Event Speakers
- Day 1: Monday, 02nd November, 2020
Dr. Daniel Schmücking
Daniel Schmücking was born in 1982 in Germany. He studied political science and sociology at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena (Germany) and the Palacky University in Olomouc (Czech Republic). His professional and scientific focus is on political communication and election campaigns. He worked as a campaigner for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). In his dissertation he devoted himself to the topic of the effects and development of negative political advertising in Germany. As part of his doctoral studies, he spent time at the University of Maryland (USA) and the University of California (USA). He taught at universities in Jena (Germany), Erfurt (Germany) and Budapest (Hungary). From 2015-2017, he headed the Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s (KAS) office in Mongolia. Since the beginning of 2018 he has been country director of KAS in Cambodia.
Twitter: @d_schmuecking
Linkedin: Daniel Schmücking
Tassilo Brinzer
Sajith Edirisuriya
Sajith Edirisuriya is the General Manager of Chip Mong Ecocycle which is the waste management arm of the Chip Mong Insee Cement Company, and has been a part of the organisation since early 2017. Prior to joining Chip Mong Insee, he has worked on various Multinational companies in Cement, Waste Management and Insurance sector in Sri Lanka and Cambodia. Sajith has more than 15 years experience in the area of Waste Management, Strategic Planning and Execution, Project Management, Corporate Finance, Business Development in various organizations and he has extensive experience in Lecturing in various Universities and Business Institutes as a part time lecturer.
Twitter: @sajithedirisoo1
Linkedin: Sajith Edirisooriya
Sebastian Frisch
Sebastian Frisch, one of the managing directors of BlackForest Solutions Gmbh (BFS), hold responsibility of leading an international waste management consultancy team of 18 staff. Mr. Frisch has 18 years of waste management experience in more than 60 countries, with 12 years of practical experience in EPR for SWM and the circular economy sector. He is currently leading a project in Kuwait to survey and establish a comprehensive database for a national waste management system.
Linkedin: Sebastian Frisch
Marc Loskarn
Marc Loskarn is a Project Engineer at EUWELLE, specialized in mechanical biological treatment facilities (MBT). Mr. Loskarn holds a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering and Sustainable Chemical Technologies. He has collaborated with the Fraunhofer UMSICHT Institute since 2017 in the “Development and implementation of an integrated waste management plan in Kuwait” providing solutions for, among others, MSW streams.
Hubert Wienands
Hubert Wienands is the Managing Director of EUWELLE and EuRec. He has more than 30 years experience in environmental technology. His expertise has contributed to the technical implementation of engineering solutions in over 300 plants worldwide. Since 1996, Mr. Wienands is involved in further development of the Maximum Yield Technology (MYT).
- Day 2: Tuesday, 03rd November, 2020
Sam Phalla
Phalla Sam is a Deputy Director of Cambodian Education and Waste Management Organization (COMPED). He supervises Waste Management Project Groups and manages a composting project in Battambang province, Cambodia. Over the last twenty years, Phalla has coordinated and implemented several projects, for example, capacity building, public awareness raising, and waste, energy and climate change, and conducted studies such as analysis of institutional and legal framework on solid waste management and of waste characteristics for composting and energy. Phalla holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from Chamroeun University of Polytechnology, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and is a diploma engineer in Mechanical Engineering at Rostock University in Germany.
Marc Loskarn
Marc Loskarn is a Project Engineer at EUWELLE, specialized in mechanical biological treatment facilities (MBT). Mr. Loskarn holds a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering and Sustainable Chemical Technologies. He has collaborated with the Fraunhofer UMSICHT Institute since 2017 in the “Development and implementation of an integrated waste management plan in Kuwait” providing solutions for, among others, MSW streams.
Rolf Keil
Rolf is a commercially astute, visionary and creative Senior Manager with an extensive background of more than 20 years in the industrial manufacturing, mining, water, power, waste, utilities, environmental infrastructure and asset management sectors. Throughout his international career, Rolf was covering Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East and North America, where he is recognised as a strong and knowledgeable leader, able to manage multicultural teams and diverse stakeholders from both public and private sectors, to deliver strategic organizational objectives. Awards and repeated features in Forbes and alike are some of the acknowledgments, Rolf received in return for his relentless push to realize his vision for an advanced and integrated, truly sustainable, circular environmental resources management around the globe.
Linkedin: Rolf Keil
- Day 3: Wednesday, 04th November, 2020
H.E. Dr. Ngin Lina
H.E. Dr. Ngin Lina is currently the Deputy Secretary General Secretariat of the National Council for Sustainable Development at the Ministry of Environment. Prior to this, she was the Director General of the General Directorate of Environmental Knowledge and Information. For her educational background, she received a Diploma of Chemistry Food at University Technology in Prague, Czechoslovakia Republic and also graduated division on principle epidemiology and research at UCLA in the United States. Later in 2011, she pursued her Master Degree of Public Health and International Development at Flinders University in South Australia.
Pak Sokharavuth
Pak has been working for MoE for nearly 30 years in the field of pollution control. At present, he is responsible for the Montreal protocol on substances that deplete ozone layers, and the overseeing the department of hazardous substance management and solid waste management.
Federico Tempestilli
Federico has a background in Industrial Engineering, combined with MBA studies. He is originally from Italy, and moved to Cambodia in 2018 to work on sustainable development in emerging markets with particular focus on the role of private sector and social enterprises in driving a positive change.
Linkedin: Federico Tempestilli
Anika Funk
Anika Funk is a consultant with UNDP Cambodia, focused on private sector engagement for circular economy options in Cambodia. She has over 5 years of communications and partnership building experience in the private sector and for the United Nations. She co-founded an e-commerce social enterprise and has worked with global clients across North America, Africa, Asia and Europe to support their communications needs.
Linkedin: Anika Funk
Jef Moons
Jef Moons is the CEO of Knai Bang Chatt. He is a mixed nationality of Khmer and Belgian. He was born on 06th June 19962. He studied MBA in Belgium and MIM in the US. He is into architecture, art, and design. He has lived in Cambodia since 2005 and adopted one Khmer son. He is currently an investor and operator. He calls himself an impact manager as he works mainly for the common good.
Linkedin: Jef Moons
Sandy Kotan
Sandy Kotan is the owner and Chief Earth Cleaner of Only One Planet Cambodia. From America originally, the travel bug bit her in 2001 and she eventually ended up finding a forever home in Cambodia. A serial entrepreneur, this isn’t her first venture in Asia. But after time in Hong Kong, Singapore, and breaking to volunteer, she finally found the passion that was missing. Finding and selling practical, safe alternatives to single use plastic isn’t the only thing close to Sandy’s heart. She’s also a spirited believer in local activism and creating an ecosystem of environmental organizations that lift each other up. Hoping to improve the Cambodian environment and health of its people, Sandy works on a variety of projects to support waste reduction and education.
Linkedin: Sandy Kotan
Phynuch Thong
Phynuch Thong is the Head of Solutions Mapping, UNDP Accelerator Labs Cambodia with a current mission on integrating innovation practice into UNDP circular economy strategy. Prior to joining UN’s global innovation network, Phynuch has harnessed years of hands-on experience from building up non-profit organizations where he co-founded ASEAN Youth Leaders Association Cambodia to serving in diplomatic corps, British Embassy in Cambodia. He is an advocate for people’s ingenuity, application of technology, and creative problem solving.
Twitter: @phynuch
Linkedin: Phynuch Thong
Sanghamitra Mandal
Sanghamitra Mandal is a branding and communications professional from India, who grew up in Libya amidst much cultural plurality. Authentic products, emerging cultures and a multi-faceted environment get her going. Over the last thirteen years, she has worked on local and global brands in creative powerhouses, digital media and startups – creating brands & platforms and increasing communication efficiency with a keen focus on behaviour change. Her current pursuit is to find creative and functional ways to engage people towards a greener, healthier and happier world.
Linkedin: Sanghamitra Mandal
- Day 4: Thursday, 05th November, 2020
Christophe Pautrat
Christophe Pautrat is Head of Global Partnerships and Operations Development in the Landbell Group in charge of developing Landbell’s global presence, through local cooperation, advisory on EPR and direct investment. Christophe Pautrat’s involvement in EPR started 16 years ago when he took part in the cooperation between 4 global companies that led to the creation of the European Recycling Platform in 2004, the first pan-European e-waste PRO. Christophe is also currently providing advice under GIZ assignment in Egypt on Packaging EPR including the development of a pilot project in the tourist area. His services have also been retained under similar GIZ assignment for advice on Packaging EPR in Algeria and SouthEast Asia.
Linkedin: Christophe Pautrat
Sebastian Frisch
Sebastian Frisch, one of the managing directors of BlackForest Solutions GmbH (BFS), hold responsibility of leading an international waste management consultancy team of 18 staffs. Mr. Frisch has 18 years of waste management experience in more than 60 countries, with 12 years of practical experience in EPR for SWM and the circular economy sector. He is currently leading a project in Kuwait to survey and establish a comprehensive database for a national waste management system.
Linkedin: Sebastian Frisch
Jean-Marc Bouillon
Jean-Marc Bouillon has 30 years of experience in the Technical & Production field in one of the world’s largest bottled water companies. He also has gathered practical experience in bottling operations, investment projects, and various standards. Mr. Bouillon is currently writing a thesis focusing on plastic bottle collection at Paris Dauphine University at the EDBA program.
Martin Pakulat
Martin has got more than 14 years of working experience in the national and international hazardous waste management market – dealing with all types of hazardous waste and all kinds of customers. Currently, he is specialized in the treatment and disposal of metallic mercury and mercury-containing waste.
Adem Viqa
Adem Viqa is the Chairman & Managing Director of Viqa Group of Companies; Middle East Region which is operating since generations and providing the Specialized Services for the Mining & Recycling Solutions. He has devoted 90% of his practice to the Recycling & Waste Management services and he has extensive experience in unusual and innovative ideas. He is a German citizen basically holding a Graduation in Civil Engineering started his career in Germany and gradually moved to the Middle East and Africa to expand the business. Through his vision he developed many innovative ideas and succeeded in various Recycling Projects.
Okka Phyo Maung
Okka is co-founder and CMO/CFO of Recyglo, Myanmar’s first recycle & Sustainability-tech Company for recycling, waste management, circular economy & resource recovery. Okka has a background in management consulting at EY (Ernst & Young). He lived and worked for 8 years in the United States, Hong Kong, South Korea, Belgium, Norway, Czech Republic, and Japan before returning to Yangon. Organizational transformation expert and highlighted experience involve Unilever Indonesia, Frisian Flag Indonesia and Alibaba China. RecyGlo implements waste management platforms and practices through smart logistics, recycling service, and reporting mechanisms for traceability. In two years they managed to recycle more than 1,000 tonnes of waste. RecyGlo also provides an e-commerce trading platform where people can sell and buy recycle raw materials through the whole supply chain, which is a key way to support sustainable practices in Myanmar.
- Day 5: Friday, 06th November, 2020
Christina Jager
Christina Jager is a co-founded of Yunus Environment Hub (YEH) together with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus and his Creative Advisor Hans Reitz. YEH develops social business solutions that tackle the environmental and climate crisis. Christina was appointed to the Commission on Sustainable Business, Trade and Finance of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation & Development and serves as co-chair of the ministry’s PREVENT Waste Alliance. Since 2015 she is a Responsible Leader of the BMW Foundation World Responsible Leaders network and has received a Social Impact Scholarship of KfW Foundation in 2016.
Linkedin: Christina Jager
Dennis Pulimittathu
Dannis Pulimittathu is currently a Managing Director of Zonta Global Infratech GmbH based at Düsseldorf, Germany. Dennis is focusing on international business operations of Zonta Environment Group. Dennis has about 20 years of valuable experience in International Waste Management industry and multinational management roles. Prior to becoming part of Zonta Environment Group Dennis has handled the role of International Engineering Consultant for environment projects and he was the Managing Director of REMONDIS Group in its Asia Pacific foray, one of the largest family owned business houses in the area of Environment and Circular Economy.
Linkedin: Dennis Pulimittathu
Dr. Ing Lothar Stach
Lothar Stach was born in 1959. After school and military service, Lothar Stach began his university studies in 1981 as a graduate engineer for mechanical engineering and obtained his doctorate in engineering in 1988. From Wildeshausen he also develops the ideas and concepts that he is thinking ahead with DOSTA GmbH, founded in 2013, for globally operating customers.
Joel Tasche
Joel Tasche is a certified waste management officer at CleanHub. He was an early employee at SaaS startup Avrios Marketing and Customer Success lead from Series A to Series B. Mr. Tasche holds a degree in Intercultural Management.
Aurora Rios Islas
Aurora Rios studied Solid Waste and Wastewater Process Engineering at the University of Stuttgart and also holds a degree in environmental and resource management. She is part of the International Business Development team at BlackForest Solutions GmbH (BFS) in Berlin. Prior to her engagement with BFS, Aurora worked at the MANN + HUMMEL Group in environmental engineering projects involving industrial wastewater filtration, as well as the design and testing of an air filter for hazardous industrial waste gases. Additionally, she worked together with the Bergmann AG in providing decentralized wastewater treatment solutions. On this matter, she co-developed pilot projects for water reuse abroad and supported in the development of operations in Spain and Latin America.
Linkedin: Aurora R.
Eric Schaffner
Eric Schaffner has worked in the beverage packaging industry for over 20 years, in a variety of commercial leadership and operational roles worldwide. After several years in Japan, he relocated to Dubai, where he met his partners who share the same values and willingness to help changing habits in society, health and sustainability. Sensitive to the growing issue of plastic pollution, they decided to found ZeLoop; an innovative Circular Economy Rewarding Platform to make our planet healthier. This includes a mobile application rewarding consumers on plastic bottle collection.
Twitter: @zeloop_
Linkedin: Eric Schaffner
Matteo Chiampo
Matteo supports the implementation of The Incubator Network (TIN), which identifies and accelerates solutions to prevent ocean plastic pollution in South and Southeast Asia. TIN is an initiative by SecondMuse, a leading company developing ecosystems that promote innovation in technology, business models, regulation, and positive social impact.
While living and working in several developing countries in Asia, Matteo has experienced first-hand the urgency to accelerate the transition to a more equal, inclusive, and sustainable economic system, and to reduce humanity’s impact on Earth’s life-supporting systems. His work at Eko India Financial Services, a pioneer in providing basic financial services to the unbanked and underbanked, and his consulting on financial inclusion for CGAP, an office of the World Bank, contributed to this transition.
Matteo holds a Master in Sustainability at Harvard Extension School, and MBA from Boston University, and an MS in aeronautical engineering from Politecnico di Milano, Italy.
H.E. Ambassador Christian Berger
Ambassador Berger was born in Spain in 1956. After finishing high school at a Jesuite College in Bonn in 1974, draft military service, and a banking apprenticeship, he did his Master in Economics Studies at the University of Cologne. Before joining the German Foreign Office in 1986, he worked for Deutsch-Südamerikanische Bank in Hamburg for two years.
His domestic assignments include two years at the Minister’s private office and five years as a personal assistant for one of the two State Secretaries. He served as director of the South East Asia Division and was responsible for the sub-department of foreign trade.
His foreign assignments include Malaysia and Brussel (Nation and EU). In 2000, he was appointed as Ambassador to Lao P.D.R, followed by assignments to Ecuador and Iraq. From 2016 to 2019, he served as Ambassador to the Social Republic of Vietnam. In September 2019, he was appointed as Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia.
Dr. Daniel Schmücking
Daniel Schmücking was born in 1982 in Germany. He studied political science and sociology at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena (Germany) and the Palacky University in Olomouc (Czech Republic). His professional and scientific focus is on political communication and election campaigns. He worked as a campaigner for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). In his dissertation he devoted himself to the topic of the effects and development of negative political advertising in Germany. As part of his doctoral studies, he spent time at the University of Maryland (USA) and the University of California (USA). He taught at universities in Jena (Germany), Erfurt (Germany) and Budapest (Hungary). From 2015-2017, he headed the Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s (KAS) office in Mongolia. Since the beginning of 2018 he has been country director of KAS in Cambodia.
Twitter: @d_schmuecking
Linkedin: Daniel Schmücking
- Moderators
Mom Saroeun
Mom Saroeun is a Senior Program Manager for the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) in Cambodia. He has been working almost 18 years in the foundation in charge of the environment, renewable energy and climate change. He holds his Bachelor Degree at the former East Germany in engineering for foundry technology, then his Master Degree also at Federal Republic of Germany in engineering for Ceramics. Moreover, he is now writing his PhD’s thesis at Khemera University in Sociology on the improvement of administrative services at commune levels.
Moeko Saito-Jensen
Dr. Moeko Saito-Jensen is an environmental policy specialist of UNDP Cambodia. She has been working with UNDP Cambodia for more than 7 years and is a focal point for environmental initiatives including “circular economy”, “plastic waste management” and “natural resources management” in Cambodia. Before joining UNDP, she worked at the World Bank, JICA, and Copenhagen University. She holds a PhD degree of natural resource management from Copenhagen University, Denmark and a master’s degree of environmental economics and policy from Duke University, U.S.
Linkedin: Moeko Saito-Jensen
Leif Holmberg
Leif Holmberg is a Climate Change and Environmental Policy Specialist for UNDP. He works in Cambodia with climate change mitigation and waste management. Currently focusing on organic waste treatment and environmental control of waste incineration. Leif holds a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University, USA and has previously worked for the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency with air quality and climate change.
Twitter: @LeifHolmberg3
Linkedin: Leif Holmber
Michael Wasserman
Michael Wasserman is a Circular Economy consultant and has worked with the United Nations Development Programme since 2019. He is originally from the United States of America and received his MA in Globalization, Business, and Development from the Institute of Development Studies in Brighton, UK. Michael has lived in Cambodia for 4 of the past 6 years, first arriving as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer where he worked in Banteay Meanchey province supporting local community initiatives and more recently has worked as a consultant with SMEs, NGOs, and UNDP promoting an inclusive transition to a circular economy.
Linkedin: Michael Wasserman
Dr. Bianca Untied
Dr. Bianca Untied is currently the coordinator of the Business & Cooperation Desk of the GIZ Global Business Network Programme (GBN) within the German chapter of EuroCham Cambodia. She provides information, advice and guidance to support local, German and other European businesses and institutions in engaging in development cooperation. She is convinced that the Sustainable Development Goals can only be achieved once the private sector is actively involved.
Prior to joining GIZ Cambodia and EuroCham, Bianca worked at the Bremen chamber of commerce in Germany. She has been working for German development cooperation for the last 14 years. Bianca is German and received her higher education degrees in economic geography from Münster, Gießen, and Marburg universities in Germany.
Linkedin: Bianca United