
2025 speakers
Meet the industry leaders who took to the stage at our energy digitalisation conference.


Jens Zerbst


Matt Webb


Kine Årdal


James McLean


Chris Lovatt


Tone Thingbø

Philip Steele

George Walters
George Walters has spent his entire career in the energy industry. Joining Utilita as Head of New Business in 2019, George’s strategic acumen led to his promotion to the Executive Leadership Team in June 2022, where he now serves as Chief Home Services Officer. Prior to his tenure at Utilita, George spent more than a decade in senior roles, including eight years with EDF. At Utilita, his leadership extends across the smart metering and renewables divisions, underscoring his commitment to advancing sustainable energy solutions. Passionate about the future of energy, George plays a pivotal role in scaling Utilita Home’s solar offerings for both domestic and commercial markets. His portfolio includes overseeing the installation of behind-the-meter (BTM) systems, energy optimisation and finance solutions. George’s forward-thinking approach and hands-on involvement in product development ensure tailored energy solutions for Utilita customers. He remains a driving force behind Utilita’s ambitious target of achieving operational net zero by 2030.


Simon Evans


Katie Russell


Peter Stanley


Jan Sicha


Christian Barba


Mark Coyle


Jodie Giles


Eddie Mulholland


Piyush Nema


Louise Dickinson


Sam Hancock


Jean-Thomas Meyer


Niklas Will


Rohan Graham


Jimeno Fonseca

Chris Taggart


Sophie Motte


Nia Lowe

Conal Bonnar

Mayank Jha
| Mayank is the Head of technology delivery NESO for System and Market operations. He is responsible for build and run of all technologies needed to deliver these services to the industry. He is leading some transformational technology programmes that are bringing flexibility and access to the market and modernising control room operations. He is an expert in digital transformation and has experience is utilities has an agenda to bring these together to drive transformation at NESO to enable the Industry. |


Abbie Badcock-Broe


Claire Westwood


Jordan Murkin


Marianella Gurney


Mo Nuur


Fattah Ghicha


Alex Howard


Gerard Boyd


Mikko Muurinen


Kerry Maisey


Mark Meyrick


Lucy Webb


Steven Gough

Jan Lozek
Future Energy Ventures (FEV) is a leading global venture capital firm investing in the intelligence layer of the energy transition. We back AI-driven and digital solutions transforming the energy sector and how buildings, industries, and transportation are powered and connected. Founded in collaboration with Europe’s energy leaders, RWE and E.ON, FEV combines deep industry expertise with entrepreneurial agility and a global network of partners to scale breakthrough innovations that accelerate decarbonization worldwide.


Khash Mohajerani


Nina Budazhapova


Zac Curtis


Roya Ahmadi


Alex Munnery


Jamie Bright


Marcia Poletti


Giulia Clemente


Andrew Manning


Stefan van der Berg


Aleksei Mashlakov


Alanna Gluck


Yuliana Onishchuk


Job Wever


Cristina Corchero


Christian Baer


Alex Buckman


Sarah Chapman


Holly Beeston


Matthew Journee

Bora Tokyay
Bora has 23 years of experience covering different parts of the energy value chain. Starting out in Houston, TX the energy capital of the world, he’s held a variety of roles in onshore and offshore project development, operations and management consulting for oil & gas, power and renewables. In the last 10 years he’s focused on building products at the intersection of data, advanced analytics and energy which led him to co-found Kavaken. At Kavaken, with a great team, he’s leveraging operational data to make the wind energy industry more profitable for asset owners, insurers, lenders and financial investors. Bora holds a Master of Engineering degree from MIT.


Eric Brown


Eva González Isla


Peter Wall


Dean Cooper


John Southern


Sean Layerle


David Desfosses

Andrew Szabo
Andrew Szabo is Chief Revenue Officer at Correla, where he leads innovation in energy tech solutions to support Correla’s ambition of a simpler, greener society. With a background spanning financial services, manufacturing, and data analytics, Andrew brings deep expertise in digital transformation and customer-centric strategy. Prior to Correla, he held leadership roles at Equifax, International Personal Finance, and Xoserve.

Tim Cassidy
Tim Cassidy is the Chief Technology Officer for Aker Systems, an award-winning UK based SME specialising in the design and build of exceptionally secure environments in the Public Cloud for complex, problematic and highly sensitive data sets. Aker provides critical infrastructure for a number of UK Government departments, including Home Office Digital Services and Analytics (the largest Data Science department across HMG), and secure data environments for the similarly highly regulated and sensitive financial services sector. Born in Australia, married into a French family, a veteran of Silicon Valley, and now resident in London, Tim is a global data and analytics practitioner, and has more than 2 decades building and running enterprise scale data and analytics platforms and services. He was an early champion and exponent of the Public Cloud, and more latterly for data streaming and scaling technologies. His experience extends from the original data integration start-ups in the US, through to global enterprises and Governments. As Chief Data Architect at Sky, he led the transformation and modernisation of the enterprise data and analytics architecture; and as the lead for Deutsche Bank’s R&D function he led the cognitive analytics pilots and integration, and was the senior architect for the Global Data Science Lab. He has, throughout his career, encouraged and grown multi-disciplinary data and data science teams, constantly seeking to engender innovative thought and extend the boundaries of enterprise architecture and data science.

Jo Cox
Jo is a passionate and proactive leader, firm in her belief that intelligent use of data can transform our energy and utilities systems and the way businesses interact with them. As CEO of IMSERV, and with over a decade’s experience in the energy sector, she is a definitive voice on the commercial benefits of smart-metering, intelligent infrastructure and advanced data analytics.

Nick Emanuel
Nick is an accomplished and skilled Pre-Sales Consultant with strong interpersonal and technical abilities, offering extensive experience in delivering tailored solutions to diverse businesses. He is adept at combining technical, sales, and production knowledge to drive results, with a proven track record of exceeding client expectations on a global stage. Nick is experienced in meeting tight deadlines and adapting to varied business needs. His areas of expertise include Data Capture, Enterprise Content Management, Document Management, ERP solutions (SAP, Oracle), PL/SQL databases, and Business Analysis. He’s passionate about aligning technology with business goals to deliver value and innovation across international markets.

Ravi Bhatta
“Ravi is a technology leader with over 25 years of experience driving digital transformation in organisations, including in the energy and utilities sector through cloud, data analytics, and AI. In his current role as a Principal Engineer at Snowflake, he focusses on helping Energy and Utility customers unlock value of their data. In his previous role, Ravi was a Solutions Architecture Leader for Energy at Amazon Web Services, where he helped customers modernise operations and data analytics on cloud. He has also held key roles at Microsoft and Barclays Bank, bringing a wealth of expertise across leading technology and financial organisations. With an Electrical Engineering degree and an MBA from Henley Business School, Ravi combines deep technical knowledge with strategic business insight to enable transformation through AI and Data Cloud”

Kevin Walsh
Kevin P. Walsh holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering and brings over 25 years of expertise in the Utility Industry. His career journey includes significant roles at Boston Edison, Lodestar (now Oracle), Alstom Esca (now GE Vernova), SAP for Utilities, and AVEVA with its PI System. Currently, Kevin focuses on guiding utilities through the transition to carbon neutrality. As the Global Industry Principal for Transmission, Distribution, and Smart Grids, he has a comprehensive perspective on global challenges and solutions. His work spans Australia, North America, and EMEA, delivering end-to-end situational awareness and monitoring solutions for the Utility Industry.

Jim Manekshaw
Working with many of the UK and Europes utility companies Jim has 25 years experience in sales and sales leadership roles with OSIsoft and AVEVA. Now working with PowerRunner to lead sales in EMEA to help power, gas and water utilities to realise the value from OT/IT integration and deliver unprecedented visibility and decision support across their network operations.

Niall Mottram
Niall leads business development in our Industrial & AgriTech group, focusing on identifying new opportunities for ambitious companies through the leverage of emerging technologies and implementation of new business processes.

Ben Peters
Ben Peters is the co-founder and CEO of Cogna, the leading AI company for physical industries. With two decades of experience in engineering, product and business management, Ben has a proven track record of turning complex software challenges into successful ventures. As the Co-founder and VP of Product at Five, a self-driving car startup acquired by Bosch in 2022, Ben spearheaded the development of a large-scale SaaS platform that transformed driving data into actionable insights, playing a crucial role in securing nearly $70 million in venture capital and driving a successful exit. Before Five, Ben honed his expertise in product strategy and team leadership at Neul, which was acquired by Huawei in 2015, and NXP Semiconductors in Germany.

Ihyeeddine Elfeki
Ihyeeddine is based in London and has over 20 years of international experience delivering technology and business solutions across financial services. Since joining DXC in 2016, he has held multiple leadership roles, from leading the Capital Markets business in the UK to managing DXC’s global Financial Services portfolio. Having worked for banks, leading software vendors, and consulting firms, he brings a comprehensive understanding of how these stakeholders interact and a practical view of what drives success in complex transformation programs.

Gemma Hunt
Based in the UK, Gemma Hunt brings over 20 years of experience in the energy sector, covering regulation, transformation, customer strategy, and commercial leadership. Having seen firsthand the challenges energy suppliers face when burdened with technology that overpromises and underdelivers, she is driven by the desire to be part of solutions that genuinely make work easier for the teams who rely on them. That drive is what led her to Ferranti. With MECOMS 365, Gemma sees not a prototype but a proven, robust platform shaped by real-world needs and refined through real operational experience. She is passionate about bringing this story to the UK market and demonstrating to energy suppliers that they have a credible alternative—one that challenges the status quo and puts them back in control.


Joris Van Genechten


Mark Gilbey


Ronald Starreveld


Alice Selway-Clarke

Kevin Jensen
Kevin Jensen currently supports Solar Turbines growth in the Utility market for 1-38 MW gas turbine generators. He has worked in various roles at Solar Turbines for over 20 years, including engineering, supply chain, sales, and recently leading the business development efforts for data centers.

Ophir Lahav
Founder and CEO of Manta Ray Energy, a UK clean-tech start-up with a patent-pending solar solution that helps landlords meet EPC goals and earn from clean energy. He combines expertise in renewables, finance, and property to make sustainability profitable.


Benjamin Dobberke


Florentijn Degroote

Remco Eikhout
Remco Eikhout is the CEO and co-founder of Tibo Energy, leading Europe’s shift towards predictive energy management. With over two decades of experience scaling SaaS and energy-tech ventures, he now drives one of the Benelux’s fastest-growing EMS providers, cutting energy costs by up to 60% and CO₂ emissions by 50%.
















