Marine Conference, Exhibition & Dinner 2019 Speakers

Vicky Coy

Project Manager, ORE Catapult

Vicky Coy joined the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult in 2014. She is the lead Project Manager in their Research and Disruptive Innovation team and is responsible for driving their portfolio of over 50 offshore wind, wave and tidal-related projects. She has 20 years’ technical and strategic experience in delivering large-scale engineering projects and for the last 10 years, her wide-ranging knowledge base and experience has been applied to steering offshore marine energy innovation.

Simon Grey

Director, AWS Ocean Energy

Simon Grey is a Chartered Engineer with 35 years post-graduate experience in construction, power systems, hydropower and wave energy. He has been Chief Executive of AWS Ocean Energy Ltd since 2004. Simon began his career with the Edinburgh University wave power group in 1979 and continued his association with the group whilst gaining an honours degree in electrical and mechanical engineering. He then spent time working in the construction industry and on CHP plants before founding hydropower consultancy Edinburgh Hydro Systems in 1989. His work in hydro included securing the first tariff support schemes (pre-SRO) and the promotion, financing and construction of many successful hydro plants around Scotland. Simon returned to wave power in 2003 and following a brief spell with Wavegen, founded AWS Ocean Energy in 2004. He has led AWS since then, raising over £17 million of funding and driving the development of the Waveswing wave energy converter.

Jonathan Hodges

Senior Innovation Engineer, Wave Energy Scotland

Jonathan’s engineering career began in the aerospace industry with Rolls-Royce and the development and testing of aircraft turbofan engines. Following a Masters’ degree in Marine Renewable Energy he moved to the offshore renewables industry, gathering innovation, resource assessment and tecno-economic analysis experience in the wave and tidal sectors. In his role as Senior Innovation Engineer at Wave Energy Scotland (WES) he aims to identifying opportunities for innovation and then develop appropriate WES funding calls to support the sector towards achievement of cost competitive wave energy technologies. Jonathan is involved in collaboration activities across Europe and the US to develop tools, common metrics for technology assessment and to seek technology transfer opportunities to advance the sector and support the WES programme.

Tim Hurst

Managing Director, Wave Energy Scotland

Wave Energy Scotland’s Managing Director Tim Hurst is a familiar name in marine energy circles, now managing Scotland’s leading wave technology development programme. After almost 4 years in the driving seat, his team of 15 has awarded £38.6 M in 86 different contracts working with more than 200 separate engineering and academic institutions. He says, “Scotland is an incredible hub for wave energy testing and WES is driving the country’s progress. Our latest Innovation Call for Quick Connection Systems is about to close soon and we’re about to see the most promising NWEC technologies test at sea next year in Scotland. Projects from our PTO programme have developed four strong power take-off options and with Structural Materials projects concluding alongside Controls Systems technologies, next year is looking very exciting for WES.

Rhys Wyn Jones

Head of Wales, RenewablesUK

Rhys has over 20 years’ experience working in a number of media, public affairs and stakeholder engagement roles, including extensive experience of the energy industry.

Rhys will take over from David Clubb, RenewableUK Cymru’s outgoing director, who is embarking on a new business venture.

Commenting on his appointment Rhys said, “My priority will be to represent our members’ interests, promote their achievements and support their growth.

It’s an exciting time to be working in renewable energy with significant challenges to address in increasing renewable energy’s contribution to the energy mix as well as decarbonising heat, power and transport.

“I’d also like to acknowledge the outstanding work David Clubb has done over the last seven years to ensure the industry and members have a high profile in Wales. I wish him every success in his new venture.”

David Langston

Programme Manager, Wave Energy Scotland

David Langston has extensive experience in marine renewables. He is Programme Manager for Wave Energy Scotland, a subsidiary of Highlands and Islands Enterprise, funded by the Scottish Government.

Prior to working for Wave Energy Scotland David spent 16 years working for both Wave and Tidal technology developers: Voith Hydro Wavegen and Marine Current Turbines.

Before moving into Marine Renewables he worked for engineering contractors, John Brown and Kvaerner in the power and offshore oil and gas industries, where he performed a variety of engineering and management roles. David graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College, London.

Audrey MacIver

Director oEnergy and Low Carbon, Highlands and Islands Enterprise

A graduate of Aberdeen University in Agricultural Economics, Audrey has dedicated her career to date in economic and community development of the Highlands and Islands, and for 10 years has led the work of HIE’s Energy Team. In June 2017 she was appointed as HIE’s Director for Energy & Low Carbon. Sustainable economic growth across the Highlands and Islands is HIE’s core purpose, and energy is a priority sector, offering distinct competitive advantages. In addition to securing maximum economic and social benefits from large scale offshore developments and stimulating innovation across emerging technologies, HIE is committed to the deployment of local energy systems, noting the region’s rich energy resources, and the community benefits such an approach can bring.

Audrey lives in Alness, Easter Ross, with her husband and two sons, and “enjoys” the occasional Parkrun on a Saturday morning!

Claire Mack

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 the Renewables Industry Advisory Group, co-chaired by Scotland’s Energy Minister.

Before joining Scottish Renewables, Claire was Director of Policy and Place at the Scottish Council for Development. 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.

Prior to this Claire worked in retail and the construction industry as well as on regulation of regional broadcasting in the Borders and North East of England.

Cameron McNatt

Managing Director Mocean Energy

Cameron is an experienced innovator in ocean energy with a 15-year track record of business success and academic excellence. Prior to establishing Mocean Energy in 2015 Cameron was a consultant to the EU-funded DTOcean programme and sat on the executive steering committee of the International Network on Offshore Renewable Energy. Here he created OpenORE, a website dedicated to the proliferation of open-source software and data for offshore renewable energy. He has a PhD from the University of Edinburgh where his thesis examined the cylindrical wave field of floating bodies and a Master of Ocean Engineering from Oregon State University. Prior to undertaking these post-graduate studies, Cameron worked as s a naval architect writing software for ship simulations. He also has a BSc from Yale University, majoring in electrical engineering, and is a keen sailor who has crossed the Atlantic under sail.

Nick Sharpe

Director of Communications & Strategy, Scottish Renewables

Nick Sharpe is Scottish Renewables’ Director of Communications. His work involves overseeing Scottish Renewables’ media and public affairs work and liaising between the organisation’s member companies, the media and other stakeholders to promote positive news about the sector to diverse audiences.

A former journalist, Nick trained on the South Wales Echo then spent seven years at the Sun, latterly as Chief Reporter. He then spent a year at Weber Shandwick, one of the world’s largest public relations consultancies.

At Scottish Renewables he’s also responsible for aspects of marketing and all the organisation’s social media.

Morag Watson

Director of Policy, Scottish Renewables

Morag is Scottish Renewables’ Director of Policy. Her work involves overseeing Scottish Renewables’ policy function and key projects within Scotland’s leading renewables trade body, working on behalf of 250+ organisations to grow Scotland’s renewable energy sector and sustain its position at the forefront of the global clean energy industry.

Morag has worked in policy for over 15 year and was previously a Senior Policy Officer with WWF Scotland, specialising in climate change, sustainable development and behaviour change. During this time, she worked on the Scottish Government’s Climate Change and Sustainable Development Action Plans, worked as an advisor to UNESCO and helped found the Scotland’s Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development within the University of Edinburgh.

Morag holds a degree in Environmental Geoscience from the University of Edinburgh, is a qualified Hill and Moorland Leader and lives in a self-built eco-home in Central Scotland.

Sue Barr

Chair, Marine Energy Council

Sue Barr, Marine Energy Expert, RUK, Marine Energy Wales and Chair of UK Marine Energy Council.

Sue has 18 years’ experience in the offshore wind, wave and tidal industries, including 11 years at OpenHydro, a tidal technology developer in senior management, project development, policy and developing marine energy markets.

She supported the UK Government delivering the first offshore wind arrays including revision of primary legislation, administering regulatory controls and advised UK Ministers on the first marine energy projects. On the board of all three industry associations and chair of the UK Marine Policy Forum & Council she plays a key role in driving renewable industry policy in the marine area, in the UK and internationally.

Kim Hamilton

Hydrogen Development Officer, The European Marine Energy Centre

As Hydrogen Development Officer, Kim supports the development and delivery of the commercial aspects with EMEC’s hydrogen strategy. Kim works in partnership with EMEC clients and external stakeholders to gather market intelligence, identify funding or commercial opportunities, attends meetings and contributes to business development proposals.

Tor Jakob

Founder and CEO, Arundo Analytics

Tor Jakob is the founder and CEO of Arundo Analytics. Previously a senior partner in McKinsey & Company’s Business Technology Office, Tor Jakob led McKinsey’s technology service lines in the Global Energy Practice and the EMEA Big Data/Advanced Analytics, and was also country manager for McKinsey Norway and led the BTO office in Scandinavia. Prior to joining McKinsey, Tor Jakob worked as a partner in Accenture. He holds a Master of Science from MIT and a Bachelor from Norwegian School of Management.

Henry Jeffrey

Chairman, International Energy Agency, Technology Collaboration Program for Ocean Energy

Henry Jeffrey is a specialist in ocean energy roadmaps, action plans and strategies, and recently coordinated the DTOcean project. He is co-director for SuperGen ORE (Offshore Renewable Energy) UKCMER and leads the Policy and Innovation Group in the University of Edinburgh’s Institute for Energy Systems. He also chairs the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) Ocean Energy Joint Programme (JP) and collaborates on numerous European ocean energy projects. He holds a position as the Chairperson of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Ocean Energy Systems (OES) programme, which is a government/government policy group responsible for supporting knowledge exchange and collaboration between countries and organisations active in the ocean energy sector.

Reenst Lesemann

CEO, Columbia Power

Reenst Lesemann is the CEO of Columbia Power, a US-based wave energy technology company focused on both low-power and utility-scale systems. Before joining C-Power, Reenst was a Co-Founder and Managing Director of Tall Oaks Capital Partners, a seed and early stage venture capital firm. Prior to Tall Oaks, Reenst ran a series of successful businesses, including a maritime logistics spin off, TradeSource, Inc., that he created, led and managed. During his career, he has been responsible for all aspects of business management, including strategic planning, marketing, and information services. He is also a Board Member of Lumin and the National Hydropower Association, in addition to being a Co-Chair of the NHA’s Marine Energy Council—the national trade association for the marine energy industry in the US. Mr. Lesemann graduated from the University of North Carolina and holds an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden Graduate School of Business.

Gavin McPherson

Head of Policy and Research, Nova Innovation

Gavin McPherson is Head of Policy and Research at Nova Innovation, a leading tidal energy device and project developer. In 2016 Nova deployed the world’s first offshore tidal array in the Bluemull Sound, Shetland. Gavin leads Nova’s research programme, including the Horizon 2020 funded D2T2, TIPA and EnFAIT projects – collaborating with blue-chip partners to help build a commercial tidal energy sector. His background includes energy sector analysis, strategy and policy development for the public and private sector. He holds a PhD in Particle Physics from work conducted at the CERN laboratory in Geneva.

Chris Milne

Chief Financial Officer Orbital Marine Power

Chris Milne – CFO of Orbital Marine Power Limited and Director of Orbital Marine Power (Orkney) plc Chris joined Orbital as CFO in October 2016 where he leads on finance, reporting and funding as well as supporting CEO, Andrew Scott, on corporate strategy and business planning. Chris has led or managed financial transactions ranging from seed capital investments to multi-billion infrastructure deals across the energy space. Chris was previously Vice President of an oil and gas services focused private equity fund managed by Simmons and Company International after holding a number of senior finance leadership positions at SSE plc (previously Scottish and Southern Energy plc). This included sitting on the board of its generation business as Head of Finance for all generation, gas storage and exploration and production activities, as well as various other non-executive director roles. Prior to joining SSE, Chris was a manager in KPMG’s Private Equity M&A team in London. Chris graduated from the University of Dundee in 2001 with a first-class honours degree in Business Economics and Marketing with Psychology, is a chartered accountant (ICAEW) and holds the CFA UK Level 4 Certificate in Investment Management.

David Oxley

Director of Business Growth, Highlands and Islands Enterprise

David Oxley is Director of Business Growth with Highlands and Islands Enterprise, (HIE), the Scottish Government’s economic and community development agency for the North of Scotland.

His responsibilities include working with supporting ambitious business to grow, attracting new companies to the region, and progressing key sectoral opportunities for the Highlands and Islands in areas such as Energy, Space and Technology. He is Senior Responsible Officer for the Space Hub Sutherland development which is developing vertical launch capability for small satellites in the UK.

He joined HIE in 2004, following a 15 year career as an accountant in industry working mainly in the East Midlands across a variety of food and drink businesses.

David is also Chair of Wave Energy Scotland, and a Board Member of Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland) Ltd.

John Robertson

Head of Energy & Infrastructure, Crown Estate Scotland

John Robertson has been with Crown Estate Scotland and its predecessor body since 2010 and is Head of Energy & Infrastructure, responsible for management of a portfolio of seabed agreements and of investments made to support project development. Prior to that his energy industry experience was gained in trading, commercial management and strategy roles with utility companies and independent power generators.

Andrew Smith

Managing Director, Deja Blue Consulting

Andrew is the Former Head of the £103m Renewable Energy Investment Fund by Scottish Investment Bank - investing debt and equity in a range of marine, low carbon and community owned renewable energy projects - and former Head of Investment for DP Energy - a renewable energy and sustainable development specialist operating in sites across the world - and is now running his own consultancy – Deja Blue Consulting – helping shape projects & businesses and raising finance for them and their projects and an Associate of Greenbackers Investment Capital specialising in raising ­finance for low-carbon, cleantech and climate change businesses. Andrew is also Chairman of Our Community Energy, a community benefit company seeking to use renewables to alleviate fuel poverty.

Mike Wilson

Chairman, Ecosse IP

Mike is a successful inventor and entrepreneur with a 10 year track record of delivery in operational roles and 24 years building innovative and profitable businesses at senior management level.

Mike is currently founder, majority shareholder and Chairman of Ecosse Intellectual Property (EIP). Mike is an investor and advisor to Udrafter a business that gives students pay and experience.

In early 2018 MW sold Ecosse Subsea Systems for more than £50 million to an NYSE quoted company, Oceaneering International Inc. ESS, founded by Mike in 1996, had annual turnover in 2017 of about £35m, £7.0m ebitda. Seabed trenching (SCAR ploughs) were particularly successful brands and service lines.

EIP has several technologies being developed for the marine engineering sector. Some have already been patented; others are patent pending; all are progressing to commercialisation. Mike’s enthusiasm about renewable technologies starts with family connections in this sector when in the 1930s Mike’s grandfather proposed a tidal scheme for the sound of Islay.

Sian Wilson

Senior Development Manager, Crown Estate Scotland

Sian Wilson, is now a Senior Development Manager for Crown Estate Scotland. Sian studied Offshore Technology at Cranfield University before beginning work in the wave and tidal sector in 2006. During that time she worked on and managed the due diligence and initial device assessments for all the leading technology developers. At Crown Estate Scotland some key pieces of work Sian has been involved in includes, championing the development of the new, non ‘round’ based, wave and tidal application process that is still open today, worked on the first arrays investment competition and today she now manages all marine energy and infrastructure activities for Crown Estate Scotland.