About us

Bernie Bulkin is a leading voice on energy and environmental issues, in business, non-profits, and Government. He is a an independent director of ATN International (NASDAQ ATNI) doing solar projects in the US and India, a director of ARQ Ltd, a senior advisor to private equity firm Energy Growth Momentum and a member of the Green Angel Syndicate. He is a Vice President of the Energy Institute. Bernie has served as Chair of the UK Office of Renewable Energy (2010-2013), and has had several other UK Government roles on sustainable energy and transport. He was a venture partner of Vantage Point Capital Partners from 2004-2014. He is Emeritus Professorial Fellow of Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge, and is on the Editorial Advisory Board of Energy and Environmental Science. He is the author of Crash Course (2015) and Solving Chemistry (2019). Dr Bulkin was formerly Chief Scientist of BP.

Vivienne Cox is Chair of Vallourec, a manufacturer of seamless steel pipes, many of which are used in the oil industry, She is Senior Independent director at Pearson plc, a Non-Executive Director with GSK and with Stena International AB. She is also the Chair of the Rosalind Franklin Institute. She was the Lead Independent Director at DFID for ten years and was on the Airports Commission. Vivienne worked for BP for 28 years. Her last full time role with the company was as Executive Vice President of the Gas Power and Renewables segment. A graduate of Oxford and INSEAD, she is a Vice President of the Energy Institute, and a member of the Trilateral Commission, Vice Chair of the SAID Business School and on the advisory board of the African Leadership Institute and of Montrose Associates.

Mike began his career with Dow in 1968. During his 34 years there, he was based in the US, the UK, Switzerland and Hong Kong. He became President and Chief Executive Officer of The Dow Chemical Company in Midland, Michigan, USA in 2000 and a member of the company’s Board of Directors from 1995 to 2003. He was subsequently appointed Group Chief Executive of British Nuclear Fuels (a manufacturer and transporter of nuclear products) from 2003 until 2009. He is currently Senior Independent Director of PV Crystalox Solar plc as well as Chairman of the Audit Committee, the Remuneration Committee and is a member of the Nomination Committee. He is also currently Senior Independent Director of Laird plc as well as Chairman of the Remuneration Committee and a member of both the Audit and Nomination Committees. His previous directorships with quoted companies include Invensys plc and SNC-Lavalin in Canada. Mike is involved with a variety of charities and not-for-profit organisations - Street League, a national charity that utilises football to engage with inactive 16–25 year olds, as Chairman; the Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents (“RoSPA”) as Chairman and is a Trustee and Honorary Secretary of the Energy Institute. He is also a Non-Executive Director and Strategic Advisor on the Management Board at the Metropolitan Police and a member of the Alliance Manchester Business School Advisory Board as well as Chairman of the AMBS MBA Advisory Committee. Mike previously was Chairman of Liverpool's economic development and regeneration company, Liverpool Vision and remains involved in the International Festival of Business Events in Liverpool. Mike was awarded a CBE in the New Year Honours 2009 for services to the energy industry and in 2014 awarded the Citizen of Honour for the City of Liverpool.

Belinda Mindell is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and an honours graduate of the London School of Economics. She trained and qualified with KPMG and for the past 23 years has worked in various Fred. Olsen related companies. Belinda began her career in the onshore wind industry in 2000 when she helped set up Fred. Olsen Renewables Ltd which went on to become the largest independent generator of onshore wind power in the UK. Belinda continues to guide and develop companies within the renewable energy industry. She is now the Chief Financial Officer of Fred. Olsen Ltd which has invested heavily in the construction and development of a wave energy device as well as owning hydros in Scotland. She is also a Director of the Natural Power Consultants, a global renewable energy consultancy, ZX Lidars , which delivers industry leading remote wind measurement systems including wind lidar and wind measurement campaigns and SeaRoc which supplies a marine management and monitoring tool to ensure safe and efficient project operations for the offshore renewables sector. As well as this she is a Non-Executive Director of the Energy Savings Trust and chairs its Audit Committee.

Dr. Ibilola Amao is the Principal Consultant of Lonadek. She is an alumnus of Manchester Business School, Bradford University and Queen Mary College, University of London. A member of the Governing Council of the Energy Institute (EI), UK, Board of New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) business group, PennWell Offshore West Africa Conference, Engineering Practice and Resource Development, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and Chairperson of the Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board – Industry Advisory Team. Ibilola is a Vital Voices VV GROW, VV 100 Fellow, VV Global Ambassador Programme (GAP) 2017 Mentee, WeConnect International Fellow, IWEC Awardee, Energy Institute Energy Champion 2016 and Access Bank “W” 100 Awardee. She is involved in Women empowerment activities with WimBiz and a firm believer who pays it forward for national development and socio-economic transformation. Lonadek: is a multi-award winning ISO 9001: 2008 certified Asset Sustainability Consulting Company focused on delivering value through Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) focused activities. Since 1991, Lonadek has deployed successful community, supplier and human capital development initiatives. With operations in Africa, Europe and the Middle East, Lonadek is the preferred firm of Local Content Consultants that provides world-class services in Energy, Power, Infrastructure, Oil and Gas sectors in emerging economies. Lonadek delivers international certification courses in collaboration with= foreign partners such the Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS), Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) UK, PetroSkills Inc., AVEVA, Bentley Systems Inc., International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL) and lots more.

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.

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.

Dr Waddah S. Ghanem Al Hashmi graduated from the University of Wales College Cardiff, with BEng Environmental Engineering. He has various other vocational and academic qualifications including a doctorate in Corporate Governance and Leadership from the Bradford School of Management. He is a Senior Director for Sustainability, Operational and Business Excellence with the Emirates National Oil Company which he has worked for the past 20 years in various capacities including Group Manager, Director and Executive Director roles. He emanates from an educated family and background and has published to date jointly and individually 6 different books mainly in the areas of operational excellence, corporate governance and leadership, HSE and even theology. He is passionate about effective energy management and sustainability policy work and has led, chaired and participated as technical member in many committees within the organization he works for and with some of the Government led committees in the past in the areas of energy, crisis management, HSE and even the specification of petroleum products. He is a Fellow of the Energy Institute and an Associate Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers in the United Kingdom. He is a member of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) in the USA and a Member of the Institute of Directors in the UK. He is a Board Director in both UAE-based and with international Organizations.

Sinead is a Regulatory Affairs Advisor at Gazprom Marketing & Trading in London, overseeing gas and LNG market design topics in North West Europe. Prior to this, Sinead worked as a Commercial Analyst for South Hook Gas, the UK’s largest liquefied natural gas importer and has also held commercial roles in the North Sea oil and gas industry specialising in third party infrastructure access, commercial joint-venture management and upstream project analysis. In 2017, Sinead was elected as Chair of the London and Home Counties Young Professionals Network where she led the organisation of speaker events, professional development opportunities for YPN members and enhanced the network’s self-sufficiency. Following this, Sinead was appointed as the Young Professionals’ representative on EI Council. Sinead is an open advocate for STEM initiatives and women’s empowerment. She was also a mentor as part of The Girls’ Network, helping girls from disadvantaged backgrounds gain the confidence to pursue their goals. Sinead holds a BSc in Economics and Finance from the University of Surrey.

Prof Simon O'Leary is an experienced business and management academic and executive, with extensive international experience in the energy sector as a professional scientist and engineer, and now in higher education as a lecturer and researcher. He teaches and supervises in the Business and Management Faculty, at undergraduate and postgraduate levels up to PhD, specialising in entrepreneurship-related topics. Simon is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an active researcher, successfully publishing and presenting in academic journals and at international conferences. He is also Director of the Entrepreneurship & Family Business University Research Centre, Chair of the British Academy of Management’s Entrepreneurship Group and Founder/Editor of the Regent’s Working Papers series. Simon has raised research funding and is actively involved in reviewing papers for numerous academic journals, books and conferences. Currently Chair of HEA Fellowships Panels and a former Member of the University Senate and Programme Director. He also helped found the MSc in Oil & Gas Trade Management at Regent’s University London, is an active member of the Energy Institute’s Accreditation and Approvals Panel and a former winner of the Energy Institute’s McAndrew Award.

Aleida is the Head of Engineering for the Upstream and the Upstream Engineering Centre (UEC). In this role Aleida is accountable for the center of technical discipline engineering expertise in the Upstream and plays a key role in connecting Upstream Engineering as a discipline and holding a segment-wide view of discipline health and capability for over 1600 engineers. Throughout her 27-year career at BP, Aleida has held a variety of leadership posts in operations and engineering. Aleida’s most recent role was the Vice President of Operations for the Gulf of Mexico operated assets and prior to that she held the same role in BP’s onshore lower 48 business. Aleida holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Texas A&M University and is a member of the university’s Chemical Engineering College Advisory Board. Aleida was recently awarded the Texas A&M 2019 College of Engineering Outstanding Alumni Award in recognition of her STEM advocacy and service to the oil and gas industry. She is on the Board of BP Shipping and Fellow of the Energy Institute serving as vice chair of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee. Aleida and her husband Eduardo have three sons.

Alastair Robertson is a founding shareholder and director of OSL Consulting Engineers, which was formed in 2005. He has a BSc(Hons) in Chemical and Process Engineering from Heriot Watt University and became a chartered engineer in 1994. Since then he has become a Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2001 and has been a member of the Energy Institute since 1995. He has over 25 years of experience in the gas processing industry. He has an in-depth knowledge of the gas production business, having worked as a consultant for most of the gas producing companies in the UK. Alastair uses his knowledge and experience to provide clients with implemented solutions to a variety of challenges in their businesses. As the business director / owner he provides a hands on approach to business development with a can do attitude. OSL has developed from its two founder members to over 100 people in 14 years. As Winner of the Hull Daily Mail start-up business of the year in 2007 and small business of the year in 2008, Alastair is no stranger to achieving success and always strives to improve. Alastair has continued to develop the business with a focus on a different way of thinking “Clever Thinking”. He provides guidance and encouragement to the young professionals within the business and has set up company training schemes accredited by both the IChemE and IMechE. In recognition of this OSL are proud to have been awarded Silver Corporate Partner status by the IChemE and are working towards achieving gold. Through the Energy Institute he also promotes a career in engineering to schools and universities thorough careers fairs, talks and work experience. In addition to being a trustee of the Energy Institute he is a local committee member of the Energy Institute Humber Branch and Member of the Professional Affairs Committee.

Paul currently has a portfolio of Non-Executive and Advisory roles across the Energy, Infrastructure and Utility sectors. He chairs the board of Capstone Infrastructure Corporation – an independent power producer in Canada, is a Non-Executive director of Scottish Water, South East London CHP – a waste to energy and district heating business and Orbital Marine Power Ltd – a renewable energy development company. He is also Senior Advisor to Icon Infrastructure LLP – an investor in Infrastructure businesses in the UK, Europe and North America. Prior to this Paul was Managing Director of Generation at SSE Plc. He is a Chartered Chemical Engineer from Edinburgh University with an MBA from Henley Management College. He is a Fellow of both the Institution of Chemical Engineers and the Energy Institute.

Emily Spearman is the Head of Process Excellence and Compliance 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 Deputy Director of the Association of Decentralised Energy (ADE), a Trustee of the Energy Institute (EI) and 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.