Offshore Wind Conference 2026 Speakers

Gillian Martin MSP

Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy

Gillian Martin grew up in Newburgh, Aberdeenshire. Prior to her role as an MSP, she lectured in Television Production at North East Scotland College and ran her own video production company. She also designed safety courses for the energy industry and was the manager of an emergency media response team for companies operating in the North Sea for 10 years.

Ms Martin was elected as a Member of the Scottish Parliament to represent Aberdeenshire East in 2016. She was appointed as Minister for Energy and the Environment in March 2023, and Minister for Energy, Just Transition and Fair Work in February 2024. In May 2024 she was appointed as Minister for Climate Action. In July 2024, Ms Martin was appointed as Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy in July 2024 for the duration of Màiri McAllan's maternity leave.

Guy Arnold

Deputy Director – Supply Chain Strategy and Delivery, Great British Energy

Guy Arnold serves as the Deputy Director of Supply Chain at Great British Energy, the UK’s publicly backed clean energy investment company. In this role, Guy supports Rob Gilbert (Director) in developing and delivering a national supply chain strategy to support the UK’s energy transition. Guy’s role also includes responsibility for GBE’s Supply Chain Grant fund for offshore wind and networks as well as the design and delivery of all its competed and concessional funding for the supply chain.

Guy brings just under a decade of experience in government helping successive ministers navigate high-profile policy challenges as well as designing and delivering major funding programmes. Through his work at the Cabinet Office and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero he has worked with industry, policymakers, and regulators to address national supply chain bottlenecks and accelerate clean energy delivery.

Patrick Bastiaanse

Commercial Manager, N-Sea

Patrick Bastiaanse is a Commercial Manager within the Subsea Cables division at N-Sea, having joined the company in 2023. He brings several years of experience in the offshore wind sector, with a background in commercial, tendering and project-related roles supporting offshore wind developments. At N-Sea, Patrick focuses on subsea cable installation and repair projects, covering both capital installation campaigns and framework-based maintenance and repair scopes. He works closely with clients and supply-chain partners to deliver practical, commercially robust solutions that support the long-term performance of offshore wind assets.

Nindy Bhari

Senior International Trade Specialist – Energy Transition, Scottish Development International

I'm a Molecular Biologist by background, currently working as a Senior International Trade Specialist within the Energy Transition team at Scottish Development International (SDI). My role is all about supporting the growth of the Scottish economy by helping ambitious companies expand internationally.

I wear several hats: I offer tailored 1-2-1 support to companies across the energy sector. I lead our Wind Energy efforts in the Asia-Pacific region, having previously led in Europe. I work closely with global and Scottish stakeholders to identify market opportunities, deliver insights, and manage international missions and trade delegations.

My passion lies in building strong, long-lasting relationships — whether that’s guiding a business through its international journey, collaborating on product development, or supporting innovation-led growth. With experience spanning multiple sectors, I truly value the power of global networks to drive sustainable growth and change.

Sean Burnage

Regional Head – Origination and Client Coverage, UK Export Finance

Sean is responsible for driving the organisation’s strategic engagement across some of its most dynamic and high growth markets. He oversees the development of a strong, diversified pipeline of bankable projects that align with UKEF’s mandate to support UK exports and enable overseas buyers to access competitive UK financing.

Sean works across a wide range of sectors, with a particular focus on renewable energy, clean growth, and large scale infrastructure. His work includes identifying commercially viable opportunities, shaping project structures, and supporting counterparties to access UKEF’s financing solutions. By working closely with government agencies, exporters, financiers, and project sponsors, he helps position UK capabilities at the heart of major international projects.

Sean oversees UKEF’s international network across the region. This includes managing the organisation’s Country Heads in the Asia Pacific markets such as Vietnam, South Korea, Indonesia, and Malaysia as well as in the Western Balkans. Through this leadership, he ensures strong in market representation, deeper relationships with local stakeholders, and consistent delivery of UKEF’s strategic objectives across in sectors and markets of strategic interest.

David Carr

Chief Commercial Officer, OEG

David joined OEG as Chief Commercial Officer in January 2024.

Responsible for leveraging opportunities across the Group, developing new markets and business lines, and delivering long term value to our customers and shareholders.

Previously Senior Vice President at Helix Energy Solutions Group where he secured global service agreements with major corporates like Exxon Mobil and Chevron and developed new business models in the decommissioning and offshore renewables segments.

David holds a first-class Mechanical Engineering degree from Salford University and an MBA from Edinburgh Business School.

Derek Christie

Government Affairs Scotland and UK Sites, Siemens Energy

With over 20 years in the sector including leading engagement for over 12GW of projects, Derek joined Siemens Energy initially to deliver communications leadership for Siemens Gamesa, before expanding his remit to include all aspects of the wider business. He is responsible for all government and stakeholder engagement for Scotland and across the company’s UK locations.

George Cobb

OFTO Transaction Manager, Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm

George works on the Inch Cape Project, having joined in 2023 to oversee Supply Chain Compliance and drive the Offshore Transmission Transaction (OFTO). With a career spanning the energy and finance sectors, he began at PwC before progressing into strategic roles at SSE/SSEN, including Senior Finance & Regulatory Business Partner. He later advanced the UK offshore transmission regime as part of Ofgem’s OFTO team, contributing to landmark transactions such as East Anglia ONE and Moray East. George is a Chartered Accountant (ICAS) and holds a PhD, and a Masters in Finance.

Jonathan Cole

Independent Adviser, Former Chair of Global Wind Energy Council

Jonathan is an Independent Advisor and experienced Non-Executive Director in the Renewable Energy Sector. Jonathan has previously held prominent industry positions including former Chair and current Global Ambassador of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC); Founding CEO of Corio Generation; Chair of the Global Offshore Wind Health and Safety Organisation (G+); and Chair of the UK Government's Offshore Wind Programme Board. Prior to joining Corio, Jonathan helped create and then ran Iberdrola’s Global Offshore Wind Business for over a decade. Seen as one of the leading ambassadors for the Offshore Wind Sector globally, Jonathan has received numerous awards (includinghe Scottish Green Energy Award for Outstanding Contribution in 2024) and is a frequent keynote speaker at prominent industry events.

Fraser Dobbie

Chief Financial Officer, North Star

Fraser Dobbie is the CFO at North Star, the Aberdeen based UK market leading provider of offshore support vessels to the Energy industry.

North Star was established 140 years ago, and has seen various stages of market transition, including its recent growth in the offshore wind Service Operations Vessel (SOVs) market. Today, North Star owns 47 vessels, including 10 SOVs, all of which have been ordered since 2021. This growth has required considerable investment, North Star’s capital commitment to the offshore wind industry already sits at more than £650 million, with ambitious plans to grow its offshore wind SOV fleet to over 40 vessels by 2040.

Fraser joined North Star in 2021 to focus on offshore wind market penetration. Since joining the company he has overseen the raise of over £450 million of debt facilities, as well as the sale of the company to Partners Group from its previous owner Basalt Infrastructure Partners.

Fraser’s background is in corporate finance, having spent 10 years as an M&A adviser to the international Energy Services sector, he is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.

Neil Douglas

Director, BVG Associates

Neil has worked in the wind energy sector since 1994 and has been fascinated to witness the technical, political, social, and commercial evolution of the sector over the last 30 years.
He leads work at BVG Associates that is focussed on the globalisation of wind energy and on providing strategic advice to governments, industry bodies, developers, investors, and supply chain businesses.

An engineer by background, Neil holds a Masters in Energy Systems and the Environment from the University of Strathclyde.

He spent over 20 years with Natural Power where he was involved in the design, development, and operations of onshore and offshore wind projects globally. He joined the management team of BVG Associates as a Director in 2017.

Steve Foxley

CEO, ORE Catapult

Steve is the CEO of the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, where he is focussed on advancing the UK’s renewable energy capabilities, particularly in offshore wind, to help the country achieve its net zero goals.

Before joining ORE Catapult, Steve was the CEO at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) a globally recognised hub for cutting edge manufacturing research and innovation. Prior to joining AMRC, Steve held senior positions within Siemens spanning operations in the UK, Europe and China leading manufacturing, smart building and large-scale infrastructure businesses.

A mechanical engineer by background, he has been recognised for his ability to drive innovation and collaboration between academia and industry.

He has a MEng from the University of Bristol, MBA from Cranfield University and is a Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.

Jeremy Grant

Business Columnist, The Scotsman

Jeremy Grant has spent over 30 years in journalism, mostly at the Financial Times and Reuters news agency. His FT career involved postings in Hanoi, Singapore, Chicago and Washington, DC, where he was US Financial Regulation Correspondent, covering financial regulatory issues on Capitol Hill. Grant started his FT career in Hanoi, opening the newspaper’s first presence in Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 and covering the emergence of the country on global stage after the collapse of Soviet-led communism. He returned to Southeast Asia for his final foreign posting as Singapore & Malaysia Correspondent (2012-15), based in Singapore. Since returning to Scotland from London in 2022, Glasgow-born Grant has been a freelance writer. He writes the weekly “Between the Lines” column in the business section of The Scotsman, often on Scotland’s offshore wind sector. Grant started his career in journalism in Hong Kong at the South China Morning Post (1989).

Makhoukhi Hammou

Tender Manager, DEME Group

Makhoukhi leads the tendering and procurement of Offshore Wind EPCI projects, with a strong focus on Foundation fabrication and turnkey T&I equipment. Since 2020, he has been responsible for major Foundation procurement packages, engaging extensively with both European and global supply chains.

He is currently involved as main EPCI Contractor on the Bowdun Offshore Wind Farm Project, where he leads the foundation procurement activities and works closely with TWP and the market to strengthen Scottish supply chain participation through structured engagement.

With more than 15 years of experience in project management, engineering and commercial roles within the Oil and Gas sector, Makhoukhi transitioned to the renewable energy sector in 2020 upon joining DEME, bringing strong industrial and execution expertise to the Offshore Wind market.

Hans Hansen

Head of Business Development, Fred. Olsen Windcarrier

Hans has a Master Mariner exam from Fanoe Navigational college and an executive MBA in Shipping and Logistics from Copenhagen Business School.

Having initially worked with shipowners servicing the oil and gas industry with offshore supply vessels, anchor handlers and seismic research vessels Hans joined a wind turbine manufacturer in 2012 and in 2013 joined Fred. Olsen Windcarrier.

In Fred. Olsen Windcarrier Hans has worked with many aspects of the operation of the company since its initial projects including time on board the jack-ups during project execution and setting up company branches for related companies in Taiwan.

Hans has since the summer of 2023 headed the Business Development Department in Fred. Olsen Windcarrier and is based in Denmark and Norway.

Susanna Isola

Offshore Wind Investment Lead, Department of Business and Trade

Susanna is the Offshore Wind Investment Lead at the Department for Business and Trade in the UK Government. She is a former Private Secretary to the Minister of State at the Department of Energy Security & Net Zero. Susanna's work involves navigating the complex intersections of business, trade, geopolitics and renewable energy, with a focus on fostering UK growth through trade promotion and investment into UK offshore wind.

Claire Mack OBE

Chief Executive, Scottish Renewables

Claire has been Chief Executive of Scottish Renewables, the representative voice of Scotland’s renewable energy industry, since October 2017. She is responsible for leading the organisation’s work to grow Scotland’s renewables sector and sustain its position at the forefront of the global clean energy industry.

Claire is a member of the First Minister’s Energy Advisory Board and is co-chair of the Renewable Energy Strategic Leadership Group. She is also co-chair of the Scottish Government Marine Energy Industry Group.

Claire is a member of SSEN’s Network for Net Zero Stakeholder Group and a member of the Centre for Work-Based Learning in Scotland Advisory Group.

Claire was awarded the University of Strathclyde’s STELAR award for executive leadership within the industry in 2021 and is also an honorary fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.

Before joining Scottish Renewables, Claire was Director of Policy and Place at the Scottish Council for Development and Industry. She has previously worked in various roles at Ofcom in Scotland, focusing on economic regulation of telecoms, radio spectrum and the mail market while also looking at developing digital participation of individuals and businesses.

An Nguyen

Director – OT Security Practice, Integrity360

An Nguyen is the OT Practice Lead at Integrity360 and Country Manager for Integrity360 France.

He began his career as a Telecom Networks engineer before moving into cybersecurity consulting, supporting major clients in banking and industry on information-security risk. He then spent over a decade within a leading industrial-energy group, serving in roles from security expert to CISO of Business Units, and played a key role in creating and operating a Shared Cybersecurity Services Center for industrial and critical infrastructure protection.

In 2018, leveraging his intrapreneurial experience and technical expertise, An co-founded Holiseum — now part of Integrity360. Under his leadership, Holiseum became a recognized provider of OT cybersecurity services, achieving ANSSI certifications and earning industry recognition.

Rob Orr

Director, Energy Skills Partnership

Rob Orr is the Director of ESP, a collaboration of Scotland’s colleges established to provide the link between industry, government and its agencies and working to support colleges in the development and delivery of programmes to meet industry’s skills needs with a focus on Energy, Engineering, Construction and Emerging Technologies.

Previously the Energy Sector Manager at SDS, his role involves wide collaboration with Scottish Government, Enterprise Agencies and other public sector bodies to build the skills base needed for the transition to net zero, and align provision with the needs of employers. He sits on a number of government and industry groups, including the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council Skills Group, and has previously been a Board Member of Dumfries & Galloway College.

Robert Porter

Flex Lay Technical Authority, Motive Offshore Group

Joining Motive in 2024, Bob brings over 25 years of specialised offshore engineering and flex lay expertise.

With a long background in the Energy sector, Bob’s career began as a Hydraulic Technician. Progressing to Offshore Team Lead, he worked globally for 15 years before transitioning onshore to serve in executive-level roles, including Offshore Operations Manager and Central Assets Manager.

Drawing on exposure across multiple business segments, Bob has deep understanding of how projects run from start to finish.

Overseeing the development of technical procedures, equipment selection, and problem-solving on subsea flexible lay projects, Bob ensures projects are engineered for success and executed with technical excellence and safety.

Sally Poxon

Principal Validation Engineer, ORE Catapult

Sally works at ORE Catapult and is based at the facilities in Blyth. Her work focusses on the introduction of new testing techniques into the blade testing facilities, so that they can address the future requirements of the industry. She bridges the gap between industry need, research and test execution. She has a background in Mechanical Engineering and has worked in the wind industry for over 15 years. She is a Peer Assessor for blade testing in the IECRE System as well as a member of MT23 (maintenance team for IEC61400-23 blade testing standard).

David Robertson

Portfolio Director, Nadara

With over 30 years’ experience in engineering, design, and project management, David began his career in the oil, gas, and petrochemical sector before moving into offshore wind. He has delivered some of the UK’s earliest offshore wind projects and now serves as Portfolio Director at Nadara, overseeing the delivery of 4.4 GW of floating offshore wind projects in Scotland. David is also Vice Chair of SOWEC’s Developer Forum and a member of the Executive Governance Board of the ORE Catapult Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence.

Andy Simmonds

Founder & Director, SeaThor Limited

Andy Simmonds is Founder and Director of SeaThor Limited, a UK-based engineering and analysis company focused on innovative subsea cable solutions for the offshore energy sector. He brings extensive experience from previous positions in offshore cable design and engineering. At SeaThor, Andy leads the development of advanced technologies such as CableSpring - an integrated buoyancy and dynamic cable protection system designed to improve the durability and reliability, as well as lowering the system costs for floating offshore wind and other marine energy applications. Under his direction, SeaThor has secured significant industry support and funding to progress CableSpring’s development and real-world testing.

Dr Norman Skillen

General Manager UK & Ireland, Jan De Nul

Dr Norman Skillen has 12 years in offshore renewables, during a thirty-year international energy sector career that has encompassed hydrocarbon production, electricity generation and energy networks. A scientist by background, his experience includes business development, management consultancy, and UK/international offshore wind supply chain development.
As a director of Jan De Nul UK Limited, Norman is the Group UK & Ireland general manager, a role that includes customer management, business development, support to operational projects and running the Jan De Nul UK company. Norman also maintains a close interest in floating offshore wind, subsea cable construction and a sustainable energy transition.

Gavin Smart

UK Head of New Business & Supply Chain Strategy, ScottishPower Renewables

Gavin is UK & Ireland Head of New Business & Supply Chain Strategy at ScottishPower Renewables, where he is responsible for the roll-out of supply chain strategy planning, development and supply chain engagement to all UK and Irish offshore projects. He has worked in the offshore renewables industry since 2010, with both SPR and ORE Catapult, where he was Head of Analysis & Insights, responsible for industry-leading analysis and helping to pave the way for policy support for floating offshore wind and tidal stream energy. He has also worked for a number of years in financial management and financial consultancy.

Sean Snee

Floating Offshore Wind Team Leader, ORE Catapult

Sean joined ORE Catapult in 2022. His role as a team leader in floating offshore wind includes coordination and technical delivery of projects focused on marine operations, supply chain, construction and O&M. Prior to joining ORE Catapult, Sean worked in O&G for Sealand Projects, PDI and Wood, focusing on subsea operations and intervention projects.

Sue Vincent

Stakeholder Engagement & Communications, Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm

Sue Vincent is Stakeholder and Communications Manager at Inch Cape. She has 20 years’ experience in offshore wind and has been responsible for the stakeholder relations, communications, and community engagement for a total of 10 offshore wind farms in England and now Scotland during different phases of their life cycles. Having worked in-house at Australian and international energy and aluminium companies, she started her own consultancy specialising in offshore wind in 2006. She has been with Inch Cape since 2023 as the project achieved financial close and moved into construction. She has a BA in Journalism and MBA (both from University of South Australia) and has lived in the UK for 26 years.

Aman Wang

Vice President - Global Strategy and Investment CEO - UK, Ireland and Nordics, Ming Yang Smart Energy

Born and bred in China, Aman Wang spent 20 years across US, Australia and primarily UK.

Currently at Ming Yang, one of the top wind technology providers globally, Aman is leading a GBP1.5bn investment project into Scotland to build an European Offshore Wind Mother Port, various supply chain localization initiatives in Europe, Middle East and beyond, and multiple strategic partnerships in global value chain, while driving business development of Wind, BESS and other electrical equipment in North Europe region.

Before joining the industry, Aman was an Equity Partner of BCG and KPMG UK respectively, focusing on growth strategy and organizational transformation through energy transition, supply chain decarbonization, market entry strategy and cross-border investment between Europe and China, with a total transaction value exceeding £12 billion. Some notable transactions include CGN’s investment in UK nuclear market, 2.4GW of renewable portfolios, and setting up seven of the eight Chinese bank brunches in London.

Kerr Wright

Managing Director, FoundOcean

After graduating from the University of Glasgow in 2011, with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Kerr started his career working in the Telecoms sector as a Site Engineer for May Gurney offering a variety of services to customers including maintenance, installation, and decommissioning of new and existing structures and telecoms structures all around Scotland. In 2012, Kerr moved to FoundOcean Ltd, starting as a Project Engineer, working out of the Marlow office. Management of multiple large-scale projects soon followed as did a move to Livingston to take over the mechanical engineering manager position. Following a three-year period as Projects Manager, Kerr assumed the position of Director of Operations. Kerr has directly managed some of FoundOcean’s largest projects, such as West of Duddon Sands, Solan, Martin Linge, Brent Bravo Lift Points as well as providing technical guidance and oversight on projects such as Hohe See OWF, Beatrice OWF, and East Anglia One OWF. Kerr has been FoundOcean’s Managing Director leading the company since March 2024.

Chris Stark CBE

Head of Mission Control for Clean Power 2030, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Chris Stark leads the UK Government’s mission to achieve Clean Power by 2030, heading ’Mission Control’, the nerve centre of its delivery. He is tasked with defining Britain’s path to clean power and ensuring policies and the key institutions are equipped to deliver it.

Chris is a renowned climate and energy policy expert, speaking regularly about the urgency of confronting climate change and the opportunities of developing clean energy. As CEO of the UK’s Climate Change Committee he was the UK’s chief climate adviser, leading independent advice to put the world’s first Net Zero target into law and developing detailed cross-economy pathways to its achievement under the UK Climate Change Act. Chris has also been CEO of the Carbon Trust, a global climate consultancy, and has held a number of senior roles in the UK and Scottish Governments over the last 20 years.

Chris was lead expert for the UK Parliament’s ‘Net Zero UK’ citizens’ assembly. He has also featured in national and international news and media, alongside David Attenborough and other prominent commentators. Chris is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, an Honorary Professor at the University of Glasgow and serves on the Boards of V&A Dundee and the arts climate charity Murmur.

Holly Cartwright

Co-CEO UK and Ireland, Copenhagen Offshore Partners

Holly Cartwright is Co CEO for the UK & Ireland at Copenhagen Offshore Partners (COP), leading the organisation’s strategic direction, market growth, and delivery across all projects in the region. In her role as Co CEO, Holly oversees the full project portfolio, which include fixed and floating projects at various stages of development. Holly guides organisational performance, and represents COP at senior industry and governmental levels. She is responsible for shaping COP’s UK & Ireland strategy, strengthening partnerships, and ensuring the organisation continues to play a leading role in the expansion of offshore wind.

Holly brings more than 14 years of experience in offshore wind development, with a strong environmental and consenting background. Across her career, she has led all aspects of project development and has contributed to the successful construction of one of the UK’s fixed bottom offshore wind farms while part of the project management team.

Greg Clarke

Head of Corporate Affairs, SSEN Transmission

Greg is SSEN Transmission’s Head of Corporate Affairs, responsible for managing Public Affairs and Policy, External Communications and Brand for SSEN Transmission.

Greg joined SSE in 2005, starting his career in the call centre for SSE’s Retail business, before joining Corporate Affairs in 2010 where he has held a variety of roles including Scottish Public Affairs Manager for the SSE Group and Head of External Relations for SSE’s Distribution and Transmission networks.

Charlotte Cochrane

Stakeholder and Policy Manager, Salamander Offshore Wind Farm

Charlotte Cochrane is Stakeholder and Policy Manager for the Salamander Offshore Wind Farm, where she leads strategic engagement with governments, regulators, and local communities to secure the legislative and commercial conditions necessary for project delivery. At Simply Blue Group, she works across the Stakeholder Engagement team to drive the development of more effective, insight-led engagement and outreach approaches.

With nearly a decade of experience in innovation policy and stakeholder engagement, Charlotte specialises in navigating complex policy environments and aligning public, regulatory, and commercial interests to enable offshore renewables at scale. She is strongly focused on translating net zero ambition into deliverable, investment-ready projects.

Kirstin Gove

Communications Manager, Thistle Wind Partners

Kirstin Gove leads and delivers communications and stakeholder engagement strategies for the Bowdun Offshore Wind Farm at Thistle Wind Partners. She is an experienced communications professional with more than three decades of experience across media, events and corporate communications.

Kirstin began her career at STV, where she worked as a news anchor and broadcast journalist on STV News at Six. She has since held a range of senior communications roles, predominantly within the energy sector, including Step Change in Safety, the UK oil and gas industry’s safety body, and Subsea UK (now Global Underwater Hub). As Head of Communications, she led member and media engagement, stakeholder relations and digital communications.

She brings extensive experience across multiple areas of the energy industry and has delivered media training, emergency response and reputation management services to a wide range of clients and public sector organisations. At Thistle Wind Partners, Kirstin leads communications and stakeholder engagement activities that support the company’s value proposition, reputation management, and community, media and government relations.

Joel Hankinson

Unit Head - Offshore Wind Environmental Reform, Scottish Government

Joel Hankinson is the Unit Head of Offshore Wind Environmental Reform in the Scottish Government’s Offshore Wind Directorate. Joel’s work is focused on delivering Scotland’s Strategic Compensation Policy for Offshore Wind and establishment of the Scottish Marine Recovery Fund. Joel’s previous experience is across a range of policy areas including CCUS, central policy and cabinet functions, and climate change policy / delivery. Prior to Government, Joel was a solicitor.

Robin Hutchison

Partner, CMS

Robin Hutchison is a Partner at international law firm CMS, and head of the CMS UK Energy & Infrastructure Planning team. Robin and his team have been involved in consenting in the Scottish offshore wind sector for nearly 20 years, including on Beatrice, Inch Cape, Kincardine, Green Volt and Pentland, as well as ScotWind. The team’s offshore wind experience also includes England and Wales, including a number of Round 3 and 4 DCOs. Robin is recognised as a Leading Individual in both Scotland and London in the Legal 500. Robin lives in North Berwick with his wife and two children.

Alex Ikonic

Specialist Grid Connections Engineer, Roadnight Taylor

Alex brings eight years’ experience navigating the interplay between technical, regulatory and commercial complexities of grid connections. Having worked both consultancy and developer sides, she aligns connection strategies with investment realities and has managed connections from initial feasibility through to energisation.

She has represented industry on connections reform working groups including CMP427, CMP434 & 435, and CMP448. Alex was previously part of Ørsted's Grid Team, working on projects across a range of technologies, and at TNEI Services, where she worked on several Round 4 and ScotWind projects on the grid connection process, charging aspects and network access strategy.

Lucy Law

Deputy Director – Offshore Wind Directorate, Scottish Government

Lucy Law is a Deputy Director in the Scottish Government’s Offshore Wind Directorate leading on Sectoral Planning, Scottish Marine Energy Research Programme, Fisheries Co-existence, Strategic Compensation and the Marine Recovery Fund. Lucy’s focus is to deliver an effective enabling environment for the sustainable delivery of offshore wind in Scottish waters through an updated planning and regulatory framework. Lucy has worked in the Scottish Government for over 20 years in a number of science and policy roles and has a background in Marine and Fisheries Biology.

John MacAskill

Group Growth Director, ABL Group

John MacAskill is Group Growth Director at ABL Group, working across the group companies; OWC, ABL, Longitude Engineering and AGR, to drive growth across their renewables, maritime and oil & gas businesses. Based in Scotland, he has over two decades’ experience in international consulting, certification and supply chain; supporting developers, investors and supply chain players to develop, de-risk and finance offshore wind projects. John is also a regular commentator on policy and market dynamics through his Offshore Wind, Coffee & Metal newsletter and The Revolting Podcast, with a particular focus on offshore wind and the wider energy transition.

Colin Maciver

Senior Director, Cerulean Winds

Colin Maciver is Senior Director at Cerulean Winds, promoting and developing the 1GW Aspen Floating Offshore Windfarm in the Central North Sea. With a focus on project strategy, regulatory engagement, and stakeholder alignment, Colin is at the forefront of delivering Aspen’s unique alliance model which is designed to scale floating wind and enable decarbonisation of the UK’s offshore energy sector. He brings over 15 years of experience in offshore wind policy and delivery, including leading the ScotWind and INTOG leasing rounds at Crown Estate Scotland and project development across northern Europe.

Alasdair MacMillan

Head of Connections Policy, Ofgem

Alasdair leads Ofgem’s Connections Policy team. The overarching policy objective of the team is to ensure we have a GB connections process able to deliver timely connections and quality standards of service for connecting customers, and that connects the projects we need where we need them.
Alasdair joined Ofgem in 2016 and has held various roles across the Retail and Infrastructure groups. This followed a 10 year career in the upstream UK oil and gas industry.

Andrew McCallum

Founder & CEO, Aspect

Andrew is Founder and CEO of Aspect, a 100% employee-owned consultancy delivering communication, marketing and engagement strategies for leaders in energy and decarbonisation in the UK and internationally. Prior to founding the company, Andrew had built a successful career as a corporate affairs executive, helping organisations navigate major transactions, transformations and crises. He is a trusted C-suite advisor, spokesperson and mentor. Known for his clear thinking, bold perspectives and practical advice, Andrew is passionate about the power of strategic clarity, compelling storytelling and influential relationships to unlock opportunity.

Brian McGrellis

Head of Consent & Land, Nadara

With over 28 years’ experience in consenting and developing generation and transmission assets across the UK, Brian has spent the last eight years specialising in offshore wind. As Head of Consents and Land at Nadara, he leads consenting and land acquisition for the company’s 4.4 GW floating offshore wind portfolio in Scotland, including the Bellrock, Stromar, Broadshore Sinclair, and Scaraben projects. Brian is an active industry voice, serving as Chair of the Peterhead Developer’s Forum, a member of RenewableUK’s Environment and Planning Strategy Group, and contributing to Scottish Renewables’ Barriers to Deployment initiatives to help shape policy and address sector challenges.

Fingal McKiernan

Commercial Fisheries Manager, SSE Renewables

Fin manages the commercial fisheries operations and strategy for SSE Renewables' offshore wind portfolio. He sits on multiple strategic groups across the UK and Europe to generate national guidance, best practices, and co-existence strategies for the offshore wind and commercial fisheries sectors. Fin is the author of the UK's and Europe’s first developer-published report, ‘Principals for Co-existence with Commercial Fisheries’, which outlines SSE Renewables’ strategic commitments to working with the fisheries sector.

Kate Miller

Stakeholder Management Associate, Ocean Winds

Kate is the Stakeholder Management Associate at Ocean Winds, a leading developer and operator in the offshore wind sector. Since joining the company in 2023, she has worked across the UK portfolio of projects building and maintaining strong relationships with the communities, partners and key stakeholders from project development through to operation.

In her work, Kate focuses on clear, transparent communication and effective engagement, helping to influence policy decisions and align strategic project goals with community interests to support the successful delivery of projects. She is committed to advancing renewable energy while ensuring that stakeholders, from decision-makers to local communities, are fully engaged in the transition to net zero.

Prior to joining Ocean Winds, Kate held a range of communications and marketing roles across the resource management and education sectors.

Drew Milne

Early Opportunities Manager, Flotation Energy

Drew Milne heads up the Early Opportunities team for Flotation Energy Ltd. Drew manages the ambitious offshore wind portfolio covering both fixed and floating developments in UK, Europe and Asia. Drew has built extensive experience in marine planning, policy and offshore wind over the last 13 years in the industry. Within Early Opportunities, Drew leads on marine planning and policy directing the team with his accumulated experience in strategic and project level development. As early development consenting and site assessment lead, Drew promotes an environmental focused approach to our projects.

Prior to joining Flotation energy, he led the Scottish Government's Sectoral Marine Planning and Evidence team with responsibility for Scotland's offshore wind marine planning programme. This programme led the way for ScotWind leasing and developed the unique and successful "Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas" (INTOG) offshore wind planning process for Scotland. Drew also managed the Scottish Marine Energy Research programme delivering strategic environmental and socio-economic research to enable and accelerate offshore wind and marine renewables.

Ian Milne

Head of Sales & Business Development – Renewables, Balmoral Comtec

With more than 14 years’ experience in the global offshore energy sector, Ian has in-depth sales management and business development knowledge of marine construction projects. With a passion for renewable energy, he joined Balmoral Comtec in 2019 to develop and enhance the company’s presence within the sector. With Balmoral Comtec now an established player within Offshore Wind, supporting some 14GW of fixed and floating installations with subsea protection and buoyancy, Ian’s focus is on the strategic growth of the business in domestic and international markets. Ian is a member of various industry associations and regularly promotes the wider Scottish supply chain.

Jack Norquoy

Director of Public Affairs & Communications, Scottish Renewables

Jack Norquoy is the Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Scottish Renewables, the leading voice for the renewable energy industry in Scotland. Jack is responsible for leading Scottish Renewables' communications and public affairs strategies in pursuit of the organisation’s vision of a Scotland leading the world in renewable energy. With experience in communications, public relations and policy advocacy, Jack previously worked in the Scottish and UK Parliaments prior to joining Scottish Renewables in March 2023. From Orkney, Jack featured in The Press & Journal’s ‘Generation Next’ project in 2020 which identified 35 rising political talents in Scotland.

Maggie Olson-Jow

Policy Manager – Offshore and New Technologies, Scottish Renewables

Maggie Olson is the Policy Manager for New Technologies at Scottish Renewables. She focuses on hydrogen, wave & tidal, and INTOG. Our vision is for a Scotland leading the world in renewable energy. The sectors we represent deliver investment, jobs, social benefits, and reduce the carbon emissions which cause climate change. Our members work across all renewable energy technologies, in Scotland, the UK, Europe and around the world.

Maggie’s work as the Policy Manager for Hydrogen, Wave & Tidal, and INTOG involves managing and supporting the development of Scottish Renewables’ policy positions, which aim to create the conditions for the sustainable growth of Scotland’s renewable energy industry, and communicating these effectively to key policy and regulatory decision makers.

Dr Sue O’Brien

Technical Director – Ecology & Biodiversity, SLR

Sue has worked as a marine ornithologist since 1998, with a focus on offshore wind since 2007. Her work at JNCC included leading on classification of marine SPAs and working closely with the other SNCBs to develop guidance and advice on ornithology EIA and HRA for offshore wind consent applications. While at JNCC, Sue built an industry-academia-government collaboration to undertake international research on red-throated diver energetics and set up OWSMRF (Offshore Wind Strategic Monitoring and Research Forum). In 2021, Sue moved to Scottish Government where, as Lead Marine Ornithologist, she supported MD-LOT with drafting appropriate assessments and secured £7M of funding for the OWEC PrePARED project. In 2023, Sue moved to MacArthur Green, now a part of SLR. In her role of Principal Ornithologist/Technical Director, Sue has delivering ornithology EIA and HRA assessments and seabird compensation packages for Scottish and English projects. Sue is also delivering ornithological support to Scottish Renewables, with funding from SOWEC. Sue is tasked with tackling critical ornithology challenges that Scottish projects are currently facing. She has recently undertaken an evaluation of how precaution is applied in ornithology HRA and EIA, identifying key issues with current approaches.

Colin Palmer

Director of Offshore, Scottish Renewables

Colin is Director of Offshore at Scottish Renewables, the representative voice of Scotland’s renewable energy sector. He is responsible for leading the organisation’s work in supporting and enabling the development and built out of Scotland’s world leading fixed and floating offshore wind pipeline, and in helping realise the tremendous wave & tidal energy opportunity Scotland has.

Before joining Scottish Renewables, Colin was Director of Marine at Crown Estate Scotland for a period of 5 years in which his responsibilities included leading the ScotWind and INTOG offshore wind leasing rounds.

Colin has always been passionate about the development and delivery of renewable energy having previously worked at SSE where, amongst other roles, he was the development phase project manager on the Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm project.

He has degrees in marketing and in engineering project management.

Kate Potter

Deputy Project Director, EnBW

Kate works for EnBW within the EnBW–JNbp joint venture on the 3 GW Morven offshore wind farm in Scotland. She is the Deputy Director of the Morven project, currently in the development phase.

She has 20 years’ experience in offshore renewables, with senior roles across strategy, development, and construction in the Scottish offshore wind and wave sectors. Her track record includes the delivery of the 1 GW Seagreen offshore wind farm, de risking of offshore wind portfolios through public and private stakeholder engagement, and the establishment of a SSE Group level strategic planning and Board review process focused on new growth priorities.

Michelle Quinn

Director of Offshore Wind, Scottish Government

Michelle was appointed Director of Offshore Wind in April 2023. From August 2024 until January 2025, she covered the post of Director General Net Zero on an interim basis.

Michelle has held various policy and delivery posts across the Scottish Government. While working at Transport Scotland, she held the post of Director of Major Projects and was responsible for the design, development, promotion, procurement and construction of the motorway and trunk road programme. She was also responsible for all procurement activity across the Agency. In recent years, Michelle has held the posts of Principal Private Secretary to the First Minister of Scotland and Interim Chief Executive at Transport Scotland. Michelle is a graduate of Queens University Belfast, a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and has completed the Major Projects Leadership Academy at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School.

Duncan Smart

Senior Planning & Environmental Policy Manager, ScottishPower Renewables

Duncan is a Chartered Town Planner with over 12 years’ experience across infrastructure consenting, environmental assessment and policy development. He leads on offshore planning and environmental policy at ScottishPower Renewables, with responsibility for co-ordinating strategic work to facilitate the efficient deployment of renewables projects. Duncan advises on consenting regimes, leads SPR’s response to relevant policy consultations and leads on consenting and environmental strategies for SPR’s 5GW ScotWind portfolio of floating and fixed bottom projects.

Duncan is currently Senior Vice Convenor of Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Scotland and a member of the SOWEC Barriers to Deployment – Enabling and OWIC Pathways to Growth Co-ordination and Developer Groups.

Susan Swan

Partner, Shepherd and Wedderburn

Susan has spent the last 15 years helping offshore wind developers to get connected to the grid and understand and navigate the regulation of offshore transmission. Over that time Susan has legally reviewed many suites of offshore grid agreements produced by NESO (and its predecessors), for offshore wind projects in the Scottish Territorial Waters, Round 3, Round 4, ScotWind, INTOG and Round 5 leasing rounds, and has advised on a range of grid-related matters, including the introduction of Queue Management and Connections Reform, the Offshore Transmission Network Review (OTNR) and the Holistic Network Design (HND) process, the impact of constraint management measures and the options available to developers to minimise delays in grid delivery. Susan also regularly advises offshore wind and interconnector developer clients on the mechanics of the OFTO regime, the unbundling rules, the emerging regulation of multi-purpose interconnectors and other offshore hybrid assets and the CfD regime.

Professor Paul Thompson

University of Aberdeen

Paul is a Professor at the University of Aberdeen, conducting research on marine mammal and seabird ecology. Over the last 20 years, his work has explored interactions between offshore wind and wildlife, particularly the effects of underwater noise.

Paul worked with industry and regulators to co-design and deliver a strategic marine mammal monitoring programme around construction at Beatrice, Moray East and Moray West. With PrePARED partners, studies of predators and prey are continuing around operational windfarms.
Paul now works part-time at the University to support delivery of these projects, alongside independent advisory work for the Offshore wind industry.

Alice Tirbooman

Policy Manager – Offshore Wind, Scottish Renewables

Alice is the Policy Manager for Offshore Wind at Scottish Renewables, the voice of Scotland’s renewable energy industry. Scottish Renewables works to grow Scotland’s renewable energy sector and sustain its position at the forefront of the global clean energy industry. Alice has a research background in physics and English literature, with a particular interest in the communication of complex ideas. She combines this with experience in sustainability, decarbonisation and climate adaptation. Alice works in Scottish Renewables’ policy team, where she advocates for offshore wind energy in Scotland and addresses key challenges affecting the sector. Alice is also Deputy Chair of the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council’s Environment & Planning, Data & Route to Market theme.

Paul Wakeley

Head of Electricity Network Strategy, National Energy System Operator

Paul is accountable for the strategic planning of the future GB electricity Transmission Network. His teams undertakes complex, multi-criteria analysis to make recommendations about what network investment is needed, where and when, to ensure the transmission system facilitates the transition to Net Zero through connecting low carbon generation to future demand as a stimulus for economic development.

Kirstine Wood

Head of Communications and Public Affairs, Flotation Energy

Kirstine Wood held several high-profile roles in public and private sector organisations before taking up her current role as Head of Corporate Affairs at offshore wind developer, Flotation Energy.  Kirstine leads a passionate team of communicators to help promote the opportunities of offshore wind.