Terrence Higgins, Director, Refining and Special Studies, has more than 30 years of refining experience focusing on refinery economics and planning, clean fuels production and energy/environmental policy. He served as Technical Director for National Petrochemical and Refiners Association for 14 years and also worked with Texaco, Amerada Hess, U.S. Department of Energy and in private consulting. He earned a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. Over the past eight years his primary focus has been analysis of international petroleum markets and clean fuel imports on market behavior and refining.

Dr. Petr Steiner, Director, Refining; Manager Russia & CIS, IFQC & GBC Prior to joining Hart, he worked for three years as a research associate at the dept. of chemical engineering at the University of Cambridge, U.K. He graduated from the ICT in Prague, Czech Rep. in 1997 with a M.Sc. in catalysis. He received a doctorate in chemical engineering from NTNU in Trondheim in 2003. While pursuing his Ph.D., he had a close cooperation with Statoil and the SINTEF research center, and he spent 6 months at the dept. of chemical engineering at the Technical University of Delft, the Netherlands. Steiner joined Hart in October 2006 as Manager for Eastern Europe and CIS. In August 2009, he became Director of Refining for the World Refining and Fuels Service with focus on Europe, CIS and Africa. Additionally, he manages all Hart services (IFQC, GBC and WRFS) for the Russia & CIS region.

Dr. Michael Warren, Executive Director Global Research & Strategic Studies, oversees publication of the World Refining Fuels Service and manages several consulting projects around the world in the field of biofuels.  Prior to joining Hart Energy, he was the National Manager of the Latin American Research Group in Toyota Motor North America (TMA) for 11 years. In that position at TMA, he managed a team that conducted economic, political, automotive market & competitor intelligence research for Toyota in Latin American markets. Warren was also a participating member of the Demand Task Group of the National Petroleum Councils (the NPC) Oil & Natural Gas Study.

Kristine Klavers, Vice President, obtained a master's degree in chemical engineering at the University of Twente, Netherlands. Prior to joining Hart in 1996, she worked in Oxygenate Business Management for ARCO Chemicals U.K. and as a process engineer for Japanese Gasoline Co. (JGC) in Yokohama. While with JGC, she led many hazard and operability analysis teams for refining, lube-oil, gas-processing and power-generation projects. Additionally, Klavers has been a guest lecturer at the Oxford Institute of Petroleum and Oxford University.

Frederick L. Potter, Executive Vice President, oversees and directs all business units of Hart Downstream Energy Services. He founded Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) in 1981. In addition to working closely with global industry and policymakers, he has been called upon to provide information, analysis and insight on motor fuel, energy and environmental issues by the White House, Congress, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Department of Energy. Recently served as Chairman for the United Nations working group on Clean Octane -- covering the key issues of sulfur, lead removal, renewables and refinery processing.

Candace Vona, Executive Director, Middle East & Asia, holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Natal University in South Africa . She has 20 years experience in the global hydrocarbon industry in various capacities associated with refining, crude oil exploration and trading, consultancy and international sales, and marketing. Prior to joining IFQC in 2004, she worked 17 years for Sasol, the South African oil, gas and chemical company, both in the U.K. and Singapore and in 1996, she was seconded to SK Corp. in South Korea for almost two years.

Tammy Klein, Executive Director, Global Biofuels Center (GBC),

Tammy Klein is Executive Director of the GBC, a high-level multiclient service that highlights and gathers all available information on biofuels globally for its members. She is an expert on clean conventional fuels, alternative fuels and biofuels policy and is a senior analyst for Hart Energy Consulting. She also helped launch the International Fuel Quality Center (IFQC) in 1998 and served as its Deputy Director to 2003.  She also serves in an advisory capacity to the GBC membership as well as many companies, governments and NGOs on fuel quality and biofuels policy issues. Klein holds a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center, with an emphasis on international environmental law and holds a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Florida. She was a board member of the Georgetown International Environmental Law Review.

Liisa Kiuru, Executive Director, IFQC, graduated from the Helsinki University of Technology in Finland in 2000 with a master’s degree in technology from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. From 1999-2001, she worked at the Finnish Environment Institute as a project engineer, assisting with projects related to the development of the regulation of lakes, hydrological modeling and impact assessments. In April 2001, she moved to Singapore where she directed the efforts in the Asian region. In January 2007, she was promoted to Executive Director of IFQC.

Livia Kosaka, Director, Latin America, GBC, was project manager for the OAS ES/DR projects. She holds a B.S from Methodist University of Sao Paulo (1999) and a M.Sc in International Relations from Rutgers University (2003). Her previous experience includes five years at Toyota Motor Company as a biofuels/automotive research analyst for Latin America where she was also a dual-capped member of Toyota’s worldwide Energy & Environment Research Group that analyzed energy trends and their impact on future engine development. Kosaka is from Brazil and speaks Portuguese and Spanish fluently.

Huiming Li, Director, Asia, IFQC & GBC, holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in chemical engineering from the National University of Singapore. Her industrial experience prior to graduation was at Nalco Pacific where she provided laboratory assistance in wastewater analysis. She has been with the International Fuel Quality Center since 2004. Her primary responsibility is to ensure complete coverage and integrity of the Asia-Pacific data for the International Fuel Quality Center and Global Biofuels Center.

Ula Szalkowska, Director, Europe & Africa, IFQC, directed the Market Surveillance Department of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection in Poland prior to joining Hart in February 2008. She was responsible for organization and administration of the national Fuel Quality Monitoring System and submitting the reports on fuel quality in Poland for the European Commission and the Council of Ministers. She has experience in the legislative process at national and European level, in particular in the area of fuel quality and its monitoring.

Maelle Soares Pinto, Director, Biofuels Europe, IFQC & GBC, is a graduate in chemical engineering from ENSIC of Nancy, France. She also holds two master’s degrees from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology in the U.K. in process integration and environmental technology. Soares Pinto is originally from New-Caledonia, South Pacific. In the U.K., she worked as a process engineer for Essex and Suffolk Water. She spent four years in Barcelona, Spain, with Hyprotech, then AspenTech, a process design software company. She joined the Hart team in June 2006 as manager of biofuels for the International Fuel Quality Center and Global Biofuels Center.

Lucky Nurafiatin, Research Manager, Middle East & Asia, IFQC & GBC, received her degree in physics from the Institut Teknologi Bandung (Bandung Institute of Technology) in Indonesia, where she majored in nuclear medical physics. She joined Hart’s Singapore office following 15 years in varied product development, sales and marketing roles in Indonesia. She co-founded and taught physics at the Triumvirate Learning Center in East Jakarta with the aim of making pure sciences and math fun for scholars. Nurafiatin assists with coverage of the refining, fuels and vehicles industry in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific region for both International Fuel Quality Center and Global Biofuels Center services.

Raphael Hudson, manager, Global Technical Research, joined Hart Energy Consulting in August 2009 and covers fuel quality & biofuels issues pertaining to Latin America. Prior to joining Hart, he worked as an automotive industry analyst for Toyota Motor North America's Americas Strategic Research group, focusing on competitor research and on long-term powertrain development strategy for Latin America. Hudson holds bachelor's degrees in Economics and Political Science from Johns Hopkins University and a master's degree on Finance & Economic Development from Columbia University.

Rene Gonzalez, Sr. Refining Editor, provides technical expertise in the areas of refinery processing and operations for FUEL magazine as well as Hart’s Global Refining & Fuels Today newsletter and Hart’s Refinery Tracker newsletter. Gonzalez has over 31 years experience in the industry. Gonzalez received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Texas A&M University.