eHeat Ireland 2024 Conference Speakers
Alice Marren - Ahscragh Distillery
Bio to Follow
Anthony McGarry- Global Senior Energy Manager - Coca-Cola Ballina
Anthony McGarry, a distinguished Global Senior Energy Manager at Coca-Cola's Ballina facility, with over 20 years of expertise in the energy sector. With an MSc in Energy Management from IT Sligo, where he graduated with first-class honours, Anthony is also a certified energy auditor with SEAI. His career journey includes roles as an electronics engineer in the computer manufacturing industry and as the owner of his own energy company. He has led energy business development for notable firms such as RPS and Aramark and has provided consultancy services for SEAI.
Cera Slevin - CEO - Climate matters
Cera is an experienced engineer and company director with 25 years across energy and climate change; from design, construction, operations & maintenance, trading, project development to establishing joint ventures, new business models and investment management in Africa, Middle East, Australia and Europe. Cera is the Founder of Climate Matters Ltd to support companies in determining (1) the impact their business is having on the environment and (2) what climate change could do to their business.
Current products are:
# Green House Gas inventory or "carbon footprint" for businesses to ISO 14064-1
# 3rd party verification (Limited and Reasonable Assurance) for Greenhouse Gas inventories to ISO 14064-3
# Climate Risk and Vulnerability assessments to IS0 14090 to meet requirements of EU Taxonomy, CSRD, SFDR
# Scenario analysis across portfolios of assets to RCP 8.5 to assess physical climate risk
Climate Matters Ltd is also the Member State Facilitator for Ireland under the EU Mission on Climate Adaptation (Mission4Adapt).
Cera holds a BEng and PhD in Mechanical Engineering and is a Chartered Engineer (CEng). She also has Postgraduate Diplomas in Coastal Zone Management, Leadership & Management as well as Executive & Business Coaching and in 2022 completed Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) Sustainability and Climate Risk exam.
Dr Damhnait Gleeson - Industrial Decarbonisation Programme Manager - SEAI
Dr Damhnait Gleeson is Programme Manager for Industry Decarbonisation for the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. A geologist and planetary scientist by training, she spent a decade in American and European Space Agencies (NASA JPL in California and ESA ESAC in Madrid) exploring the potential habitability of extraterrestrial environments before turning her attention to preserving the habitability of our own planet. For the last 10 years she has worked in climate and energy research funding, regulation, and policy development across the Irish public sector (SFI, CRU, SEAI) on renewables, sustainable development, energy markets, district heating, and industry decarbonisation at scale.
James Macnaghten -
James Macnaghten founded Caldera with Guy Winstanley in 2017. James is an experienced CEO, entrepreneur, and Cambridge University trained engineer with 15 years' experience in energy research and development and over 25 years' experience in business. He built, and still owns, Cambridge's largest tourist business and for 10 years was CEO of Isentropic, which developed a large-scale thermo-mechanical electricity storage system. He has been either co-inventor or sole inventor on a wide number of thermal energy storage patents and has 20+ patent families to his name. James is passionate about finding the right technological solutions for problems. He is also deeply committed to helping decarbonise our society and believes that many of the answers are already available. When time allows, James can be happily found cycling in the South Downs.
John Jephson - Project Executive -IDA Ireland
John is a member of the Sustainability team at IDA. In this role, John collaborates with many of the world's leading companies to aid them with their sustainability agendas. His work primarily focuses on industrial decarbonisation, water stewardship, and the review of supply chains. A key goal is enabling Irish sites to become sustainable lighthouse operations for global companies. Additionally, John is involved in offshore wind policy to further enhance sustainable energy initiatives.
Keith Whiriskey - Senior Executive - Enterprise Ireland
Keith has fifteen years of experience in European climate policy, industrial decarbonisation, and the delivery of large low carbon projects. In 2022, Keith joined Enterprise Irelands Sustainability, Renewable Energy & Agritech department providing planning and investment supports to help business reduce emissions and increase competitiveness.
Martti Kukkola - Chief Business Officer - Oilon Industrial Heat Pumps
Experienced energy technology leader with over 15 years working experience in industrial heat pump and chiller business in Finland and internationally. Strongly involved in the development of new products and solutions, targeting customer satisfaction and organic business growth. Passionate about renewable energy technology with a systematic and ambitious approach to international business development.
Dr. Matt Kennedy - Head of Client Transformation - IDA Ireland
Matt Kennedy (PhD) is Head of Client Transformation in IDA Ireland where he leads transformation initiatives with international business to drive competitiveness and enhance productivity by embedding sustainability and digital solutions. Matt is a Fellow (FIEMA), chartered environmentalist and energy engineer with over 20 years' experience in delivering national and international climate and sustainable development initiatives across government, industry and academia. Matt was previously Arup's Sustainable Development Leader for Europe and led climate change services within infrastructure, buildings and cities. He has worked with the United Nations on clean energy and transport projects across Africa, Asia and Middle East. Matt was Lead Negotiator for the European Union at the UN Paris Agreement (COP21) negotiations and was previously Chair of the UNEP's Climate Technology Centre. He holds a PhD in Engineering from Trinity College Dublin, and Masters degrees from NUI Galway and University College Dublin and is an experienced independent non-executive Director.
Michael Phelan - CEO - GridBeyond
Michael has over 22 years management experience in sales, marketing and product development in electronic and software companies targeting the energy sector.
Prior to joining GridBeyond, Michael held positions at Philips, Microsol, PCAS and Duolog in automation and electronics. He was responsible for developing European, Asian and American markets and OEMs such as Invensys, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, and Alstom. In addition, he has facilitated several successful exits. Michael is a graduate of University College Dublin where he obtained an MBA in Business Administration, Management and Operations.
Michael Tracey - Head of Engineering - Irish Distillers
Michael Tracey is an experienced professional with a Master's degree in Engineering from Dublin City University. Since joining Irish Distillers in 1999 as Automation Manager, Michael has held a number of pivotal roles, including Head of Bottling Operations, General Manager of Planning, Purchasing & Inventory, and Head of Direct Procurement & Packaging Development. In 2020, he was appointed Head of Engineering, a role in which he continues to fulfil.
Michael is interested in sustainability and renewable energy, reflecting his commitment to environmentally responsible practices. He is currently a key member of the senior management team for the Midleton Distillery Expansion project, where he applies his expertise to deliver engineering compliance, drive innovation and operational efficiency.
Sergio Contreras - Senior Energy Engineer - Boston Scientific
Sergio Contreras is a Senior Engineer at Boston Scientific Corporation, where he is responsible for leading the decarbonisation efforts within the company's real estate. This involves implementing the company's energy strategy C3: Cut energy use, Convert to renewable sources, and Compensate for unavoidable carbon emissions. Sergio is a Certified Energy Manager accredited by the Association of Energy Engineers and has prior experience working with pharmaceutical companies in Ireland, as well as Oil & Gas engineering and construction firms in Europe and South America. He holds a Master's degree in Energy Systems Engineering from the University of Galway and a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from the National University of Colombia.
Stefano Vittor - MD - Olvondo Technology
Selected accomplishments:
Tom Marren - CEO - Astatine Ltd
Over 25 years experience as MD and owner of multiple companies in the energy efficiency and renewable energy sector. These different companies had operations in Ireland, UK, Australia, Saudi Arabia. These companies delivered hundreds of carbon reduction projects utilising CHP, ORC, Solar and high efficiency chillers, boilers and lighting.
