Dr. Don Elder is Chairman of the World Coal Institute and Chief Executive Officer of Solid Energy New Zealand Ltd

Don worked in the engineering industry in the United Kingdom, the USA and New Zealand from 1983 to 1990. From 1990 to 2000, he was based in Canada as Vice President of Jacques Whitford, one of Canada’s leading engineering companies. He returned to New Zealand in 2000 as CEO of Solid Energy, now New Zealand’s largest energy producer and a major exporter, involved in both conventional coal mining and in a range of new energy developments including coal seam gas, underground coal gasification, coal to liquids/products, bioenergy, solar energy and carbon capture and storage (CCS).

Don received his Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) from the University of Canterbury in 1980 and his PhD from the University of Oxford, UK, on a Rhodes Scholarship.

Don Elder is a Director of a number of companies and organisations. He is Vice-Chair of the International Energy Agency’s Coal Industry Advisory Board. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Professional Engineers of New Zealand and of the New Zealand Institute of Management.