Having joined in 2013, he oversees daily operation and maintenance of the Okinawa OTEC Demonstration facility and contributes to various projects and studies relating to OTEC and Deep Ocean Water Use.

As part of the Global Ocean reSource and Energy Association (GOSEA) Secretariat, he also contributes to the Okinawa Prefecture’s Hawaii Okinawa Clean Energy Partnership Support Project. In 2020, Benjamin led the establishment of the Ocean Thermal Energy Association (OTEA) and was appointed General Secretary.

He obtained a Doctor of Engineering in March 1991 from Kyushu University, then served as an instructor at the OTEC Laboratory at Saga University until becoming an associate professor in 1993, and professor in 2014 after serving as a visiting professor at Duke University from 1996-1997. 

He served as deputy director of IOES from 2014 and became director in 2020. He has been the Japan delegate to the Executive Committee of IEA's Ocean Energy System since 2003 and IEC/TC114 from 2012. He is the Chair of the Ocean Thermal Energy Association's Executive Committee.

Henrik Fleischer is a founder and Executive Chairman of Karbon CCS Ltd, and co-inventor of certain of its carbon capture patents. Henrik has been working to commercialise carbon capture since 2006, upon successfully selling the ship-owning company that he had founded in 1997. While a shipowner, he also led a maritime agency and advisory company as exclusive agent for Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding and Sembcorp Industries.

Tom Morley leads on international CCUS engagement and strategy at the UK Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Tom acts on behalf of the UK as Co-lead of the CEM CCUS initiative (alongside the USA, Saudi Arabia and Norway) and further represents the UK in key international CCUS fora. Tom has worked in both public and private sector settings, previously providing environmental and sustainability assessments in the UK.

Mr. Barroco specializes in renewable energy project development, risk management, and project finance. He is a financial consultant to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in energy, project finance, and public-private partnerships. He assists ADB in designing and developing climate mitigation programs to help the Philippine Government craft renewable energy and grid essential services policies. He assists the Public-Private Partnership Center of the Philippines in all financial and economic aspects of solicited and unsolicited proposals.

Sika Gadzanku is an energy technology and policy researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. She leads research efforts related to floating solar photovoltaics (FPV). Other work in her portfolio includes providing technical assistance to U.S. and international partners on transitioning to clean energy and conducting power sector modeling and analysis. She also has professional experience in energy consulting and distilling complex technical information to policymakers and the general public.