After graduating in Chemistry & Economics from Birmingham University, Reg Adams began his career at Amalgamated Metal and was later seconded to English China Clays (now Imerys), where he wrote his MBA thesis on company growth. At British Sulphur (now CRU) during the 1970s, he edited a range of publications on industrial chemicals and fertiliser raw materials. His first book Titanium & Titanium Dioxide (ISBN 0903199793) was published by Financial Times Business Books in May 1984. His seventh and most recent book Titanium Minerals: Global Industry, Market & Outlook (ISBN 9781910922088) was published by Roskill in August 2016. Reg Adams has also been retained as an expert witness in matters of commercial litigation or investment scrutiny and he has been commissioned as a speaker at more than 60 international conferences, including each of the TiO2 conferences hosted by Smithers (and predecessor companies) since 1992. He has also chaired a number of conference sessions. His company - Artikol (founded in 1977) - specialises in market intelligence and publishing on mining and chemicals. Drawing on Artikol’s extensive information database, Reg Adams compiles and edits the monthly bulletin Focus on Pigments and the quarterly TiO2 Worldwide Update. For further details, see http://www.artikol.com.
Frank J. Mitsch serves as President of Fermium Research, having co-founded the company in 2018 following 7+ years at Wells Fargo Securities, where he was a Managing Director and Senior Chemicals Equity Research Analyst. He has covered the chemicals industry as an equity analyst for more than 20 years, beginning his Wall Street career with Merrill Lynch.
He’s a member of the 2017 and 2018 Institutional Investor’s All-America Research Team and received the Top Gun designation from Brendan Wood Intl in 2020. In its World’s Top Analysts survey, the Financial Times/StarMine twice ranked him No. 1 for estimate accuracy, and he has been named a top three earnings estimator in his industry in seven out of the last ten years. Frank has also been named in The Wall Street Journal’s Best on the Street analyst survey for stock selection four times.
Prior to WFS, Frank followed the chemicals sector on Wall Street for 15 years, most recently with BB&T Capital Markets. Earlier in his career, he worked for 11 years in the chemicals industry with consultancy Kline & Company, and Betz Laboratories, including two years in Europe. Frank received his undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology, where he was a midfielder on the record-setting lacrosse team. He holds an MBA with a concentration in finance from MSU, and a Ph.D in the New York Jets.
Steve Hollins is a Chair, Chemical Strategy for Sustainability Task ForceSenior Product and also a Steward at Tronox, the world’s largest vertically integrated producer of titanium dioxide. His career as a chemical regulatory professional has been with various sectors of industry (Non-Ferrous metals, water, transport), and also working as a Senior Scientific Officer at the European Chemical Agency, as well as preparing legislation in chemical policy at the European Commission. At Tronox, Steve leads compliance with global REACH and REACH-like legislation. He is Vice-Chair of the Titanium Dioxide Industry Consortium (TDIC) for the EU REACH Registration and chairs the Titanium Dioxide Manufacturer’s Association (TDMA) Chemical Strategy for Sustainability Task Force. Steve holds a BSc in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Kings College London and a MSc in Environmental Technology with an emphasis on chemical regulation from Imperial College London. Steve lives in Nottingham, UK.
Manage the newly formed company focused on the European market for the sale of titanium dioxide and iron oxide product lines. Responsibilities include shaping and implementing Kuncai's strategic vision, ensuring compliance with regional regulations and spearheading market entry and growth initiatives. Building strategic partnerships to achieve sustainable growth and success
Franz studied Chemistry at the TU Chemnitz and at the TU Graz and then did his PhD in the Atmospheric Physic group at ETH Zürich. His research field was the investigation atmospheric aging process on soot particles and how this contributes to the formation of clouds. During that time Franz used a broad range of aerosol-based instrumentation to observe changes in the morphology and chemistry of isolated soot particles. Based on this work, he was granted with 195 kCHF by the SNSF (Swiss National Science Foundation) and Innosuisse over 18-months to develop a new method for the online-characterisation of the structure and surface of Carbon Black and similar materials. He is now commercialising this new analytical approach via his own company, FemtoG.
Gerry Colamarino is currently the Managing Director of TiPMC Solutions LLC, which he founded in 2014.. He has over 30 years of international experience within the chemical, mining, and energy industries, having had multiple professional and leadership positions within the former DuPont Titanium Technologies (Chemours), Iluka Resources, and Bloom Energy.
TiPMC is a recognized thought leader and independent resource for all subjects pertaining to the TiO2 value chain, with a strong focus on TiO2 pigments and Mineral Sands. TiPMC employs a unique network of industry and functional experts, providing boutique consulting and advisory services, industry publications, and data services to financial institutions and industry participants world-wide.
Gerry is a graduate of Rutgers University, earning a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. He currently resides with his family in Nashville, TN.
Robert Gibney is General Manager Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) Sales for Iluka Resources, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States.
Mr. Gibney has over 35 years of pigment industry experience, having spent over 21 years with Tronox/Kerr-McGee Chemical in a wide variety of senior management positions, including Vice President Global Pigment Marketing, Vice President Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs, Senior Vice President Global Supply Chain and Chief Administrative Officer.
Having joined Iluka on February 1, 2014, Mr. Gibney is focused on developing Iluka’s TiO2
feedstock sale strategies along with increasing the TiO2 expertise within the company.
Julie has 21 years’ experience in the titanium dioxide pigment manufacturing industry and 27 years in the chemical industry. She is currently Marketing Director at LB Group (formerly known as Lomon Billions Group), one of the world’s top 3 manufacturers of titanium dioxide (TiO2) pigments, and No. 1 in China. Prior to joining LB Group, Julie spent 14 years with Huntsman in its Pigments division (now Venator), where she held various positions within Marketing and R&D. Julie studied at Heriot-Watt University, UK, for her Chemistry degree and holds a Professional Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Abdelkader has nearly 20 years in the chemical industry and 12 years in the titanium dioxide specialty industry.
He is currently leading R&D for the Specialty and Chemical Materials division at Tronox and in charge of developing new specialty TiO2 based materials for various applications and providing technical support to customers across the world.
Abdelkader holds a chemical engineering diploma in electrochemistry and process, a MSc in materials science and a PhD in chemistry. He lives with his family in Thann, France
Nikolaja Podgoršek Selič, started her career at Cinkarna in the production of titanium dioxide. In the first years, as a technologist, she planned and implemented new and updated production processes and participated in the introduction of process automation. Later she was appointed as a Product and technology manager. On that position she led several investment projects for the expansion and modernization of titanium dioxide production. For the last 19 years, as a member of the Management Board and Technical director, she is responsible for production, maintenance, power supply, research and development, quality, safety, health, and environment.
Dr. Janine Siekman is Director, Product and Application Technology at KRONOS Worldwide, Inc., a leading global producer of titanium dioxide pigments. Janine did her PhD studies at the University of Duisburg-Essen in the field of inorganic nanoparticles. In 2009 she joined KRONOS as Project Manager for Product Development. 2019 she became Director of Product Innovation. In 2023 the Technical Service EMEAA was added to her responsibility under the roof of Product and Application Technology. Janine and her team of Project Manager, Application Experts and several laboratory facilities manage the innovation pipeline and the technical support for paints, coatings, plastics, laminate and cosmetic customer applications. She lives with her family in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany.
Short Speaker Biography: Paul joined FP-Pigments Oy in 2010, as their Group Technical Director with a global responsibility for introducing their new patented Opacity Pigment to the Coatings and Plastics markets. A Graduate in Chemistry from the University of Teesside and a Fellow in the Technology of Surface Coatings, in his current role Paul is responsible for providing the technical lead for FP-Pigments and for the technical service support for FP-Pigments customers across the globe. Prior to joining FP-Pigments, Paul worked for 2 years for Imerys Minerals ltd as their coatings Technical Service Manager and for 23 years for Venator Pigments (Huntsman Tioxide) in various roles including R&D Scientist and Technical Service Manager.
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Adam is a sustainability specialist with international with over a decade of experience in social and environmental auditing, human rights due diligence, social accountability projects, ESG strategy development and disclosure. He has supported multinational organisations in defining ethical procurement strategies and reporting standards to international frameworks.
During his career, he has led the development of strategic partnerships between international clients and human rights NGOs to improve employment practices within supply chains. His work with partners in modern slavery prevention has been used in both industry and government reports on the challenge of exploitation in international supply chains. Adam continues to collaborate with researchers and policy-makers on human rights and environmental due diligence, providing them with on-the-ground insight into sustainability challenges within global supply chains.
Dr. Kjersta Larson-Smith is a Technical Fellow in Boeing Research & Technology’s Chemical Technology organization with expertise in the area of coating materials and processes. Since joining Boeing in 2006, she has focused on developing next generation coating technologies that improve aircraft performance, manufacturability and sustainability. Kjersta earned Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington, a B.A. in Chemistry from Pacific Lutheran University, and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Columbia University.
