The Future of Utilities

Volker Beckers

Chief Executive Officer, RWE npower

Biography

Volker Beckers was appointed to the Board of RWE npower as Group Chief Financial Officer on 1 November 2003 and Chief Executive Officer in January 2010.

Prior to joining RWE npower, he was Vice President Corporate Controlling and Development at RWE Net AG in Dortmund and from February 2003 was also responsible for Organisational Development. Before that, he held several senior positions at RWE Energy AG. His last position before the merger with VEW Energy AG was Head of Controlling business unit grid in Essen.

After graduating from Cologne University with a master’s degree in business administration, he worked for Compunet Computer AG (later General Electric, Capital Services) as Head of Education Centre and then moved to the management consultancy part of the business as Division Manager responsible for Project Management Methods and IT Development Projects. In addition to his role at RWE npower, Volker Beckers is Deputy Head of the executive Commercial Management Committee at BDEW (German Association of Energy and Water Industries) and also represents the German companies at Eurelectric's "Finance & Economics" Focus Group.

Keith Anderson

Chief Corporate Officer, ScottishPower

Biography

Keith Anderson is Chief Corporate Officer for ScottishPower with responsibility for the Iberdrola Group's activities in the UK and in particular, leading the Group's £15bn investment plan to 2020, as well as representing the Group with key stakeholders including, Government, regulators, customers, media and employees.

Keith also retains his role as Chief Executive Officer of ScottishPower Renewables, which is the UK arm of Iberdrola's Renewables Division. His responsibility encompasses all of the Group's renewables activity in the UK and Iberdrola's global offshore business.

Prior to joining ScottishPower, Keith had worked with some major financial institutions including The Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Life, as well as working as a management consultant with Ernst & Young.

Keith is a Chartered Accountant and he is married with 4 daughters.

Charles Hendry

Minister of State, Department of Energy & Climate Change

Biography

Charles Hendry has been Member of Parliament for Wealden since 2001. Prior to joining the Government, he was Shadow Minister for Energy. He had previously held the position of Shadow Minister for Energy, Industry and Postal Affairs. Before this, Charles was the Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party (2003-05), Shadow Minister for Young People (2002-05) and Shadow Minister for Industry and Enterprise (May – December 2005).

From 1992-97, Charles Hendry was Member of Parliament for High Peak, Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party (1995-1997) and Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Homelessness (1992-1996). Following the 1997 General Election, he was appointed Chief of Staff to the Rt Hon William Hague during his leadership of the Conservative Party, before establishing and leading the Business Liaison Unit at Conservative Party headquarters.

Charles Hendry's business career has mostly been spent in Public Relations, working with the international communications groups Ogilvy & Mather PR and Burson-Marsteller. He was Special Adviser to the Rt Hon John Moore MP as Secretary of State for Social Services (1988) and to the Rt Hon Tony Newton MP as Minister of State for Trade & Industry and then Secretary of State for Social Security (1988-90). He was Founder/Chairman/Chief Executive of The Agenda Group (1999-2005), a specialist consultancy helping company Chairmen and Chief Executives with their corporate networking.

He was born and brought up in Sussex and attended Rugby School from 1972-1976 before going on to study for a degree in Business Studies at Edinburgh University from 1977-1981.

Richard Benyon

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Biography

Richard Benyon has been MP for Newbury since May 2005. Before coming to government Mr Benyon served as a Shadow Minister for the Environment, Fisheries and Wildlife. Prior to this appointment he was a Party Whip. He has also served on the Home Affairs Select Committee.

Mr Benyon lives in West Berkshire where he is a farmer. He is a former soldier and is a founder Trustee of the charity Help for Heroes. Mr Benyon is married to Zoe, with whom he has two sons. He also has three sons from his previous marriage.

Mike McKeon

Group Finance Director, Severn Trent

Biography

Michael joined the board of Severn Trent Plc on 13 December 2005 as Finance Director. Prior to that, he was Finance Director of the buildings materials group Novar Plc. He worked for Rolls Royce Plc from 1997 to 2000 in various senior roles including Finance Director of the Aerospace Group.

He has extensive international business experience, having worked overseas for CarnaudMetalbox, Elf Atochem and Price Waterhouse. Michael is a Chartered Accountant and a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. He was appointed a non-executive director of The Merchants Trust Plc, with effect from 1 May 2008.

Peter Simpson

Managing Director, Anglian Water

Biography

Peter Simpson was appointed Managing Director of Anglian Water Services in January 2010, having held the position of Chief Operating Officer since November 2004. He previously held positions within the international division of the company, including Regional Director for Europe based in the Czech Republic and Senior Vice President of Operations based in the USA. Peter is a Chartered Water and Environmental Manager, and holds an MBA from Warwick Business School.

Anglian Water serves a population of over 5 million, has over 6,500 treatment plants and pumping stations and a distribution/collection system nearly 100,000 km long.

Peter Atherton

Managing Director, Head - European Utility Sector Research, Citigroup Global Markets

Biography

Peter Atherton is head Citigroup's European Utility and Climate Change equity research team. He joined Citigroup in July 2000 after spending four years at Kleinwort Benson. He originally joined the Central Electricity Generating Board in 1987 after a short spell with the Cabinet Office before moving into the City in 1996.

Basil Scarsella

Chief Executive Officer, UK Power Networks

Biography

Basil Scarsella is the Chief Executive Officer of UK Power Networks, owned by the Cheung Kong Group. This is the largest Distribution Network Operator in the UK, distributing electricity to over 8 million homes and businesses. It has over 5,000 employees in its regulated and non-regulated areas and generated over £1.3bn of revenue in 2010, with revenue of over £200m per year for the non-regulated business, which has long-term contracts with high profile customers such as the London airports and the London Underground.

Prior to taking up the appointment at UK Power Networks, Mr. Scarsella was the CEO of Northern Gas Networks from 2005, also owned by the Cheung Kong Group, distributing gas to 2.5 million homes in the north east of England.

From 1998, Mr. Scarsella was the CEO of ETSA Utilities, a privatised electricity distribution business in Australia. Between 1994 and 1998 he was General Manager of ETSA Power Corporation, responsible for electricity distribution, retailing, field services and customer services. Before joining ETSA Corporation in 1994 he was Group Planning and Finance Manager at the South Australia Gas Company (SAGASCO).

Mr. Scarsella holds a degree in Economics from the University of Adelaide and is a Certified Practicing Accountant. He is a Life Member of Football Australia and former Member of the Executive Committee of FIFA. He received the Australian Sports Medal in 2000 and in 2003 became a Member of the Order of Australia, for services to sport.

Mr. Scarsella and his wife Rita have a daughter and two sons.

Mark Somerset

President and General Manager, UK & the Netherlands, Intergen

Biography

Mark Somerset is responsible for the day-to-day management of InterGen assets in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

Previously, Mr Somerset directed InterGen's northwest Europe business based in Amsterdam. In this role, he grew the generation business and had commercial responsibility for the 800MW Rijnmond Energie project and the 428MW MaasStroom Energie project. Prior to joining InterGen, Mr. Somerset held various commercial and project director positions in the power industry with a number of blue chip companies including Drax and National Power. In addition, he has worked in the waste management, transport and voluntary sectors.

Mr Somerset holds a degree from Cambridge University as well as a Master of Business Administration degree from Cranfield University.

Craig Dyke

Strategy Development Manager, Future Transmission Networks, National Grid

Biography

Craig Dyke is the Strategy Development Manager at National Grid in Future Transmission Networks. He is responsible for developing National Grid's future strategy on system balancing and represents National Grid at various SMART and demand side response industry forums. He is a Chartered Engineer and has been working for National Grid since March 2000. He has undertaken various roles over the last decade across the operations side of National Grid. Craig previously managed the team responsible for the development, negotiation, procurement and settlement of balancing services contracts in electricity and gas.

Sara Vaughan

Director of Regulation and Energy Policy, E.ON UK

Biography

Sara Vaughan is Director of Regulation and Energy Policy at E.ON UK. A lawyer by background, she joined Powergen (as it then was) as a competition and regulatory lawyer from Slaughter and May in 1997. She subsequently became Director of Regulation before also taking on energy policy in 2007. She is responsible for energy policy and competition and regulatory compliance across the E.ON UK group.

Simon Wills

Managing Director, Centrica Storage

Biography

Simon joined Centrica Storage as Managing Director in August 2008, moving across from his previous role as Head of Power Business Development within Centrica Energy.

Simon has been with Centrica since de-merger and before that with British Gas plc. He started his career with us as a research engineer with British Gas at their Midland Research Station in 1990 and since then has held a variety of commercial and technical roles within British Gas and latterly Centrica, both in the UK and Europe. Simon was involved in our initial entry into the UK electricity market in 1998 and his career has been associated with Centrica’s activities in power ever since and has covered UK power station acquisitions, retail procurement policy, market development, development of Centrica’s initial renewable activities and European business development.

In early 2004 Simon took up the role of Director of the Energy Management Group in Centrica’s Belgian gas and power supply JV, Luminus, a role he carried out until returning to the UK in mid 2005 as Head of Electricity Supplies for Centrica Energy and subsequently Head of Business Development, prior to moving to his current role.

Nick Fincham

Director of Strategy and Regulation, Thames Water

Biography

Nick Fincham has over 20 years experience in UK and European economic regulation and competition policy.  He is currently Director of Strategy and Regulation at Thames Water.  Prior to joining Thames, Nick spent six years as Director of Economic Regulation and Competition Policy at the Civil Aviation Authority.  Before that, he had spells at OFFER, Ofgas, Ofgem and Postcomm, and operated as a consultant providing advice to the UK Government and economic regulators.

David Elliott

Director of Planning & Asset Management, Wessex Water

Biography

David is responsible for ensuring that the Company invests in and maintains appropriate assets to meet our customer service, regulatory, financial and quality objectives. He is responsible for liaising with regulators and preparing regulatory business plans, developing policy and implementing investment plans to deliver our obligations within an acceptable level of risk and return.

David joined Wessex Water in 1984, and has spent many of those years delivering services within the operational side of the business.

Elliott, David BSc Director of Regulation and Assets. Wessex Water Director since June 2007. Responsible for investment planning and risk management. Previously General Manager Asset Planning and Group Services. Joined Wessex Water in 1984.

Howard V Rogers

Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies

Biography

Howard is the Director of the Natural Gas Research Programme at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

In 2010 he published a research paper on LNG arbitrage between the regional markets of Asia, Europe and North America.

In 2011 Howard co-authored a paper on the transition to hub-based pricing in Continental Europe with Professor Jonathan Stern and also published a paper on the long term gas supply and seasonal flexibility needs of the UK market and the impact of wind intermittency.

In January 2012 Howard published a paper examining the future potential for inter-regional gas price linkages under a range of scenarios.

Howard Rogers retired from BP in 2008 after a career of 29 years. Originally a Chemical Engineer by discipline, Howard spent much of his career in upstream oil and gas business development and strategy. This included postings to the US, Kuwait and Azerbaijan. His last post in BP was head of Fundamental Analysis, Global Gas.

Howard is based in Guildford, UK.

Gary Thornton

Asset Engineering Manager, National Grid

Biography

Gary Thornton joined National Grid in 1998 and since 2009 holds the position of Asset Strategy & Engineering Manager responsible for first line support, environmental engineering, and technical investigations across the range of National Grid's electricity transmission equipment technologies. At present, Gary is actively involved in the IET as a member of the power systems and equipment TPN executive team and is a chartered engineer. Between 2005 and 2009 Gary held the position of Delivery Manager responsible for the safe operation, maintenance, construction and fault rectification of 22 substations in the Midlands conurbation. Prior to 2005 Gary held several positions including Service Delivery Manager and Site Engineer predominantly undertaking commissioning of protection systems. Gary joined National Grid from Merz and McLellan where he held the position of Electrical Engineer between 1995 and 1998.

George Butler

Director of Asset Management, Northern Ireland Water

Biography

George has worked in most aspects of the water industry as a consultant, independent contractor, regulator, financier and operator.

He is a chartered engineer, member of ICE, CIWEM and IWO and is a director of UKWIR.

George's role with Northern Ireland Water has responsibility for strategic asset management, H&S and the company's environmental services. He is married with 3 children and lives in Belfast.

Ben Roche

Manager of Energy & Carbon, Yorkshire Water

Biography

Ben Roche, Manager of Energy & Carbon - Ben leads the Kelda Group's Energy & Carbon team, he has worked at Yorkshire Water (Kelda's largest company) for ten years. His current role sees him lead Kelda's Sustainable Energy Strategy, which sets out how the group can tackle the current and future energy demands of the water sector through supply chain, demand reduction, generation and influencing. Ben has been at the heart of the group's energy investments such as the UK's first hydro turbine and wind turbine on a wastewater treatment works, Bio-Energy (an Anaerobic Digestion and CHP strategy) and finally targeting innovation to enable wastewater treatment sites to be "zero waste". His current areas of work are targeting further energy reductions through the company's leading edge bulk water transfer network, meeting tighter new environmental and internal energy standards at wastewater treatment works and a programme of training and engagement for all of its employees.

Andrew Gardner

General Manager, Energy & Carbon, Severn Trent

Biography

I am currently General Manager at Severn Trent Water responsible for Energy and Carbon Management. In March 2010 we produced over 20% of our energy demand from our own renewable energy production and have a target to increase this to 30% by 2015. In August 2010 Severn Trent successfully commissioned the UK 1st commercial scale energy crop scheme ahead of time and below budget

I have been working at Severn Trent Water for the last nine years in various General Manager roles and prior to being GM Energy & Carbon management I held roles in Customer Relations and Sales & Competition Businesses.

Prior to Severn Trent I spent 10 years at ExxonMobil where my time was split between downstream Refinery Operations and upstream Gas Marketing.

I am a Chemical and Bio Process Engineer by training from Bath University.

I enjoy running and drinking wine – but not at the same time!

Sian Gardner

Head of Smart Home Opertations, British Gas

Biography

British Gas Smart Homes was established in December 2010 to ensure that customers are at the very heart of British Gas' smart metering rollout programme. Sian Gardner is Head of Smart Homes Operations, responsible for ensuring every customer with a smart meter experiences a differentiated and exceptional level of service. A major element of Sian's role is to ensure the design of the smart metering set and associated infrastructure, systems and processes are developed to fully realise the benefits of smart metering for British Gas and its customers.

During 2010 Sian managed the relationship with British Gas' third parties to start installing residential smart meters in volume. British Gas has now brought this operation in house through British Gas Smart Metering and has installed more residential smart meters than any other UK supplier.

Sian has been with British Gas for 10 years and in the Energy Supply Industry for over 20 years in a wide range of Operational and Programme roles, including Heading up the Account Management team for British Gas Business.

Dave Openshaw

Head of Future Networks, UK Power Networks

Biography

Dave is a member of EDF Energy Networks senior management team and currently holds the position of Head of Future Networks. He is responsible for the development of long-term network development strategies for EDF Energy's regulated public electricity distribution networks business serving the East and South East of England and London.

Dave serves on the International Technical Committee for CIRED and is chair of Session 4 – Distributed Energy Resources and Efficient Utilisation of Electricity.

He holds an Honours Degree in Electrical Power Engineering. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the UK Institution of Engineering and Technology. He is also a member of the UK Institute of Asset Management.

Chris Rowell

Smart Programme Director, Elexon

Biography

Chris Rowell is ELEXON's Smart Programme Director, responsible for supporting the SMIP and developing our capability in the smart space, as well as making sure the existing BSC processes and systems are fit for the new smart world. Chris has spent his entire career in the electricity industry, starting out as a Board Scholar of the Central Electricity Generating Board, he worked in nuclear safety, generation, and transmission prior to entering settlements. He was seconded to the Electricity Pool's 1998 Programme and subsequently managed the development of these arrangements and the transition to the New Electricity Trading Arrangements. Within ELEXON he has held roles as joint Head of Trading Arrangements and Head of Change Delivery, before taking on his current position.

Dr Keith MacLean

Policy & Research Director, SSE

Biography

Since completing graduate and postgraduate studies in Chemistry at Heriot-Watt and Hamburg Universities, Keith joined SSE in 1994 following a career in Germany and Scotland working in Research & Development and Business Management.

At SSE he has worked in a number of areas of the energy business and was also responsible for starting-up and running its telecoms business from 1997 to 2004.  Since 2004 he has been responsible for policy and public affairs. 

Outside SSE, he is a Director on the Board of the Scottish Renewables Forum (SRF) and is also Chairman of the Board at the UK Business Council for Sustainable Energy (UKBCSE).

In addition to this trade association activity he is a government advisor on renewable energy policy and was appointed to the Renewables Advisory Board in December 2007 and is also a member of the Scottish Government’s Forum for Renewable Energy.

Phil Hack

Head of Smart Metering Programme, UK Power Networks

Biography

Phil Hack has over 24 years experience in the electricity industry, from both an operational and non-operational perspective. He has been responsible for developing and implementing transformational strategies including new operating models and cost reduction programmes.

Phil joined UK Power Networks in 1987 as an apprentice, he is now responsible for developing UK Power Networks strategy for the GB Smart Metering Programme, this includes both the interface with the three electricity distribution networks it operates in London, East of England and the South East and the investment opportunity in financing and deploying smart meters on behalf of energy suppliers.

"The measure of success for smart metering deployment, is that we knock on the door, the customer understands why we are there, allows us to install the smart meters and is delighted with the experience"

Phil recognises that this is easy to say and is extremely difficult to deliver!

Richard Potter

Head of Innovation, Steria

Biography

As a successful management consultant, Richard has advised business leaders in the UK and Europe on a range strategic transformation challenges. However, it is building innovative enterprises that is his real interest. As well as leading Steria’s own global innovation programme, Richard works with Steria’s customers helping them turn ideas into results. Richard lives in the UK but travels extensively throughout Europe. An MBA and Chartered Engineer in his earlier career includes roles in the UK Ministry of Defence and Capgemini.

Haley Hutson

Principal, LCP

Biography

Haley has worked as an energy economist for over 20 years. She has significant experience in both the electricity and gas sectors and has been a risk manager in the coal, oil and weather markets. Haley's practical experience in the energy sector ranges across working in consultancy, a large private energy company, government and a trade association. She has advised energy regulators in Britain, Ireland and France; and major energy companies across Europe.

Haley has advised a wide range of clients from Ofgem and other European regulators to the major European energy companies including E.On, Centrica, Scottish Power, Nuon, Vattenfall and DONG Energy. She has an MSc in Energy Economics from the University of Surrey and a BA(Hons) in Economics from the University of Essex.

Using advanced mathematical and financial modelling techniques, the LCP EURI team collaborates with clients to find solutions to complex business problems. Areas of expertise include, risk management, smart metering, emissions trading, and regulation.

Keith Mason

Senior Director of Regulatory Finance, Ofwat

Biography

Keith Mason is Director of Finance and Networks at Ofwat with responsibility for regulatory finance, corporate finance and asset strategy and was director with overall responsibility for the 2009 price review. He is also a member of the Ofwat Board. He has been with Ofwat for more than fifteen years and experienced four Periodic Reviews already.

He is a Chartered Accountant and Corporate Treasurer and was previously senior manager at KPMG where he was responsible for a wide variety of clients.

Iain Bundred

Director of Strategic Media Relations, Ogilvy

Biography

Iain Bundred works across strategic media projects at Ogilvy PR. He has more than a decade of experience working in political communications as a former adviser to Prime Ministers in the UK and Middle East.

As Head of Corporate and Public Affairs in the UK, Iain leads international accounts for Governments and large multinational corporations, providing strategic advice in media relations, crisis comms and branding. Recent clients have included Governments across Latin America and the Middle East as well as some of the UK’s largest white goods and oil and gas companies.

Previously at 10 Downing Street, Iain led the Government’s media and communications planning, shaping key media inventions by the PM. As Chief Spokesperson to Gordon Brown, he gained a wealth of experience in crisis communications having  handled high pressure media stories such as the UK Government response to the ash cloud and Britain’s role at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.

He also led media handling for the PM during the 2010 General Election, giving strategy input to daily campaign meetings led by Peter Mandelson and accompanying Gordon Brown for all interviews, field visits and statements – up to and including his resignation statement.

Before joining Downing Street, Iain worked as Special Adviser to Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell, handling the Government's response to rising unemployment and helping to implement significant welfare and pensions reform.

Iain began his career as a researcher and press officer at the British Labour Party. As a party official he specialised in researching opposition policy positions and providing political advice to senior government ministers on youth engagement. He holds a BSc in Government from the LSE.

Richard Postance

Partner, Ernst & Young

Biography

Richard Postance is a leading partner in Ernst & Young’s Power & Utilities performance improvement practice and leads Ernst & Young’s response to Smart Metering and Grids.  He draws on his engineering and technology background to provide strategy and transformation consulting for the energy retail, telecommunications and public sectors.  Richard’s recent experience includes transforming the customer service and field operations for leading utilities including designing energy services propositions and customer engagement plans in response to a Smart Meter roll out.

Kieran Kilmartin

EMEA Marketing Director, Pitney Bowes Business Software

Biography

Kieran has accumulated a wealth of experience in over 20 years in the software industry. Having worked in software development, consultancy and marketing Kieran's expertise stretches from data management, analytics, business process management through to CRM and marketing automation. He joined Pitney Bowes in 2010 through the acquisition of Portrait Software. Today Kieran heads up marketing for Pitney Bowes Software in EMEA. Prior to 5 years with Portrait Software in product strategy and marketing roles Kieran has held senior marketing roles at TIBCO software and Staffware in the field of BPM. Kieran has also enjoyed successful roles at content management provider Mediasurface as well as database vendors Oracle and Sybase. He has a BSc in Geophysics and started his working life as a seismologist in the Middle East and Far East. He is married with 2 daughters and lives in Berkshire, England.

Stephen Cunningham

Chief Executive Officer, Landis+Gyr

Biography

Steve Cunningham joined Landis+Gyr as CEO, UK and Ireland on 1st March 2009. Steve had previously spent 18 years in the IT industry, most recently at Nortel where he was General Manager of the business's Global Account Team supporting BT. Steve's appointment was a reflection of the increasing importance of the emerging European smart metering industry, with countries across the region looking to roll-out ambitious metering programmes in order to reach the EU's 2020 targets. His experience in large scale public sector and network provider managed service programmes will be invaluable in developing Landis+Gyr's business, both in the critical UK market and more widely in the EMEA region as a whole.

Philip Fletcher

Chairman, Ofwat

Biography

Philip Fletcher was appointed for a five-year term as Chairman of the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) with effect from April 2006, which has been extended to July 2012.  He was previously Director General of Water Services from 2000 until 2006.

His previous career was based mainly in central government public service, with an emphasis on financial issues.  He was a founder member of the Department of the Environment (DoE) from 1970.  His work there covered such issues as planning and land use, urban regeneration, rural issues, local government, finance and private housing.  As Director of Central Finance there, he took part in the issues leading up to the privatisation of the water industry in England and Wales in 1989.

He was appointed Chief Executive of PSA Services (the former Property Services Agency) in 1993.  When he had completed its privatisation, he transferred to head the Cities and Countryside Group in DoE in 1994.  He was the Receiver for the Metropolitan District (providing financial and support services for the Metropolitan Police) from 1996-2000.

He is a member of the Archbishops’ Council and Chair of the Mission and Public Affairs Council for the Church of England, is also a member of the Ofqual Board and is Chair of its Audit and Risk Committee, and a member of the Advisory Council of the European Policy Forum.

Kevin Copp

National Account Director, Institute of Customer Service

Biography

Kevin is a National Account Director for the Institute of Customer Service and supports Members in their journey towards customer service excellence. Kevin has spent all of his career in the services business, primarily with Hewlett-Packard. Kevin has a strong commitment to excellence in customer service delivery, and has a proven track record in customer service management, client relationship management, programme management, consulting and business process excellence, re-engineering & improvement.

Andy Corkhill

Head of Utilities EMEA, Convergys

Biography

Andy joined Convergys in December 2010 to lead Convergys’ EMEA Utilities team. In this role, Andy is responsible for driving the development of new solutions in response to customer requirements, demands and industry trends. He is also responsible for developing effective partnerships to ensure Convergys delivers integrated, proven solutions for end-to-end process management and support in areas such as smart metering and smart grids.

Andy has over 27 years of experience in the development, running and selling of services and solutions to the utilities, retail and financial services industries. He has a strong consultancy and technical background backed up with proven expertise in sales and account management. Previous roles have included Head of UK Utilities at a leading BPO group, Sales Director Energy (oil, gas, utilities, and telco) at an independent Systems Integrator and Practice Director of a leading Scotland based professional services firm. Andy has a track record of developing and launching new products and services to the market.

Rick Hanks

Smart Metering & Smart Grid Lead, Accenture

Biography

Rick leads Accenture’s UK Smart Metering & Smart Grid practise. He has worked in the utilities sector for over 20 years delivering business change projects and is regarded as a leading subject matter specialist for utility solutions in Smart Metering and the operation of liberalised electricity and gas market processes. He has developed many Smart Technology strategies and solutions in the UK and Europe for a diverse range of clients and implemented numerous Smart Metering solutions. He is currently working with one of the UK’s  major energy retailers on their Smart Metering Operating Model and high level solution design.

Nick Horler

Chairman of the ENR Advisory Board, KPMG

Biography

Nick Horler has worked in the energy industry for 27 years, having spent 12 years in oil with Phillips Petroleum (Conoco Phillips).Moving to the electricity sector, he joined PowerGen in 1996 where he set up and ran PowerGen Energy Trading Ltd as Managing Director from 1998 to 2001. Upon its takeover by E.On, he became the Managing Director of Retail and a Board member of E.On UK for six years to 2007.

In June 2008 Nick was appointed CEO of Scottish Power plc, a post he held until October 2010. In addition, Nick is one of the founders of The Energy Retail Association which he chaired from 2005-2007. Currently, Nick is a Board member of the Royal Mail and the Go-Ahead Group and he chairs the Advisory Board of KPMG's Energy and Natural Resources practice.