About us

Greg is the founder and CEO of Octopus Energy Group, the green energy tech pioneer and certified B Corp based in the UK. Launched in 2016, the company’s mission is to bring cheaper, greener power to all. In 2021, Octopus also entered the renewable energy generation market.

Greg's vision of using technology to disrupt the energy market has enabled Octopus Energy to create tariffs which unlock the power of the green grid - offering cheaper electricity when the sun is shining and wind is blowing. With its smart tariffs proving customer appetite for flexibility, Octopus is pioneering a global system change to enable a cheaper, faster transition to renewables.

Greg is an experienced digital entrepreneur, passionate about using technology to make positive change. He’s founded a number of successful businesses, including e-commerce company C360, and is an angel investor in a wide range of tech start-ups. He also served as Director of several innovative businesses, including Zopa, the world’s first peer-to-peer lender, which has now lent almost £2bn fairly and responsibly.

Charles Hendry was Minister of State for Energy from 2010-12. He was previously the Conservative Party’s spokesman on energy issues, from 2005-2010, holding the portfolio for longer than any other spokesman.

On leaving Ministerial office, Prime Minister David Cameron appointed him as his Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, a role he continued until leaving Parliament in 2015.  He was awarded the CBE in Her Majesty The Queen’s 2019 Birthday Honours for his work in supporting British Trade in Russia and Central Asia.

On leaving Ministerial office, he was appointed as an Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh Business School and Visiting Professor at the Mining University of St Petersburg.  He is President of the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce; President of the British Chamber of Commerce in Kazakhstan; President of the British Institute of Energy Economics; Vice-President of The Energy Institute and Patron of the Nuclear Institute.

He works extensively across the energy sector.

Charles was educated at the University of Edinburgh, where he received an Honours Degree in Business Studies. He is a University Regent and also an Honorary Fellow of the Energy Institute.

As a Senior VP of Engineering, Aleida leads the center of discipline engineering expertise which houses the most senior engineers and engineering technical authorities in bp. She is accountable for enabling bp’s energy transition by delivering on resilient hydrocarbons and scale up of renewables businesses through engineering solutions. Aleida chairs the heads of engineering forum which represents the Company’s 2,500+ practicing discipline engineers.

Prior to her current role, Aleida served as Vice President of Operations for the Gulf of Mexico and Vice President for bp’s Lower 48 business.

Aleida earned her chemical engineering degree from Texas A&M University where she is a member of the university’s Chemical Engineering College Advisory Board.

Aleida was recently elected as Fellow of Royal Academy of Engineering, the first-ever female of Latin American origin in the international group.  She serves on the Academy’s Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Group. She sits on the Board of bp Pensions along with bp Products, is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Energy Institute (EI) serving as chair of the EI Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC).  She also serves as a Vice Chair of Engineering Leadership Council at International Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP).

Dame Vivienne Cox is Chair of Victrex plc, a Non-Executive Director with Haleon plc, Venterra plc and Stena AB. She worked for bp plc for 28 years, in Britain and continental Europe, in posts including Executive Vice President of BP’s gas, power and renewable business and Chief Executive of its alternative energy unit.

Vivienne was previously a Non-Executive Director of BG Group plc and Rio Tinto plc, the Senior Independent Director of Pearson plc, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Vallourec and the Lead Independent Director at the UK Government’s Department for International Development. She was awarded a CBE in 2016 and a damehood in 2022 for services to diversity and inclusion and sustainability in business.

A graduate of Oxford and INSEAD, she is also Chair of the Rosalind Franklin Institute, Vice Chair of the SAID Business School and on the advisory board of the African Leadership Institute and of Montrose Associates.

Simardeep Soor is a Chartered Accountant, who trained and qualified at KPMG, and holds a MEng in Engineering Science, Economics and Management from University of Oxford.

She is an Assistant Director at UK Government Investments, where she has worked on a variety of corporate finance and governance projects, including asset sales in the energy sector, the shareholder role for UK Green Infrastructure Platform and the shareholder role for National Nuclear Laboratory.

Prior to joining UK Government Investments, Simardeep spent over six years in corporate advisory and investment banking roles at Houlihan Lokey and KPMG. During this time, she advised on a number of UK and cross-border M&A transactions for UK, European and US clients.

John is a Chartered Engineer with over 30 years’ experience in teaching, research and practice. Formerly Chief Engineer with Carlsberg-Tetley Brewing, John has represented the Industry at national level to bring about significant reductions in energy utilisation. He is Director of the Scottish Energy Centre at Edinburgh Napier University where he has secured significant levels of external funding (EPSRC, TSB, FP7) helping to support innovative products, processes and supply chain initiatives across the Scottish SME sector. The main focus of his research interests include monitoring and modelling building performance and the development of novel and innovative renewable energy systems and successfully directed over 9PhD/MPhil completions and published over 50 refereed articles. John retains strong professional links with external organisations and is a Fellow, Member of Council, and Past Chairman of the Energy Institute, Chairman of the Energy Institute Accreditation Panel, Member of the Engineering Council - Engineering Accreditation Board, Co-Chairman of Scotland’s 2020 Climate Group and recently founded Retrofit Scotland. As well as chairing numerous academic accreditation panels both in the UK and abroad, John holds current External Examination posts with Heriot Watt University, London South Bank University and University of the Highland and Islands.

Robert Gross became Director of the UK Energy Research Centre at University College London in February 2020, having previously been a co-Director. He is also Professor of Energy Policy and Technology, Director of the Centre for Energy Policy and Technology (ICEPT) and former Policy Director of the Energy Futures Lab at Imperial College London. He is also a trustee of the Energy Institute. Robert has published extensively on energy policy and technology. He has extensive research management expertise and has made a substantive contribution to UK energy policy development, acting as advisor to Select Committees, preparing reports and chairing committees for Govt. departments and NDPBs, and as a consultant. He was seconded to the Cabinet Office in the early 2000s and contributed to the Blair Government’s Energy Review. He also has extensive teaching experience at masters and PhD level. He has been invited speaker at a wide range of conferences and related forums in the UK and overseas. He makes regular contributions to the popular debate surrounding energy, in the mainstream broadsheet press, online and in TV and radio appearances.

Andy Hadland is an energy engineer who now heads up development at Arenko, a leading battery storage owner operator in the UK. In the past he has led industrial and commercial engineering projects for blue chip clients; from deep retrofit energy efficiency rollouts, through to 85MWth/25MWe Biomass CHP installations behind the meter. He is a regular guest lecturer at Imperial College Energy Futures Lab on topics such as Thermodynamics, electric vehicles, and energy storage and is a passionate STEM Ambassador. He has keynoted National Instruments NI Week, been invited to speak at high-level roundtables with BEIS, and was part of a record-breaking team that designed and built an all-electric supercar – which then drove 26,000km from Alaska to Argentina. At the Energy Institute he was the founding Chair of the London YPN branch, and is passionate about improving the opportunities for young professionals within the sector. Now he sits on the EI Council where he is working to help develop the EI's offering and relevance to young professionals.

Emily Spearman is the Head of Project Management Office at Ørsted Wind Power, the world leading green energy company.  During her time at Ørsted Emily has held the position as Asset Manager of five offshore windfarms and Commercial Manager for Hornsea Project 1, the world’s largest offshore wind farm, currently under construction. Prior to this, Emily was the youngest Associate Director in Engineering Consultancy URS Scott Wilson, where she held leading positions on a number of high profile projects in the environmental and industrial sectors around the world (including, Crossrail and Palm Island, from West Africa to Australia).  In her early career she worked onshore and offshore on Oil and Gas rigs with Schlumberger in the UK and USA.

Dr Joanne Wade is a sustainable energy expert with 30 years’ experience in energy efficiency and community energy. She is the Chief Strategic Advisor of the Association of Decentralised Energy (ADE), a Trustee of the Energy Institute (EI) and former Chair of the EI’s Energy Advisory Panel. Her work is currently focused on buildings energy efficiency policy and practice. Prior to her current roles, Joanne held posts including Chief Executive of the Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE), CEO of Impetus Consulting, Research Director at ACE and post-doctoral researcher at the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute. Joanne is also Vice President of the European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Imperial College London; previously she chaired the EI’s HR Committee, chaired the Board of Trustees of the Eaga Charitable Trust and served as a Commissioner on the London Sustainable Development Commission.

Michael is the Strategy and Business Development Manager for Global E&C, a leading energy services brownfield EPC contractor focussed on the UKCS. Michael is an authentic future leader with over 11 years’ experience within the upstream (E&P, topside and subsea) and clean energy sectors.

Michael has been involved with the Energy Institute for over six years and was elected Chair of the Aberdeen Highlands and Islands Young Professionals Network in January 2019 where he led the re-structure of the yearly calendar into Learn, Network and Grow focussed events. Michael holds a BA (Hons) in Business Management with Economics from the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen and was elected to the EI Council in July 2022, where he will further the Generation 2050 agenda to hold todays leaders accountable for a world young professionals will inherit in the future.

Lisa is the current Senior Vice President of Emerging & Future Business at Equinor, with a career spanning over 25 years across the energy sector. Lisa has held several senior roles at Equinor having begun as their VP Exploration, moving up to Senior VP Exploration in 2018 before stepping into her current role. Current responsibilities include heading up the newly established 'Emerging & Future Business' team that looks beyond the core business to find new energy solutions for tomorrow.

Lisa began her career at Schlumberger, as a Geophysicist in 1995 working in seismic acquisition and processing, before moving to ARCO & Vastar Resources as a Geophysicist. She spent 4 years at the company with explorations in the Central North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico shelf and deepwater. In 2000, Lisa moved to BP as a Senior Geoscientist where she completed explorations across Angola and Egypt – working at the company for 9 years. Following BP, Lisa worked at Statoil (now Equinor) from 2009 to 2016, working her way up to the role of VP Exploration where she was the Head of Exploration for the Regional Southern Hemisphere. As Statoil rebranded to Equinor in 2018, Lisa remained with the organisation, continuing to progress her career to the senior role she is in today.

Lisa holds a BSc (Hons) in Petroleum Geoscience & Geology as well as an MSc in Petroleum Geoscience, both from Imperial College London.