Speakers
Ian Cook
Nic Crowe
Matt Hindle
Marcus Hunt
Corinna Jones
Sheila Lauchlan BSc (HONS) CEng FIGEM
Camille Poiroux
Troy Praag
Josja Roest MA
Andrew Sclater CEng (M I Mech E)
Megha Shaw
Heather Sheffield
Vikram Singh
Ian Cook is a global energy business leader who is currently the Head of Business Development for SSE Thermal. Ian is focused on developing new low carbon flexible power and hydrogen production and storage projects in his current role. Before joining SSE Thermal, Ian worked as a Commercial Manager with SSE Distributed Energy, developing heat and electricity networks, as well as EV and battery projects.
Before joining SSE, Ian worked for eight years for the oil and gas engineering and technology provider NOV and lived in the USA and Norway, delivering projects across the globe.
Ian is a Chartered Chemical Engineer with an MEng from The University of Edinburgh and an MBA from Imperial College London.
Nic’s role with Grissan sees him identifying routes to significantly scale-up biomethane’s role in the UK energy system.
Prior to joining Grissan, Nic was a senior civil servant with roles in a number of key Government Departments. This included time leading the Renewable Heat Incentive’s reform agenda where he developed and implemented a number of policies designed to increase biomethane deployment.
Marcus Hunt is SGN’s Business Development Director with over 20 years’ experience in both regulated and non-regulated utility businesses both in the UK and US and leads SGN’s non-regulated activities and future of energy business development .
Prior to joining SGN, Marcus spent 5 years with KPMG’s Infrastructure Advisory Group, advising clients on a range of commercial strategy, transaction and regulatory issues. At SGN, Marcus and has responsibility for SGN’s decarbonisation activities including hydrogen, biomethane and heat networks. Marcus is a Board member of MUA, SGN’s last mile infrastructure joint venture, The Solent Cluster and FYLD, a start up in the digital SaaS market.
Corinna is the Director of Clean Power at National Gas, the UK Gas Transmission Network Owner and Operator. She is a qualified Mechanical Engineer with over 10 years of experience within research & business development across multiple sectors, with a focus on collaborative development with global organisations.
At National Gas Corinna leads the development of technologies and solutions to enable us to reach our decarbonisation goals such as Clean Power 2030 and Net Zero 2050. This work includes developing opportunities for Hydrogen, Low Carbon Gas, Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage and Natural Gas network flexibility. An important part of this activity is in building relationships with customers and stakeholders both in the UK and globally.
Sheila is a self-employed Engineer and Director of Edinburgh-based consultancy, Perfect Dimensions Ltd. As well as writing procedures for multi-utility infrastructure works and adopting the role of Technical Advisor for companies operating on the Gas and Water Industry Registration Scheme, Sheila works as a Pipeline Engineer on complex high pressure pipeline projects.
Starting her gas career as an Administrative Assistant with Transco Connections, Sheila quickly progressed to become a Business Development Manager ahead of National Grid’s network sale in 2005, then on to become Design Manager for an Edinburgh-based design house with 30 engineers. She created Perfect Dimensions in 2011.
In 2017 Sheila became President of the Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers (IGEM), the third oldest professional Engineering Institution in the UK, and the first female to hold this post in their 158 year history.
Sheila is Deputy Chair of IGEM’s Membership committee, a Member Auditor and member of IGEM’s Audit and Risk committee. She was a member of the IGEM/TD/1 Steel pipelines for high pressure gas transmission technical panel and currently sits on the IGEM/SR/28 Trenchless Techniques and the IGEM/G/5 Gas to Multi-occupancy Buildings technical panels. She is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution.
An engineer and urban planner, Camille Poiroux started her career as an urban planning consultant for the Suez Group. In 2016, she joined GRDF, a subsidiary of the Engie Group responsible for gas distribution in France, first to support local authorities in their energy transition strategies and then to support the development of biomethane in the Paris region (including the planning of works to strengthen networks to facilitate the injection of renewable gases).
In January 2024, Camille joined Engie's Renewable Gases Europe team. Within the development department, she is in charge of strategy, markets and partnerships to support the Engie Group's ambition to produce 10 TWh of biomethane in Europe.
As the Head of Network Strategy & Planning, Troy Praag is a member of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) at AGIG. His key responsibilities include Technical Compliance, Network Planning, Asset Strategy and ensuring AGIG’s networks are ready for a low carbon future.
Troy holds undergraduate degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Finance from the Swinburne University, and a Masters of Business Administration from Melbourne Business School.
Troy has 20 years of gas industry experience, working in various asset management and operational functions for networks in both Australia and the United Kingdom.
Josja heads the government affairs department of Rheem in Europe. Rheem is active in the UK as Intergas Heating, a manufacturer of heating boilers and heat pumps, based in Kidderminster.
Besides his work for Rheem, Josja is an executive member for the Dutch association of manufacturers of heating solutions, the Dutch association for sustainable heating.
Andrew works for Progressive Energy Ltd, which develops low-carbon technologies from concept to commercial deployment and is one of the founders of HyNet. He is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer with extensive experience in Power Generation, Chemical, Oil & Gas industries.
Over the past 5 years Andrew has been involved in many aspects of HyNet including Feasibility and FEED studies for Hydrogen to Power, owners engineer for carbon capture plant on existing operational assets and acted as the technical interface lead for HyNet between the major infrastructure including CO2 capture, transport and storage, and the Hydrogen production, transport and storage.
Megha Shah serves as the Head of the CCUS and H2 team at Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC). Her team at LCCC has been involved in developing contracts for CCUS (Dispatchable Power, Industrial Carbon Capture including Waste, and H2 (Electrolytic and CCUS enabled) business models. These contracts have been developed in close collaboration with the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero are managed by Megha's team once they are signed.
Prior to her role at LCCC, Megha had experience in project and market development, construction, startups, and the development of Waste infrastructure through PFI / PPP contracts.
Heather is Head of Strategic Planning at Northern Gas Networks, where she leads long-term planning to support the UK’s net zero ambitions and drive sustainable infrastructure development. With over a decade of experience in the utilities sector—including senior roles at Yorkshire Water and Melbourne Water—she brings deep expertise in integrated planning, asset management, and decarbonisation strategy.
Vikram Singh leads renewable gas development at the Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG) – driving the transition of the gas sector towards a low carbon future. Having delivered the largest renewable hydrogen production facility in Australia, he has been instrumental in developing a pipeline of renewable hydrogen and biomethane projects to inject 10% renewable gas into AGIG’s distribution networks by 2030.
Prior to AGIG, Vikram was a partner at Deloitte Australia and specialised in the energy and utilities sector advising leading energy companies and government agencies on strategy and investments, energy policy and decarbonisation. He has also held senior management positions at Singapore Power and Powercor Australia.
Vikram has a bachelors degree in Physics and an MBA.
