ experience in inverter driven applications. Remote control and preventive maintenance features. We manufacture CO2 hermetic condensing units since 2016.

Kurt Liebendorfer is Vice President at Evapco in Taneytown, MD. He is leading the development and rapidly growing implementation of the new EvapCold family of products, which are complete Packaged Low Charge Ammonia Refrigeration Systems that are revolutionizing the industrial refrigeration market. Kurt has been in the industrial refrigeration, process cooling and construction industry for 35 years and has also worked for JCI/Frick, Stellar, Haskell and GEA/FES. Kurt received an MBA at Jacksonville University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. Kurt has severed on the Board, President and Chair of several organizations. Over the last few years, he has devoted his time to serve on several committees with GCCA, CEBA and IIAR.

Dr. Lydia Jahl is a science and policy associate at the Green Science Policy Institute in Berkeley, California. Lydia holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Harvey Mudd College and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University, where her dissertation research focused on atmospheric physicochemical processes. At Green Science Policy Institute, Lydia collaborates with businesses, academics, and policymakers to ensure products are safe and effective without the use of harmful chemicals such as PFAS and flame retardants.

Founder of ATMOsphere a global, independent market accelerator with a mission to clean-up cooling. Marc Chasserot has 20 years of experience in the HVAC&R sector. His focus throughout those years has been with Natural Refrigerant based technologies used in Refrigeration, Heat Pumps and Air Conditioning applications. He has founded several industry platforms, namely; www.R744.com, www.hydrocarbons21.com, ammonia21.com, and Accelerate Magazine. Published numerous reports for industry and policy-makers, chaired over 70 ATMOsphere conferences worldwide. Marc has lived and worked in Asia, Europe and America. He holds several degrees in Economics, Marketing and Politics.

As the Head of Content for ATMOsphere (formerly shecco), veteran journalist Michael Garry is responsible for the news articles on R744.com, Hydrocarbons21.com and Ammonia21.com. He also contributes to in-depth market reports, and helps to organize ATMO conferences. Starting at ATMOsphere in 2014, he has also served as editor-in-chief of Accelerate America and Accelerate Magazine. Prior to joining ATMOsphere, he led the coverage of sustainability, technology and logistics at Supermarket News for 11 years. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of M.I.T with a degree in political science, he is the author of Game of My Life New York Mets: Memorable Stories of Mets Baseball.

Mike has over 35 years of commercial refrigeration and is responsible for the development and delivery of the Core and Distributed case products.

An environmental trailblazer, state Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, has authored laws to accelerate the transition to zero-emission vehicles, expand solar net metering, mandate clean energy storage, and increase the energy efficiency of buildings and appliances. She also co-authored SB 100, a landmark law that will move California to 100% renewable electricity by 2045. Sen. Skinner began her public service in 1984 as the first and only student to be elected to the Berkeley City Council. On the council, she authored the nation’s first Styrofoam ban and co-founded an international association of cities, ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, to address climate change. After her term on the council, Skinner served as executive director of ICLEI’s U.S. office and international director of ICLEI’s Cities for Climate Protection program, which engaged cities worldwide to take action to stop climate change. She is also a past member of the East Bay Regional Park District board. Skinner served three terms in the state Assembly and was elected to the state Senate in 2016 and reelected in 2020, where she serves as chair of the Senate Budget Committee and vice chair of the Legislative Women’s Caucus. Her legislative achievements also include setting the goal for the Renewable Portfolio Standard to require 33% of California’s electricity to be generated from solar, wind, and other renewable energy by 2020, and laws to increase the number of electric vehicles and other zero-emission vehicles in public and private vehicle fleets.

Paul Sindoni is President and CEO of Dover Food Retail’s Hillphoenix. As CEO, Paul is responsible for delivering on the Hillphoenix purpose to advance the future of retail refrigeration through customer collaboration and responsible innovation. Paul began his career at General Electric and joined Hillphoenix in 1995. With Hillphoenix he has served in a variety of leadership roles including Operations, Sales, and General Management. In addition to his time at Hillphoenix, Sindoni spent 3 years as President of Datamax-O’Neil, a former Dover Company that served the Digital Printing Industry.

Peter is a graduate of Haifa University with a BSC in computational math and physics, with a MSC from the Illinois institute of technology in theoretical physics. He started with software design for calculation of fin and tube heat exchangers 20 years ago, and has been working on it ever since. His company Lordan, has been making these heat exchangers for over 60 years, with sales world wide. Calculations are AHRI certified. The main areas of design have been in heavy and light rail project, commercial busses in Europe, and alternative energy projects. His passion is having a calculated heat exchanger give the exact results required in installation.

Phillip Walker leads the ARNEG Systems team as Director of Refrigeration Solutions. From fine-tuning the refrigeration systems in the field to developing cost-effective solutions, he brings a wealth of leadership, knowledge, and experience to the Canadian supermarket refrigeration industry. With 20+ years of supermarket business experience, Phillip works closely with customers, service providers, and the ARNEG team to develop natural refrigerant solutions that are tailored to meet the objectives of the project. Through creative innovation and sustainable solutions, the ARNEG Systems team is paving a new roadway in the natural refrigerant market.

A driven and enterprising top executive with proven expertise and experience in many areas including refrigerated warehouse construction, site & real estate development, engineering, and supply chain logistics. He works closely with owners and users, logistics planners and design engineers on a daily basis to ensure clients’ needs are met throughout every project. He has experience with food manufacturers, retailers, Class 1 railroads in the US and Canada, rail aggregation facilities, industrial development at ports, and food distribution facilities. He has negotiated hundreds of real estate and construction contracts over the past 26 years.

Sam Huffman is the General Manager & Director of Sales for Secop’s North American headquarters, based in Atlanta, GA. He is managing the business operations, including sales and technical teams for North & South America, and is responsible for executing the new product introductions for hydrocarbon and electronic controlled compressors within the region for Stationary and Mobile cooling customers. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and has been working in the refrigeration compressor industry for the last 11 years.

Samantha is a design engineering consultant with six years of experience in the natural refrigerant industry, specifically in transcritical CO2. In her role, she remains focused on product development as well as project implementation of sustainable commercial and industrial refrigeration systems. Prior to joining Future Green Now in 2021, she was the head of engineering at a company specializing in transcritical CO2 rack manufacture, system installation and servicing. Samantha earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pretoria in South Africa.

Stefan Elbel recently joined TU Berlin as Professor for Heat Transfer and Energy Conversion. Prior to that he was a faculty member of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Co-Director of the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Center (ACRC). He is also the President & CTO of Creative Thermal Solutions, Inc. an independent research lab focusing on technology development for all sectors of the HVAC&R industry.

Suzanne Hagell manages the greenhouse gas mitigation unit in the Office of Climate Change at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Among other things, Suzanne’s team oversees the State’s F-gas regulations and regulations regarding the accounting of greenhouse gas emissions as applied in the annual Statewide GHG Emissions Report.

Thies holds a master’s degree in system engineering. After several years of software and hardware developments in the automotive industry, he has been working as a Product Owner at Secop for two years now. Main responsibilities include everything from electrical starting equipment to variable speed compressors.

Thomas Wright is the newest member of the Kysor Warren Epta US leadership team where he serves as the Vice President of Sales and Customer Service having operational responsibility for the organization’s business development, account management, customer intimacy and invoicing dedicated to providing customer refrigeration sales support in North America. Tom has 25+ years of experience in sales, marketing & customer service in the refrigeration sector in regard to global sales growth, the promotion of confidence in new technologies, with a strong acumen in products and services in the HVAC&R industry. In his current role, Tom has championed natural refrigeration product adoption along with identifying process improvements for Kysor Warren’s customer base. Committed to implementing new product innovations and processes, Tom continues to be a cornerstone in ushering in the next chapter of natural refrigeration adoption and its benefits. He is a respected authority in the refrigeration industry in the areas of strategic planning, customer development, sales planning, and strategic supply chain management. Tom is a dynamic and engaging leader who leads with passion, integrity and dedication to growing sustainable business. Tom holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Cleary University and a degree in Applied Science in HVAC&R from Ferris State University.

Tim Collins is an Application Engineer with Tecumseh Products Company. He has held various technical roles within the company over the past 29 years, most recently specializing in Variable Speed R290 Products

With 20 years of experience, Yoram Shabtay is a Heat Exchanger Designer veteran with a Master’s degree in Heat and Mass Transfer. Shabtay is the head of consulting firm Heat Transfer Technologies LLC (HTT). As a licensed HVAC engineer, Yoram provides designs for current and new condenser and evaporator coils. HTT develops next-generation heat exchangers with institutions and the US DoE, and is a Technical Advisor to the International Copper Association, providing guidance and designs for all types of HVAC and refrigeration systems. Yoram regularly speaks at conferences about new upcoming heat-exchanger technologies and related development work. HTT also works with industry leaders providing prototype heat-exchanger service for evaluation.