REGIONAL NET ZERO INVESTMENT FORUM, GLASGOW

Susan Aitken has been Leader of Glasgow City Council since May 2017 and is the first SNP Leader of the Council. For her work to deliver equal pay justice for thousands of women in the city, she was awarded Scottish Local Government Politician of the Year.

Under her leadership Glasgow has been named the host of COP26, a Global Green City, and the European Capital of Sport for 2023.

Susan has worked in a variety of policy and research roles in the Scottish Parliament and the third sector, and as a freelance writer and editor specialising in health and social care policy. She is a graduate of both Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities.

He is chair of the Connected Places Catapult (CPC), the UK’s innovation accelerator for cities, transport and place-leadership, and Chair of the UK Cities Commission for Climate Investment (3Ci) which convenes city leaders and urban investors to finance a just net zero transition. He is a Board member of Transport for London (TfL) and the London LEP. He chairs TfL’s new Land and Property Committee that oversees TfL low carbon property and housing company (TTLP).  He is a member of the WEF Global Future Council on Cities & Urbanisation and a member of the Bloomberg NEF Council on Cities.  He is Hon Prof of Urban Innovation at Strathclyde University and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. He is author of 10 books and 100 reports on cities, innovation, investment and place-leadership. His monthly column: The Planet of Cities, is hosted by RICS. He is Global Cities expert on the BBC World Service Series, My Perfect City.

Greg is a world expert on cities, urban innovation, investment, and the net zero transition. Over 35 years, he has worked with more than 300 cities, 40 national governments, 20 multilateral institutions, and multiple global corporates and investors. His previous roles include Group Advisor, Future Cities & New Industries at HSBC Investment Bank, Chair of the OECD Forum of Cities & Regions, Global Fellow on Cities and Metropolitan leadership at the Brookings Institution, and Global Fellow on Urban Investment at the Urban land Institute. He was Lead Advisor on Cities to the UK Gov, and was Executive Director of the London Development Agency and Managing Director of Greater London Enterprise. He has been a senior advisor on urban investment to the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and the European Investment Bank.

He has chaired more than 20 internal advisory boards for individual cities that are reformulating their future investment strategies, long term plans, and governance, including New York, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Sydney, Auckland, Barcelona, Vienna, and Oslo. He has led comparative studies on Chinese, Australian, European, North American, Latin American, Middle Eastern, Chinese, ASEAN, and Indian Cities.  Since 2020 he has been tracking the impact of the COVID pandemic on 100 cities globally, and has developed a unique framework for assessing the post-pandemic city.

Steve is based at the Connected Places Catapult where he his Director of 3Ci – the Cities Commission for Climate Investment. Working with the Advisory Board he has overall managerial responsibility for the implementation of the 3Ci’s strategy and operations working closely with leaders from cities, industry, finance and government. As a recognised leader in innovation and sustainability he has over 25 years of experience working in both the public and private sector. Previously, he was Digital Cities Leader for Arup where he delivered sustainability focussed technology strategies for some of the largest developments in the UK, Europe and the Middle East, representing £billions of investment. He has held several senior positions across local government, primarily in London and Manchester. As Head of Low Carbon Economy in Greater Manchester he established the UK’s first Low Carbon Economic Area and a joint venture alongside the Green Investment Bank. He also established the city’s widely admired sustainability innovation programmes, Triangulum and CityVerve.

Lesley is an Assistant Director in Deloitte’s Advisory Corporate Finance team. She provides commercial and financial advice to both public and private sector clients capital programmes, increasingly focused in the transformation and renewables space. Prior to re-joining Deloitte a year ago, Lesley worked with a Scottish based renewable energy developer and investor.

Zoe Jennings is Head of Climate Investment for the UK Cities Climate Investment Commission at the Connected Places Catapult. She has over 25 years of experience working and leading strategic energy and climate change programmes, in both the public and private sectors. As Head of Climate Investment at the Connected Places Catapult she works at the interface between local government and business, seeking to leverage the combined scale of cities to mobilise finance and drive investment into low and net zero carbon projects across UK’s cities.

Previously Zoe worked in local and London government for 15 years, including the GLA and the London Development Agency on climate mitigation and energy, air quality and waste programmes. She led the Mayor’s London Hydrogen Partnership and launched the first national RE:FIT framework, enabling retrofitting of public sector buildings at scale.

Before joining the Connected Places Catapult, Zoe led the SETsquared Partnership Scale-Up Programme at the University of Surrey, supporting ambitious businesses to grow through engagement with research and academia, large corporates, investors, and Government.

Stuart Patrick CBE is Chief Executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, committed to increasing trading opportunities for Chamber members and delivering a strong business influence on the growth of the Glasgow city region.

 

Stuart joined the Chamber in 2009 and has worked with the Chamber’s team, Board and Governing Council to build the Chamber’s policy voice, evolve member services and support Glasgow in the delivery of an ambitious economic strategy.  International trade, transport investment, city centre growth, key industry strategies and youth employment are all important issues for the Chamber.

Stuart has spent over 25 years in urban economic development including 17 years at Scottish Enterprise where he focused on the economic transformation of Glasgow ultimately leading Scottish Enterprise Glasgow and becoming Senior Commercial Director for Scottish Enterprise itself. At the beginning of his career Stuart trained with Ernst & Young where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant and he has an MBA from Strathclyde University.  He took his first degree at Glasgow University.

 

Stuart takes an active interest in Glasgow’s economy and is a member of the Glasgow Economic Leadership Board, the Sustainable Glasgow Board and co-chairs  the Glasgow City Centre Taskforce. He is also chair of Glasgow City of Science and Innovation. He was appointed CBE in 2019 for services to business and the Glasgow economy.

 

Stuart has a number of personal interests around Glasgow including a directorship of Clyde Gateway URC , chair of the Cottier Project and a board member of City of Glasgow College. He is also a Non-Executive Director of the Scotland Office.

Kit is the Green Economy Manager for Glasgow City Council, where he leads on the development of the Glasgow Green Deal, fostering the wider systemic transformation for an economy which works for the wellbeing of all, within planetary boundaries.

Prior to this, Kit was a Climate Resilience Business Manager for sustainability charity, Sniffer, where he set up and managed the Climate Ready Clyde partnership – a group of 15 organisations collaborating. A key part of this role was developing the Glasgow City Region Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan – a transformational strategy to ensure Glasgow City Region flourishes in its future climate in a decade.

Kit has also had various additional roles at the intersection of local and regional development and climate, including advising the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on its climate change and social justice programme, and working on climate policy and economic development for Newcastle City Council. He was a contributing author to the third UK Climate Change Risk Assessment. In 2020 he was named one of only five of EIT Climate-KIC’s Climate Action Champions. He also sits on the ISO and BSi working groups on climate adaptation standards, and is a Director of Alston Moor Community Energy. “

Serge is an experienced Project Manager with in-depth knowledge of local government and economic development with a particular focus on climate change, sustainable development, rural development, community-led projects, smart cities and investment in key sectors such as low carbon and renewable energies, digital connectivity, or smart mobility. Serge is a Prince2 Registered Practitioner leading strategic projects and programmes. Serge has an extensive working experience on EU programmes and policies, investment, and funding. Living and working experience acquired in different European countries which has allowed Serge to develop an open minded, innovative strategic attitude to problem solving, negotiation and communication as well as a capacity to analyse complex information in a mutli-cultural context. Serge has lived in Perth and Scotland for 25 years and enjoys cycling, tennis and walking with friends and family.

Harjinder has been operating at senior leadership levels planning and delivering business and organisational change across a variety of business sectors over three decades working for the Royal Mail Group and Glasgow City Council. A chartered management accountant by trade but with drive and passion to seek out big challenges to deliver positive legacy outcomes.

Business experiences cover: cost and price structures; market and competitor analysis; value chain solutions; ERP implementations; shared services design, implementation and operations; organisational design and culture; service design and development; major programme and project planning and delivery; stakeholder and partnership working.

Currently a member of the senior leadership team across Neighbourhoods, Regeneration and Sustainability within Glasgow City Council where he has been leading on the council’s ambitious plans to deliver a net zero fleet by 2030, and leadership sponsor for the council’s BAME employee network, working to promote and deliver improved equality outcomes. Over the last 2 years, Harjinder has been leading a multi-disciplinary team, on behalf of the Glasgow City Region, working closely with regional partners and Transport Scotland to set out the transformational investment case for Clyde Metro.

Roddy Yarr is Executive Lead for Sustainability at the University of Strathclyde. Roddy is a sustainability expert who is responsible for the development and delivery of climate change and social responsibility initiatives that address the University’s response to net zero and sustainability issues across all of its operational assets in west central Scotland.

Roddy leads the Sustainable Strathclyde team which is delivering the University’s Climate Change and Social Responsibility Plan and net zero targets. Roddy successfully led the
delivery of the £20M District Heating project at the main campus. He developed the design and funding programme that has enabled the delivery of the University’s first energy carbon neutral building in operation at the new National Manufacturing Institute Scotland. He is project sponsor for the £13M ‘Heart of the Campus’ people-first open space redevelopment at the University.

Roddy has also developed an innovative, bold and collaborative ‘Climate Neutral Districts’ vision deploying 100% renewable heat, power, active travel, adaptation and well being
solutions across all University assets in the central belt of Scotland. This multi-award winning vision takes a partnership approach to enable ‘scale and speed’ of climate action in Glasgow and region, with people at the centre.

Roddy advises the Sustainable Glasgow Partnership and he is the convenor of Climate Ready Clyde a multi agency partnership in the City Region. Roddy leads the Clyde Mission Net Zero Group that is seeking to decarbonise the Clyde Corridor. Roddy is a board member of the Clyde Climate Forest Programme Group and an external advisor and Board member of the West Dunbartonshire Energy Company LLP which operates the award winning Queens Quay Heat Pump and Energy Centre. He is an external advisor to the Scottish Parliament’s Sustainability Board and to the Glasgow Metro Project. Roddy is also a member and sustainability advisor for the Monklands Hospital Replacement Committee. Roddy is an EAUC Fellow. He is also a Trustee of the Friends of Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park.