Green Tech 2021: Race to Zero

Steve is co-founder and CEO of Creative Concern. An experienced strategist, writer and communications consultant, Steve specialises in ethical and sustainability issues, integrated campaigns, city strategies, brand development and creating strange installations out of trees, lights and beautiful type.

Recent projects include work with C40 cities, World Green Building Council, World Resources Institute, Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce, Newcastle City Council, Plymouth City Council and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

Steve’s spent the last few years also helping to create a European network of partner agencies, called Do Not Smile – www.donotsmile.com

He is currently a board member of the Greater Manchester LEP, and was recently the interim chair of the Community Forest Trust and has previously chaired Manchester’s Climate Change Partnership. A long time ago he was Communications Director at Sustainability Northwest and Head of Campaigns at the Vegetarian Society of the UK.

Specialties: Particular areas of expertise include climate change, place making, city strategies, culture, sustainable transport, food issues and the natural environment.

Jen Johnson is the Managing Director of Thermatic Energy Services, a national provider for BEMS, smart technology and Energy management solutions. With over 10 years experience within this industry, Jen is as passionate as ever about educating companies as to how they can improve their handle on their energy consumption, delivering end user energy management training through their Salford based training academy opened in 2018 by Andy Burnham.

Jen has previously worked within a number of different sectors, including education, retail and corporate buildings, focusing on breaking down the barriers between her clients and technology.

Experienced Technical Director with a demonstrated history of advising clients on environmental and sustainability issues. Strong consultancy professional skilled in Sustainable Development, Energy and Carbon Strategy, Sustainable Business, and Resource Efficiency. Property sector development lead for Environmental services.

Before entering the patent profession, Ean spent several years working as a design engineer for Marconi and Motorola. This real-life commercial experience was invaluable and gives Ean an insight into some of the challenges faced by clients.

Ean works with leading clients in the defence and telecoms sector, handling patent filing and prosecution work, in a range of technologies, as well as advising on freedom to operate and infringement issues. He also jointly manages our work in the Higher Education sector, dealing with several leading universities in the UK and abroad. He has handled several application through the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) Green Channel, which prioritises environmentally-friendly inventions.

Ean has experience of hearings before the UK IPO and European Patent Office (EPO), and frequently advises clients on contentious issues where their rights may be infringed or where they are accused of infringing the rights of others.

Ean sits on he pro manchester Green Economy committee.

Nicola Siddons has a background in science communications and studied physics at the University of Manchester.  She went on to become a project manager in various sectors, ultimately focusing on environmental issues after becoming acutely aware of climate change as the defining issue of our time.

She now works with organisations on all scales from Lush and Proper to Fairtrade Manchester, delivering Essential Climate Change Training and providing expert advice on how companies can adopt proactive sustainability solutions.

She also works alongside the Manchester charity The Carbon Literacy Project, developing climate change training for the public sector with funding and direction from BEIS (The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy).

Her training offers clarity on the climate emergency, transforming the culture of an organisation and providing the tools needed to demonstrate environmental and social responsibility.

Founding The Blair Project at just 18 years old, Nile Henry is a young entrepreneur with an ambition to help shape the future leaders of the green tech revolution.

Inspired by his brother’s passion for motor racing, Nile identified an opportunity to change the narrative around the well-loved sport. Nile set out to transform the impact motorsport was having on the environment and exclusivity that surrounded the sport. Founding The Blair Project, it provides a way of educating young people in the skills required to transform fuel-powered karts into environmentally friendly e-karts, and drives a wider conversation around engagement in STEM and the importance of education in green tech. The initiative also allows people from diverse backgrounds to access to what is traditionally an exclusive sport.

Outside of The Blair Project, Nile is part of the Manchester Climate Change Youth Board, a group of 13- to 28-year-olds who represent the city’s young people and hold political, business and community leaders to account in the fight against climate change.

Nile also advises Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, in the Social Enterprise Advisory Group, which focuses on the delivery of social enterprise in Greater Manchester and is aligned with the GM Local Industrial Strategy.

James Painter is an Investment Director at Palatine Private Equity. Palatine are a regional mid market private equity firm headquartered in Manchester. Palatine is currently investing from a Buyout Fund which looks to invest between £10m – £30m in each transaction and an Impact Fund that invests between £5m – £10m. The Impact Fund is focused on businesses that can create a clear positive impact on the environment or society.

Andrew is a Director leading on Brand, Education, Culture, Reporting and ESG. He has worked across many sectors supporting the embedding of sustainability within the value chain and making it “everyday business”. Of particular focus has been his work developing evidence-based water stewardship approaches for corporate clients such as GSK, Lafarge and across public infrastructure projects. He has also been central to drafting bespoke frameworks for climate change adaptation in retail and consumer goods organisations.

Andrew started out his professional life as a technical consultant supporting the early adoption of sustainable construction practices before moving into the delivery of footprinting and strategic sustainability support. Prior to joining Anthesis, Andrew was a member of the Sustainability and Climate Change practice within PwC focusing on sustainability risk approaches.

Sophie is the COO and Co-Founder of Dsposal a clean-tech company who along with its sister social enterprise Your Dsposal, is on a mission to empower people to make better decisions with their resources and waste by increasing transparency and accountability to make a positive impact on our environment.

She’s passionate about sustainability and draws on her varied background and experiences. Born in Tamil Nadu, India, she spent her early years on rural development projects before moving to North Devon, UK. Prior to founding the company in 2016, Sophie gained a degree in Conflict Resolution from the University of Bradford, cycled 8,700 miles around North America and enjoyed a winding career encompassing logistics and supply chain, the food industry and sustainability. She brings a fresh pair of eyes and breadth of experience to her new-found passion for the waste and resources industry.

She is a Women in Innovation award winner, was voted joint 5^th in the 2019 Resource Hot 100, is the Group Coordinator of the Waste Compliance Taskforce, sits on the advisory board for the One Bin project at University of Manchester, sits on the EDI working group for CIWM and is an alumna of the CSC Leaders Programme. She speaks internationally on waste, digitalisation, open data and open standards.

Wondrwall was borne out of Burton’s previous company, which printed electronic substrates into wallpaper. After looking at the ‘smart’ home market it became apparent that the current level of technology being sold as ‘smart home’ systems was barely smart and certainly not intelligent,” he says.

Wondrwall’s intelligent software and IoT products uses the latest self learning technology, along with a multitude of sensors that continuously monitors daily routines and adjusts itself for your convenience, and to save valuable energy. The easy to use and intuitive home automation system provides users with app and voice control for lighting, heating, security and entertainment all in one place. Along with the clean energy solution, providing the latest solar PV systems and Wondrwall battery storage that can reduce energy consumption by as much as 90%.

Save money, save time, save the planet!

As a Senior Project Manager at Transport for Greater Manchester, Ian is responsible for the programme management of externally funded, innovative projects.  Prior to this, he worked on a number of high-profile policy and infrastructure projects, including the GM Congestion Deal and the Leigh-Ellenbrook Guided Busway.  Ian has also worked in an operations management role within TfGM and served as an Army Officer for six years. During his time in the Army he was fortunate to experience a wide array of challenges and to work with talented, motivated people who brought expertise from a range of backgrounds.

Alex joined Bruntwood from Salford University in 2006 having recently completed a BSc Building Surveying degree from University of Salford. Alex initially worked as a Building Surveyor in Bruntwood’s Manchester City Centre portfolio. In 2009 Alex became Chartered and then in 2012 moved to head up the Birmingham portfolio.

Alex always had a keen interest in building services and in 2010 began a part-time masters in Building Services Engineering at Brunel University, graduating with Distinction in 2016. In 2017 Alex moved to a central role within Bruntwood and is currently Head of Infrastructure & Energy, playing a key role in Bruntwood’s Net Zero Strategy and roll out of solar PV installations.

James Baker is a recognised innovation leader and commercialisation expert. He is currently CEO for Graphene@Manchester based at The University of Manchester. James joined The University of Manchester in 2014 and in his unique role is developing the industrial partnerships and collaborations to accelerate the commercialisation opportunities for graphene, the world’s first two-dimensional material that has been dubbed a “wonder material”. Before entering the higher education sector, James had worked in industry for 25 years and led on a number of prestigious national innovation projects as Managing Director of the Advanced Technology Centres for BAE Systems in the UK.

Dr Vivek Koncherry, the founder and CEO of Space Blue Limited, has come up with a start-up mission to address the massive global issue of waste tyres, as it is being burned or used for landfill, by converting it to graphene-enhanced high-value consumer products. Vivek is also the CEO of Graphene Space Habitat Limited, focusing on developing habitat for sustainable human settlement in space for science and manufacturing. Space Blue and Space Habitat recently got investment backing of $5 million from North American company Graphene Innovations Inc. “ – https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/graphene-innovations-inc-manchester-giim-joins-geic-as-new-tier-1-partner/

Sam has been at pro-manchester for 17 years and has been an integral part of its growth from a small, effective membership network to a sophisticated business development organisation. A firm part of the Manchester business community, Sam is a familiar face to most, constantly and efficiently working to bring businesses together in the city region.

As chief executive, Sam is responsible for the organisation’s corporate engagement as well managing all existing key partnerships and member relationships. Sam manages the day-to-day running and strategic direction of the business alongside Nicola McCormick – COO. They run the organisation together as equal partners with shared responsibility.

Sam also sits on the board of trustees for Forever Manchester, a charity that supports community activity across Greater Manchester. As well as this, Sam also sits on the Greater Manchester Economic Resilience Board, the Greater Manchester Organisational Representatives Group, the Manchester Business Sounding Board, the Bee Net Zero Advisory Board and the Manchester tech hub Board.

In 2019 Sam also became the Regional Deputy Chair of TheCityUK, where she helps to engage the national body on a regional level on behalf of individuals in the financial and professional services industries. In 2022 Sam was featured in the inaugural Top 50 North West tech Transformers list complied by BusinessCloud

Chris joined Manchester Metropolitan University in 2017, and for the last three years has been the operational lead for the Manchester Fuel Cell Innovation Centre project. Funded by the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the project has supported small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Greater Manchester to understand and develop new products and services utilising hydrogen and fuel cell technology.

Working within the University’s Business School, Chris has a research interest in SME eco-innovation, and is Manchester Met’s project lead for a new, three-year ERDF low carbon project, Eco-I NW. Working with North West university partners, the project will actively support SMEs to develop low carbon products and services, and iterate circular economy business models.

Andy Burnham says “Follow Richard’s lead on zero carbon”  Winner 2020 from the professional body IEMA for Environmental Management in the category carbon and energy reduction, top 100 manufacturing leader, top 300 UK sustainable and innovation leader.  Richard since 2015 has achieved what others said was impossible, with little money, learning from what support was available and networking. Richard’s depth of experience recognised as a champion writes articles in many publications and supports many Universities, SME’s and large local companies.

Mark joined the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) in May 2012 as Director of Environment for Greater Manchester and transferred to GMCA in May 2017. In this role, Mark provides strategic support to the Greater Manchester Low Carbon Hub by leading the development and delivery of strategies, policies, research and demonstration projects for environment and low carbon work areas.

Current projects include the a smart energy demonstration project on aggregation of heat using Air Source Heat Pumps, domestic energy efficiency programmes, community energy promotion, natural capital investment planning, climate change adaptation research plus developing joint work programmes between GM and several government departments, including the Urban Pioneer for the UK’s 25 Year Environment Plan.

Prior to his current appointment, Mark joined the Northwest Regional Development Agency in 2002, culminating in the role of Director of Energy and Environment. In this role, Mark managed a project investment portfolio of circa £30m/annum, providing innovative and strategic leadership to the Agency’s work on energy & environmental technologies sector development; climate change and carbon reduction; sustainable consumption & production and environment quality.

Mark holds a science degree in Organic Chemistry and Industrial Ecology; postgraduate qualifications in Leadership and Hydrobiology and several management qualifications.