FINANCE FUNDING BIZ DEVELOPMENT (part 1) - BIOGRAPHIES
Dr Garry Staunton, Head of Low Carbon Research, The Carbon Trust
Garry has responsibility for ensuring that all of the Carbon Trust R&D activities are run effectively and that they have significant impact on the commercialisation of low carbon technologies. In addition he provides support and insights across the full range of Carbon Trust innovation activities. Specific responsibilities include: delivery of the applied Research grant programme; leadership of the Carbon Vision joint undertaking with the Research Councils; and development of directed research programmes.
Prior to joining the Carbon Trust Garry spent over 15 years working in a range of roles in the energy and environment area. For most of this period he acted as a consultant, working for a range of clients in the UK and overseas, with an emphasis on renewable energy policy and the role of clean energy technology in enabling economic development.
Roger Gill – Commercial Director ITI Energy
Roger Gill joined ITI Energy in April 2006.
Roger’s energy experience extends from the well (Schlumberger) to the wall socket (Midlands Electricity) and includes founding a gas company in the early ‘90s.
His commercial experience covers international M&A and corporate strategy in defence and electronics, as well as several years of private equity and venture capital with Barings and more latterly NESTA. He has lived and worked in several countries on three continents.
Roger has a first class BA in Humanities, a BSc in Physics and an MSc in the History and Philosophy of Science. His MBA is from International Management Institute (now IMD) Institute of Management Development.
James Knight, Director, Augusta & Co has worked for 9 years in corporate finance with particular focus on structuring, financing and executing private equity transactions. James has joined the team to concentrate on corporate finance and transaction execution. Prior to joining Augusta, James spent 5 years in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs, both in the LBO Coverage Group and the UK Advisory Team, and subsequently as a private equity advisor at Vision Capital. James has worked on a wide variety of M&A roles including the MBO of Halfords, CinVen's disposal of IPC magazines and AWA's disposal of Appleton papers. James has an MA in Economics and Geography from Edinburgh University.
FINANCE FUNDING BIZ DEVELOPMENT (part 2)
Mark is a Director in 3i's Oil, Gas & Power team and focuses on both conventional and renewable generation opportunities. Recent investments include Advanced Power (a developer of traditional power stations) and Electrawinds (Belgian's leading independent renewable energy developer). Mark joined 3i 11 years ago after working internationally as an actuary and completing an MBA. .
DAVID GORDON, Chief Executive, Windsave Limited
Born in Glasgow, David Gordon is a serial entrepreneur with an acute social conscience. He has several successful business ventures behind him, including BAR-IT and Homelink.
David invented and patented a steel shuttering system for securing vacant properties within the Social Housing sector. The system proved extremely effective with over one-hundred-and-twenty local authority customers. In 1993, he set up BAR-IT Security Systems, supplying a modernised version of his original steel shuttering system to local authorities. As Managing Director, his main role was identifying key decision-makers within housing associations and local authorities throughout the UK and developing and maintaining relations with the individuals concerned. He grew the business successfully to a turnover level of several million pounds and sold out to Orbis plc for £2.5million in 1997. David joined the Orbis Group Board as Commercial Director, where he remained until August 1999 when he left to establish Homelink Technologies Ltd, a telecoms-based digital communication system provider for homes. In 2002 David sold out to British Telecommunications based on a valuation of £10million, which trebled the value of the shareholders’ investment in two years. He resigned as Chief Executive to concentrate on his latest venture, Windsave Ltd.
The idea for Windsave came to David after considering the need for environmentally-friendly, low-cost sustainable energy. He realised there was an opportunity for every property in Britain to play a part in “the Green Revolution”. He believes that many people have the desire to protect the environment and his challenge has been to turn that desire into action. By developing micro-wind generation technology, he considered that Britain’s towns, cities and rural communities would have the potential to become important contributors to the country’s overall energy requirements, rather than just mere consumers.
Windsave is a dynamic Scottish company within the Renewable Energy sector. By harnessing the natural resource of wind and utilising modern technology, our product provides the first on-site generation of electricity for everyone. CO 2 emissions are reduced, benefiting the environment, and consumers can additionally benefit from smaller electricity bills.
The Windsave system is a commercial and domestic micro-power generator using low wind speeds to create electricity. It can be roof-mounted or wall-mounted, and feeds electricity directly into the property on the consumer side of the meter, thereby reducing the consumers' consumption and cost of electricity from the Grid. Windsave will contribute to the Government’s goals for energy policy, to reduce the UK’s CO 2 emissions by 60% by the year 2050, as each Windsave system will save approximately half a tonne of CO 2 emissions per annum. Windsave’s micro-wind generator is now poised to engage the public in sustainable energy in much the same way as the PC and mobile phone did for IT and telecommunications.
David was asked to make a formal submission to the Enterprise and Culture Committee’s inquiry into Renewable Energy in Scotland, and he was invited to give evidence before the Committee at the Scottish Parliament in March of 2004.
He is an executive member of the The Micropower Council and was invited to speak on the subject of micro-wind at the first Micropower Conference held in London in 2004. He also participated in a brainstorming event at 10 Downing Street in May 2004 to take a strategic look at Microgeneration, and represented the industry from an energy entrepreneur’s perspective.
He is Chairman of the Micropower Council’s Policy Development Group 2, which deals with Planning, Building Regulations and Sustainability Code.
David Gordon and Windsave now have an impressive array of awards, including the following :
Vision in Business for the Environment of Scotland (VIBES) (West Region) Award 2004;
Scottish Green Energy “Best New Business Award 2005” (under the auspices of Scottish Renewables);
Finalist, Scottish Green Energy “Best Renewable Innovation Award 2005”;
Green Apple Gold Award for Environmental Best Practice, Scotland, 2005;
“Best New Product” at the Belfast Ideal Home Exhibition, September 2005;
National Business Awards Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2005 (sponsored by Baker Tilly);
EAST Journal “Industry Green Investment Award”, April 2006;
European Business Award for the Environment, 2006;
Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, within the Science and Technology Scotland 2006 category;
Ernst & Young Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year, 2006;
UK winner of VIBES Award, and chosen as the only UK entrant to represent the country in the Product Category for the European Business Awards for the Environment 2006 (EBAE).
In addition to his business interests, David is committed to raising funds for charities and is a past Vice-Chairman of The Dixon Hall fund-raising committee. He is also an accredited mentor with the Scottish Enterprises Mentoring Scheme.
The Windsave “Plug’n’Save” product is endorsed by the former Energy Minister, Brian Wilson, and also the Chief Executive of the Micropower Council, Dave Sowden. We are also delighted to say high profile figures like former Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks plan to install Windsave systems for their own use.
