2023 CONFERENCE SPEAKERS

Kees Besten

As a chemical engineer, Kees started his career in 1988 at DSM Composite Resins where he fulfilled several roles over a period of 22 years in R&D, marketing and technical service in the field of UP and VE resins, with a strong focus on chemical resistance and CIPP (cured in place pipe). Since 2010 Kees was employed by Owens Corning working in the technical fabrics division in different roles in technical service, product development, marketing, project management and sales. Since, last year Kees joined AOC as special project manager responsible for resins in anti corrosion and carbon fiber applications.

Dr. Devendran Thirunavukarasu

Dr. Devendran Thirunavukarasu is the founder and Director of ST Advanced Composites Chennai, India with more than 12 years of experience in advanced composites manufacturing technology. Possessses skills including computer aided engineering, manufacturing technology, product development, composite testing and certifications. Presently focusing on light weight automotive parts and the development and implementation of sustainable composite materials to solve the climatic change and environment impact issues.

Nitin Soman

Nitin is post graduate in composites from one of the premier institutes from India having more than 25 years of industrial experience in polymeric composites.
Nitin has started his carrier as application development engineer and has a patent to his credit. He was part of a team who introduced RTM Technology in India. He was also responsible for putting a greenfield project to manufacture architectural composites panels & colour coated coils.
Nitin is associated with 3B for more than 6 years and presently responsible for marketing function at a juncture where Goa is expanding 5 times and putting 120,000 MT project.

Prof. Zhongwei Guan

Professor Zhongwei Guan is Executive Director of Advanced Materials Research Centre of Technology Innovation Institute in Abu Dhabi. He received his first degree on Solid Mechanics in Sichuan University China in 1982 and was awarded PhD on Structural Behaviour of Polymeric Pipelining in University of Bradford UK in 1993. He was Reader in Lightweight Composite Materials and Structures at the University of Liverpool.

He has published more than 180 SCI papers in refereed leading international journals (+250 conference papers) on lightweight composite structures subjected to extreme loading conditions such as projectile impact and blast, covering fibre metal laminates, PVC foam-based sandwiches and SLM lattice structures, corrugated sandwiches, timber structures, high temperature TP prepreg, etc., with a h-index of 44 in Google Scholar and citation more than6100. He was Chairman of the 5th International Conference on Computational Methods held in Cambridge in 2014. He is a member of editorial board of International Journal of Impact Engineering, Applied Composite Materials and Advanced Materials Letter. He also serves as a scientific committee member of more than 20 international conferences and has given more than 25 keynotes, thematic and plenary speeches.

Jonathan Lison

Jonathan brings over 30 years of Sales Management and Business Development leadership experience to both start-up and established companies. His experience is across Product Marketing, Sales, and Marketing, and he is currently responsible for Business development at Plataine.
At BRIGHTSTAR group (Owner), He was nominated by the Ministry of Economy to head the IAMF (Israeli Aerospace Manufacturing Federation).

Revathi Krishnakumar

Revathi holds a degree in chemical engineering from the prestigious Bharathiyar University. She has over a decade of experience in manufacturing Unsaturated polyester resins. Currently, She is responsible for quality, import and export operations at the company.

Velpuri Chakravarthi

Velpuri Chakravarthi, Managing Director- SVS Hydraulics is a dedicated and focused professional that has experience working with equipment, designing, development and manufacturing maintenance and team supervision that also have management and manufacturing experience. He is a qualified AMIE mechanical engineer and has strong customer service skills and satisfaction to deliver a great customer experience.

Dhiraj B. Sawant

Dhiraj Sawant holds M.B.A. and B.E. and he is an industry veteran with over 15 years of experience having rich experience in Production, Research and Development, Operations & marketing
Dhiraj's experience in Production ensures that companies manufacturing processes are efficient, reliable, and of the highest quality. He oversees production facilities, ensuring adherence to strict quality control measures and implementing innovative techniques to enhance productivity and efficiency.

In the field of Research and Development, he has spearheaded efforts to innovate and develop new products and solutions. His expertise in this area helps organization stay at the forefront of technological advancements and meet the evolving needs of our customers.
Also, He has a rich experience & knowledge in Marketing. He has an extensive knowledge about the products and its market.

Neeraj Shukla

Neeraj Shukla is an optimistic and enthusiastic sales professional with over 10+ years of experience in technical textile field. Currently leading sales and marketing function for Arvind PD Composites, JV between PD fibreglass Germany and Arvind (Lalbhai Group) formed to produce world-class glass woven, multiaxial, nonwoven products to serve the global composite market with special focus on Wind Power, CIPP, Marine, Sports and Leisure, Industrial, Architectural and Mass Transport Industry.

Certified sales professional from SDA Bocconi, equipped with postgraduate diploma (Innovation) from SIBM-Pune and B.tech (Textile Technology) from VJTI, Mumbai. Passionate about innovation and concept commercialization, which will generate higher value for organization as well as customer.
Neeraj has vast experience in multiples roles in product and business development functions at welspun advanced materials and garware technical fibers. An innovator and a go-getter, who believes in inventing "new" by listening to customer/consumer pain points.

Sweta Rajiv Doshi

Sweta is basically an interior designer by qualification, training and experience. However due to her family being in the field of Composites Raw Materials she has been exposed professionally to this business since a young age and hence she acquired knowledge and experience in the field of Composites. She am grateful to my family to have given her substantial freedom in this field, as a result she learned how to deal with the Administrative part of it and also the Technicalities involved and began functioning Independently. Her family acknowledged her performance and rewarded her with the Position of Vice President Business Development.

Thus, she got involved with the entire range of Techno-Marketing functions which she found most absorbing to follow as a professional function. Time flew fast and it was 18 years for her in this business indeed a long period of time. During this exposure she came to be recognised as a management functionary in the family in the FRP industry. Sweta is in charge of Product Development & Business Development at Adex Composites Pvt Ltd. As a part of her role, she has to engage with customers regularly on end-use applications. That has strengthened her further in the FRP Composites business.

Susanta Pramanik

Susanta Pramanik holds the position of Technical Director at Crest where he leads the Research and Development division. He holds an M.Tech (Chemical) degree from IIT-Delhi, he is instrumental in guiding R&D efforts, driving new product development, advancing processes, exploring novel applications, and enhancing the current product portfolio. He has around 25 years of experience in composites and played a key role in developing fire-retardant resins,high HDT resins, SMC/DMC, specialty resins, and many more. His role is instrumental in delivering newer solutions that optimize product performance and provide customized solutions.

Dr. Mohamed Nasr Saleh

Dr. Mohamed Nasr Saleh is the Lead of the High-temperature thermoplastic composites group at AMRC. With a PhD degree in Composite Materials from University of Manchester, Dr. Mohamed brings to TII 10+ years of experience in the field of composites and adhesives. Prior to joining TII, he held various research positions in the Netherlands, and United Kingdom during which he was involved in many large-scale collaborative projects with industrial partners in the automotive, maritime, and aerospace sectors. He has over 40 research publications in the field of damage mechanics of composite materials, multi-scale modelling of 3D woven composites and structural health monitoring of adhesively bonded joints, with a continuous focus on industrial applications.

Dr. Vaibhav Phadnis

Dr Vaibhav Phadnis is currently employed as a Senior Researcher in Thermoplastics group at TII, Abu Dhabi, leading the research activities in 3D printing of continuous and discontinuous fibre-reinforced composites. In his previous role, he worked as an Aerospace Application Specialist at 3M UK Plc providing technical guidance to Aerospace OEMs and their tiers on bonding and joining of composite, metal- and hybrid structures. Some of the key accounts he handled include Airbus, Safran, Rolls Royce and British Airways, helping them with the technical assessment of commercial adhesive products, including new product development - and their qualification for commercial aircraft platforms.

Prior to this, Vaibhav worked as a Research Engineer at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) in Sheffield, UK. There, he led several public and government funded projects in collaboration with the industrial and academic partners. On the academic front, Vaibhav was awarded PhD from Loughborough University, UK in 2014 for his thesis titled ‘Impact performance of advanced composite materials’. He has authored 30+ peer-reviewed journal articles and 2 book chapters, since then. He also received a prestigious Marie Curie Fellowship in 2013-14. Vaibhav’s well-rounded experience in composite materials over 10 years has allowed him to develop know-how of composite life cycle in aerospace industry

Pushkaraj Damle

Pushkaraj Damle is a seasoned Business Marketing Consultant working closely with the Composites Industry in India for more than two decades. He specializes in developing and executing comprehensive marketing strategies that drive growth, increase brand visibility, and maximize profitability for clients. With a deep understanding of market trends, consumer behaviour, and digital technologies, he brings out a results-oriented approach to every project. He has successfully collaborated with diverse clients, ranging from MNCs, Medium Scale Enterprises and startups, helping them achieve their business goals. Pushkaraj continuously stays updated with the latest industry trends and emerging technologies to offer innovative solutions to his clients.