Thijs studied ecotoxicology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and works as the coordinator of REACH restrictions and as deputy head of Bureau REACH at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). He has been managing the REACH UPFAS restriction dossier for the Netherlands since 2022.   

Erik D. Olson is Senior Strategic Director for Health & Senior Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. He has over 40 years of experience and helps to lead NRDC’s strategy on toxic chemicals and on drinking water. Previously, Erik oversaw key health projects at The Pew Charitable Trusts, including campaigns to address toxic chemicals in food and to enact the first overhaul of FDA’s food safety law in 70 years. 

Prior to Pew, he was General Counsel and Deputy Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, focusing on addressing environmental health threats and on climate change.

Prior to his Senate stint, he led NRDC’s health program, advocacy center, and campaigns to strengthen the Safe Drinking Water Act and national pesticide laws. He has litigated precedent-setting federal cases on drinking water, Superfund, pesticides, toxics and other issues at NRDC, the National Wildlife Federation and EPA. His law degree is from the University of Virginia and his Batchelor’s is from Columbia University in New York.

Dan Newton is an Assistant Deputy Director at the California State Water Resources Control Board’s Division of Drinking Water and oversees the Northern California Field Operations Branch. The Branch permits and regulates over 4,000 drinking water systems from Monterey to the Oregon border.

Prior to Drinking Water Dan worked in the Waterboard’s Division of Water Quality and Division of Financial Assistance.

Wendy Linck is a Senior Engineering Geologist at the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) within the Division of Water Quality (DWQ). She is managing the State Water Board's response to the PFAS effort within DWQ and is a liaison with the Division of Drinking Water and the Regional Water Quality Control Boards on the subject.

Jennifer has over 25 years of environmental experience focusing on the cleanup of contaminated sites in Florida. In her current role, she directs management of the Site Investigation Section, Waste Site Cleanup Section, Federal Programs Section, and the Brownfields and CERCLA Site Screening Section. Jennifer has a bachelor’s degree in Geology from Florida State University and is a Professional Geologist with the State of Florida. 

Shalene Thomas is the Senior Global Emerging Contaminant Program Manager for Battelle. She has more than 26 years of experience in environmental consulting that includes nearly 18 years of experience supporting per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) evaluations. She has supported State, Federal and industrial clients in 32 different states in nine of the 10 USEPA regions as well as in Europe, Australia and Canada.

Dr. Robert DeMott leads Ramboll’s Health Sciences practice and specializes in risk assessment and stewardship for products. He has completed and directed risk analyses of chemical components of toys, electronic devices, apparel, shipping materials and building materials. Bob has extensive experience evaluating human health and environmental risks associated with the production, distribution, use and disposal of ingredients and products. He has directed studies evaluating alternative ingredients in packaging and plastics to address new regulatory programs and guided efforts by toy suppliers to analyze and monitor the effectiveness of Restricted Substances listings provided to their ingredient suppliers. Bob has also directed evaluations under California Proposition 65 and the US federal pesticide regulations regarding labeling requirements and hazard notifications. He has designed and implemented studies to measure consumer exposures from handling of electronic and medical devices and toys. He earned a BA in biology from Williams College, and a PhD from the University of Florida.

Christopher joined AirportsUK in May 2020. He leads on all policy work for the association, including issues such as airspace modernisation, planning, taxation, and general government policy. He takes a particular interest in sustainability issues, such as airport decarbonisation, sustainable flight, noise, air quality and waste issues. He previously chaired the Sustainable Aviation coalition’s Quieter Working Group.

Previously he was at the Freight Transport Association for 14 years. Through his time there, Christopher led on policy issues across road, rail sea and air, with special focuses on environmental, fiscal and infrastructure issues. Prior to FTA, he worked for almost 10 years in public affairs - for RAC and a leading consultancy.  He started his career as a researcher in the House of Commons.

Anne-Sofie Bäckar has worked with chemical management for 23 years and for the past 19 years as the Executive Director of ChemSec. She was among the people that originally started ChemSec in 2002 in a small office. Under her tenure as Executive Director, ChemSec has grown into a well-respected player and developed world-class chemicals management tools such as the SIN List and ChemScore. Anne-Sofie holds a M.Sc. in chemistry from the University of Hamburg, Germany.

Before joining ChemSec, she worked for consumer organisations in the Nordic countries, monitoring chemical issues from a consumer perspective. As a scientist, she started her career with biotechnology research on diseases.

She has been a member of the Executive Committee of IPEN (2008 -2020), a board member of the Centre for Chemical Substitution (2018-2021) and a Member of the Supervisory Board at the Swedish Chemical Inspectorate (2020 ongoing).

Dr Darren Beriro specialises in land contamination, soil chemistry, exposure assessment, and associated digital decision support tools. He leads research and stakeholder engagement on contaminated land, urban geoscience, and emerging pollutants such as PFAS, integrating geochemical and geological data to inform policy and planning.

Darren has extensive experience working with government, industry, and academia to develop evidence-based tools and standards that support sustainable land use and public health protection. His work contributes to national and international initiatives on environmental quality, data infrastructure, and innovation in applied geoscience.

Darren is the current chair of the National Brownfield Forum, recently co-leading research on the interactions of policies affecting the planning and development of brownfield land.

Dr. Jaana Pietari is a Principal with Ramboll, and she specializes in source identification, environmental forensics, and fate & transport evaluation of contaminants, including per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS).

She has been engaged by clients for PFAS operational assessments and risk evaluations, product and material evaluations, forensic investigations, litigation support, liability estimates, site conceptual model development and source assessments across the U.S. and globally. Dr. Pietari co-leads Ramboll’s Americas PFAS Sector Growth Team starting in 2026.

Dr. Pietari received MSE in Environmental and Energy Technology from Tampere University of Technology, Finland; MSE and PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from University of Washington, and MBA from Babson College.

Dr Rick Parkman is a Principal at Ramboll with over 30 years environmental research and consultancy experience.  His primary role is PFAS lead for Ramboll Environment & Health for Europe. His consultancy background is in contaminated land liability management and over the last decade or more has increasingly focused on contaminants of emerging concern, including PFAS.

He’s an active member at NICOLE and is currently involved in their PFAS Working Group, co-leading on policy and regulatory related issues.

Rick is also an External Advisory Board member for the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Manchester University. 

Clare has over 20 years of analytical chemistry experience across the environmental, oil and gas, and manufacturing industries, with the last 10 years focused specifically on the environmental sector. She has provided technical support and led method development and validation to ISO17025/MCerts standards, with a particular emphasis on PFAS analysis.

Clare is an active participant in several industry organisations, including NICOLE (PFAS Laboratory Working Group), as well as AGS, EIC, and others.

Profile coming soon

Andy Leatt is the Technical & Development Director at Puragen, bringing almost 20 years of hands-on experience in developing and applying activated carbon solutions for complex industrial challenges. He has a proven track record of translating advanced chemistry into commercial-scale solutions that tackle pressing environmental issues. 

While holding a rare Fellowship from the Royal Society of Chemistry, Andy's true impact lies in his practical leadership within the industry. At Puragen, he directs quality management, spearheads new product and process development, and provides vital technical support to global commercial teams. 

Andy is instrumental in the ongoing development and commercialisation of innovative activated carbon technologies, particularly those engineered to combat emerging contaminants such as PFAS. His leadership effectively bridges the gap between scientific understanding and real-world application, driving Puragen's mission to enhance water and environmental purification through scalable, innovative carbon solutions.

Dr. Donovan currently manages the global research and development of innovative building materials, environmental products, and construction drilling products for CETCO, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mineral Technologies Incorporated (MTI). Earning a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from St. Norbert College and a doctorate in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Southern Mississippi, Donovan has 48 issued patents and was the primary author of five peer reviewed journals. Prior to joining MTI, he was the Innovation Leader for the High Performance Polymer Division of SABIC Innovative Plastics (formerly General Electric Plastics).