WiPGM Newsletter Dec 2021

Dec 2021  Wilma Swarts

Dear members, 

We take a moment to wish all of you a happy, healthy and peaceful festive season. In many ways 2021 has been more of the same compared to 2020, and in many ways it has been different. So many of us have been deeply touched by loss and sadness, but there has also been joy and strength and resilience. As we look back and bid the year farewell, we take time to acknowledge all of this emotion, gather strength from our common purpose and look to make 2022, a year of growth, healing and pure joy.

At Women in PGMs 2021 has been a year filled with interesting topics, growth in our numbers and progress in the development of our project to help the platinum group industry grow in expertise, knowledge and representation. We are grateful to all our subscribers, our members and especially our sponsors who have supported us not only with funds but also with guidance and genuine interest.

Our Events

September Virtual Networking Event

What a spectacular reflection on PGMs for 2021 and a look ahead at 2022. The event, if it were to take place in person, would have been held in New York, and so aptly, Sarah Masterson our board member and chair of the Americas Chapter masterfully hosted the event. Unlike other events so far, Sarah switched matters up and ran a couple of polls to give opportunity for interaction. Nicky Shiels navigated us through the ups and downs of platinum, palladium and rhodium which – on the one hand – fell victim to pandemic induced supply chain shortages and on the other became the benefactor of green investor money. Suki Cooper then focused specifically on how this new normal trading environment shaped the response of funds and institutional investors in a bid to manage exposure and risk. The focus then shifted to supply factors where Becky Berube outlined some of the new challenges the recycling industry faced with all time high metal prices. Yana Stunis added a perspective on the physical sales and management of mine supply during this period.

December European Chapter Event

We have for some time now promised that we were setting up regional chapters that will plan and coordinate in person events in the regions to augment and strengthen the events we are hosting and planning from a global perspective. Yana Stunis, appointed to our board in June 2021 and chair of the European Chapter, raced out of the chapter blocks and together with her amazing committee members Anna Marchisio and Lynda Si-Ahmed, put together a session focusing on two aspects – how electrification will shape the PGM world and how WiPGMs could help shape our members future within this context. The team invited Michelle Lynch as keynote speaker to step through the transformation towards electrification which will see electricity consumption needs double by 2040. Michelle, a PhD in Chemicals and Catalysis and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), proceeded to explain how catalysis and metals are enabled and required to address these needs. Following on from this very informative session, we broke into 4 breakaways sessions where our members had an opportunity to share thoughts on future events and ideas to shape our mentor/mentee programme.

Members Portal Update

We are delighted to report that our member portal went live in September 2021 and we have already 35 members who have signed up to participate either as speaker at our events, other related events or would love to be a mentor or help and guide young and upcoming talent. We thank you for putting yourself forward and we will make haste to set up a detailed mentor/mentee programme during the course of 2022. Over the course of the year, we will work to profile and showcase the expertise of our members.

Update on WiPGMs Board

The WiPGMs board is delighted to welcome our new Board member, Zhuoying Jing, joins our board to assist in steering the Women in PGM global network, as well as the establishment and development of our Asian chapter and the engagement and growth of our members in Asia.

Zhuoying Jing is Senior Vice President and Global Head of Precious Metals at Gerald Group. With a degree in economics and marketing from Belgium and an MBA from the U.S., she has held a number of positions in base metals and precious metals in various parts of Gerald Group in Stamford, Shanghai and Singapore, ultimately heading the global precious metals desk. In her leisure time, Zhuoying loves to cook and experience cuisine from different cultures. She also enjoys hiking and spending time with her two lovely daughters.

Regional Chapters – Spotlight on European Chapter

We are delighted with the progress we have made in setting up the regional chapters. Yana Stunis who chairs the European Chapter has set up her committee and they have already hosted their first event. Despite the fact that they were unable to host it as an in-person event due to the pandemic, they resolutely proceeded and we were delighted with the level of engagement and participation we received. Yana is superbly assisted by Anna Marchisio and Lynda Si-Ahmed.

Anna holds a degree in humanities and German Studies which unexpectedly led her to the PGM sector, after many years in the automotive satellite car and OEM industries. In 2014 she moved from Italy to Germany to join Hensel Recycling as business development manager. Anna is a passionate promiscuous reader, practices yoga and loves cooking. She advocates women and gender gap issues and despite her chronological age remains a convinced idealist who believes in the power of intelligence and kindness.

Lynda is the Refining Group Business Development Manager at Metalor Technolgies SA, based in Switzerland and have worked 17 years in the precious metals industry and 5 years into the base metal industry. With a Ph. D in chemistry and an executive MBA form HEC Lausanne, she held different positions into Metalor and has spent more of her career leading precious metal R&D projects,  managing strategic projects and actively working into new businesses development, implementation &  management including sales and marketing of PGM industrial products.In parallel of a passionate working life, I love cooking, enjoy hiking and pilates and spend time with my two sons and husband.