Deirdre Michie

Deirdre was appointed CEO of Oil & Gas UK in May 2015. She has an LLB Hons in Scots Law, and is a non-executive director of Scottish Water, board member of Opportunity North East and a member of the Scottish Government’s Energy Advisory Board and the Women’s Business Council.

She was awarded an OBE in 2018 for her services to the Oil and Gas industry. Additionally, she was awarded a Fellowship from NESCOL in 2018 and is a Burgess of Aberdeen.

David Pitt-Watson

David is a leading thinker & practitioner in responsible investment. Born & brought up in Scotland, he was co-founder, and CEO of Hermes Focus Funds & Equity Ownership Service. These became the largest responsible investment group of any fund manager in the world.  Throughout his career he has been deeply involved in policy, particularly in the field of corporate governance and financial market regulation. He has led numerous initiatives to improve the performance of the financial system. For example he chaired the UN Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative in the run up to the Paris Climate Conference, (CoP 21).

Fiona Reynolds

Fiona Reynolds is the CEO of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). The PRI is a U.N. supported organisation which aims to create a sustainable global financial system and has more than 2,800 signatories who collectively represent over US $90 trillion in assets under management.

Appointed in 2013, Fiona has 25 years’ experience in the financial services and pension sector. Fiona joined the PRI from Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST), where she spent 7 years as the CEO. Fiona also serves on the Board of the UN Global Compact, is a member of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), the Global Advisory Council on Stranded Assets at Oxford University, the UN Business for Peace Steering Committee, the Global Steering Committee for the investor agenda on climate action and the Steering Committee for Climate Action 100+. Fiona has been a member of the UK Government Green Finance Taskforce and is currently on the Advisory Board for the UK Green Finance Centre. In 2018 Fiona was named by Barron’s magazine as one of the 20 most influential people in sustainability globally.

John Kay

John Kay is an economist whose career has spanned the academic world, business and finance, and public affairs. He has held chairs at the London Business School, the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics and is a Fellow of St John’s College, Oxford, the British Academy and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. John is a director of several public companies and a contributing editor of the Financial Times. He chaired the Review of UK Equity Markets and Long-Term Decision-Making.

He is the author of many books, including The Truth About Markets, The Long and the Short of It and Obliquity. His latest book, Other People’s Money was a book of the year for Bloomberg, The Economist and the Financial Times, winner of the Saltire Literary Prize for non-fiction, and was short-listed for the Orwell Prize for political writing. His next book, Radical Uncertainty, jointly written with Mervyn King, will be published in March 2020.

Chris Stark

Chris Stark is the Chief Executive of the UK Committee on Climate Change (CCC), the public body tasked by the Climate Change Act to be the independent authority on tackling climate change. Chris leads a team of analysts and specialists, offering expert insight into the challenges of reducing UK emissions and adapting to the changing climate.

Chris led the CCC’s work in 2019 to recommend a new ‘Net Zero’ target for the UK – now brought into law. He speaks regularly on the transition to a zero carbon economy and the need to confront climate change with urgency.

Chris has wide experience in government. He has designed economic policy in Whitehall, including in HM Treasury and the former Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. He was previously Director of Energy and Climate Change in the Scottish Government, leading the development of the Scottish energy and climate strategies.

George Hay

George Hay is an associate editor in Breakingviews’ London office, covering commodities, the Middle East and general financial policy issues. Prior to that he was Breakingviews’ European Financial Editor, and also worked as a correspondent for AFX News and United Business Media. He has an undergraduate degree from Edinburgh University, a Graduate Diploma in Economics from Birkbeck, University of London, and his work has been recognised at the UK’s Business Journalist of the Year Awards.