Confirmed speakers
KEITH AITKEN (CHAIR)Broadcaster and Journalist | Keith Aitken is an award-winning writer and broadcaster, and one of Scotland’s most experienced conference facilitators. His busy freelance business encompasses newspaper and magazine journalism, radio presenting, speech-writing, pod-casting, drafting corporate publications, and chairing all manner of public debates. Since turning freelance in 1995, he has been a columnist for the Scotsman, the Herald and Scotland on Sunday. He currently writes a weekly column in the Scottish Daily Express, for which he also compiles a hugely popular weekly prize crossword. An accomplished author, he has contributed chapters on Scottish affairs to various books, and written a critically-acclaimed history of the STUC, The Bairns o’ Adam. Prior to 1995, he spent 16 years at the Scotsman in a succession of senior editorial posts, including parliamentary correspondent, labour correspondent, industrial editor, economics editor, chief leader writer, and opinion editor. He is a graduate of Edinburgh University. |
 | |
PETER YOUNGChairmanAldersgate Group and Strategy Director, SKM Enviros | Peter Young is Chairman of Aldersgate Group and Strategy Director at SKM-Enviros, leaders in environmental management consulting. In his role at the Aldersgate Group (see www.aldersgategroup.org.uk) he drives for consensus amongst the broad membership including major blue chip companies, membership organisations, NGOs and influential individuals from all parts of the political spectrum. He regularly provides advice at ministerial level and has given evidence to UK House of Commons’ Committees (twice in 2009). At SKM Enviros he advises companies, public sector organisations and investors on the economic opportunities and strategies to meet environmental sustainability challenges and deliver a low carbon and resource efficient economy. He works on long term strategic projects (eg the closure and redevelopment strategy at Ravenscraig for the last 18 years). He has worked on developing high level government policies for competitive advantage in a low carbon economy, as well as with companies (from start ups to large plcs), specialist investors and regional bodies to help them exploit opportunities throughout the environmental technologies and services sector. He is founder and Director of CAT Alliance Ltd, which has operations in over 50 countries and provides an international resource to compare and deliver best practice. Peter graduated from Edinburgh University with one of the first degrees ever awarded in the world in Environmental Chemistry, and has worked in the environmental sector throughout his 30 year career. |
 | |
MARK JOHNSONChairmanInnosight | Mark Johnson is chairman of Innosight, a strategic innovation consulting and investing company with offices in Massachusetts, Singapore, and India, which he cofounded with Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen. He has consulted to the Global 1000 and start-up companies in a wide range of industries—including health care, aerospace/defense, enterprise IT, energy, automotive, and consumer packaged goods—and has advised Singapore’s government on innovation and entrepreneurship. Mark’s most recent work has focused on helping companies envision and create new growth, manage transformation, and achieve renewal through business model innovation. This work is the subject of the McKinsey award–winning Harvard Business Review article, “Reinventing Your Business Model,” as well as his new book entitled Seizing the White Space: Business Model Innovation for Growth and Renewal, published in February, 2010 by Harvard Business Press. Mark has published articles in the Sloan Management Review, Business Week, Advertising Age, and National Defense. Prior to cofounding Innosight, Mark was a consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, where he advised clients on managing innovation and implementing comprehensive change programs. Before that, he served as a nuclear power–trained surface warfare officer in the U. S. Navy. Mark received an MBA from Harvard Business School, a master’s degree in civil engineering and engineering mechanics from Columbia University, and a bachelor’s degree with distinction in aerospace engineering from the United States Naval Academy. He currently serves on the board of the U.S. Naval Institute. Mark, his wife, Jane Clayson Johnson, and their children live in Belmont, Massachusetts. |
 | |
ROSEANNA CUNNINGHAM MSPMinister for the EnvironmentThe Scottish Government | Roseanna Cunningham was born in Glasgow in 1951 but spent most of her early years in Edinburgh and East Lothian. In 1960, she went to Australia with her family and subsequently completed her schooling in Fremantle, Western Australia and obtained her first University Degree from University of Western Australia. She became interested in politics while still a teenager and in fact first joined the SNP in 1969 as an overseas member. She returned to Scotland in 1976 and within only a few months of her arrival was working full time at SNP HQ, while also being involved in branch and constituency politics in Edinburgh. In 1980, she returned to university in Edinburgh and obtained a Law Degree followed by a Diploma in Legal Practice from Aberdeen University. From her graduation in 1983 to 1988 she worked as a solicitor in local government. After a brief period in private practice she became a member of the Faculty of Advocated. She was elected to the House of Commons in the Perth and Kinross by-election in 1995, was re-elected in 1997 and subsequently stood successfully for the Scottish Parliament in 1999. She stood down from Westminster in 2001. She has held a number of local and national offices in the SNP, including Deputy Leader from 2000-2004. She won ‘Scottish Parliamentarian of the Year’ in 2000. She has remained a member of the Scottish Parliament from 1999 to present and has three times been a Committee Convener – for the Justice Committee, the Health Committee and most recently the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee, from where she was appointed Minister for the Environment in 2009. Any spare time she has will be spent either reading or walking and sometimes both at the same time. She currently lives in her constituency in Perthshire. |
 | |
DR. SIMON SLATERExecutive DirectorSustainability West Midlands and author of the UK's first regional low carbon economic strategy | My previous role was as Head of Sustainable Development at Advantage West Midlands, where I worked with a great team to produce the UK's first regional low carbon economic strategy, secured carbon reduction targets for all Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), and the first sustainable development action plan for a Regional Development Agency resulting in AWM becoming the best overall performing RDA on sustainability. Prior to this I was at the UK's leading sustainable development charity Forum for the Future where I gave advice to Jonathon Porritt - Chair of the Sustainable Development Commission, Ken Livingstone - London Mayor, and Rhodri Morgan -Welsh First Minister on aspects of regional sustainable development. Other experience I have, includes over 15 years working in the private, public and voluntary sector on issues such as regional development, natural resource management, regeneration, planning, participation and change management. I am the Chair of the BeBirmingham Carbon Reduction Partnership - the strategic partnership for Birmingham City Council and partners. I am a Board member of the Sustainable Housing Action Partnership - the promotion of good practice in affordable new and retrofit green housing. I am also a Board member of the Springfield Project - a community regeneration project promoting joint working between Muslim, Christian, and other faiths, in inner city Birmingham, where I live with my family. I have a PhD in water management, a degree in Town Planning, and a Blue Peter badge for energy saving. |
 | |
ADRIAN GILLESPIEDirectorEnergy and Low Carbon Technologies, Scottish Enterprise | Adrian was appointed to his current role in August 2009, which now incorporates ITI Energy’s operations. As Director for Digital Markets and Enabling Technologies for Scottish Enterprise, Adrian had responsibility for working with Industry to set clear priorities for investment and growth in the Digital Media, ICT and Enabling Technologies sectors and ensuring that SE responded to Industry’s priorities in the most effective way. Industry Advisory Groups in these three areas were established and developed with colleagues in the Scottish Government. |
 | |
DAVID SIGSWORTHChairmanSEPA | David Sigsworth took up office as Chairman of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency on 1 January 2008. Before joining SEPA, David’s career spanned 43 years in the utility sector. He held several positions on the Board of Scottish and Southern Energy plc (SSE) and had previously been Commercial Director of Scottish Hydro Electric plc since 1995. During the latter part of his career at SSE, he had responsibility for all of SSE’s environmental issues and managed one of the largest and most diverse generation fleets in the UK with over 10,000 MW of plant. He was also responsible for a £1bn programme of investments in renewable generation technologies. He now undertakes a range of non-executive roles and is Chairman of Sigma Capital Group plc. Other directorships include companies developing or manufacturing photovoltaics, fuel cells, offshore wind generation, and electricity load management. A Chartered Electrical Engineer by profession, David is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and an Honorary Professor at the University of Dundee. He is also Chairman of the Dundee Science Centre, Vice President of the Combined Heat and Power Association (CHPA), a board member of Energy Action Scotland, a member of the Advisory Board of NaREC, as well as a trustee of the think tank Sustainability First. |
 | |
WILLY ROE CBEScotland CommissionerUK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) | Willy Roe has been Chair of Highlands and Islands Enterprise since September 2004. He also chairs the board of the government agency, Skills Development Scotland; and is Scotland Commissioner on the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. He is a member of the Innovation Programmes Committee of NESTA, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. He is a non-executive board member of the Department for Work and Pensions agency, the Pension, Disability and Carers Service. |
 | |
PROFESSOR JACQUELINE MCGLADEExecutive DirectorEuropean Environment Agency | Professor McGlade became Executive Director of the European Environment Agency on June 1 2003. Prior to this she was Natural Environment Research Council Professorial Fellow in Environmental Informatics in the Mathematics Department of University College London where her main areas of research included spatial data analysis and informatics, expert systems, environmental technologies and the international politics of the environment and natural resources. Previous appointments have included Director of the UK’s Centre for Coastal & Marine Sciences, Director of Theoretical Ecology at the Forschungszentrum Jülich Germany, Associate Professor at the Honda funded International Ecotchnology Research Centre, Senior Scientist in the Federal Government of Canada and in the USA, Adrian Fellow at Darwin College, Cambridge and Professorships at Warwick University and Aachen. Professor McGlade has won various prizes including the Minerva Prize, the Swedish Jubileum Award and the Monito del Giardino Award. She also has Honorary degrees from Wales (Bangor) Kent and is a Fellow of the Linnean Society and the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture & Commerce. Professor McGlade has worked extensively in North America, south-east Asia and west Africa; she has published more than 100 research papers, written popular articles, presented and appeared in many radio and television programmes, including her own BBC series The Ocean Planet and Learning from Nature and more recently Our Arctic Challenge, a film about sport and tourism in Greenland and One Degree Matters, a film about the impacts of global warming and the solutions emerging around the world. She has given public lectures worldwide on climate change, energy and sustainable development, environmental information, conflicts over environmental impacts of industrial and natural activities, environmental technologies and the use of multimedia and modern forms of web communication. Professor McGlade was Chairman of The Earth Centre and a Board Member of the Environment Agency. She is currently a Trustee of the Natural History Museum, and a member of the Environment Advisory Committee of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, UK-China Forum and UK-Japan 21st Century Group. She is also Director of the software company, View the World Ltd. |
 | |
JIM MONTGOMERYSite DirectorBPI Recycled Products | Jim joined British Polythene Industries in 1975 and has been involved in polythene manufacture & recycling at a number of BPI sites. Polythene recycling has always been part of BPI’s primary operations and over the last 20 years Jim has had an integral role in the management and process of washing and recycling farm films plastics. Starting with a new and innovative washing plant for recycling agricultural film at BPI’s site at Ardeer near Prestwick Jim was involved in further trials and upgrading the washing plant for other types of agricultural farm plastics. The final new design was subsequently set up and commissioned in Dumfries in 1995 to recycle used agricultural silage stretch film; the cleaned material is then used to manufacture the Plaswood product range in Dumfries, and the highly acclaimed refuse bag "Green Sack" range at other BPI sites. |
 | |
STEVEN FRASERSenior Managing ConsultantAtkins | Steven Fraser leads Atkins Transport Planning and Management business in Scotland, and also provides advice on carbon abatement and climate change adaptation to clients across the UK. He has worked in the transport planning sector for the last two decades and has been responsible for successfully delivering a wide range of transport projects – from award winning policy development through to scheme appraisal and delivery. He successfully led the delivery of Mitigating Transport’s Climate Change Impact in Scotland: Assessment of Policy Options on behalf of the Scottish Government, and also led the analysis of consultation responses for the Scottish Government’s Low carbon Vehicles Action Plan. He managed the recent DfT research into the Role of Transport in Local Level Action on Climate Change, and is currently advising on all climate change aspects relating to the DfT’s National Networks Access to Manchester Study. |
 | |
|
Keynote speakers
Minister for the Environment, The Scottish Government
Chairman, Innosight
Executive Director, European Environment Agency
Chairman, Aldersgate Group and Strategy Director, SKM Enviros
Executive Director, Sustainability West Midlands and author of the UK's first regional low carbon
economic strategy
Chairman, SEPA