Speakers
Circular Valley Convention 2026
Our top speakers
The Circular Valley Convention brings together a lot of renowned speakers who share their expertise and experiences. These thought leaders from business, science, politics and society offer valuable insights and inspire with their visions and innovative projects. Get to know the top speakers here.
Carsten Schneider
Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Climate Protection and Nuclear Safety
Federal Government of Germany
Thomas Jarzombek
Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Digital and Public Administration
Federal Ministry for for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation
(BMDS)
Mona Neubaur
Minister of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection, and Energy
NRW
Wolfram Nikolaus Diener
President & CEO
Messe Düsseldorf GmbH
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Manfred Renner
Institute Director UMSICHT
Spokesperson CCPE
Fraunhofer UMSICHT / CCPE
Mark Dorn
Executive Vice President Henkel Adhesive Technologies and member of the Henkel Management Board
Henkel
Viktor Haase
State Secretary
Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport
Susanne Hagenkort-Rieger
Head of Economic Policy Department
Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy
NRW
Bart Brosius
General Representative of Flanders in Germany
Embassy of Belgium, Berlin
Arnoud Passenier
Strategic International Advisor Circular Economy
Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management in The Netherlands
Ina Scharrenbach
Minister for Home Affairs, Local Government, Building and Digitalisation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
Saskia Backhaus
Partner, PAS
EY Consulting GmbH
Frank Meyer
Senior Vice Presitent R&D Henkel Consumer Brands
Henkel AG & Co. KGaA
Talke Schaffrannek
Director Circular Economy
BASF SE
Dr. Timo Fleßner
SVP, Manufacturing API & Medical Devices Lead
Bayer AG
Dr. Ralf Düssel
Head of Sustainability
Evonik Industries AG
Dr. Hendrik Wehr
COO and Speaker of the Board
Vorwerk Elektrowerke GmbH & Co. KG
Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart
Professor, Chair of Eco-Design
Leuphana University of Lüneburg / RSM
Rainer Hoffmann
Chairperson
Rat für nachhaltige Entwicklung
Dr. Britta Bookhagen
Head of Unit “Secondary Raw Materials”
German Mineral Resources Agency (DERA)
Andreas Walingen
Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Strategy
Volkswagen AG
Matthias Lesch
Managing Director
Pöppelmann Holding GmbH & Co. KG
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Welf-Guntram Drossel
Institute Director
Fraunhofer IWU
Tobias Albers
A.T. Kearney GmbH
Prof. Dr. Robert Schlögl
Coordination and communication Carbon2Chem® sub-project
Carbon2Chem®, Fraunhofer UMSICHT
Dr. Maike Albers-Malkus
Head of Funding Advice &
Customer Service
NRW.BANK
Ingo Noppen
Executive Board
Wupperverband
Bernd Müller
Director International Relations & Sustainability
German Design Council
Anne Farken
Associate Director Sustainability
Creative Consulting
BMW Group
Alissa Ritter
Corporate Sustainability Lead
Rosenthal – Arcturus Group
Karel Golta
Founder & CEO
Indeed Innovation GmbH
Steffen Erath
Head of Innovation & Sustainability
hansgrohe
Prof. Dr. Channing Rex Robertson
Emeritus Professor of Chemical Engineering
Stanford University
Dr. Thomas Stoffmehl
CEO
Vorwerk Deutschland Stiftung & Co. KG
Dr. Henrik Ahlers
CEO
EY Deutschland
Dr. Stephan Kothrade
Member of the Executive Board and Chief Technology Officer
BASF
Prof. Christoph Schmidt
President
RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research
Oliver Krischer
Minister for the Environment, Nature Protection, and Transport
NRW
Michael Scharpf
Head Sustainable Construction
Holcim Germany
Thomas Krämer
Director Asia | Pacific
WIPOTEC GmbH
André Rolfes
Head of Sustainable Finance & CSR
GEFA BANK GmbH
Ansgar Thole
President & MD
Komatsu Germany GmbH
Walter Ahn
Founder
WASTO-PAC GmbH
Dr. Christine Bunte
Managing Director
PlasticsEurope Deutschland e.V.
Christian Hündgen
Managing Director
Hündgen Entsorgungs GmbH & Co. KG
Dr. Regina Weber
Head of Transformation in Industry
Stiftung Arbeit und Umwelt der IGBCE
Prof. Dr. Regina Palkovits
Chair of Heterogeneous Catalysis and Technical Chemistry
RWTH Aachen University / Catalaix
Dorothea Flockert
Head of Group Sustainability
Speira
Inge Hofkens
COO
Aurubis AG
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Matthias Franke
Head of the Sulzbach-Rosenberg
Fraunhofer Umsicht / CCPE
Dr. Lars Börger
CEO
Nova Institut
Dr. Günter Reuscher
Senior Consultant
VDI Technologiezentrum GmbH
Green AI Hub
Alexander Garbar
Head of Corporate Development, Digitalization and Strategy
duisport- Duisburger Hafen AG
Prof. Dr. -Ing. Christian Doetsch
Institute Director
Die Fraunhofer-Allianz ENERGIE
Dr. Christoph F. Strnadl
CTO
Gaia-X European Association for Data and Cloud AISBL
Dr. Florian Kammerer
Director of Department, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety
Bety Chu
Head of Business Unit Sustainable Transformation
NRW Global Business
Jana Bauer
Research associate and Project Lead
Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences – Institute for Livable and Sustainable Urban Development (In-LUST)
Andrea Scholz
Circular Business Development
Sustina AG
Dr. Ingo Sartorius
Managing Director
BKV GmbH
Torsten Müller
Speaker Core-Expertise Polymer Technology
Fraunhofer ICT
Dr. Andreas Mäurer
Head of Department
Fraunhofer IVV
Dr. Alexander Hofmann
Head of Department Recycling Management
Fraunhofer UMSICHT
Marieke Eckhardt
Project Manager Circular Economy and Green Tech Innovation
Prognos AG
Antoine Gaillard
Project DiCES
FiR Institut
Ellis Bauer
Projekt ProDiNA
AWS Institut
Sebastian Karnapp
Projekt CliCE-DiPP
TU Darmstatt
Dr. Henning Wilts
Head of the Circular Economy Department
Wuppertal Institut
Prof. Dr. Walter Leitner
Managing Director – Molecular Catalysis
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion (MPI-CEC)
Dr. Christian Kirchnawy
Project Manager
OFI Research Institute for Chemistry and Technology
Dr. Michael Scherz
Economic Representative
WKÖ – AUSSENWIRTSCHAFT AUSTRIA
Dr. Christoph Burgstaller
Managing Director, Scientific Director
Transfercenter für Kunststofftechnik GmbH
Michael Heinzelreiter
Project Manager
Business Upper Austria
Mui Ly Brunner-Tea
EREMA Group GmbH
Werner Kruschitz
CEO
KRM Recycling
Christian Felber
Author
Gemeinwohlökonomie
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Görge Deerberg
Director for Knowledge Transfer
Frauenhofer UMSICHT
Dr. Markus Oles
Coordination Carbon2Chem®
Funding2you
Dr.-Ing. Markus Hiebel
Head of Sustainability
and Participation Department
Fraunhofer UMSICHT / CCPE
Dr.-Ing. Anna Kerps
Reasearch Department
Fraunhofer CCPE
Jan-Philip Kopka
Research Department Circular Logistics and Sustainability
Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML)
Our top speakers from 2025
The Circular Valley Convention brings together over 100 renowned speakers who share their expertise and experiences. These thought leaders from business, science, politics and society offer valuable insights and inspire with their visions and innovative projects. Get to know the top speakers here.
Jörg Deppmeyer
CEO
Der Grüne Punkt Holding GmbH & Co. KG – A member company of the Green Dot Group
Liam Condon
CEO
Johnson Matthey plc
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Holger Hanselka
President
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
Katja Busch
CCO DHL and Head of CSI
(DHL Customer Solutions & Innovation)
Oliver Krischer
Minister
Ministry of the Environment, Nature and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
Lecture info to follow
Sean Jones
Chief Sustainability Officer
Microsoft Germany
Dr. Carla Seidel
Senior Vice President
BASF SE
Dr. Ralf Düssel
CEO Plastics Europe Deutschland e.V.
Head of Sustainability Evonik
Lecture info to follow
Dr. Jonas Dreger
Senior Manager Environmental Initiatives EMEIA
Apple
Ulrike Sapiro
Chief Sustainability Officer
Henkel
Darren West
Global Head of Circular Economy solutions
SAP
Dietmar Focke
CEO
Lufthansa Industry Solutions
Dipl. Ing. Gürsel Zorlu
Chief Growth Officer
PGS Group
Smail Alhilali
Chief, Division of Circular Economy & Green Industry
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
Prof. Dr. Alexander Sauer
Institute Director
Fraunhofer IPA
Dr. Claas Oehlmann
CEO
BDI-Initiative Circular Economy
Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie e. V.
Prof. Dr. Simon Lux
Managing Director
Fraunhofer Research Institution for Battery Cell Production FFB
Dr. Timo Fleßner
Senior Vice President, Manufacturing API & Medical Devices Lead
Bayer AG
Claudia Wegener
CIO
Interzero Circular Solutions Germany GmbH
Prof. Dr. André Bardow
Professor
ETH Zürich
Dr. Martin Sonnenschein
Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Gerrit Kisters
CEO
Schüttflix Group
Joe Murphy
Executive Lead – Business Network
Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Rebecca Tauer
Team Lead Circular Economy
WWF Deutschland
Karin Huber-Heim
City of Vienna
Endowed Professorship for Circular Economy & transformative business models
Dr. Carsten Gerhardt
Chairman
Circular Valley Foundation
Lecture info to follow
Prof. Manfred Renner
Head of Institute
Fraunhofer UMSICHT
Wolfram N. Diener
Chairman of the Management Board
Messe Düsseldorf GmbH
Lecture info to follow
Dr. Daniel Schwaab
SVP Strategy
TOMRA
Prof. Dr. Philip Leistner
Head of Institute
Fraunhofer-IBP
Thomas Nyhsen
Member of the Board
STRABAG AG
Dr. Jan Sültemeyer
Global Sustainability Leader
Avient Corporation
Dr. Christoph Steger
Chief Sales Officer
Delfort AG
Prof. Dr. Andrea Büttner
Executive Director
Fraunhofer-Institut für Verfahrenstechnik und Verpackung IVV
Dr. Markus Seidel
Head of Research Circular Economy
BMW Group
Markus Bangen
CEO
Duisburger Hafen AG
Benno Weißner
Project Manager
ZENIT – Zentrum für Innovation und Technik in NRW / NRW.EUROPA
Dr. Albrecht Haase
CEO
GEFA BANK GmbH
André Rolfes
Head of Sustainable Finance & CSR
GEFA BANK GmbH
Prof. Dr. Uwe Clausen
Director
Fraunhofer IML
Jochen Grönegräs
CEO
Bundesverband Flachglas e.V.
Michael Elstner
Technical Advisory Service Manager
AGC Glass Europe
and Executive Board
Bundesverband Flachglas e.V.
Dr. Patrick Bergmann
Managing Director
Madaster Germany
Hanna Steffen
Project Engineer
Kunststoff-Institut für die mittelständische Wirtschaft NRW GmbH (K.I.M.W.)
Martin Friedrich
Senior Scientist Fraunhofer Institut für Materialfluss und Logistik
Gert Callaerts
Packaging Innovation Coordinator
Bayer Crop Science
Pradeep Pinakatt
Managing and Labor Director
Flughafen Düsseldorf GmbH
Frederik Verhelst
Head of Materials – Business Innovation Center
Lhoist Europe
Dr. Caroline Cassignol
Expert Circularity for Simulation and Digital Twin at Foundational Technology at Siemens
Siemens AG
Nicola Lelli
Senior Advisor
Alliance to End Plastic Waste
Henning Reuter
CEO
Siegfried Jacob Metallwerke
Prof. Dr. Boris Otto
Director
Fraunhofer ISST
Dr. Florian Geistmann
Managing Director
Shimadzu Deutschland GmbH
Matthias Lesch
Managing Director
Pöppelmann Holding GmbH & Co. KG
Georg Pescher
Managing Director DBNL
Alpla
Christian Eigen
Deputy CEO
Medion AG (Lenovo)
Jens Stadter
CEO
Jokey SE
Ralph Hopfensitz
Executive Senior Vice President Global Technology / CTO
LEONHARD KURZ Stiftung & Co. KG
Simone Mosca
CEO
Mosca GmbH
Andreas Vogt
CEO
Vogt-Plasic GmbH
Dr. Andreas Leitner
Senior Vice President Innovation & Technology
OMV AG
Dr. Jan Wenker
Group Director Sustainability & Innovation
Brüninghoff GmbH & Co. KG
Ljubisav Matejevic
Group CEO
InPerson Group
Prof. Dr. Johannes Ganster
Division Director Biopolymers
Fraunhofer IAP
Ute Spring
EMEA R&D Director Packaging & Specialty Plastics
Dow Chemical
Lecture info to follow
Sven Fischer
General Manager Krall+Roth Services GmbH&Co.KG
Prof. Lars M. Blank
Professor
RWTH Aachen University
Janpeter Beckmann
Funding Advisor Sustainability and Circular Economy
NRW.BANK, Business Development Advisory Center (BCW)
Roxana Grömmer
Fraunhofer Institut für Chemische Technologie
Felicitas Erfurt-Gordon
CEO
Erfurt & Sohn KG
Bart Brosius
General Representative of Flanders in Germany
Embassy of Belgium
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Lichtenthaler
Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship
ISM – International School of Management
Brigitte Mouligneau
Transition Manager
Circular Flanders, OVAM
Dr. Hendrik Wehr
CEO Vorwerk Engineering
Vorwerk Elektrowerke GmbH & Co. KG
Axel Möhring
CEO
energenta ersatzbrennstoffe gmbh
Lecture info to follow
Susanne Szech-Koundouros
Head of the sub-department: Raw Materials Policy, Circular Economy, Resource Protection and Environmental Law
Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection
