BIOGRAPHIES
Matthew J Robinson, head of group sustainable advisory team, HSBC
Matthew joined HSBC in 2005 and has worked in both operational and strategic roles in UK Corporate Real Estate and currently in Group Corporate Sustainability. Currently he is co-managing the 5 year $90m Global Environmental Efficiency Programme which aims to deliver environmental innovation around the Group and as well the 5 year $100m Climate Partnership Programme engaging staff in sustainability projects in 83 countries. His work also encompasses managing the Group programme of low carbon and renewable energy technology, managing the Group’s environmental management system, advising Group IT on sustainability, which forms an integral part in the development of a Group IT environmental footprint strategy and action plan and is a key member of the newly formed EC forum on energy efficiency in data centres. Prior to his current role, Matthew has been involved in many diverse work areas, including local authority work, implementing both ISO 14001 and EMAS, developing sustainable development policies and strategies, has lectured at MSc level on environmental and sustainability strategy, managed European funded environmental projects in London, providing support to over 1000 SME businesses, and has consulted for a diverse range of Blue chip multinationals regarding sustainability and corporate responsibility.
Professor Michael Mainelli, director, Z/Yen Group
Michael is Professor of Commerce at Gresham College, Chairman of City Axis - a business environment solutions company, a non-executive Director of the United Kingdom Accreditation Service - the UK’s sole accreditation body for certification, testing, inspection and calibration services, a non-executive Director of Sirius Exploration Plc a mining company, and on the advisory boards of the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation and Alchemie Technology. Michael is a qualified accountant, computer specialist and management consultant with a degree from Harvard as well as mathematics and engineering at Trinity College Dublin. Michael has worked with Z/Yen since 1994 on strategy, technology, finance and business development and was principal adviser to the London Accord, a collaborative project designed to help investors and corporate decision-makers factor climate change into their financial analysis.
John Firth, CEO, Acclimatise
John was formerly a senior manager at Severn Trent Water, where he led strategic business planning for more than £4bn of asset investment. He is a member of the Defra/UK Climate Impacts Programme Advisory Group and has been a technical advisor to the Caribbean states on climate change. He has published numerous articles in professional journals and appeared as a speaker at conferences throughout the world on water, environmental issues and climate change. John has extensive experience of integrating climate change into business decision-making and risk management processes. He has particular expertise in the impacts of climate change on the insurance, investment and legal sectors.
Dr Rory Sullivan, head of investor responsibility, Insight Investments
Dr Rory Sullivan is responsible for leading Insight’s thematic research and engagement activities on social, ethical and environmental issues. He has specific responsibility for investment research and engagement relating to climate change an human rights. Rory joined Insight in 2002. He has over 15 years of experience in environmental management and public policy, having worked for the private sector and government agencies in Australia, South-East Asia, Africa and Europe. His experience includes advising organisations on greenhouse, energy and environmental management issues, and advising Environmental Australia and the OECD on the development and implementation of pollutant release and transfer registers. Rory is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), a forum for collaboration between pension funds and other institutional investors on issues related to climate change. He has also played an active role in the IIGCC’s public policy work to ensure that public policymakers take into account the long-term interests of institutional investors in their decision-making processes.
Mark Hoskin, partner, Holden & Partners
Mark is a Chartered Accountant, holds the Advanced Financial Planning Certificate and is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP). Mark studied History at KebleCollege, Oxford, before training as a Chartered Accountant at Price Waterhouse between 1993 and 1997. In 2002 he left Holden Meehan to co-found Holden & Partners. The Holden & Partners Guide to Climate Change Investment addresses which investment funds are available to investors which will benefit from the challenges presented by global warming.
David Clark, chairman, the London Energy Brokers Assocation
David has spent 38 years working in currency and capital markets for Bankers Trust, Commerzbank, HSBC and Bankgesellschaft before moving into non-executive director and advisory positions. He was a senior adviser to the UK's Financial Services Authority and has sat on a number of Basel II working groups. The London Energy Brokers Association recently launched a new index for trades of certified emissions reductions (CERs) to make pricing more transparent in the secondary market for the credits generated by emission reduction projects under the Clean Development Mechanism.
Imtiaz Ahmad, head of emissions trading, Morgan Stanley
Imtiaz Ahmad joined Morgan Stanley in August 2005 where he is responsible for trading and origination of carbon at the bank. Previous to joining Morgan Stanley Imtiaz worked for BHP Billiton where he took the company into the emissions market. Prior to that Imtiaz worked for AEP and Enron in structured commodities and origination roles, and National Grid Group in corporate treasury, working on interest rate swaps, project finance and acquisitions.
Chris Leeds, director, head of environmental markets sales, Barclays Capital
Chris, previously head of environmental markets at Merrill Lynch, joined Barclays Capital in October 2007 as a director and head of environmental markets sales with responsibility for coordinating global carbon client interaction. At Merrill, Chris held various roles in the gas and power markets, including building its options trading business and establishing its physical trading capability, before heading the environmental markets team. Prior to that, he worked as an options trader and marketer on the London Metal Exchange. Chris graduated from Loughborough University with a degree in Maths and Economics.
Richard Wilson, manager of emissions, Tullett Prebon
Richard joined Tullett Prebon in 1993. Prior to managing their carbon business, he was senior broker for Scandinavian interest rate swaps and options and played a key role in building the Scandinavian interest rate options market in the mid to late 90s. Since early 2007, Richard has been instrumental in building Tullett Prebon's presence in the carbon emission market and now has a team of 6 brokers in London, 5 in New York, 1 in Warsaw, and is currently developing a team in the Far East. Under his guidance, Tullett Prebon has become a market leader in the carbon option market.
John Killey, head of realty services Emea, Citigroup
John is co-ordinating the construction of a new Citi data centre in Frankfurt, Germany. The facility, which will be the central IT-hub for Citi's Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, and the biggest Citi data centre outside the US, was recently given the Green Data Centre Award 2007 by DatacenterDynamics for demonstrating a vision of environmental impact as a critical driver in the design and operation of data facilities. The award recognises the role that outstanding cooperation between Citi's real estate and technology groups along with their design and construction partners has played in ensuring sustainability is in the fore front of this project.
John Abbott, chief analyst and research director, systems, The 451 Group
John covers systems, storage and software infrastructure topics for The 451 Group, and over a 25+-year career has pioneered specialist technology coverage in such areas as Unix, supercomputing, system architecture, software development and storage.
Simon Ratcliffe, Head of Managed Services, BSG Simon has direct responsibility for designing and delivering BSG’s Managed Services, ensuring that BSG’s clients are able to run IT-enabled processes more cost-effectively and efficiently, deriving optimal value from vertical sector and horizontal applications.
After gaining an MA in Theoretical Psychology, Simon began his career with Spicer & Oppenheim as a trainee Accountant, subsequently moving to a client where he implemented one of the UK’s first Windows-based finance systems. Simon went on to establish his own freelance IT and business consultancy, Warwick Westbourne and in 1993, joined Business Systems Training plc as Operations Director. Before joining BSG Simon was Business Development Director for Platforms and Storage at Dimension Data Europe, and before that Simon worked for BSG for eight years as Head of Systems Integration, the technical architecture team within BSG.
Neil Harris, green IT and sustainability manager, Cisco European Markets
As part of his role at Cisco, Neil is tasked with aligning important business functions and processes around energy efficiency and sustainability issues at Cisco, and promoting awareness about the role that technology can play in helping customers to drive sustainability initiatives.