Conference Committee

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Conference Committee

Dr. Bjarni Pálsson, conference chair
Landsvirkjun, National Power Company of Iceland

Dr. Bjarni Palsson is the manager of the Power Projects Department of the R&D Division of Landsvirkjun, the national power company of Iceland. As such, he is responsible for the power project portfolio of Landsvirkjun, including four geothermal power projects in Northeast and Central Iceland, believed to have around 500 MW potential, as well as up to 10 hydroprojects with potential around 600 MW and wind power projects. Dr. Palsson has a C.Sc. degree in mechanical & industrial engineering from University of Iceland and M.Sc. and PhD degrees in petroleum engineering from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. He has been involved in geothermal projects since 1996 and has been employed within the Landsvirkjun group since 2002. Dr. Palsson is the president of the Geothermal Association of Iceland and a board member of the International Geothermal Association.

Mr. Arnar Guðmundsson
Promote Iceland

Arnar Guðmundsson is an information Manager at Invest in Iceland, part of Promote Iceland. Former Political Advisor to the minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism. Appointed by the Prime Minister as chairman of a governmental committee on Natural Resource Policy for Iceland.

Mr. Benedikt Höskuldsson
Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Benedikt is the head of department of Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs. He has a MA in International Economics, Money & Monetary Systems and ‘International Business from Portland State University, OR in USA and has over twenty years of experience for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. He was a Minister-Counselor/Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Iceland in Japan.

Mr. Friðrik Ómarsson
Mannvit

Fridrik Omarsson is a Project Manager at the Business Development and Marketing department of Mannvit. He has a degree in Management from the George Washington University, D.C., USA and over 10 years’ experience in business and geothermal energy development. Previous to his position at Mannvit, he worked for DHL in the United States and Samskip. Following that he was head of marketing and sales at geothermal energy companies, Geysir Green Energy and Enex.

Mr. Jakob S. Friðriksson
Reykjavik Energy

Jacob is Manager of Business Development at Reykjavík Energy. Jacob has been actively involved in the geothermal energy sector in Iceland and internationally since 1991. His focus has been on district heating systems and power production using geothermal resources. He has both managed and participated in development of projects and their execution as well as operation of utilities and power plants

Mr. Vilhjálmur Guðmundsson

ENORCA

Vilhjálmur worked as a CDO for Iceland Drilling Company until December 2012. In his work for IDC for almost 7 years, his responsibility was international business development and marketing of drilling services, placing emphasis on geothermal exploitation worldwide.

Prior to joining the team at Iceland Drilling, Mr. Gudmundsson was director of business development at the Trade Council of Iceland, havingyears of experience in international marketing projects, being responsible for marketing actions in Central and East European countries, Asian countries, Russia, and in Chile.

Currently Vilhjalmur is running his own consultancy firm, ENORCA mainly focusing on assisting geothermal concession owners arranging for their exploration work, by preparing their procurement documents and negotiating final drilling contract.

Conference Management

Rósbjörg Jónsdóttir, conference manager
rosbjorg@gekon.is

Professional Conference Organizer