leadership

Leadership

Local Presence and Global Connection

The structure of WING is based on local presence and global connection. WING is an Institutional Member of the International Geothermal Association (IGA), and individual WING members participate in their own national geothermal associations and communities.

The organization is led by the Global Board which is responsible for leading the vision and direction of WING. The WING Global Board maintains continuity through the periodic changing of the WING Global Operations Team.

The WING Global Operations Team is led by the Global Executive, who is responsible for the management and operation of the organization. The Global Operations Team is based in the Global Executive’s home country. Additionally, the Operations Team elects a Global Chair who represents the Operations Team as a member of the Global Board. The responsibilities of the Operations Team are handed over to a new country at each World Geothermal Congress to broaden global perspectives, share volunteer responsibilities, and to bring countries closer together.

WING Ambassadors are approved by the Global Operations Team to represent countries that actively participate in geothermal development. Ambassadors build WING Teams to support, coordinate and deliver WING initiatives in their countries. This ensures WING remains relevant and engaged with the domestic industry in individual countries, while maintaining connections with the international geothermal community.

Global Board

The WING Global Board is comprised of global WING members from around the world to manage risk for the global organization. Ann Robertson-Tait serves as the global chair of the WING Global Board, and as liaison to the U.S. Global Operations Team.

Andy Blair

Andy Blair is the current President of the International Geothermal Association and co-founder of Upflow, a geothermal science, research and innovation company that builds expert teams to provide solutions to industry. She has a deep understanding of the drivers relating to the business of science, and a proven ability to turn scientific ideas into economic gains. Andrea has experience in leading strategic planning and tactical thinking across several industries including governance roles that required strategic investment decision making. One of the co-founders and ex-Global Chair of WING, Andy continues to champion diversity within the geothermal industry.

Ann Robertson-Tait

Ann Robertson-Tait joined GeothermEx in 1985 after receiving an MSc in Geology from the University of Auckland. She specializes in analysis of exploration and drilling data in support of well targeting, resource quantification, and sustainable resource management. Her current focus areas include hybrid applications that combine geothermal with other technologies and renewable energy sources, and innovative geothermal risk mitigation solutions. After recognizing clear examples of gender bias, she was compelled to join WING. In addition to actively promoting WING’s message, Ann is working to increase membership and ensure WING’s sustainability until gender equality and equity is the norm in the geothermal community.

Simon Webbison

Simon Webbison joined Ormat in 2019 as a Resource Manager focusing on geothermal growth in Indonesia, after having worked for 10 years at Mighty River Power and Mercury in New Zealand, most recently as the Subsurface Operations Manager. A strong supporter of diversity and fairness, Simon is motivated to bring positive changes to the geothermal industry. During his tenure at Mercury, his team was the test audience for the WINGman Special Task Force, a program designed to recognize gender bias in geothermal workplaces and provide strategies to overcome it. He holds a BSc and MSc in Chemistry and has a Post Graduate Diploma in Management, all from the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Hidda Thorsteinsson

Hildigunnur (Hidda) Thorsteinsson is the Managing Director for Research and Innovation at Reykjavik Energy. In her role, she oversees natural resource management and R&I for the company. Previously, she led the Hydrothermal and Resource Confirmation team at the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Office at the U.S. Department of Energy. Prior to working for the U.S. Department of Energy, she was a project manager and engineer at geothermal developers in both the United States and Iceland. Currently, Mrs. Thorsteinsson serves on the boards of ON Power, Iceland School of Energy, the Geothermal Resources Council and Icelandic Energy Cluster. She received a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from the University of Iceland in 2005, and a Master of Science in Technology and Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2008.

Patrick Hanson

Patrick Hanson is the founder of Geo Energy Marketing, a digital marketing and strategic sales consultancy for the geothermal industry. Patrick spent his career working in marketing leadership roles for major geothermal service companies before making the jump into entrepreneurship. He served on the GRC Board of Directors for 6 years, was the Chairman of the GRC Branding Committee, and is an active leader with the GRC Annual Meeting year after year. He started the #WomeninGeothermal social media campaign that celebrates female leaders within the geothermal industry, their accomplishments, and views on gender equality. He continues to be a champion for geothermal energy worldwide.

Global Operations Team

The WING Global Operations Team operates on a three-year cycle, coinciding with the World Geothermal Congress. Starting in May 2020, the U.S. WING Team served until 2023. Now, WING Türkiye has been chosen to manage operations until 2026.

Leading the team, Umut Destegül Solaroğlu serves as the Global Chair of the Operations Team, and Ayçe Özatalay as the WING Global Executive. Their collective efforts are focused on fostering connections, facilitating growth, and supporting the evolution of WING members and the organization as a whole.

Global Chair

Umut Destegul Solaroğlu

Umut Destegul has more than 20 years of experience working on geothermal projects in Türkiye and internationally, including 10 years of experience in the design and supervision of geothermal exploration and drilling projects, adding up to 107 MW, or approximately 6% of the current installed power capacity of the country. She is also a leading expert in direct use geothermal applications, having successfully deployed direct use technologies across various sectors in Türkiye, including district heating, industry and tourism.

Umut has carried out geothermal consulting assignments for a number of organizations, including the UN, IFC, NZTE and USTDA. As a consultant at GreenMax, she led a technical assessment of direct use geothermal opportunities across six East African countries for UNIDO.

Umut previously worked in Business Development roles in Türkiye’s geothermal and renewable energy sectors, including for Enther Energy, Transmark Renewables and BM Holdings. She also worked as a Hazard Impact Modeling Engineer at GNS Science in New Zealand and as a Disaster Management Research Specialist at Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) in USA.

Umut holds a M.Sc. in Natural Hazard Sciences from the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation in the Netherlands and a M.Sc. in Geodynamics from Istanbul Technical University. She is fluent in Turkish and English.

Global Executive

Ayçe Özatalay

23 + years experienced Corporate and Marketing Communications Consultant with a demonstrated history of working in the non-profit organization management industry.

Skilled in Marketing Management, Corporate and Marketing Communications & Strategy, Sustainability Projects, NGO Management and Fundraising, Licensing, Advertising, PR Management.

Federation of Turkish Women’s Associations & UNDP Emergency HotLine Application, Turkish Educational Foundation #neydimneoldum Challenge, Safiye Ayla Memorial Week, Learning with Zeki Muren Project, European Union Information Centers The Time Is Now Climate Project, Smiling Heals Assc. My Smiling Glove Project , Corporate Communications Assc. Future Of Communication Report.

Team Members

Başak Çimen

I’m Başak Çimen, a project and legal process Manager with fourteen years of experience in the energy sector and currently working at Celikler Holding. My success is exciting. I graduated from international relations. After being involved in the energy sector I graduated from engineering management. I take care of the technical and commercial side as well. Project management of geothermal Projects with the discipline of planning, organizing, securing, and managing resources to achieve specific goals. Ensuring the sustainability of the projects with the framework of the laws and regulations in force, fulfilling the license obligations, zoning, Environmental Impact Assesment (EIA) process, ensuring the approval projects with the Ministry and making the acceptance of the projects. I was done with the commissioning of 212 MW binary cycle geothermal power plants as a Project Manager. Sometimes it was difficult to work as a woman in this sector, but I succeeded and continued confidently.

Eren Gunuc

Eren Gunuc, a London-based geophysical engineer, is a passionate advocate for geothermal energy. With over 13 years of experience in deep geothermal and ground source energy, he has contributed to 200+ projects and conducted Due Diligence for 1,500+ assets worldwide. Eren specializes in geothermal engineering, investment advisory, deep geophysics, structural geology, numerical modelling, hydrogeology, GIS data management, opportunity mapping, resource assessment, and business development. Fluent in Turkish, English, and German. Since 2018, Eren has been serving a geothermal expert role at the Arup London office. Prior to this, he successfully managed his own geothermal engineering and advisory company in Türkiye for six years. During that time, Eren organized five international geothermal energy conferences in collaboration with foundation institutes, geothermal associations, and governmental bodies. Simultaneously, he served as the editor of JeotermalHaberler, the sister page of ThinkGeoEnergy. Eren has been a member of Women In Geothermal since its inception and currently holds a position on the global operations team, contributing to the social media and communication campaigns of Wing Global.

Hafize Akıllı

Hafize Akıllı graduated from Ankara University, Department of Geological Engineering, with first place. Thanks to the scholarship he received from the General Directorate of Mineral Research nad Exploration (MTA) while she was student, she started working at MTA after graduating. She served as drilling geologist, camp chief and project leader in geothermal energy survey and geothermal well monitoring studies at the Energy Raw Material Survey and Exploration Department. She did her Phd on the investigation of the geochemistry and isotopic properties of hot and mineral waters in the Ankara-Polatlı-Haymana areas. She also served as the assistant editor of Bulletin of The Mineral Research and Exploration and the secretariat of the editorial board. She met WING during a time when she was in search after the gender discrimination and mobbing incidents she experienced and became a member. As Country Ambassador of Türkiye, she works to promote WING, increase the number of members and increase the effectiveness of women in the geothermal sector.

Selcen Görgülü

After graduating from METU geological engineering, İnci Selcen Görgülü started working at Viking international in 2010. She worked as wellsite geologist in oil wells. Selcen joined Zorlu Enerji Geothermal Investment Group in 2013 as exploration geologist and currently working as manager. Using her drilling experience in oil wells, she has specialized in geothermal exploration for the last 10 years. She is an active member of WING Türkiye and project coordinator of Future Leaders Cohort.

Elif Meriç İlkimen

Elif Meriç is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the field of Computational Science and Engineering in Geology at Pamukkale University, Department of Geological Engineering, under the supervision of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) 100/2000 program. The focus of the doctoral thesis is on modeling a geothermal field with aspects of geology, geophysics, and other related disciplines. Having completed undergraduate and graduate studies in Geophysics Engineering and Marine Geology and Geophysics at Dokuz Eylül University, she has had the opportunity to participate in numerous scientific projects and research endeavors. During their student years, they actively contributed to the organization committees of events organized by the Chamber of Geophysics Engineering of the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB). Notably, they played a key role in the organization committee of the 11th Eurasian Geophysical Society General Assembly. Demonstrating flexibility, high responsibility, strong communication skills, and experience in collaborating with multicultural teams, she has engaged in civil society and social projects. In 2017, at the JESDER (Geothermal Power Plant Investors Association) meeting, she collaborated with Wing Turkey to enhance Wing's membership and awareness at the Wing stand. Since joining WING Turkey, she has actively supported various aspects such as social media visual sharing, stand duties, and promotion. This dedication has significantly contributed to increasing Wing Turkey's visibility and member engagement.