Stjepan Kumrić started his career in the Lukavac Cement Factory in 2006 as the Executive Sales Director and has been a member of the Management Board since 2012. He graduated at the Faculty of Economics, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University, in Osijek.

He completed the MBA study program at Limak – Austrian Business School in Linz. He was appointed to the position of General Manager in September 2018. He is the President of the Supervisory Board at the Vijenac Limestone Mine and a member of the Supervisory Board at the CEMMAC Cement Factory from Slovakia.

The focus of his work is the further development and growth of the Lukavac Cement Factory, use of modern technologies and improvement of environmental protection. One of his priorities is to launch an initiative for environmentally friendly waste management in BiH.

Dr. Ulrike Hartmann took over the position of Ambassador in BiH in January 2019. She is a career diplomat. She joined the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1990. During her career, she worked in the Austrian embassies in Moscow, Lisbon, and Belgrade – specifically, as the Deputy Head of Mission in Lisbon and Belgrade.

She was the Head of the Office of the High Representative (OHR) for BiH and the Head of the OHR Regional Office in Banja Luka. For almost a year, she held the position of international secretary of the Social Democratic Party of Austria. She speaks English, B/H/S and French, and has a passive knowledge of Italian, Russian and Portuguese. She graduated at the University of Salzburg and successfully completed her doctoral thesis in political science. She also completed postgraduate studies at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna.

Harald Fritsch was born in 1980 in Austria. Since 2017, he has been working on management positions in the Asamer Buastoffe AG group. He is highly experienced in the construction materials business, as well as in managing large companies. He studied banking and finance, but also history.

Irina Lazzerini is a Master of Economics, Languages and Juridical Institutions of Eastern Asia. She also holds MBA degree in renewable energy. She works as an international expert on sustainable energy at the Energy Community Secretariat based in Vienna (Austria), an international organization that brings together EU countries and their neighbors in Southeast Europe and the Black Sea region to create an integrated pan-European energy market. Right through her work, she is supporting Contracting Parties in developing sustainable energy policy and legislation and integrating energy and climate planning. She has over 14 years of work and research experience in the field of international climate policies, with focus on Europe (Western Balkans, Eastern Countries) and Asia. Before joining the Energy Community, she was a research fellow on sustainable development at Tsinghua University (Beijing), policy officer within the European Commission Environment Directorate-General (Brussels) and a senior energy analyst at Enel Foundation (Italy). She cooperated with the World Economic Forum on a number of projects evaluating the impact of renewable energy solutions on off-grid households in emerging economies and co-authored a chapter of ‘Innovating Climate Governance’, published by Cambridge University Press in March 2018. She is fluent in English, Mandarin Chinese, French, Spanish, Italian and German.

Dr. ing. Volker Hoenig studied mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Aachen as well as process engineering at TU Stuttgart, where he also completed his Ph.D. in energy process and environmental technologies. He is the executive director at VDZ Technology GmbH, which operates within VDZ – the Association of German Cement Centers – based in Düsseldorf, founded in 1877. He has collaborated on several national and international scientific projects dealing with process and environmental engineering in the field of energy production technologies. With over 25 years of experience, he is an expert in heat treatment, energy efficiency, replacement fuels, optimization of refrigerators and preheaters, as well as environmental technologies (including carbon capture). Furthermore, he has performed numerous audits related to quality, energy and environmental management systems and CO2 verification. He is a member of numerous German and international scientific and industrial organizations. He is engaged in various research in the field of environmental protection in the cement production, CO2 reduction through energy efficiency optimization, oxygen technology and many others.

Professor Dr. Mirza Kušljugić was born in 1955 in Tuzla. At the age of 23, he graduated in electrical engineering in his hometown. He obtained Ph.D. in Sarajevo in 1989. He is a professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Tuzla, and he was also the dean of this higher education institution for 11 years. He did research at the Institute of Science and Technology, University of Manchester – UMIST, UK 1983/84. From 2001 to 2005, he was the ambassador and representative of the Permanent Mission of BiH to the UN in New York. His main research interests are related to modeling, analysis and planning of power systems, renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency and energy management with a focus on small and medium industrial enterprises and the economics of power systems. He is the author of five scientific and educational books, more than 50 scientific papers and over 30 specialized technical studies and policy analyzes..

Dr. Irem Silajdžić was born in 1974 in Sarajevo. She graduated in 1999 at the Faculty of Environmental Engineering at Marmara University in Istanbul and obtained master’s degree in environmental sciences at the Institute of Environmental Sciences at Bogazica University in Istanbul. In 2010, she received her Ph.D. at the Faculty of Agriculture and Food, University of Sarajevo, on the topic of anaerobic treatment of solid waste from the food industry, where she also acquired the title of assistant professor. She has 20 years of work experience in the environmental sector with a specialization in waste management. She has prepared and participated in the preparation of about 50 municipal waste management plans. She was engaged as a national consultant on the four-year project of the World Bank “Building long-term capacities for integrated waste management in BiH”. The FBiH Union of Municipalities and Cities nominated her as a waste management expert to the regional organization’s solid waste management working group. She is currently working on the development of the BiH Environmental Protection Strategy (BiH ESAP2030+) and is leading the project of developing waste management strategy for BiH, FBiH, RS and BD.

Prof. Dr. Roland Pomberger is a professor and head of the Chair for Waste Processing Technology and Waste Management at the Montan University of Leoben in Austria. His main areas of expertise are waste reuse and recycling technology, waste management systems, alternative fuels, future waste, hazardous waste, and landfill mining. In addition, he is the Head of the Department for Environmental and Energy Process Engineering at this University. Prior to joining the Montan University of Leoben in 2011, where he received his Ph.D. in 2008, he spent 20 years building his successful career in several Austrian companies focusing on waste management, recycling, and alternative fuels. Research work of prof. Dr. Pomberger is based on innovative waste treatment, recycling and recovery processes, environmental engineering but also on many other topics. He has been involved in numerous projects and has won several recognitions and awards. He has published many scientific publications.

Dejana Milinković was born in 1969 in Kruševac. She has a degree in chemistry for research and development. Since 2009, she has been successfully leading the Business Association “Cement Industry of Serbia”, with headquarter in Belgrade. With the almost 15 years of working experience at the “Institute for Testing Materials of Serbia”, which is the leading scientific-research institution in the field of construction, as well as good knowledge of local opportunities, she seeks to support the establishment of a legal and economic framework that will enable the Serbian cement industry to contribute to economic and social development in Serbia. She is especially committed to the harmonization of national regulations with European standards in the field of waste management while strengthening state capacities for their implementation, as well as raising public awareness to overcome ignorance and mistrust about the use of waste in cement kilns. Her task is also to present the common opinion of members of the Association to various institutions at the state, professional and scientific levels, and implement the highest world standards in the cement industry and the construction industry of Serbia. She advocates for the cement industry as an important actor in the development of modern waste management in Serbia and sees it as a reliable partner in solving local and regional challenges in this area.

Dr. Renato Sarc is the Deputy Head of Chair for Waste Processing Technology and Waste Management (AVAW) at the Montan University of Leoben in Austria and is the Head of the “Waste Treatment” Working Group, as well as the Project Manager of the “ReWaste4.0” at the Competence Center. He received his Ph.D. at the Montan University of Leoben in 2015, on the thesis “Design, quality and quality assurance of solid alternative fuels (SRF) to achieve 100% heat exchange in the cement industry”. He is a member of the International Waste Working Group and ISWA’s Renewable Energy Working Group, scientific reviewer for waste management, WM&R, etc. He has received several significant awards for his work. He has written many publications in the scientific field of waste management.

Jürgen Deditz was born in 1974 in Austria. He is a licensed electrical engineer. He is a representative and co-owner of the Austrian company IUT Ingenieurgemeinschaft Innovative Umwelttechnik GmbH, where he has been working since 1999. He is active in the field of waste management since 1995. He is a specialist in waste processing, such as RDF production, mechanical sorting, automatic optical sorting, and waste treatment. He possesses extensive knowledge of operational procedures in plants for waste sorting and treatment, but also of the necessary conditions for health and safety at work, which are required in such plants, as well as their impact on the environment. He has managed projects inside and outside Austria and is working on the conceptual and detailed design of various plants for waste sorting and treatment in Austria and other countries in the field of mechanical and electrical engineering. He successfully managed implementation of projects in Netherlands, Italy, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, Germany and Finland, etc.

Dr. Anes Kazagić was born in 1973 in Goražde. In 2001, he graduated at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sarajevo. He became a Master of Technical Sciences in 2006, and a Doctor of Technical Sciences in 2009. He is employed in JP Elektroprivreda BiH d.d. (EPBiH) in Sarajevo as Head of the Sector for Strategic Development. Simultaneously, he works as an energy efficiency manager. He participated in all projects related to reconstruction and modernization of thermoblocks in thermal power plants in Tuzla and Kakanj. He is currently the leader of several investment and development projects in EPBiH, including international research and development projects within the European Commission’s program “Horizon 2020”, which includes EPBiH (CoolHeating, Upgrade DH and BIOFIT). In addition, he is leading development of planning documents for the long-term development of EPBiH and leads the team for the transition of coal regions of EPBiH. He has participated in several domestic and international scientific research projects. He published over 100 papers in indexed world energy journals (Energy, Thermal Science, Applied Energy, etc.) and has been a lecturer at peer-reviewed international energy conferences. He is a member of several international and domestic professional associations.