Claire McCartney
Policy and Practice Manager
CIPD
Claire is our Policy and Practice Manager. She leads our policy work on flexible and new ways of working and resourcing and talent management. Claire also works in the area of equality, diversity and inclusion and leads policy work on carers, working parents and compassionate bereavement support. She also works with colleagues on menopause and menstrual health workplace policy support.
Previously, Claire ran her own research and consultancy organisation and was acting head of research and principal researcher at Roffey Park. Claire has worked on several international projects, is the author of a range of reports, has responded to numerous Government consultations and has given evidence at a range of parliamentary groups and committees.
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Gary Ford is a transformational IT and Diversity & Inclusion leader. As a former Managing Director within Global Technology at JPMorgan, he co-founded their male allies programme for women in technology.
His Amazon best-selling book “The Accidental Sexist: A handbook for men on workplace diversity and inclusion” tells the story of how to change the culture in a traditional male-centric sector and how we can all build inclusive work practices.
Alongside Mark Freed, he is the co-founder of Men for Inclusion, an organisation that works with companies across multiple sectors to help them engage men in diversity and inclusion efforts and create an all-gender narrative to deliver an inclusive culture that leads to real improvements in business performance
He has presented at multiple diversity conferences, as well as appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour to talk about allyship. He recently presented at the UN Women’s conference on Gender Equality in Seoul.
Gary lives with his wife, Julie in Fulham in London. They have 2 children, Isabella who is a Public Relations Associate for Strand Partners, and Lily, who is the UK correspondent of the Hollywood Reporter.
committees.
Lawrence Slade
CEO
Energy Networks Association
Lawrence is Chief Executive of ENA. He joined the organisation in February 2023.
He was previously Chief Executive Officer of GIIA, the membership body for the world's leading institutional investors. Prior to his role with GIIA, Lawrence began working with Energy UK in 2011, becoming its Chief Executive in January 2015. Additionally, he served on the boards of Eurogas and Eurelectric in Brussels.
He has been involved in the energy industry since the late 1990s, working in countries all over the world.
Lawrence is a Board member of Connected Kerb, and a Board Trustee of the St Clare Hospice. He is also a Fellow of the Energy Institute.
Lisa Robyn Wood
Director
GRIP Coaching
Being a Manager Shouldn’t Be Sh*t.
I grew my career within the Energy and FMCG sectors, enjoying several management positions in iconic brands across a range of departments including customer services, process improvement, contract management, sales and finance. A promotion into a senior middle management role in 2014 triggered imposter syndrome which motivated me to employ a personal coach. Coaching reconnected me with my confidence, self-belief, and value, and this strengthened relationship with myself enabled me to progress my career into areas I would not have felt capable of attempting prior to my experience. It is this power that I’m on a mission to share with as many managers and leaders as I can in my own coaching practise as The Middle Manager Coach which I have been growing since 2020. Being a manager shouldn’t be shit. I work with managers, leaders, and their businesses using coaching and training to ensure that it isn’t. I ensure that individuals have the knowledge and awareness to embrace their roles with energy and enjoyment, connect with their confidence and capabilities, and take control of their development and growth, to ensure that they thrive for themselves, their teams, and their businesses. Because when we enjoy what we do, we do a great job. It’s that simple. I help individuals and organisations to make effective and healthy management a reality for themselves, their people, and their business, by providing 1-2-1 coaching and training for their managers and teams. In the past four years I have had the privilege of working with leaders and their teams across a variety of incredible businesses including Burberry, Swarovski, BUPA, Volkswagen, HSBC, and Suntory, and I continue to passionately support the Energy sector with my work as an Associate for the Women’s Utilities Network (WUN).
Mike Keil
CEO
CCW
After being part of CCW’s Executive Team as Senior Director of Policy, Research and Campaigns for six years, Mike Keil is now Chief Executive.
A physicist by training, Mike spent the first decade of his career at the Met Office working with weather and climate models. He led its middle atmosphere research group.
In 2007, he joined Ofwat as their Head of Climate Change and wrote their first policy statement on the topic. Mike oversaw the introduction of annual carbon accounting in the water sector and the inclusion of the cost of carbon into business cases as part of the regulatory framework.
Mike moved to Severn Trent Water in 2011, leading their work on climate change and resilience. During this time he wrote the business case for the £350m Birmingham Resilience Project.
Mike has been at CCW since 2017, leading their policy work, water company challenge and their extensive research programme. He oversaw CCW’s campaign work, including their Review of Water Affordability; the End Sewer Flooding Misery campaign and the Five Year Review of the Business Retail Market.
Mike is also one of the hosts of CCW’s Waterfall podcast, which was launched during the 2022 drought to help people understand the value of water and how they can use it more wisely.
Oluseyi Onifade
Strategic Programme Manager
UKWIR
Olu started her career in the Water industry working for Laing O’Rourke on Thames Water’s Victorian Mains Replacement Programme before moving to South East Water. Olu spent 10 years with South East Water doing various roles of which the last 4 years were spent delivering the flagship Compulsory Metering Programme in which more than 90 percent of South East Water’s domestic customers had a water meter fitted.
Olu joined UK Water Industry Research in 2019 as a Strategic Programme Manager overseeing the delivery of 5 key water industry’s research themes.
Olu holds an MSc qualification in Project Management, Finance, and Risk from City University, London
Sarah Hopkins
Director
Women's Utility Network
Sarah is an experienced senior HR professional with 25 years’ experience in utilities, operating as People & Engagement Director at Wales & West Utilities for 13 years. She has subsequently set up her own consulting company, Pathways People Solutions, which supports organisations with their people strategy, leadership development programmes, culture development, and coaching.
Sarah is a Board member and mentor of the Womens Utilities Network and a Trustee of the Cardiff Rugby Community Foundation
Lila Thompson
CEO
British Water
Lila is responsible for British Water’s strategic direction, representing the interests of UK water and wastewater supply chain companies together with wider stakeholders across the sector, through the UK, Technical and International forums. The Water Industry Forum provides challenge-led, independent thought leadership, to tackle the challenges facing the sector. Lila was formerly responsible for British Water’s international services and lead business development visits to a range of markets including Saudi Arabia, Libya, Morocco, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, China and India. Lila has over 20 years of experience driving business growth, policy development and stakeholder engagement in a variety of sectors.
Juliet Summers
Inner Talent
Juliet Summers - Director of Inner Talent Ltd
Juliet has an accomplished corporate career in the retail and utility industries and brings her experience and insight in HR, talent management and leadership. She is a talent management expert, having led talent departments, strategy and teams alongside coaching, mentoring and supporting the development, progression and career transition of many individuals. Throughout her career, she has had a passion for spotting and developing talent. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (FCIPD) and International Coach Federation (ICF) ACC accredited coach amongst other credentials. She is highly skilled in bringing out the talent in people and coaching across the talent pipeline, especially supporting women throughout their careers. Her mission is empowering women to have a fulfilling career and life and she is a Women’s Utility Network (WUN) Mentor and Associate. When she’s not coaching or facilitating workshops, you’ll find her raising two boys and running which is one of her other passions!
Karen Anderson
WUN
Karen has been the Programme Development Manager at WUN since June 2024. Prior to this, she has had a successful 20-year career in the energy industry where she accumulated a variety of experience in roles ranging from analysis, trading and optimising nuclear, gas and coal power plants, supporting governance arrangements and developing, initialising and delivering a large number of projects across different business areas. As a working mum, often in a very male dominated environment, Karen has benefited from the support of networks such as WUN.
As part of her role, Karen monitors the governance and process arrangements at WUN to ensure they grow with the network as well as developing future plans and new initiatives alongside the amazing advocates and board members.
Karen is really passionate about WUN’s mission and supporting women to build fulfilling careers in the sector, particularly driven by balancing her own career alongside motherhood, having two teenage daughters of her own. She enjoys being able to combine her energy, enthusiasm and knowledge of the sector in order to support WUN's growth.