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)
Dr. Florian Kammerer
Ministerialrat
Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Klimaschutz, Naturschutz und nukleare Sicherheit (BMUKN)
Arnoud Passenier
Strategic International Advisor Circular Economy
Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management in The Netherlands
Oliver Krischer
Minister for the Environment, Nature Protection, and Transport
NRW
Mona Neubaur
Minister of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection, and Energy
NRW
Ina Scharrenbach
Minister for Home Affairs, Local Government, Building and Digitalisation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, MdL
Viktor Haase
State Secretary
Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport
Silke Krebs
State Secretary
Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Action and Energy of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia MWIKE NRW
Dr. Henrik Ahlers
Country Managing Partner EY Germany
EY Deutschland GmbH
Walter Ahn
Founder
WASTO-PAC GmbH
Tobias Albers
A.T. Kearney GmbH
Dr. Maike Albers-Malkus
Head of Funding Advice &
Customer Service
NRW.BANK
Eckhard Alles
Sales Manager Chemistry and Biotechnology
Centrimax-Winkelhorst Trenntechnik GmbH
Saskia Backhaus
Partner People Consulting
EY Consulting GmbH
Ellis Bauer
Project Management ProDiNA
AWS Institut
Jana Bauer
Research associate and Project Lead
Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences – Institute for Livable and Sustainable Urban Development (In-LUST)
Martin Bellof
lead@chemstars
chemstars
Dr. Britta Bookhagen
Head of Unit “Secondary Raw Materials”
German Mineral Resources Agency (DERA)
Dr. Lars Börger
CEO
nova-Institut für politische und ökologische Innovation GmbH
Holger Bramsiepe
Managing Partner
Generationdesign
Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart
Professor, Chair of Eco-Design
Leuphana University of Lüneburg / RSM
Matthias Brey
EY Partner and Europe West Sustainability Leader; Carbon2Chem® project partner
EY Consulting GmbH
Chérine De Bruijn
Managing director
CORPORATE KITCHEN®
Volker Buchta
Sales Director DACH Flow Controls
Emerson Sempell GmbH
Dr. Christine Bunte
Managing Director
PlasticsEurope Deutschland e.V.
Dr. Christoph Burgstaller
Managing Director, Scientific Director
Transfercenter für Kunststofftechnik GmbH
Mo Chatterji
Head of Circular Economy, EU
Kearney
Bety Chu
Head of Business Unit Sustainable Transformation
NRW Global Business
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Görge Deerberg
Director for Transfer | Coordination Carbon2Chem®
Fraunhofer UMSICHT
Florian Demnitz
Manager Energy
Borussia Dortmund
Linda Dierke
Head of Development & Cooperation
efa – Effizienz-Agentur NRW
Wolfram N. Diener
CEO
Messe Düsseldorf GmbH
Prof. Dr. -Ing. Christian Doetsch
Spokesman Fraunhofer Energy Alliance and Head of Institute Fraunhofer UMSICHT
Fraunhofer Energy Alliance and Fraunhofer UMSICHT
Mark Dorn
Executive Vice President Henkel Adhesive Technologies and member of the Henkel Management Board
Henkel AG & Co. KGaA
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Welf-Guntram Drossel
Executive Director
Fraunhofer IWU
Dr. Ralf Düssel
Head of Sustainability
Evonik Industries AG
Marieke Eckhardt
Project Manager Circular Economy and Green Tech Innovation
Prognos AG
Steffen Erath
Head of Innovation & Sustainability
hansgrohe
Timo Ernst
Senior Manager
Sustainable Group
Anne Farken
Associate Director, Sustainability Consulting
Designworks, a BMW Group Company
Johannes Fischer
Senior Consultant
VDI Technologiezentrum GmbH – Green AI Hub
Dr. Timo Fleßner
SVP, Manufacturing API & Medical Devices Lead
Bayer AG
Dorothea Flockert
Head of Group Sustainability
Speira
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Matthias Franke
Head of the Sulzbach-Rosenberg
Fraunhofer CCPE / Fraunhofer UMSICHT
Antoine Gaillard
Project lead DiCES, Team Lead for Production Planning
FIR e.V. an der RWTH Aachen
Alexander Garbar
Head of Corporate Development, Digitalization and Strategy
duisport- Duisburger Hafen AG
Oliver Geiger
Senior Sustainability Manager at the Performance Materials Division
BASF SE
Daniel Grosse
Division Manager Americas +
Head of Digital Sales
Leser GmbH & Co KG
Melanie Hackler
CEO
Matterr
Michael Heinzelreiter
Project Manager
Business Upper Austria
Tobias Hense
Philips Capital Manager DACH
Philips GmbH Market DACH
Dr.-Ing. Markus Hiebel
Co-Head of Research Department: Circular Logistics and Sustainability
Fraunhofer CCPE / Fraunhofer UMSICHT
Reiner Hoffmann
Chairperson
Rat für nachhaltige Entwicklung
Inge Hofkens
COO Multimetal Recycling
Aurubis AG
Dr. Alexander Hofmann
Head of Department Advanced Recycling Technologies
Fraunhofer CCPE / Fraunhofer UMSICHT
Gordana Hofmann-Jovic
Head of Engineering Department Concepts & Solutions
YNCORIS GmbH & Co. KG
Christian Hündgen
Managing Director
Hündgen Entsorgungs GmbH & Co. KG
Tim Janßen
CEO
Cradle to Cradle NGO (C2C NGO)
Sonja Jost
CEO
DUDECHEM
Sebastian Karnapp
CliCE-DiPP Project Lead and
Research Assistant
PTW TU Darmstadt
Kevin Käther
Wirtschaftsförderung Düsseldorf
Andreas Kellermann
Global Sales Director
Pöppelmann
Dr.-Ing. Anna Kerps
Research Department: Circular Logistics and Sustainability
Fraunhofer CCPE / Fraunhofer UMSICHT
Bas Kil
Business Development manager
Ore Energy
Dr. Christian Kirchnawy
Project Manager
OFI Research Institute for Chemistry and Technology
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Klankermayer
Chair of Translational Molecular Catalysis, Director of the Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry (ITMC) @ RWTH and Spokesperson of the WSS Research Centre catalaix
catalaix / RWTH Aachen University
Jan-Philip Kopka
Co-Head of Research Department:
Circular Logistics and Sustainability
Fraunhofer CCPE / Fraunhofer IML
Dr. Stephan Kothrade
Member of the Executive Board and Chief Technology Officer
BASF
Eleni Kougioumtzi
Senior Expert for resource‑efficient materials
Mercedes‑Benz AG
Thomas Krämer
Director Asia | Pacific
WIPOTEC GmbH
Rohit Krishnam
Global Strategy Consultant
Nav Yuj
Werner Kruschitz
CEO
KRM Recycling
Sebastian Krzyzanowski
Manager Environment
Borussia Dortmund
Cornelius Laaser
Head of Unit for resource efficiency and circular economy
Ministry of Environment, Agriculture, Nature, and Consumer Protection NRW
Claudia Legawiec
Stakeholder Relations Manager
EREMA Group GmbH
Prof. Dr. Walter Leitner
Managing Director – Molecular Catalysis
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion (MPI-CEC)
Matthias Lesch
Managing Director
Pöppelmann Holding GmbH & Co. KG
Dr. Andreas Mäurer
Head of Department
Fraunhofer CCPE / Fraunhofer IVV
Marc Meijers
Owner / Director
DenimX BV
Maxmilian Merklinger
DACH Lead Sustainability
A.T. Kearney GmbH
Jörn Messner
Vice President Digital Operations Solutions
Lufthansa Group
Frank Meyer
Senior Vice Presitent R&D Henkel Consumer Brands
Henkel AG & Co. KGaA
Hanna Middendorf
Innovation and Technology Consultant (BIT)
Handwerkskammer Düsseldorf
Daniel Morais
CEO
Aero Labs
Brigitte Mouligneau
Manager
Strategic Advisor Circular Economy
Flanders Circular
Torsten Müller
Leader Research Department Advanced Recycling at Fraunhofer CCPE, Speaker Core-Expertise Polymer Technology at Fraunhofer ICT, Group leader sustainability and circularity assessment (SuCA) at Fraunhofer ICT
Fraunhofer CCPE / Fraunhofer ICT
Prof. Dr. Eike Musall
Professorship for Building Performance
Hochschule Düsseldorf
Inge Neven
CEO
Vito BE
Ingo Noppen
Executive Board
Wupperverband
Dr. Markus Oles
Coordination Carbon2Chem®
Funding2you
Prof. Dr. Regina Palkovits
Chair of Heterogeneous Catalysis and Technical Chemistry @RWTH, Director of the Institute of a Sustainable Hydrogen Economy @FZJ and Spokesperson of the WSS Research Centre catalaix
catalaix / RWTH Aachen University & Forschungszentrum Jülich
Beate Petersen
Economy of the Common Good (ECOnGOOD)
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stephan Ramesohl
Co-Head of the Digital Transformation Research Department
Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt, Energie gGmbH
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Manfred Renner
Institute Director UMSICHT
Spokesperson CCPE
Fraunhofer UMSICHT / Fraunhofer CCPE
Alissa Ritter
Corporate Sustainability Lead
Rosenthal – Arcturus Group
Prof. Dr. Channing Rex Robertson
Emeritus Professor of Chemical Engineering
Stanford University
Jana Rödiger
Deputy Head of CIRCO Hub
efa – Effizienz-Agentur NRW
Alexander Roeske
Stiftung Arbeit und Umwelt, IGBCE
André Rolfes
Chief Sustainability Officer
GEFA BANK GmbH
Reinhold Rünker
Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Action and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
Dr. Ingo Sartorius
Managing Director
BKV GmbH
Hartmut Schäfer
Economy of the Common Good (ECOnGOOD)
Talke Schaffrannek
Director Circular Economy
BASF SE
Michael Scharpf
Head Sustainable Construction
Holcim Germany
Philip Scheffler
Project Lead Circular Valley Convention
Messe Düsseldorf GmbH
Dr. Michael Scherz
Economic Representative
WKÖ – AUSSENWIRTSCHAFT AUSTRIA
Prof. Robert Schlögl
Project Coordination Carbon2Chem®
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion
Gloria Schmidt
Manager
PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH / Kompetenznetzwerk Umweltwirtschaft.NRW
Prof. Christoph Schmidt
President
RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research
Frank Schockemöhle
Head of Technology Management
Pöppelmann Kunststoff-Technik GmbH & Co. KG
Andrea Scholz
Circular Business Development
Sustina AG
HA Schult
Artist
Gerhard Seizer
Executive Director
TEAMS
Dr. Constantin von Selasinky
Head of Circular Economy Coordination Center
Energy4Climate
Dr. Michel Siemon
CEO
Primobius
Kerstin Sochor
editor-in-chief
Österreichische Kunststoffzeitschrift
Dr. Thomas Stoffmehl
CEO
Vorwerk Group
Dr. Christoph F. Strnadl
CTO
Gaia-X European Association for Data and Cloud AISBL
Frank Terhorst
EVP Strategy & Sustainability Crop Science
Bayer AG
Ansgar Thole
President & MD
Komatsu Germany GmbH
Heiko Tullney
Executive Director
Indeed Innovation
Julia Urbauer
Associate Director
Sustainable AG
Sven Urselmann
Founder and owner
urselmann interior
Torsten Wagner
Manager Piping
Covestro Deutschland AG
Andreas Walingen
Head of Group Circular Economy
Volkswagen AG
Dr Zee Wang
Founder & CEO
AOLEEN
Dr. Hendrik Wehr
COO and Speaker of the Board
Vorwerk Elektrowerke GmbH & Co. KG
Roger Wietusch
Commercial Manager DACH
KYOTO Group
Dr. Henning Wilts
Head of the Circular Economy Department
Wuppertal Institut / FernUni Hagen
Dr. Laura Wollny
Research assistant
VDI-Gesellschaft Energie und Umwelt
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
