Business Impact School
Wednesday 2 - Friday 4 March, 2016
Speaker Biographies
Julia Baker
Julia Baker leads on biodiversity initiatives for WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff, a multinational consulting firm assisting public and private clients with infrastructure projects. Julia has designed and delivered a variety of ‘no net loss’ and ‘net positive’ initiatives, including her current work with Network Rail Infrastructure Projects. She provides technical support for implementing the good practice principles of biodiversity offsetting, runs professional training courses in biodiversity and support corporate teams to integrate biodiversity management into business strategies. Julia is also a Visiting Researcher at Oxford University where she is co-supervising PhD research on social aspects of ‘no net loss’ in Uganda, and Research Advisor for the ‘Building capacity for pro-poor responses to wildlife crime in Uganda’ by the International Institute for Environment and Development.
William Bird
Dr William Bird MBE is a family GP who founded Intelligent Health to provide ways to integrate physical activity into health and wellbeing, from Green Gyms and GP training to whole city physical activity strategies. Through Intelligent Health, William has been commissioned by Cities in the UK and EU to help develop physical activity strategies and regularly addresses conferences throughout the world. William is a member of the Physical Activity Strategy Board for Public Health England, an advisor to WHO and PH Wales. He is co-editor of the Oxford Textbook of Nature and Public Health and board member to the Parks Alliance. BBC Wildlife magazine recently voted him one of the top 30 influential conservationists in UK.
Olivia Darby
Olivia Darby is Chief Operating Officer of the Capital, Science & Policy Practice at Willis Towers Watson. The Practice confronts large-scale challenges of risk and seeks innovative uses of insurance-related mechanisms to build resilient economies and societies around the world to support sustainable growth. Olivia also sits on the Advisory Board of two climate finance organisations, the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance and the Finance for Resilience (FiRe) initiative. Olivia has an MA in Classics from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from Imperial College London
Jonathan Dobson
Jonathan Dobson is Sustainability Strategy Manager at United Utilities. His role involves identifying and preparing the company for challenges across a broad range of sustainability issues. Recently his role has included developing UU’s approach to social and environmental reporting. Jonathan has recently been involved with piloting corporate natural capital accounting with the Natural Capital Committee, having previously supported the company CFO in his role on the Ecosystem Markets Task Force.
Guy Duke
Guy Duke is Business Champion for the Valuing Nature Programme. He consults independently, for example as PI for the Ecosystem Markets Task Force and Innovation Lead for the EU Business & Biodiversity Platform. He is Deputy Chair of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and Director Europe and Research with The Environment Bank Ltd (a broker in emerging markets for environmental assets). He is an Honorary Visiting Researcher at the Environmental Change Institute (Oxford), a steering committee member of the €12 m FP7 project Operationalisation of the Concepts of Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services (OpenNESS) and evaluates and reviews research and innovation proposals and projects for the EU. He was previously Principal Administrator for Biodiversity Policy, European Commission where he introduced the concepts of natural capital and ecosystem services into EU policy and played a key role in launching the study on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB). He lives in Brussels with his wife, daughter and Welsh springer.
Ian Glover
Dr Ian Glover is Environmental Sustainability Manager at National Grid and has worked in a variety of roles focused on safety, environmental and latterly sustainability aspects of National Grid’s operational activities for 15 years. He was extensively involved in the development and roll out of Our Contribution, National Grid’s strategy for environmental sustainability and ongoing programmes to embed this across the business. He leads the natural grid programme, a theme dedicated to ecosystem enhancement alongside National Grid’s energy networks. This encompasses engaging and involving stakeholder groups in the management of National Grid’s landholdings through to developing and embedding tools to account for the value of nature in decision making. Ian chairs the Linear Infrastructure Network of the Green Infrastructure Partnership, the Corporate Ecosystems Group of the UK Business Council for Sustainable Development and works with the Prince of Wales’ Accounting for Sustainability project on natural and social capital accounting work streams.
Mark Gough
Mark Gough is the Executive Director of the Natural Capital Coalition, a role he took on in March 2015. A strong believer in integrating sustainability into decision making where it becomes everyone’s opportunity, Mark previously worked for The Crown Estate, helping to develop its integrated vision and approach to value measurement. Prior to this he was the Global Environmental Manager for the information company, Reed Elsevier. Mark is a Director of the Aldersgate Group, which brings together business, politics and civil society to drive action for a sustainable economy, and has sat on a number of national and international committees, including the Steering Committee of the United Nations CEO Water Mandate and the Board of the Alliance for Water Stewardship.
Andy Griffiths
Andy Griffiths is Head of Environmental Sustainability, Nestle UK&I. He has worked for Nestle UK&I for over 17 years, primarily in operational and engineering roles. Prior to taking on his current role, he led the development and implementation of Nestle UK&Is ‘Lighthouse’ environmental sustainability strategy at its Fawdon site in Newcastle Upon Tyne. Andy is a chartered engineer (IET) and is focused on bringing together the engineering expertise, operational experience and environmental insights of the organisation alongside collaborative partnerships with academia and key delivery partners to develop and implement robust and effective sustainability programmes.
Rosie Hails
Professor Rosie Hails is Head of the Valuing Nature Programme Coordination Team, as well as Science Director for Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. She is chair of the Natural Capital Initiative, a partnership between CEH, the Society of Biology, the British Ecological Society and the James Hutton Institute which brings together scientists, policy-makers, business, industry and others to show what the concept of natural capital means in practice. She was also a member of the Natural Capital Committee and was on the Expert Panel for the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA).
Ece Ozdemiroglu
Ece Ozdemiroglu is an environmental economist and the founding director of eftec (Economics For the Environment Consultancy). At eftec she has undertaken, directed and quality assured over 400 projects generating and interpreting economic value evidence on natural capital, ecosystem services, green infrastructure, water and flood management, remediation of environmental damage, cultural heritage, chemicals and value of information. Ece is Economics Lead for the Valuing Nature Programme, a member of the Adaptation Sub-Committee to the Climate Change Committee, steering group member of the Natural Capital Initiative, and associate editor of the Journal for Environmental Economics and Policy.
Mat Roberts
Mat Roberts is Interserve PLC’s Group Director of Sustainability Strategy. He leads on the development of the Interserve SustainAbilities Plan with a specific focus on the social and natural capital. Before joining Interserve was Head of Sustainability at Landmarc Support Services, an Interserve joint venture. Mat is an advisor to the EU Business @ Biodiversity Platform, a Trustee of The Princes Countryside Fund, a Non Executive Director of Cynnal Cymru Sustain Wales, the National Association of AONBs and a fellow of the RSA. Outside work he enjoys sailing, running and mountain biking.
Tim Sunderland
Tim Sunderland is Principal Specialist Economist at Natural England, a nondepartmental public body sponsored by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs to promote nature conservation, protect biodiversity, conserve landscape and promote access to the countryside. His previous experience includes lobbying for regeneration funding with the Alliance of Traditional Industrial Areas, managing policy for the Sector Skills Council for fashion and textiles and representing Christian Aid. His education is from the University of Leeds (BA Development Studies & MSc Ecological Economics) and he lives in Bristol with his wife and three children.
Nick Veck
Prof Nick Veck is Head of the CEO office, at the Satellite Applications Catapult in Harwell, near Oxford, UK. He has worked in the space sector since 1983 and is respected as an ambassador between the space and ground segment engineering sectors, user markets, government research and policy-making, academia and the geo-information industry. He has worked within government at the previous British National Space Centre (BNSC), holds an honorary professorship at the University of Leicester and was Chairman of UKSpace, the national trade association. He has chaired a number of other industrial, government and academic committees and boards, offering advice for various policy and funding matters related to Earth observation science. Until joining the Satellite Applications Catapult in 2013, he worked for more than 20 years with Astrium Geo Information Services and Infoterra, responsible for the development in the UK of satellite Earth observation related services, including the exploitation of the forthcoming NovaSAR satellite.
Peter Young
Peter Young has spent his entire career working on environmental issues since the late 1970s, mainly in multi-disciplinary environmental management consulting. Until 2015 he was a member of the joint BIS/DECC/Defra Green Economy Council, Defra's Regulatory Challenge Panel, and was a member of the recent business-led Ecosystems Markets Task Force. Peter is an individual member of Aldersgate Group, having been a Founding Director and Chair from 2007 to 2015. He is a Trustee of The Wildlife Trusts. He is chair of the Business Interest Group for the Valuing Nature Programme, and a member of the Programme Advisory Board. He is also chair of the Industrial Advisory Panel for the School of Energy, Environment and Agrifood at Cranfield University, and on the Advisory Board of the School of Business and Management at Queen Mary College, London.