PEPQA

Keynote Speakers

Meet our Keynote Speakers
In PEPQA 2025

“Resilient grids are not just about strength, they’re about adaptation, foresight, and global collaboration.”
— PEPQA 2025 Organizing Committee

Voices that inspire innovation in power systems

Each year, PEPQA brings together leading voices in power electronics and power quality to share insights, cutting-edge research, and future trends. Our keynote speakers are international experts who are shaping the future of energy systems and resilient grids.

Wilmar Matínez
Marcos Alonso
Nehad El-Sherif
Leopoldo Martínez Bazulto
Miguel Aldrete
Camilo Ordoñez

PH.D. Wilmar Martinez

Wilmar Martinez received his PhD degree in Power Electronics from Shimane University, Japan, in 2016. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Toyota Technological Institute, Japan, in 2016 and at Aalto University, Finland, in 2017. In 2018, he was a visiting researcher in the Power Electronic Systems (PES) group at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. In 2018, he joined KU Leuven, Belgium, as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT), and he has held the position of Associate Professor since 2023. Additionally, he serves as the Coordinator of the Research Line Power Electronics at EnergyVille in Belgium.
His current research interests include a wide range of areas of power conversion for energy and transportation systems, battery charging infrastructure, and electric powertrain development through design automation of power converters, evaluation of iron losses of magnetic materials, and study of SiC and GaN switching devices.

He regularly serves as general chair of IFEC2026, PowerTech2027, and DMC2028, TPC chair of EPE2021, COMPEL21, PEMD23, & DMC24 and TPC member/reviewer of journals (IEEE Trans. Power Electronics, IEEE Trans. Industrial Applications; IEEE Trans. Industrial Electronics; IEEE Trans. Vehicular Technology; APEC, ECCE, ECCE-EUROPE ECCE-ASIA, etc.). He is a Senior Member of IEEE, a Member of EPE, and a Member of IEEJ. He is an active member of the European Center for Power Electronics (ECPE) and of the European and American Power Supplies Manufacturers’ Association (PSMA).
Dr. Martinez has co-authored over 170 journal and conference publications and has received multiple best paper and demonstration awards at IEEE conferences for his contributions to magnetics, power converter miniaturisation for electric vehicles, system stability, and AI in power electronics. He is co-inventor of the PowerBrain.ai tool and the innovative concepts of the Variable Transformer and Tensor Transformer.

Eng. Nehad El-Sherif

Nehad El-Sherif, M.Sc., P.Eng., MBA, SMIEEE is the Founder and President of MNKYBR Technologies Inc., a Canadian company specialized in R&D and engineering services. El-Sherif is a Professional Electrical Engineer with experience in software & hardware design, new product development, product certification, business development, product management, sales & marketing, and electrical safety. He authored and co-authored IEEE peer-reviewed papers, technical articles, white papers and delivered technical presentations at various industry conferences. El-Sherif is a senior member of IEEE (SMIEEE), an executive board member of IEEE Industry Applications Society (IAS) and IEEE Standard Association Standards Board (SASB), and a member of IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB) Committee on Standards (TCoS). He serves on NFPA Code Making Panel 2 (CMP-2) for the continued development of the National Electrical Code (NFPA 70), CSA Z462 (Workplace Electrical Safety Standard) technical committee, as well as various UL and CSA product safety certification standards technical panels. El-Sherif received several awards and recognitions including the 2024 IEEE IAS Electrical Safety Committee Excellence in Prevention through Design Award in Tucson, AZ and the First Place Prize Paper Award at the 2023 IEEE IAS Pulp and Paper Industry Conference in Spokane, WA. He earned his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Ain-Shams University, Cairo, Egypt and an MBA from the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada. El-Sherif is a sessional lecturer at the University of Saskatchewan and holds two patents.

Ph.D. Marcos Alonso

(Fellow IEEE). He received the M. Sc. Degree and Ph. D. (with honors) both in electrical engineering, from the University of Oviedo, Spain, in 1990 and 1994 respectively. Since 2007, he is a full Professor at the Electrical Engineering Department of the University of Oviedo, in Asturias, Spain. His research interests include electronic ballasts, LED power supplies, power factor correction, dc-dc converters, soft-switching converters, power factor correction, EMI, resonant inverters, renewable energy applications, wireless power transfer and high-frequency switching converters in general.
Prof. Alonso is the author of more than 500 journal and conference publications, including more than 150 publications in highly referenced journals (JCR-SCI). He has also published 3 books and 2 book chapters. He has been adviser of 14 Ph.D. Thesis. He is the holder of 8 national and international patents. He has participated in more than 60 research projects and contracts with companies. He has been a visiting researcher at Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Brazil (2011, 2014), at Center for Power Electronics Systems, Virginia Tech., Blacksburg, USA (2013), and at Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil (2018). He has been an invited professor and researcher at Harbin Institute of Technology, China, since 2015, where he is a Guest Professor since 2019.
Prof. Alonso has been awarded the Early Career Award of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society in 2006. He was honored with the University of Oviedo Electrical Engineering Doctorate Award. Prof. Alonso was also awarded with the National Funding for Intensification of Research Activity for the period 2008-2012. He also holds 11 IEEE conference/journal paper awards.
He has been a Co-Editor in Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics since 2021. He has been Guest Editor of 6 special issues published in IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics (2007), IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics (2012, 2017), IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics on Power Electronics (2015, 2018) and IET Power Electronics (2019), and has organized many IEEE Conference Special Sessions. He has served as Secretary (2013-2014), Vice-Chair (2015-2016)
and Chair (2017-2018) of the IEEE IAS Industrial Lighting and Display Committee (ILDC). He has also served as a member-at-Large of the IEEE IAS Executive Board (2013-2016), IAS Newsletter Editor (2013-2018), Chair of the IAS Web-based Tutorial Committee (2014-2019), and Chair of the IAS Awards Department (2017-2019).

Eng. Leopoldo Martínez Bazulto

Mechanical and Electrical Engineer, specialized in turbomachinery and manufacturing processes from Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City Campus (1986). Consultant in Power Quality and multiple projects involving electrical system simulation. Sales Manager for Latin America at Dranetz/Electrotek/Gossen Metrawatt (2010 to present), as well as Senior Engineer in power system simulation and modeling at Electrotek (USA).

Developer and inventor of Ampek, the first patented software in Spanish for calculating current-carrying capacity and various electrical parameters such as positive, negative, and zero-sequence impedances for Transmission and Distribution lines, as well as low, medium, high, and extra-high voltage cables for underground systems. This includes cables insulated with oil-impregnated paper, LPOF/HPOF cables, and solid dielectric insulated cables. The software is now owned by Viakable (Mexico).

Eng. Miguel Aldrete

An Electrical and Electronic Engineer from San Diego State University (SDSU), he served as President of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers during his time there. He later pursued specialized training through the Power Quality in Electrical Design program and is an active member of the Power Quality Assurance program in the U.S. In 2001, he became one of the first professionals to earn the Power Quality Certification from the Association of Energy Engineers.
As a long-standing member of the International Power Association, he has dedicated over 30 years to educating and training electrical engineers on key power quality topics, including Electrical Grounding, Electrical Noise, Transients, Voltage Variations, Blackouts, Continuous Monitoring, and Redundancy Applications. Known for his ability to simplify complex technical concepts, he helps engineers not only solve but also prevent power quality issues—ultimately reducing costly downtime and improving system efficiency.
He has authored numerous technical reports and articles, including “Improve UPS Reliability, THD, and Efficiency While Reducing Installation Costs.” Most recently, he co-authored the book “La Guía para Alcanzar las 3C’s: Continuidad, Confiabilidad y Calidad de la Energía Eléctrica,” which explores the most common issues affecting continuous, reliable, and high-quality power systems.
His work often focuses on bridging the technical differences between power systems in the U.S. and Latin America to ensure that solutions are tailored effectively to local conditions. Over the past three decades, his practical and impactful teaching style has reached thousands of engineers across the United States, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America.

M.Sc. Camilo Ordoñez

Power Systems Engineer with more than 14 years of professional experience in transmission planning, operation, innovation, strategy, regulation, new technologies, FACTS, PV, BESS, grid-forming technology, real-time simulation, modeling, and growth businesses to enhance energy transition. He has worked in Interconexion Electrica S.A. (ISA), Grupo Energia Bogota, Smart Wires and currently he is Power Systems Expert in Huawei Digital Power LATAM region. Graduated with Cum Laude with double degrees in Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and Electronic Engineering, master’s degree in Power Systems and currently a part-time Ph.D. student in Electrical Energy Systems at University of Sevilla, Spain.
In the academic field, he has experience in teaching undergraduate and graduate courses of Electrical Engineering at Universidad de los Andes and Universidad del Norte.