Sustainable Business Series Conference

The Rt Hon Lord Hunt of Kings Heath OBE

Minister of State (Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath OBE was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero on 9 July 2024.

Education

Lord Hunt studied at Leeds University.

Political career

Lord Hunt was Deputy Leader of the House of Lords and joint Minister of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs between 2008 and 2010.

He previously served as a minister in the Department of Health and as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Work and Pensions.

He held several posts while in opposition, including:

• Shadow Spokesperson (Health and Social Care), 2018
• Shadow Spokesperson (Cabinet Office), 2017 to 2018
• Shadow Spokesperson (Education), 2017 to 2018
• Shadow Spokesperson (Health), 2012 to 2017
• Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords, 2010 to 2017
• Shadow Spokesperson (Home Affairs), 2010 to 2012

He was raised to the peerage as Baron Hunt of Kings Heath in 1997.

Career outside politics

Lord Hunt was a Member of the General Medical Council from 2008 to 2024 and President of the Royal Society for Public Health from 2010 and 2018.

He was the first chief executive of the NHS Confederation from 1996 to 1997 and director of the National Association of Health Authorities and Trusts (NAHAT) from its formation in 1990.

In 1993 he was awarded an OBE for services to the NHS.

Minister of State (Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The minister is responsible for:

• nuclear
• individual planning decisions
• all departmental business in the House of Lords

Ed Cox

Executive Director for Strategy, Economy & Net Zero , West Midlands Combined Authority

Ed is Executive Director for Strategy, Economy & Net Zero at the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).

Prior to WMCA, Ed was Director of Public Services and Communities at the RSA where he led an ambitious programme of work on people, power, place and inclusive growth. He previously led IPPR North for 9 years where he was a champion for devolution and much of the thinking behind the ‘Northern Powerhouse,’ working closely with several combined authorities in the north of England. Before that, Ed was an adviser to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government where he played a key role in developing the Sub-National Review (2007) and the Empowerment White Paper (2008).

Ed has a background in community engagement: he wrote Manchester’s first community engagement strategy, he was a founder of the national Participatory Budgeting Unit and he is the founder and chair of the Levenshulme Inspire community hub in inner-city Manchester. Ed is a qualified minister of religion in the United Reformed Church and he is part of the leadership team for his local congregation in Levenshulme.  Ed has been Chair of Involve since June 2019.

Fiona Rouse

Director, PI-KEM Group

Fiona Rouse is the Director of PI-KEM Group, headquartered in Tamworth, and currently serves as President of the Lichfield and Tamworth Chamber of Commerce. With a strong passion for equity, business development, and community engagement, Fiona's work is defined by her commitment to creating sustainable growth and fostering meaningful connections.

A zoology graduate, Fiona began her career as a Secondary Science Teacher before advancing to Assistant Headteacher, where she focused on raising the aspirations of disaffected students. She transitioned to the corporate world in 2009, joining PI-KEM, and became Director in 2014. In her leadership role, Fiona drives strategic growth planning, ensures compliance, champions ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) principles, and prioritises colleague engagement.

Fiona's approach to business development is rooted in sustainability. One of her notable achievements includes securing funding allow the refurbishment of PI-KEM's office using pre-loved furniture, the adoption of cloud based working allowing hybrid working models, and the enhancement of the energy efficiency of their facilities. This commitment to sustainable practices aligns with the company's values and broader environmental goals.

PI-KEM Group plays a pivotal role in enabling its customers' to achieve their research and manufacturing objectives. The company provides materials and equipment from their global network of suppliers, for innovative research in fields such as Next-Gen Energy, Photovoltaics, Hydrogen Fuel Cells, and Specialist Coatings, contributing to advancements that are shaping the future of sustainable technologies.

Fiona is also a dedicated advocate for equity, particularly in STEM fields. Despite facing personal challenges due to two rare autoimmune conditions that impact her mobility and speech, she has developed strong partnerships with local secondary schools. Through these connections, PI-KEM actively supports career initiatives and STEM activities, inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers.

Jessica Wilkes-Ball

Head of Sustainability & Net Zero, Mills & Reeve

Jessica has huge experience in helping businesses focus on more than the bottom line and a long track record for delivering positive change in communities across the UK and beyond.

Jessica is a member of the advisory board for WildHearts Group and is a member of the West Midlands Board for Business in the Community.

The Mills & Reeve ESG management/leadership team is spearheaded by Neil Pearson who is head of ESG and social value at the firm. As a firm we have signed up to the Greener Litigation Pledge, as well as Net Positives. We are members of the Legal Sustainability Alliance.

 

Paul Warrington

Relationship Director, Lloyds SME Banking

Paul has worked in commercial banking for the last twenty-one years in various roles including Area Director, Relationship Manager and Credit Manager. He is currently a Relationship Director leading a team of specialists providing expertise to his client base of Midlands SMEs who are across all industry sectors. He is Regional lead for Sustainability in the Midlands, North West & South Wales for Lloyds SME Banking and this work saw them nominated for an award earlier this year. Paul is an advocate of the Lloyds Bank Clean Growth Financing Initiative which is being used across the Bank to support businesses invest to reduce their emissions.

Recently, Paul has taken on an additional role as a member of Coventry City Council’s Climate Strategy Board

Ralph Dodd

Senior Manager, PwC

Ralph is a Senior Manager in PwC's UK Valuations practice and specialises in valuing the impact of climate change.

He has over 15 years of valuation experience, from M&A, intellectual property and quarterly reporting valuations through to hostile bid defence and capital allocation reviews.

Ralph leads PwC’s offering on the valuation of climate technology assets such as carbon capture and green hydrogen, where he leverages his prior experience in valuing high growth tech startups. 

His other area of focus is on the valuation of carbon related projects, from valuing carbon credit projects in emerging markets through to measuring the value impact of carbon taxes on a range of multinational companies.

Ralph has provided valuation training to fast growing climate tech startups in the UK as part of the Net Zero X programme, co-authored valuations thought leadership “why you need to price ESG into valuations now and how to get started”, presented to international private equity forums on the value impact of ESG and hosted discussions with prominent academics in this space.

Rosa Wells

FE Principal and Dean for STEM, University College Birmingham

Rosa Wells is the FE Principal and Dean for STEM at University College Birmingham. Rosa is a highly experienced engineer who has dedicated her career to education and training. She is passionate about providing students with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in STEM sectors. 

In her previous role, Rosa was leading the Greater Birmingham & Solihull Institute of Technology, working closely with engineering employers and education partners to establish a state-of-the-art learning factory in the city centre accessible to all engineering learners across the region. She now sits on the Board of Directors of the GBS IoT and has, more recently, been appointed Chair of the Institutes of Technology National Network.

Rosa works closely with leading sector bodies such as Women into Science and Engineering, STEM Learning and the Royal Academy of Engineering to ensure best practice is embedded within how the University works with learners, schools, and employers. This expertise and focus have been pivotal in the development of curriculum and provision across the University, who are leading in co-creation of courses with students and employers to ensure graduates meet, amongst other priorities, the green skills needs of our region now and in the future.

Rosa champions the power of education in the skills agenda and levelling up our region for wider societal benefit.

Venetia Hulse

Accelerator Programme Team Lead, Connected Places Catapult

Venetia Hulse is an Accelerator Programme Team Lead at Connected Places Catapult. She leads a team delivering accelerators across transport sectors and the built environment, focusing on challenge areas such as decarbonisation and citizen experience. Venetia has been a part of the DIATOMIC programme in the West Midlands since it launched in April 2023. Through this programme, she has worked closely with Birmingham City Council and the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce to support SMEs in the region to test and trial their technologies in the UK accelerator and is now supporting a cohort of companies to expand into the Indian market through the DIATOMIC India accelerator. Before joining the Catapult, Venetia led multiple innovation projects, including an international programme focusing on sustainability in the energy sector. Venetia is passionate about sustainability and the role innovation can play in solving the challenge of decarbonisation.