Alex has been a senior industrial director for over thirty years. After gaining his accountancy qualifications, Alex spent three years with Ford at its European Headquarters and then moved to ICI working on mergers and acquisitions. He joined Tallent Engineering in 1979 in a strategic role that saw its turnover grow from £1 million to over £100 million per annum from organic growth. In 2003, Alex left Tallent Engineering after more than 20 years as Finance Director and took over the role of Non-Executive Chairman of ThyssenKrupp UK Plc which is the holding company of 52 subsidiary companies including Tallent. ThyssenKrupp UK Plc had a total annual turnover of £1.6 billion in 2004/2005 and some 8,000 employees. Alex was a founder director/shareholder of D1 Oils plc which was successfully floated on the AIM market in October 2004 and he held the role of Finance Director between January 2004 and June 2005. Subsequent to June 2005 he became Non-Executive Director and chaired the Audit Committee. He resigned in March 2006 to concentrate on assisting Helius Energy. He is a past Chairman of the Durham Chamber of Commerce, past Chairman of Durham Common Purpose and former Director of Business Link and the Durham Learning and Skills Council. In addition he is also a non executive Director of China Goldmines plc, a UK AIM listed company.
John has many years experience specialising in commercial business development and renewable energy and sustainable systems. Over the past 15 years, John has taken an active role in establishing the political and statutory environment for the renewable energy industry, both in the UK and overseas. He has served as director on key trade associations related to this business sector and has lobbied and advised government and local authorities on the formulation and implementation of policy for the promotion and implementation of a UK wide renewable energy industry. John has held positions on the DTI’s Biofuel Advisory Panel and the Board of the Scottish Renewables Forum. Since 1992 he has been the commercial director of SgurrEnergy Ltd, responsible for commercial, legal, business planning and development for the company, which helped SgurrEnergy become one of Scotland’s largest renewable energy engineering and technical companies.
Alan has more than 17 years of experience within the energy sector, both in the UK and overseas. He began his accounting career with GEC in 1989 and has since held various positions in ABB Alstom, Alstom and most recently Siemens. During this time Alan has worked within businesses that design, manufacture, install and service rotating equipment within the power generation & oil and gas markets, and, he has gained considerable experience of capital equipment sale, turnkey project management, financial systems implementation, and also overseas business start ups. Prior to joining Helius, Alan was the Finance Director of Siemens PGI Service where he was actively involved with the development of a long term business strategy to improve market share and profitability.
Adrian is a chartered energy engineer and holds a PhD in fluid mechanics and is an engineer specialising in renewable energy and sustainable energy systems. He was involved in research aimed at improving the efficiency of nuclear reactor boiler tube bundles for Electricity de France and the Central Electricity Generating Board. Adrian also successfully managed the development process for the portfolio of power purchase agreements for an independent biofuels company, which included developing a subsidiary company aimed at exploiting the growing requirement for energy crops and land remediation. Since 2004, he has been a principal consultant to SgurrEnergy Ltd assisting on biomass, liquid transport fuels, hydrogen and waste to energy projects. He is a member of the Energy Institute and contributes to this forum.
Chris holds a BSc in physics, a masters degree in engineering ceramics and the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s diploma in marketing. Between 1986 and 1993, he worked with T&N and then ICI, delivering a number of major change programmes. Following the completion of an MBA at Durham University in 1994, Chris established an international temperature sensing division for BICC, based on an optical technology joint venture he set up with Hitachi Cable. Subsequently, Chris’s extensive knowledge of the UK public sector and its relationship with business led him to join the UK’s largest Chamber of Commerce in the North East during 1997 as its operations director. Since then Chris has been involved in a number of public sector projects including acting as head of inward investment in setting up Renaissance South Yorkshire, and its multi-million inward investment programme.
Since 1994 Michelle has held various Senior Manager and Directorships working mainly within the commercial office recruitment sector. In 1999 she became a founder member of The Tree of Dreams Company Limited which assists start up companies like D1 Oils plc to achieve their potential. Previously Michelle’s background was within the health and leisure sector where she successfully managed a lifestyle health and leisure complex with luxury second homes at various locations in the UK.
Barclay is a British farmer and developer of one of the UK’s first large drying, storing and haulage businesses for barley, wheat and rapeseed. He is a former Vice President of the Scottish NFU and past Chairman of British Cereal Exports where he was responsible for promoting to Europe, North Africa and China. He is Vice President of The China Britain Business Council, responsible for Food and Agriculture. Other positions held by Barclay include; Chairman of Oxford Farming Conference 2003; Winner of the Royal Agricultural Award 2004; Chairman The Farmers Club, Whitehall 2005; and Non-Executive Director of D1 Oils plc.
Demetri Pappadopoulos joined Steers Holdings Limited (now Famous Brands) as group legal adviser in 1995, he became a board member of the group at the age of 26 making him one of the youngest board directors of a company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Demetri is considered to be a pioneer in franchising on the African continent.In 2002 Demetri stood down from the board and left Steers Holdings to pursue other business interest in Africa. To date he has introduced an established number of businesses in Africa. He is the founder and major shareholder of Pivot Holdings an African franchising group, which has successful operations in 15 African Countries ranging from Food concepts, bakeries, plant hire and real estate. Demetri is a board member of the NEPAD Business Foundation and is Chairman of the NEPAD working group on SME development in Africa. His major project here is driving financial institutions to fund SME’s in Africa.Additionally he is a shareholder and Chief Executive Officer of D1 Oils Africa (Pty) Ltd, a biodiesel company which is a subsidiary of UK based D1 Oils Plc. In February 2007, in the publication of Business In Africa, Demetri was listed as one of Africa’s most influential business leaders.
