We have compiled a list of speakers who are leaders in Green Tech across our region. Read more about them below...
Imran Rahim - EnergiMine
​Imran Rahim's background is in Facilities Management where he was involved in multi-million pound tenders for both the public and private sector. His passion for tech and innovation led him to EnergiMine, where he works as CMO, overseeing the product, sales and marketing functions of the business.
Joe Flanagan - Uni of Salford
Joe spent his early career in manufacturing as a product manager for a technical ceramics supplier which led to a number of years in consultancy working for a variety glass, steel and ceramics manufacturers, helping to develop process efficiency and energy efficiency programmes. More recently he was Head of Energy and Environment Technologies at the Northwest Regional Development Agency developing policy and managing grant programmes to support the growing environmental services sector in the region. He is currently the project manager for the ERDF-supported £14m Energy House 2.0 laboratory at the University of Salford. This will be the largest environmental chamber of its type in the world and capable of testing whole house energy efficiency under controlled conditions.
Mark Knight - Wardell Armstrong
Mark is a Chartered Landscape Architect with over 25 years' experience. Mark is passionate about delivering high quality, landscape design which creates a sense of place. Recently, Mark has been focussing on the effect Green Infrastructure can have on air quality and has been instrumental in commissioning a ground-breaking piece of research by Lancaster University that looks to provide a GI solution for our towns and cities that will improve air quality.
Sophie Walker - Dsposal
​Sophie is the enthusiastic COO and Co-Founder of Dsposal, a clean-tech start-up working towards a world where all waste is treated as a resource. Dsposal builds easy-to-use tech to help you meet your legal obligations by bringing transparency and clarity to the waste supply chain. We believe in making the relevant data accessible and convenient to use, driving behaviour change and creating value by maximising the utility of waste.
Sandra Hill - The Hill Group
Sandra is the Owner and Managing Director of The Hill Group; an internationally recognised, award-winning office with a network spanning four continents. The Hill Group specialises in providing senior management in the Energy, Automotive and Aerospace industries.
Since 1994, Sandra's sole focus has been resourcing talent for senior management teams. She has a great team that have built a reputation for delivering excellent candidates to clients with very precise needs in highly competitive markets.
Todd Holden - Growth Company
As the Director for Low Carbon at GC Business Growth Hub, Todd leads on the Group's Social Value offer, aiming to ensure that economic growth benefits the places where it is generated. In parallel, he works to support businesses transition to a circular economy, acting as a key member of Greater Manchester's Low Carbon Hub which spearheads and promotes environmental initiatives the City Region.
Todd is Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Manufacture, and is a registered environmental practitioner with the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment.
Helen Boyle - Electricity North West
Helen Boyle is DSO Engagement Manager at Electricity North West. Responsible for defining and delivering the engagement strategy for the company's additional £63.5m investment to lead and enable the region's transition to a low carbon economy, including the adoption of low carbon technologies. Facilitating the energy transition, promoting the opportunities of decarbonisation and exploring commercial outcomes for stakeholders.Helen has more than 20 years' experience in communications and engagement roles gained in a variety of companies and sectors in and around the Manchester area.
Vijay Natarajan - QBots Energy
Vijay is the Co-founder & COO of Qbots Energy; Vijay is a Sales & Marketing professional and Qualified Engineer with over 10+ years experience in Marketing & business development, strategy and product delivery management, with experience of UK & European smart city and IoT solutions projects in both public and private sector worth over £10 million in last 4 years utilising agile methodologies.
Justin Moss - Siemens
Having 24 years' experience of rail, electrification, mechanical and electrical projects, with 15 of these entirely dedicated to the rail industry both pre and post contract. With a proven ability to build and maintain strong collaborative working relationships with the business leaders to provide strategic growth Justin is a proven leader and provides his knowledge both pre and post tender, offering business's the benefit of his extensive experience within a highly competitive construction and rail industry.
Mark Westwood - ABGI
Mark has 30 years' experience in software development in banking and insurance, oil and gas, and the public sector. He has spent a decade working on high-performance scientific programs running on supercomputers for the oil industry. Mark works with clients in scientific and engineering software, mobile application development and big data.
Alex Rothwell - Maven
Alex is based in Manchester and is responsible for investments on behalf of the Northern Powerhouse Fund as well as Private Equity transactions across the North of England. Alex joined Maven in March 2015, having previously spent 8 years at Royal Bank of Scotland within the Corporate Banking divisions in Manchester and Leeds. During his time with RBS, Alex worked across a wide variety of transactions including MBOs, leveraged debt and distressed refinances, with his final position being a Director in the Portfolio Management team.
Amer Gaffar - Fuel Cell Innovation Centre
Amer is Director of the Manchester Fuel Cell Innovation Centre which is a part ERDF funded £4.1 million research and innovation centre based within Manchester Metropolitan University. Amer is a passionate advocate for fuel cell and hydrogen technology, he has successfully built consensus and momentum in Manchester and the North West towards positive environmental practice and cleaner energy over the last decade. Amer also leads on the development of a Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Strategy for the Greater Manchester Region with GMCA and represents the centre within the North West Hydrogen and Energy Cluster which is actively looking to become the UK's first low carbon industrial cluster.
Somayeh Taheri - UrbanChain
Somayeh is the CEO of UrbanChain, where she leads the company based on its mission to bring renewable energy to the mainstream market, provide energy as a service, maximise transparency and trust, and significantly reduce energy bills for end users. UrbanChain was founded in 2017 based on her research discovery about how to integrate and automate various business processes in different urban service sectors, and to eliminate the middlemen with blockchain and AI technologies. Making innovation work for people is what it matters for Somayeh. She is the alumni of the University of Manchester and UCL.
Tracy Barr
Tracy has 20 years' product management experience in the travel industry, with a focus in the last 6 years in aviation. As Head of Cabin Quality for Thomas Cook Group Airlines, Tracy has a proven track record in understanding the customer journey, creating a vision and implementing innovative aircraft cabin products that enhance customer experience, improve profitability and promote sustainability. Tracy also led the cabin refurbishment programme and product definition for the cabin interiors including design, seats, in-flight entertainment and comfort items. All with a focus, where possible, on providing more sustainable products which contribute towards responsible tourism strategies such as improving fuel efficiency.
Jim Shaw - Bloom3
Jim Shaw studied Mechanical Engineering, chartered and completed his masters in business management all under the sponsorship of the Rover Group working across all brands from Mini to Range Rover and MG to Defender. As part of the wider BMW group he also worked on strategic projects alongside his responsibilities in vehicle architecture, design feasibility, research and advanced concept engineering.
Working for Bentley as Director of Concepts and Innovation, he held executive
responsibilities as technical lead in collaborations with Audi, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche and Volkswagen.