2026 Annual Conference - May 26-28 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Professor Marcos Troyjo is a Distinguished Fellow at INSEAD and a Transformational Leadership Fellow at the University of Oxford. He will be the 2026-2027 Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT.

He is a Global Advisor of the European Investment Bank and a member of management or advisory Boards of Inditex, Minerva Foods, União Química, Bosch and Global Neighbours.

Professor Troyjo plays key leadership roles in multilateral finance, government, business, academia, and the public debate on economic development.

He served as Brazil’s Deputy Economy Minister and Special Secretary for Foreign Trade & International Affairs. He was a President of the New Development Bank (NDB) — and the first westerner to lead a multilateral organisation headquartered in Asia.

He co-founded and was co-director of the BRICLab at Columbia | SIPA, where he taught international economics.

An economist, political scientist, and diplomat, he holds a Master’s and a PhD in international relations from the University of São Paulo and pursued postdoctoral studies at Columbia University. 

Professor Troyjo authors books on development, technology and global affairs.

Everton is the CEO of ArcelorMittal Long Carbon LATAM. He joined the Group in 2010 as a commercial specialist in the Brazilian operations, working on the import of heavy profiles and structural products. In 2011, he became a project manager at ArcelorMittal, responsible for implementing a welded tube unit, and in 2013 he was appointed purchasing manager. Everton was initially responsible for local purchases and warehouses, then for corporate services and logistics purchases. In 2015, he became head of local purchasing and warehousing at ArcelorMittal Brasil and, in 2016, head of corporate purchasing. 

In 2017, he took on the role of sales manager for Long Carbon in the southern region of Brazil. From 2018 to 2020, Everton was director of sales planning and supply chain at Acindar in Argentina, before his appointment as executive director in September 2020. Between April 2023 and June 2024, Everton acted as vice president of commercial and metallics for Long Carbon Brazil, until he became CEO. On April 1, 2025, he assumed the positions of CEO Long Carbon LATAM and vice president of ArcelorMittal Brasil. Everton holds a degree in mechanical engineering with a specialization in production management. He has an MBA from Fundação Dom Cabral, Brazil.

Clare Hanna joined CRU in August 2019 and currently works as a Senior Analyst covering manganese Ore and Ferroalloys. Clare has over 30 years’ experience in the steel industry with British Steel, Corus and Tata Steel in a range of strategy, sales, marketing and procurement roles. While in procurement she was Lead Buyer for ferroalloys for Tata Steel Group, which included responsibility for purchasing manganese alloys for the European sites. Clare holds an MBA from Warwick Business School and BA Honours degree in Economics from Leeds University.

Morné Ruiters is the Chief Marketing Officer of Manganese Metal Company, the world’s largest producer of selenium-free, high-purity (99.9% Mn) manganese metal products. The company supplies demanding global markets across Japan, the USA, Europe, Africa and Asia, serving industries including lithium-ion batteries, specialty steels, rolled aluminium, welding consumables, high-value non-ferrous metals and chemical applications.

With more than 15 years of experience in the global manganese industry, Morné has built a strong reputation for delivering value to customers through consistent and reliable supply, deep technical expertise, and a strong focus on customer service. His experience spans both commercial and production environments, giving him a well-rounded understanding of the metals and materials value chain.

Earlier in his career, Morné held positions at Imerys South Africa in industrial minerals and at Anglo American’s Namakwa Sands operation in titanium and zirconium production. He holds a BTech degree in Chemistry from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and completed the Management Advancement Programme (MAP) at Wits Business School.

Passionate about lifelong learning and leadership development, Morné believes in building strong, mutually beneficial relationships — both in business and in life.

Tanisha is a Senior Research Analyst at Project Blue, where she specialises in the manganese and chromium markets. She leads the stainless steel team and manages ferroalloy research in South Africa, with a strong understanding of how regional production dynamics influence global supply.

Tanisha’s expertise spans market analysis, production and cost modeling, and geopolitical risk assessment. She monitors developments from upstream mining through refining and logistics to end-use demand, particularly in sectors linked to the energy transition and advanced materials. She brings valuable insight into how global energy and trade shifts—such as rising electricity costs, carbon regulation, and shifting export policies—are reshaping cost structures and competitive positioning through the ferroalloys supply chain.

In addition, Tanisha contributes to research on CO₂ emissions and sustainability in extractive and refining industries, building on her academic background in geosciences.

Jean-Thibault de Besombes serves as VP Sales, Manganese Products at Vibrantz Technologies, a specialty chemicals and materials solutions company and leading producer of manganese chemicals including EMD and battery-grade manganese sulphate.

He has over 10 years of experience in the manganese chemicals industry through various commercial and strategy leadership positions in Erachem Comilog and then Prince International Corporation which is now Vibrantz. Prior to that, he worked as a strategy consultant. Jean-Thibault holds two Master of Science degrees from Ecole Polytechnique (France) and California Institute of Technology (USA).

Kevin Fowkes has worked as an economist and consultant in the ferroalloy industry since 1998.  His company AlloyMetrics provides bespoke consulting services to the ferroalloy industry. 

Kevin’s previous roles in consulting include having been a Research Director for Wood Mackenzie, and a consultant for both Hatch and CRU International.  He is also a former employee of two ferroalloy producing companies; he was a Business Development Manager for the Ukrainian manganese producer Privat Group, and a Senior Market Analyst for the Norwegian silicon producer Elkem.

Brad Rogers was appointed Managing Director and CEO of Jupiter Mines Ltd in August 2022. 

Brad is a highly experienced mining sector executive. Prior to his appointment at Jupiter Mines, Mr Rogers held the position of Managing Director of Bis Industries for 7 years from 2015, having been a part of Bis’ senior leadership team since 2008. Prior to Bis, Brad worked as head of corporate development for gold mining, infrastructure and engineering company GRD Limited and as a strategy consultant for Mainsheet Corporate and Arthur Andersen.

Edward Li joined Qunxian in 2010 and served as CEO for many years, with overall responsibility for the company’s trade, production, financing, and merger & acquisition activities.

He possesses over 15 years of extensive experience in the global and Chinese manganese ore trade, with deep expertise in analyzing the Chinese market. In addition to​ his trade expertise, he has over eight years of direct, hands-on experience​ in factory management, specializing in the production of SiMn and high/medium/low-carbon FeMn.

With substantial knowledge of China’s new energy industry and power market reform, he has a particular focus on applying new energy technologies within the manganese alloy industry.

Prior to his association with Qunxian, he worked in the Corporate Finance Advisory division at Deloitte and Assurance department at PwC. He holds the CICPA (Chinese CPA) and CIA (Certified Internal Auditor) credentials.

Guilherme Lage Becker is a Procurement General Manager at Gerdau, one of the world’s leading steel producers. He holds a degree in Control and Automation Engineering and an Executive MBA.

With over 15 years of experience in the steel industry, he has built his career across logistics and procurement functions, and for the past seven years has been focused on sourcing strategic raw materials for steel production. His work involves close engagement with internal and external stakeholders to support Gerdau’s sustainability strategy, including supply chain decarbonization and Scope 3 collaboration with key suppliers such as the manganese industry.

Rocklin Reed joined the Ore & Metal Company in 2017 as the Group’s Senior Manager for Safety, Health, Environment, Risk & Quality (SHERQ).

Initially studying and qualifying in the fields of Analytical Chemistry and Safety Management, Rocklin has fulfilled various HSE Specialist, Project and Leadership roles within BHP Billiton (Aluminium) and Rio Tinto (Titanium and Heavy Minerals) over a period of 21 years.

Rocklin also currently serves as the IMnI HSE Committee Chairperson. 

Dr Doreen McGough has over 23 years' work experience in the industry, 17 of which have been spent dealing solely with manganese. She was HSE Director of the International Manganese Institute (IMnI) from 2009-2017, where she had the responsibility of enhancing industry’s understanding of the toxicological/ecotoxicological profile of many manganese-based substances and the corresponding risks and benefits associated with their use.

As the Institute’s chief scientist, Dr McGough published over 12 peer-reviewed articles concerning manganese. Alongside her work at the IMnI she worked for the Manganese REACH Administration (MARA) on lease as its main scientific advisor where she eventually became the Executive Director in 2017 to Present.

As the Executive Director of MARA, Doreen manages and works with over 12 health/safety and regulations consulting firms worldwide made of some 25 renowned scientists. Their work mainly focuses on supporting the metal industry towards smooth regulatory compliances.

An Anglo-Cameroonian, Dr McGough holds a BSc in biology, an MSc in environmental pollution control, and a doctorate in environmental toxicology from the University of Nottingham (UK) where she began her career as a lecturer.  

Alex Puissant, a Brussels journalist, is a prominent international conference facilitator. As a foreign correspondent, editor and news anchorman, he has ensured television news coverage, including live comments and interviews, from around Europe and the USA.

As an independent conference moderator, he has chaired hundreds of sessions and panel discussions with speakers as diverse as Vaclav Havel, Margaret Thatcher, and Bill Gates. He has worked for global corporations and associations as well as European Union institutions and the United Nations Organization in New York.

Alex Puissant, a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in the City of New York, is the author of “The press, a voice on behalf of the citizen?” on social responsibility of the media, published on behalf of the King Baudouin Foundation.