HRH Prince Khalid bin Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the UK
HRH graduated from Oxford University and Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy before commissioning from Sandhurst Military Academy. He subsequently worked at the United Nations Department of Political Affairs in New York and served as Advisor to the Saudi Ambassador in Washington D.C. USA.
In 2006, he established Dayim Holdings, as a partnership and investment platform for international companies looking to work in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. From 2017 to 2019 he served as Saudi Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany before becoming Ambassador to the United Kingdom in 2019.
Lord Dominic Johnson of Lainston CBE
Minister of Investment, Department for Business & Trade
Lord Dominic Johnson of Lainston CBE was appointed Minister of State in the Department for Business and Trade on 7 February 2023. He was previously Minister of State (Minister for Investment) in the Department for International Trade between 24 November 2022 and 7 February 2023. He was Minister of State jointly in the Department for International Trade and the Cabinet Office between 2 October 2022 and 28 October 2022.
He has spent over 25 years in financial services, beginning his career at Robert Fleming in 1995, before moving to Hong Kong to work for Jardine Fleming and then in 2002, after a series of dot com start ups, heading the marketing for Lloyd George Asset Management – an emerging markets specialist firm. In 2007 he co-founded Somerset Capital Management LLP as an employee-owned democratic partnership, focussing on pension fund management in developing countries. Between 09 November 2022 and 02 October 2022 Dominic was a non-executive board member of the Department for International Trade. He was Chair of the department’s Audit and Risk Assurance Committee. Between 2017 and 2019 he was vice-chairman of the Conservative Party.
Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles KCMG LVO
Group Head of Public Affairs, HSBC Holdings plc
Sherard has been at HSBC since 2013, working as Senior Adviser to the Group Chairman and Group Chief Executive, and more recently heading the Group’s global government and public affairs functions. He also chairs HSBC Bank Oman. Earlier he spent over 30 years in the British Diplomatic Service, finishing his career as Ambassador to Israel, Saudi Arabia and then Afghanistan.
Sherard is Chair of the China-Britain Business Council, the Saudi British Joint Business Council, and the Omani British Business Council; Honorary Vice President of the UK Financial Inclusion Commission; an Ambassador for the Money Advice Trust, and for the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust; a Committee Member of The Hong Kong Association; and a Board Member of Asia House. He is the author of two books: Cables from Kabul and Ever the Diplomat.
Dr Kevin Cullen
Vice President for Innovation, KAUST
Dr. Kevin Cullen was appointed as Vice President for Innovation at KAUST in 2018. Kevin is a leader in global innovation with expertise in both economic development and industrial engagement. As Vice President of KAUST Innovation, he leads the University’s intellectual property portfolio, help create and support new businesses, joint ventures, and collaborations with industry partners, and continue to foster a strong culture of entrepreneurship in the Kingdom.
Dr. Cullen has over 20 years of experience in academic innovation and business development. Throughout his career he has helped elevate university-based innovation enterprises that have led to the launch of more than 250 startup companies as well as numerous products and services.
Prior to joining KAUST, Kevin spent six years as CEO of Innovations at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia. He helped transform UNSW from a traditional commercialization unit into an innovation hub by supporting a broad range of university priorities including economic development and social impact innovations at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia. He helped transform UNSW from a traditional commercialization unit into an innovation hub by supporting a broad range of university priorities including economic development and social impact.
Mishal Al Mutlaq
Chief Investment Officer, Alfanar Project Development and EPC division
As the CIO, Mishal is instrumental in the coordination with banks and co-investors, where he oversees team promoting projects and secures the funding for these projects. Till date, he concluded deals worth over $1.6Billion as nonrecourse financing. The division projects include renewable electricity generation such as Solar and Wind, advanced sustainable aviation fuel, wastewater recycling, smart cities including smart meters as well as power with carbon capture & storage. The geographic span of these projects includes Saudi Arabia, Egypt, India, Spain and the United Kingdom.
He also serves as a Director of Alfanar Energy, UK and Alfanar Energia Espana, Spain while also leading the IPP team – renewable division of Alfanar and is part of the investment board which allocates corporate level capital. Mishal started his career with Alfanar in 2013 as an Investment Manager handling the corporate investments worldwide. Earlier, he was Head of Periam Investor Group, where he was involved in the strategic review and the eventual sale of Enernoc, the largest demand and frequency response provider in the United States of America at the time. Mishal is also the promoter for Alfaco Partners Limited, which is an FCA regulated (as an Appointed Representative) entity based in the United Kingdom. Prior to joining Alfanar Mishal was part of the investment team at Morgan Stanley Investment Management in Saudi Arabia, which ran flagship funds investing in domestic public equities market.
Douglas Hansen-Luke
Executive Chairman, Future Planet Capital
Douglas Hansen-Luke is the Executive Chairman of Future Planet Capital. After two years of research he founded the firm in 2015, following an extensive career in global finance and as an entrepreneur in Hong Kong, London and the Middle East. He has worked in a series of senior broking, investment and asset management roles for firms including ABN AMRO and Robeco, with a focus on emerging markets and asset classes.
He was also co-founder of Hong Kong’s first regulated online equity research firm. Alongside this, Douglas worked as an occasional freelance reporter and photographer, spending short periods of time in Afghanistan and China for the Associated Press.
Douglas began his career as a management consultant at Bain & Company, with a focus on technology and consumer goods, before moving to Salomon Brothers, where he specialised in emerging market equities. He holds a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford.
Neil Golding
Director, Market Intelligence – Energy Industries Council
Neil has over 20 years’ experience of working in the energy industry in various roles and currently heads up a team of Energy Analysts at the EIC. The team’s main role is to support EIC members in identifying business opportunities in the global energy markets. Prior to joining the EIC in 2007, Neil worked with IHS Energy. Recent work has seen Neil engage extensively with stakeholders in the energy transition sectors and he has successfully led a piece of work on supply chain capability mapping for the carbon capture and hydrogen sectors, which shows the existing UK energy supply chain is well placed to play a significant role in these industries in the future.
The EIC is the UK’s largest energy supply chain trade association, a not-for-profit with 850 member companies, across oil & gas, power, nuclear, renewable and energy transition markets that, for 80 years, has advised governments and boardrooms, and helped companies to grow at home and around the world. The EIC team’s real passion is helping companies to diversify, export and grow – and their members benefit from EIC’s unique suite of products and services – namely, energy market CAPEX, OPEX & supply chain capability databases, 250 events p.a. industry & government networks, international launchpad offices and extensive market insights.
Sam Cassidy
Energy & Sustainability Sector Lead, Invest Newcastle
As the Energy & Sustainability Sector Lead at Invest Newcastle, Sam is responsible for attracting and supporting new business, investment and jobs within the sector. He also works with indigenous businesses across the region to develop growth plans and deliver private sector-led growth.
For the past five years, Sam has worked with global businesses and decision makers to attract new businesses into Newcastle, working across multi-stakeholder groups to facilitate private sector investment. With a Master’s degree in Ecological Economics from the University of Leeds, Sam is focused on investment which supports net zero ambition, inclusive growth, and the transition to truly sustainable cities.
Dr Amy Hochadel
Director of Global Business, Connected Places Catapult
Dr Hochadel is an expert in global cities, and currently the Director of Global Business at Connected Places Catapult in London, England. She works with local leaders, entrepreneurs, city and national governments around the world, including the Gulf states, India, Malaysia, Africa, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States.
She is the author of Local Leadership in a Global Era: Policy and Behaviour Change in Cities (2017, Palgrave Macmillan), exploring the changing role local leaders are playing in addressing local challenges through global engagement.
Dr Hochadel has over two decades of experience in politics & public policy and community, government and international relations. She has served as special adviser to Congressional and Presidential candidates across the United States, as well as for British Members of Parliament; has been a guest lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government; and proudly serves as a member of the United Nations Global Happiness policy sub-committee.
Dr Hochadel’s Doctorate is from King’s College London in International Political Economy, and she specializes in enabling local governments and leadership around the world to build globally focused economies.
Akin Adamson
Middle East Director, Ricardo
Akin Adamson is the Middle East Director for Ricardo Energy and Environment – a global strategic engineering and environmental consultancy with offices across the GCC. Ricardo advises public and private sector organisations on Air Quality, Energy, Water, Waste, Transport and Climate Change strategies, technologies and operations.
Previously, he was TRL’s (the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory’s) Regional Director for the Middle East. Before that, he held senior consulting and Director level roles at Nokia Siemens Networks, Telstra and A.T.Kearney. He began his research career at London Business School in the energy sector and has lectured at both London Business School and the London School of Economics. He was educated at LSE, LBS and the University of Michigan, USA.
Beverley Gower-Jones OBE
Managing Partner, Clean Growth Fund
Beverley has a successful track record and is a thought leader in early stage cleantech investments and commercialisation. Beverley specialises in accelerating innovation to market and scaling companies by providing strategic insights, developing industry partnerships and identifying novel ways to overcome barriers to entry. Her ambition is to create a better, sustainable world and she firmly believes that this will be achieved through innovation playing a transformative role in the global economy.
In 2023, Beverley was bestowed an OBE by His Majesty The King (Charles III) for services to Net Zero innovation. Beverley is an independent member of the cross-government Net Zero Innovation Board chaired by Sir Patrick Vallance.
Prior to Managing Partner at Clean Growth Fund and CEO of Carbon Limiting Technologies, she was a founder and Vice President of Shell Technology Ventures and was instrumental in Shell’s technology venturing strategy. With over 30 years’ experience in the international energy sector, Beverley is a Fellow of the Energy Institute. She holds a BSc in Mining Geology, from University College Cardiff.
Zoe Reich
Head of Deep Tech, Octopus Ventures
Zoe Reich is a specialist deep tech investor. Zoe has managed seven early-stage funds focusing on supporting the best of deep tech from UK universities. She is a general partner of a proposed £50m pre-seed deep tech fund, targeting European university spinouts.
Zoe has an academic background in atmospheric modeling, an early career in management consulting at KPMG, and has spun-out over 60 deep tech companies from the University of Oxford and Imperial College.
She is also an entrepreneur, having built and sold her own cryptocurrency exchange.
Dr Andrew Muir
Future Planet Capital and Investment Director, UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund
Dr. Andrew Muir is a Director of Midven, an FCA-authorised fund management company, and is the Investment Director for the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund. He also manages the Stephenson Fund. Starting his career at Zeneca in advanced materials, he went on to roles in research and business development at the medical device company Biocompatibles and then Vice President of Technology for a US start-up in disinfection of medical equipment.
He started his career in venture capital with NESTA (the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts). He has a degree and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Oxford.
Jamie Quinn
Sustainability Director, Argent LLP
Leading the Sustainability agenda at large international organisations EQUANS, ENGIE, Cofely GDF-SUEZ and Balfour Beatty, delivering environmental and social benefit across the built environment sector.
Previously Chairperson of ”Our Park Life” Community Interest Company (Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park) and led on the development of an Independent Scrutiny Board (Chaired by Lord Kerslake) to assess non-financial performance.
Developed partnerships with industry bodies, academia, and third sector achieving industry awards recognising both environmental and social impact.
Professor David Hosken
Deputy-Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy at the University of Exeter
Professor Dave Hosken is Deputy-Pro-Vice-Chancellor in the faculty of Environment, Science and Economy where he oversees activity in engineering, renewable energy, conservation and mining amongst other things. He is an evolutionary biologist by training with interest in the genotype-phenotype link. He also works on conservation issues, particularly inbreeding and human activity’s impacts on bats, and is particularly interested in DDT-resistance genes because of the sexually antagonistic selection they generate.
He was awarded the 2013 Zoological Society of London’s scientific medal for his work in evolutionary biology and was a member of panel A.5 for REF2021, the assessment exercise that evaluates all HEI research in the UK. He is the current President of the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. He moved to Exeter in 2004 after working at the Universities of Zurich, Konstanz and Chicago, having completing his PhD in Australia. He also worked in the mining industry off and on for ca. 8 years prior to entering academia.
Hans Middelthon
Managing Director, Aramco Ventures (AV) London
Hans Middelthon has over 20 years of experience in Corporate Venture Capital, Venture Capital, Growth Capital and Private Equity. He is a member of the team of Aramco Ventures (AV) in London.
Prior to AV, Hans worked for Energy Capital Management supporting the management of the Corporate Venture Capital portfolio of Equinor, the Norwegian energy company, and spent nine years with the Private Equity company 3i Group focusing on investments in the energy sector.
Hans started his career in the City of London where he worked for four years in the bond markets with Williams de Broe and Commerzbank. Hans has a Masters of Economics degree from Fribourg, Switzerland, and an MBA from London Business School.
Hashim Alawadi
Tech Investor & Board Member SBJBC Saudi and Saudi UK Tech Hub
Hashim Alawadi is a technology, private equity and VC investment management professional with extensive experience in various senior roles in Saudi Arabia and USA. He is an active angel investor and BOD member with multiple tech and telecom companies in the region, and an executive committee member of the Saudi UK Tech Hub and the Saudi British Joint Business Council.
Peter Feehan
Partner Finance & Projects, Pinsent Masons
Pete leads the global Cleantech market team, which supports clients utilising digitalisation and smart tech alongside clean energy to deliver more sustainable energy solutions in support of Net-Zero and e-mobility. Pete specialises in collaborative and joint venture arrangements for energy clients bringing forward mobility and Net-Zero solutions. Pete also specialises in Renewable energy projects, with a particular focus on de-centralised power and energy storage.
He advises a range of clients across the energy and utility sectors, including public sector clients who are becoming increasingly focused on localised heat and power solutions. Pete leads multi-disciplinary teams in advising on all aspects of project delivery and energy regulation.
Having worked in the energy sector previous to joining Pinsent Masons, he has a deep understanding of electrical infrastructure and the regulatory framework. Pete has advised HM Government and the Mayor of London on complex electrical infrastructure projects, such as grid infrastructure and electric vehicles.
Dr. Abdulaziz Aljodai
Corporate Director, SABIC
Dr. Abdulaziz Aljodai is the key technology developer for the world’s largest CO2 capturing and purification plant of its kind at United company, SABIC affiliate. He held various technical and leadership positions at SABIC in project management and R&D fields, including the role of Research Fellow, the second-highest technical position in the company.
He served as SABIC’s counterpart leader for the blue ammonia supply chain demonstration that resulted in the shipping of 40 tons of high-grade blue ammonia from KSA to Japan in 2020. He is a US UOP engineering fellow, with a PhD in chemical engineering and a master’s degree in industrial management from WV USA and London Business School, Leading Change, UK.
Dr Emad Abdulaziz El Dukair
SBJBC Saudi Co-Chair
Dr Emad Abdulaziz El-Dukair is the founder and CEO of The Care Group, a leading player in the public-private partnerships sector. He is a member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Advisory Board of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council and Co-chair of the Saudi-British Joint Business Council.
He is also a Board member of Interhealth Canada and a former Co-chair of the Saudi Canadian Business Council. Dr El-Dukair has helped design, build and finance infrastructure projects in numerous countries, with a focus on hospital and service provision. Dr El-Dukair has broad experience across a number of sectors with interests ranging from major education projects to sport and real-estate.
