Alan is decarbonisation and sustainability consultant at Zenith, joining the company in 2002. Having held a number of roles within the business he has recently led the company’s carbon neutral and net zero programmes, he is responsible for the strategic delivery of customer fleet solutions, including the transition to zero emission vehicles and collaboration on customer sustainability ambitions.

Steve began his teaching career at Prices College in Fareham. Then followed a teaching career with management responsibilities at Peter Symmond’s College Winchester, where he was President of the Geographical Association, alongside being a PTRI inspector for ALI, FEFC, and then OFSTED. After being the Vice Principal at Saint Vincent College, he became Principal of Portsmouth College for 13 years. Steve “retired“ at 60, only to be elected by his peers to be their AoC President the very next day on August the 1st 2018.

In April 2023, Steve founded SS4FE (Sustainability Support for Further Education) a not-for-profit consultancy designed to promote and financially support awards for students in the green skills/sustainability space, in their FE Colleges and partnerships.

Steve continues to be a Board member of the AoC Charitable Trust, UNLOC, EFEC, and Pompey in the Community. He is the patron of ‘Off the Record’ (A mental health charity for young people) a strategic adviser for JISC , and
regularly does webinars, podcasts and conference chairing and key notes for the EAUC, ETF, LANDEX, JISC, and other institutions and partnerships.

Nicola is an experienced strategic leader focused on developing and leading the TransPennine Express Sustainability Strategy, fostering a collaborative approach to deliver continuous improvements aligned to environmental and social sustainability policy goals. In her role she heads up the sustainability function, including accessibility, environmental and sustainability reporting.

I joined First Bus in 2022 after 21 years in the automotive industry, the last 10 years of which I spent developing zero emission propulsion technologies including HV traction batteries. At First Bus my projects have included our Leicester, Bramley and York electrification projects, which delivered nearly 200 Zero-Emission Buses and associated infrastructure to service. My new role is focussed on opportunities to support the wider bus and road transport sectors on their own decarbonisation journey, by sharing our UK-wide charging infrastructure. I am passionate about decarbonisation generally and have the firm belief that technology can play an important part in a brighter future for all of us.

Andy Clarke is the Head of Partnerships for Ahead Partnership, a social value consultancy focused on opening up the world of work to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. They run a series of programmes around green skills. Prior to this, Andy spent a decade in political engagement, including a senior role at Manchester Airport.

Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe was elected Leader of Bradford Council in May 2016. She was also Chair of West Yorkshire Combined Authority from 2017 until 2021 and was instrumental in securing the West Yorkshire Mayoral Devolution Deal, which resulted in West Yorkshire electing its first Metro Mayor in May 2021. Prior to becoming Leader, Susan was the Portfolio Holder for Employment, Skills and Culture and has had a passion for culture-led regeneration ever since.

Before politics Susan had a wide ranging career, from running her own business, to working in marketing and spending five years in a management role at a national newspaper. She also worked for Business in the Community for 10 years where she was Head of Regeneration.

Peter is a Chartered Environmentalist with over 20 years’ experience. He led the development of Transport for the North’s (TfN) Decarbonisation Strategy published in late 2021 and now leads TfN’s portfolio of decarbonisation activities falling out of the Strategy, which includes work on electric vehicle charging, hydrogen for heavy transport uses, understanding infrastructure vulnerability to climate change, and evidencing modal shift policies that reduce emissions whilst capturing wider health, economic and accessibility benefits. Peter is also a Commissioner at the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission, specialising in transport and net zero strategy.

Peter joined TfN from Temple Group, an environmental and sustainability consultancy, where he had spent eight years, during which he founded Temple’s Manchester office and grew a multi-disciplinary team working on projects such as NPR and HS2, as well as initiating work on TfN’s Decarbonisation Strategy evidence base.

Prior to this, Peter had stints working in Local Authority at the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and at consultancies Halcrow and the Transport Research Laboratory.

Phill is the Head of Sustainability at musicMagpie plc, a leader in the re- commerce of consumer technology, disc media (including CDs, DVDs and games) and books in the UK and US, with sustainability running to the very heart of its operations.
Phill joined the business in 2008 as a picker in the warehouse and his 16 year career has seen him perform and excel in numerous roles. From heading up our media wholesale operations to managing relationships with some of our key retail partners and suppliers.

He’s delighted that his personal passion for sustainability and reducing the impacts of climate change has allowed him the time to focus on his
current role. Phill has been instrumental in our efforts to retrofit our operational sites in order to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 emissions, achieving zero waste to landfill status for our UK operations, working with supply chain partners and our carbon consultancy to better record and reduce our Scope 3
emissions.

Phill’s greatest achievement to date in this role is helping the business reduce its greenhouse gas emissions year on year since 2019.

Brett is a Managing Director at Employee Owned, Thomas Kneale & Co Ltd, a bathroom and bedroom textiles manufacturer, importer and distributor in Greater Manchester, supplying customers across the Public Sector, FM providers and Businesses.

With a vision to be the most responsible SME in the UK, Brett’s leadership on Sustainability has landed Thomas Kneale multiple national awards including The King’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development, and both the Carbon Reduction and overall Business of the Year at The Good Small Business Awards, the UK’s first national Sustainability awards for small businesses. Passionate about influencing other organisations to help tackle in-work poverty, Brett sits on the Manchester Living Wage Action Group and the National Living Hours Leadership Group. A regular contributor on National Radio and across a variety of papers and magazines on this topic, Brett was awarded the Advocate of the Year 2024 at The Living Wage Champions Awards.

Prior to joining TK in 2015, Brett spent ten years in Retail Management and Head Office roles, with time at Marks & Spencer, Aldi UK, Tesco and The Co-operative Group. With a varied remit across the roles, Brett has spent time working the UK and across Europe. At The Co-op, Brett managed the store services across a store estate of almost 3,000 sites, working collaboratively with organisations including Post Office Limited, Camelot Group, and PayPoint plc.

Brett earned a Bsc in Business Management from Aston University, Birmingham and has completed the Small Business Charter’s Help to Grow Management Programme.

Karl Smyth is the Director for External Affairs & Strategic Policy at enfinium, the second largest energy from waste business in the UK. In his role, Karl supports the delivery of enfinium’s corporate strategy to become a decarbonisation business powered by waste. Karl has over 15 years’ experience in energy and decarbonisation, working across a number of technologies including energy from waste, bioenergy, onshore and offshore wind and nuclear.

Eva Rainey is Assistant Programme Manager at Business Energy Scotland, a business support service managed by Energy Saving Trust and funded by the Scottish Government. Business Energy Scotland provides impartial advice and access to funding to help Scottish SMEs save energy and reduce carbon
emissions.

As one of a team of expert advisors and consultants delivering the Business Energy Scotland service, Eva has helped hundreds of Scottish businesses to
identify and implement energy-saving and renewable energy projects to improve their sustainability.

Ian Hughes is CEO of Zenith’s Corporate and Consumer division, joining the company in 2010. He is responsible for in-life operations, accident management, customer service, new customer acquisition, existing relationship management and Zenith’s LCV proposition.

Ian and his team are ensuring Zenith is at the forefront of the transition to zero emission vehicles, and is taking some of the UK’s biggest companies on the journey to net zero through strategic fleet solutions.

With more than 30 years’ experience in the industry, Ian has recently been named Chairsperson of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) Leasing and Fleet Committee.

Holly is a Sector Manager for Action Sustainability’s Supply Chain Sustainability School. She leads the Future Workforce and Retrofit Sectors for the UK. She works with the top companies across the built environment industry, and has recently launched the new sector which enables education providers to join the School alongside them to bridge the industry-education gap. She is also delivering a large programme throughout 2024 on retrofit skills. She has a background in Further Education, and is qualified in sustainability and education.

Lucy's passion for essential leadership skill development started in her early teaching career, joining the Leadership Skills Foundation in 2008 to share her passion for enabling young people to build their essential leadership skills through recognised leadership programmes. For the past 16 years her role has supported education organisations in 42 different countries to develop leadership skills in over 1.5 million young people. In 2023 a partnership was developed with WWF and RSPB to develop the Environment Leaders Programme. The three organisations had a shared vision to develop leadership skills in young people for them to be able to make a difference in their communities through nature and environment action. Lucy is passionate to share her learnings on the need for developing essential leadership skills and to support young people to believe, lead and succeed.