WiPGMs Symbiosis Hydrogen and Platinum Group Metals

The in-person event will be held in London
Venue: The Drawing Room, 4th floor, Fortnum and Mason, 181 Piccadilly, St. James’s, London W1A 1ER
Time: 8h30am – 11h00am UK
Date 15 May 2023

Join us in conversation with three incredible speakers deeply involved in shaping the future of their companies and industries, reflecting on the possibility of a hydrogen future and the relevance for the platinum group metals industry.

Yvonne Mfolo
Executive Head: Corporate Affairs and Sustainable Impact
Anglo American Platinum

Her work as executive head of Corporate Affairs and Sustainable Impact at Anglo American Platinum puts Yvonne Mfolo at the forefront of community development and building stakeholder relationships, which enable the company to obtain and retain the social and regulatory license to operate.

Yvonne is a BA Communications graduate and accumulated other relevant certificates in Advanced Journalism, Minerals and Petroleum policy and Advanced Management Programme from different South African Institutes. She joined Anglo American in 2006, first as General Manager for Public Affairs at their Thermal Coal division, then moved to Kumba Iron Ore as the executive head of corporate affairs at Kumba Iron Ore in 2011 before taking up her current role in Anglo American Platinum. Prior to this she worked as chief director of communications at the erstwhile Department of Minerals and Energy for nine years, where she was also responsible for international relations and the spokesperson for the minister.

Join Yvonne as she unpacks her role at Anglo American Platinum as the company navigates the interest of several stakeholders in their journey of including hydrogen as part of the decarbonisation strategy.

Joanna Richart
Head of Hydrogen Business at Ricardo

Before joining Ricardo, Joanna worked as Business Development Director at fuel cell engineering company Intelligent Energy Ltd focusing on the commercialization of their PEM fuel cell technologies for a range of markets, including automotive, aerospace, UAVs, material handling and stationary power applications.

During her career at Intelligent Energy, Joanna has represented the company in various hydrogen mobility consortia, including as a member of several European Union-funded programmes and was appointed as an expert on the European Commission’s Sustainable Transport Forum to support the deployment of “Clean fuel for transport” directive.

Joanna is a working group member of Hydrogen Europe, SHFCA, ZEMO partnership and Hydrogen Sussex. Joanna will outline how an engineering firm approaches deploying a hydrogen project. She will speak to the relevance of PGMs to hydrogen projects.

Dr. Liz Rowsell
Corporate Director of the Johnson Matthey Technology Centres

Liz was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s 2021 Birthday Honours List for her services to Chemistry, Commercialisation and Promoting Diversity in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM).

She received her PhD in 1993 from the University of Essex, UK, in collaboration with the Nitrogen Fixation Unit at Sussex University, UK, investigating charge interactions in Fe-S proteins and Fe coordination complexes using Mössbauer spectroscopy. Liz joined Johnson Matthey as a Research Scientist in 1993, developing PGM based therapeutics for the treatment of sepsis. During her career with Johnson Matthey, Liz has worked on the development of catalysts for use in pharmaceuticals, food, and personal safety, as well as programmes in biomass processing, gas purification and materials for energy production.

With the transformation of the automotive powertrain away from internal combustion engines towards electrification, Liz will speak to the parallels in the evolution of the hydrogen economy and use of PGMS and how this feature shape the research approach of the company.

Ellie Thompson
Business Development Fuel Cell Components Mitsubishi Corporation

Ellie studied Natural Sciences at The University of Cambridge, and graduated with a Master’s degree in Inorganic Chemistry in 2008. As Research Scientist at Johnson Matthey she worked on precious and ferrous metal catalyst inks. She moved from the lab into a Business Development position and contributed to the founding of JM’s New Business Division. Ellie also held commercial roles at BASF and Mitsubishi before working on the Fuel Cell Project which led to her current role at Mitsubishi of Senior Business Development Manager.

Ellie will open our session outlining the global drive to solve the energy crisis and the importance of policy and legislation to help shape the hydrogen economy. Ellie will also lead the conversation of our panel.