IDRIC’s Independent Advisory Board advises on strategic direction, priorities and opportunities to be pursued under projects and programmes of work and processes for assessing opportunities.
Chris Williams
Sustainable Industries Ltd
Dr Christopher Lloyd Williams BEng, PhD, CEng, FIMechE is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer and industrial decarbonisation leader with over 35 years’ experience in the steel and heavy industry sectors. His career spans operational engineering, energy optimisation, and strategic decarbonisation leadership, combining technical depth with national policy influence.
Chris holds a PhD in Industrial Waste Heat Recovery and is a Fellow of both the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Energy Managers Association. He has served as Head of Industrial Decarbonisation at Industry Wales and has played a central role in shaping UK industrial net zero strategy.
He is the founder of the South Wales Industrial Cluster, Net Zero Industry Wales, and Electrify Industry (powered by Make UK), driving collaboration across industry, government, and academia.
Chris has contributed to Royal Society, Welsh and UK Government working groups covering hydrogen, CCUS, electrification, and industrial heat. He currently chairs the Advisory Board for the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC) and leads Sustainable Industries Ltd, providing independent consultancy on industrial decarbonisation strategy.
Jane Gaston
Net Zero North West
Jane has over 20 years of experience shaping strategic business plans to deliver large scale, complex infrastructure opportunities in resource management, energy generation, and industrial decarbonisation. Living and working in the North West, Jane is passionate about the importance of integrating clean growth in industrial practices, to secure the region’s future prosperity. At Peel NRE she was responsible for the transformation of their flagship low carbon cluster, Protos. In 2022 she led the project team drawn from industry, academia and the public sector to deliver the NZNW cluster plan; a £30 billion pipeline of projects to achieve net zero by 2040 in the North West. As CEO of Net Zero North West she now provides strategic and operational leadership for the North West Industrial Cluster ensuring industry works closely with the regions public sector partners and academia to secure the future of industry and achieve sustainable economic growth in the region through delivery of the energy transition.
Jonathan Oxley
CBI
Jonathan, a chemist by training, has worked across the energy and chemicals sectors in various roles, including renewable energy and fuels. He led a sustainable agrifood university consortium, before joining the World Energy Council, and thereafter leading the work to decarbonise Humber industry.
In the Net Zero team at the CBI and as Executive Director of the Humber Energy Board, Jonathan uses his communication, convening and collaboration skills to work with businesses to inform the net zero policy-making agenda for the UK, so that businesses can do good for people, place and planet.
He is also a Commissioner of the regional Climate Commission, Freeman of the Tallow Chandlers, a Chartered Fellow of both the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), and is a Trustee of the RSC.
Philippa Parmiter
NECCUS
Philippa became the Chief Executive Officer of NECCUS, the alliance for industrial decarbonisation in Scotland, in September 2023. Previous roles include managing leasing of carbon storage at Crown Estate Scotland and running the national research consortium for CCS in Scotland, Scottish Carbon Capture & Storage, for 10 years - delivering knowledge exchange, policy and techno-economic analysis and business development for the network, and multiple international projects. She has a PhD in Physical Electronics and transitioned via a MSc in Environmental Protection and Management (University of Edinburgh, Dist.) in 2009 to working in the environmental sector. Philippa has worked for government, academia, an environmental consultancy and for a start-up, resulting in a patent, and an entry in the Guinness Book of Records!
Tony Parton
CR Plus
Tony has over 30 years of experience of both identifying and implementing cost saving/revenue generation projects, large and small. With such a wide range of sector experience ranging from the heavy industrials, food sector through to commercial buildings, hospitals, government establishments to schools, proven problem solving skills and enjoying either contributing to, or leading teams has been a key feature of his career to-date.
He is currently a Managing Director of CR Plus Ltd. Having operated successfully since 2005, Tony has guided CR Plus into new energy generation sectors, particularly the Energy from Waste (EfW) sector and has seen the company grow from the 3 founding directors into a diverse consultancy and engineering design team. Tony carries out the major director duties of the business including heading up company strategy and also heads up the concept and identification/feasibility side of the business.
Ben Burggraaf
Net Zero Industry Wales
Native of the Netherlands, Ben began his career in 2002 at the Corus R&D facility and was appointed as the Energy Optimisation Manager at the Port Talbot Steelworks in 2007. In 2014, he made the switch to Welsh Water, were he initially was responsible for the day-to-day energy costs of more than 4,000 sites and ultimately led on all aspects of energy & carbon management, as their Head of Energy.
In 2022 Ben was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer for a newly established body called Net Zero Industry Wales, supporting the industrial clusters in Wales, on their Journey to Net Zero.
Daniel Paterson
Make UK
Daniel Paterson is Director of Policy and Government Affairs for Electrify Industry. Powered by Make UK, Electrify Industry was formed by industrial organisations following the 2024 UK General Election, with a mandate to campaign for a level playing field in industrial energy costs, ensuring that industrial business have a true choice in energy options as they seek to modernise, and put British industry at the heart of the conversation and thinking around strategic energy issues.
Clare Jackson
Hydrogen UK
Clare is one of the leading voices in hydrogen in the UK. She launched the Hydrogen UK, the UK trade association for hydrogen, which is leading the national debate on the role of hydrogen in meeting net zero and working with industry leaders, Ministers and civil servants on the next steps required to scale hydrogen in the UK. Clare has an extensive network across the hydrogen space, working with many organisations and companies to advise on how to capitalise on the opportunities presented by hydrogen.
Ruth Herbert
EET
Ruth is a Managing Director at EET responsible for strategy and business development across the EET portfolio. Ruth joined EET in September 2024 with over 15 years of energy industry experience, most recently as Chief Executive of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association, where she helped to shape government policy and fostered partnerships that significantly advanced the industry’s progress. Ruth has served as a member of the UK government’s CCUS Council and its Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge Advisory Council, and on the UKCCSRC Advisory Council. She is an Honorary Fellow of the Energy Institute and holds professional qualifications in Programme Management, Sustainable Energy, and is a Master of Physics from the University of Oxford.
Bart Ashton
Oxford City Council
After a career in operational management for education and social enterprises, specialising in environmental change for the built estate and regional social innovation, Bart Ashton is the Partnership Manager for Zero Carbon Oxfordshire Partnership. There he helps to co-ordinate collaborative working, developing a partnership approach between local commercial, manufacturing, research and local authority partners. ZCOP lead the work to establish the Oxfordshire Industrial Cluster and build a roadmap for decarbonisation in the region.
Matthew Rhodes
Camirus
Matthew has led the Black Country Industrial Cluster since 2019. He’s worked in manufacturing, chemicals and the energy sector and founded, grown and sold his own company as well as delivering many innovation projects in partnership with UK, European, and US universities. He’s a Fellow of the IET and trained in Engineering, Economics and Management.
Arjan Geveke
Energy Intensive Users Group
Arjan Geveke is Director of the Energy Intensive Users Group (EIUG), an umbrella organisation that represents the interests of energy intensive industrial consumers in the UK. Before he joined the EIUG, he spent 15 years working on energy and climate change policies in Government. He holds an MA in Public Policy and Public Administration from the University of Twente, The Netherlands, and a MSc in European Policy & Management from Birkbeck College, UK.
John Egan
Progressive Energy
Following 25 years’ experience in the chemical industry, John joined Progressive Energy in 2019 to lead development of the low carbon hydrogen elements of the HyNet project. He subsequently led the Peak Cluster project through the early phases of its development. John currently leads the development of various industrial and energy system decarbonisation projects.
A Chartered Chemical Engineer, John previously worked as Operations Director for the Specialty Carbons business of Cabot Corporation, a US blue chip, leading manufacturing operations in the US, China and the Netherlands. Prior to that he was Global Energy Technical Director for Cabot.
John is also a Director of Cheshire Heritage and Sustainability Enterprises, a Community Interest Company, seeking to repurpose the former hydro-electric generating station building on the River Dee in Chester as a sustainability education facility.
Olivia Powis
Carbon Capture and Storage Association
Olivia leads the CCSA, overseeing its London and Brussels offices. Olivia joined the CCSA in February 2021 as UK Director following a public sector and trade association career in energy and infrastructure spanning two decades. Before joining the CCSA, Olivia worked as a Senior Policy Manager at the National Infrastructure Commission where she led on a number of projects. Prior to this, Olivia worked at Ofgem leading workstreams on Strategic Investment, Connections and running a procurement project for a new energy solution in Shetland.
Chris Rowell
Tees Valley Combined Authority
Chris is Head of Net Zero at Tees Valley Combined Authority where he leads the Authority’s work on industrial decarbonisation, energy, and related innovation. He has had a varied career covering mechanical engineering in the renewable energy and automation sectors, software, communications, and public policy. As part of his role at Tees Valley Combined Authority he is responsible for the North East and Yorkshire Net Zero Hub, a DESNZ-funded initiative to accelerate the transition to Net Zero, through such initiatives as developing a pipeline of clean local energy and related projects.
Aaron Gould
Association for Decentralised Energy
Aaron is Interim CEO of ADE where he strives to bridge the gaps between industry and policymakers to ensure policy and strategy reflect the actual needs of industrial energy users, and that the roles of flexibility and LCT are optimised to ensure every industrial site, business and home has access to a cost effective pathway to net zero. Aaron has two decades’ of experience developing national policy, working hand in hand with ministers, researchers, technical experts, industry leaders and consumers to ensure decisions are based on the best evidence available and the decisions made by government deliver their intended outcomes.
Aaron holds an MSc in Climate Change Management and Post Graduate Certificate in Public Policy. He has worked in the heart of Whitehall where he set the current national standards for domestic heating systems, created and led the Local Government Climate Change unit, and conducted the first work on consumer protection for heat network customers – amongst other things.
Jemma Rimmer
Ofgem
Jemma is a Net Zero Strategy Advisor at Ofgem, where she leads work on Industrial and Commercial (I&C) decarbonisation. She works closely with key Industry stakeholders to identify critical challenges and shape potential solutions, delivering strategic recommendations across Ofgem and the wider government. Jemma is motivated to ensure the transition to Net Zero is achievable, sustainable, and delivers long-term benefits for energy consumers and wider society. Previously, Jemma has worked as a researcher for a Dutch Water Research Institute, Deltares and International Civil Society Organisation, Solidaridad. Jemma holds an MSc in Sustainable Development from Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
Tom Worthington
National Energy System Operator
Tom Worthington is a Regional Energy Strategic Planning (RESP) Manager for the North West of England at the National Energy System Operator (NESO). In this role, Tom works with local authorities, energy networks, industry partners and regional stakeholders to develop coordinated, whole-energy plans that support the transition to a net zero energy system while enabling key growth priorities across the region.
Alongside his regional leadership responsibilities, Tom is the RESP Industrial Decarbonisation Policy Lead, where he works to ensure the needs, priorities and perspectives of industrial stakeholders are appropriately reflected in the development of Regional Energy Strategic Plans (RESPs) across Great Britain. He collaborates with industry representatives, industrial clusters, local partners and government stakeholders to understand the challenges and opportunities associated with decarbonisation and ensure these are considered within the RESPs. His focus is on strengthening the link between industrial growth ambitions, decarbonisation pathways and future infrastructure requirements, helping to ensure that RESPs provide an informed and evidence-based view of the energy needs of industry.
Ali Poncia
Trades Union Congress
Ali has been Policy Lead for Industry at the Trades Union Congress since 2024. Ali works with trade unions to advocate for the interests of manufacturing workers in industrial policy, with the aim of securing a long term future for good quality manufacturing jobs in the UK, including through ambitious action on decarbonisation. Before the TUC, Ali worked in climate change consulting and energy transition research. Ali holds an MSc in Economics & Policy of Energy and the Environment, and an MEng in Chemical Engineering.
Edmund Ward
Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ)
Edmund Ward is the Deputy Director for Industrial Decarbonisation at the UK’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). He leads efforts to deliver the UK‘s industrial decarbonisation strategy, focusing on reducing industrial emissions in line with net-zero targets while maintaining competitiveness and preventing carbon leakage, working closely with industry stakeholders. He works across government and with industry to deliver on the UK’s industrial decarbonisation strategy, which sets out how industry can decarbonise in line with net zero while remaining competitive and without pushing emissions abroad. Ward’s work contributes to the broader DESNZ mission to accelerate to net-zero emissions while building a clean energy superpower.