Scottish Energy and Environment Conference (SEEC)

Former Director of the Eden Project

"Chris Hines is a born story teller and his own story is one worth hearing.  Entertaining, intriguing, motivating and inspiring.  He always leaves behind a room full of energy and excitement"
Nelisha Wickremasinghe, Senior Programme Director, Common Purpose

Former Eden Project Director, Chris Hines was also a founding member and Director of Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) between 1990 and 2000.  "Some of the government's most sophisticated environmental critics" BBC News and Current Affairs.  "Britain's coolest pressure group' The Independent.  Runner up in 1999 Green Politics Award.  Solution based, he helped deliver £5 billion spend on UK coastline.  Chris has given evidence to Commons and Lords Select Committees, Monopolies and Mergers Commission and the European Parliament and Commission and was called as a special advisor to the Rt Hon Michael Meacher MP Minister for the Environment.

Chris' media credits include everything from Panorama to BBC Newsnight live, BBC Children's TV and the BBC World Service and CNN Skewed View.  He also co-wrote and co-presented three programmes called What On Earth with Melinda Messenger.

From December 2001 until September 2007 Chris was the Sustainability Director at the Eden Project.  He conceived and implemented the Waste Neutral concept which is an innovative look at the whole issue of waste.  As well as Waste Neutral, Chris was responsible for Eden's sustainability programme, including the implementation of the PANTS process - Eden's version of triple bottom line accounting.  This aimed to ensure that Eden walked the talk and was a leader not only rhetoric but also in the operation of its own site.

In October 2003 Chris was selected for and attended the 9th Commonwealth Study Conference in Australia, 208 delegates from 40 countries, aimed at future leaders in society.  The theme of the 2003 Tour was "People First in a Global Community" and included access to all sectors, from the homeless in Canberra to the Chief of Military Staff for Australia.

He is a member of Sustainability South West, a member of the Environment Agency Regional Environmental Protection Advisory Committee, and sits on the Strategic Panel of Cornwall Sustainable Energy Partnership.

Through his work at SAS and at the Eden Project, Chris has developed a deep understanding of the issues relating to the three main pillars of sustainability, namely the balance between social, environmental and financial aspects.  He is a strong advocate of the business case for sustainability and was recently featured as one of the Daily Telegraph's Eco Heroes.

He is now working as an independent consultant and communicator.

Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism

Scottish Government

Mr Ewing was born in Glasgow in September 1957 and was educated at Edinburgh's Loretto School and then attended Glasgow University.

He was elected as MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber in 1999 and re-elected in 2003 and 2007.  Prior to being elected, he ran his own law practice and developed SNP policy on small business and other matters as well as serving on the party's national executive.

He has served on a number of Scottish Parliament committees including the Subordinate Legislation Committee, Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, Finance, Local Government and Transport committee and was previously Shadow Minister for Transport, Tourism and Telecommunications.

He is the son of Winnie, formerly the MSP for Highlands and Islands and MEP for Scotland, and brother of Annabelle, formerly MP for Perth.

A former member of the Lomond Mountain Rescue Team, Mr Ewing has climbed around two thirds of Scotland's Munroes.  He ws also a keen runner and has taken part in several marathons, including New York.  He enjoys listening to jazz and playing piano in his spare time.

Head of Green Deal Delivery

Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC)

Michelle is the Head of Green Deal Delivery in the Department of Energy and Climate Change.  Her responsibilities include developing the accreditation framework for installers, assessors and products under the Green Deal, and development of the Green Deal oversight function.

Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience

Bangor University

At the end of his studies at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Professor Thierry gained his PhD in Toulouse under the supervision of Prof Jean-Francois Demonet in 2000.  Shortly after he graduated he was offered a Lectureship in the School of Psychology at Bangor University where he is now Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and Director of Innovation for the Ponio project.

Using experimental psychology (e.g. reaction times, error patterns), functional brain imaging (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, fMRI, and Positron Emission Tomography, PET) and Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) Dr Thierry has studied language comprehension in the auditory and visual modalities, and, in particular, semantic access.

In the past seven years, Dr Thierry has investigated a range of themes, such as verbal/non-verbal disassociations, visual object recognition, functional cerebral asymmetry, language-emotion interactions, language development, developmental dyslexia and bilinguism.  Dr Thierry's current main interests are (a) the levels of integration of the two languages of bilingual infants and adults at lexical, syntactic and semantic levels, studied using behavioural measurements, ERPs, fMRI and eye-tracking; (b) the mechanisms of semantic priming in both the verbal and nonverbal domains in the infant and the adult using ERPs and fMRI, i.e. the fundamental aspects of neurosemantics.

Councillor

Stirling Council

Graham was born and grew up in Southampton with a father who was a metal worker and a mother who was a midwife.  State educated, he worked in a chemical R&D laboratory before gaining an apprenticeship as a scientific glassblower.

In the 70's Graham lived in Australia and New Zealand where he worked as a technical sales representative before returning to England to start a family.  He moved in 1984 to Stirling, Scotland to work at the University of Stirling where he was in charge of the glassblowing workshop.  He ran it as a business on behalf of the University and was soon generating more than his own salary for the University.  In 1988 he was faced with redundancy so he set up his own business - Scotia Glass Technology Ltd which employed up to 7 people, making and repairing scientific glass apparatus for industry throughout Scotland, England and overseas.

He sold the business in 2002 to invest in and help develop micro-scale windmills designed to fit directly onto homes and business properties.  In a consultancy capacity, he was Sales Director of Windsave Ltd from 2004  - 2007.  His role involved marketing the business and its products as well as researching renewable products across the range of available and emerging technologies.  He sought and brought in additional investors as a result of his presence at trade shows, exhibitions, conferences and award ceremonies.

He stood for and was elected to Stirling Council in May 2007 so moved from the Renewable market into Scottish local authority governance. He has found this role especially challenging and rewarding in that his varied business and industrial experience has been used effectively.  The in-house training at Stirling Council has further expanded his understanding of the issues dominating Society, conserving and using resources and delivering high quality services either through the Council or the open marketplace.  His interest in politics has been life long; he joined the Liberals in the 60's mostly because he believed that any governance should represent at least half of the voters.  STV voting and the support of voters in the Castle Ward of Stirling has given him the opportunity to put the theory of his degree in Politics (earned from evening, part-time study at Stirling University) into practice.  He is actively involved in many aspects of the preservation of the City of Stirling along with analysing and developing policies and strategies to help Stirling City adapt to the needs of its people and businesses.

Graham has many interests that include music (he sings with Stirling City Choir), foreign travel, photography, hill walking, sailing, nature conservancy and membership of various bodies including RSPB.  He has a great love of both art and science - because he has a curious nature!  He enjoys foreign films even though his knowledge of their language is very limited.

Deputy Managing Director

Toyota Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd

Tony Walker joined Toyota Manufacturing UK, as a General Manager, Human Resources in 1990.  He played a fundamental role in the establishment and development of the company, before taking up a new challenge in Toyota Motor Europe's HQ in Brussels in 2001.

At Toyota Motor Europe he held the position of Vice President of Human Resources and, at different times, senior positions in Manufacturing Corporate Planning and Production Planning and Project Management.

Tony returned to Toyota Manufacturing UK in January 2010 to take up the role of Deputy Managing Director, with direct responsibility for the corporate functions of HR, Accounting and Finance, Corporate Planning and External Affairs.

He graduated from Newcastle-upon-Tyne University with a BSc Hons in Psychology in 1977, taking up a graduate trainee position within the motor industry.

Tony, 56, is married with three grown up children.  In his spare time he enjoys classic cars, outdoor activities and being active in his local community.

Co-Founder

Futerra Sustainability Communications

Ed Gillespie is Director and Co-Founder of Futerra Sustainability Communications.  Futerra is one of the few UK communications consultancies - if not the only one - to specialise solely in sustainable development and corporate social responsibility.  It offers the full range of communications services from internal engagement, PR and strategy, to design, digital, web, advertising and brand development.  Ed has driven the creative direction of Futerra's work since its foundation, and has worked with a wide range of clients, ranging from E.ON, Barclays Bank, Eurostar, BT to Defra, UNEP and the BBC.

He holds Masters degrees in both Marine Biology and Sustainable Development, and his interesting career history has brought him from working as a marine biologist in Australia, New Caledonia and Orkney, to environmental issues for Transport for London, to, in the last 10 years, communications professional.

Aside from writing regularly for the Guardian, Ed is a highly sought after public speaker.  You can see his recent TEDx talk in Stockholm and Ed speaking on Youtube.  In 2007/8 Ed travelled around the world without flying.  You can read about his journey at www.lowcarbontravel.com (he's currently working on the book!)  He was also recently appointed as a London Sustainable Development Commissioner and is a Director of the carbon emissions campaigning organisation Sandbag.