Meet the judges for the 2022 Blue Patch Sustainability Awards. Our panelists have experience across many sectors; business, sustainability, event management, non-profit, retail and renewables! Let’s introduce you…
Zoisa North-Bond
Epitomising the agile leadership that is synonymous with disruptive businesses, Zoisa North-Bond is CEO of both the generation and the business retail arms of Octopus Energy – the ‘EnTech’ pioneer.
North-Bond leads Octopus Energy Generation, which is on a mission to create an abundance of cheap, green energy for people around the world. Its 3GW portfolio of renewable energy projects (including wind, solar and offshore wind) represent £5bn of investment across 11 countries.
Her team is behind Octopus Energy’s ‘Fan Club’, a world-first local energy tariff providing cheaper, greener energy to customers living near local wind turbines when the wind blows. This has created huge demand from thousands of communities. Through North-Bond’s work at Octopus Energy for Business, the team supplies companies with 100% renewable and fairly priced power. Zoisa’s team has accrued 45,000 customers, from SMEs to large organisations such as the Emirates Stadium for Arsenal FC. Her team also created Electric Universe, one of the world’s largest ‘virtual’ electric vehicle charging networks, making EV charging simple by having just one card, app and map connected to over 310,000 chargers.
Before joining Octopus Energy, Zoisa was the UK CEO of the Dutch Utility, Eneco, helping grow their UK renewable asset portfolio of 250MW+ of wind and solar projects, including a project with Honda UK Manufacturing Ltd.
Hussein Allawi
Hussein Allawi is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Frontier Events, a leading events and exhibitions company focused on sustainability and impact. Hussein has been involved in the organisation of events for over 10 years, and has developed event brands with established audiences, held in multiple locations around the world. Prior to founding Frontier Events, Hussein was the Managing Director of Symexco, an international consultancy and events company. Hussein has a BA in Modern Language Studies from the University of Nottingham and an MA with Distinction in International Studies and Diplomacy from the School of Oriental and African Studies. He is an Approved Person with the UK Financial Conduct Authority and is authorised to relay investment advice to clients.
Sam Fisher
Decorex Event Director Sam Fisher has been a key player in the design and events industry for over 18 years. She has been part of the Decorex leadership team since UBM (now Informa) acquired it 15 years ago and has been Event Director for the past three years. Her creative vision drives the content of the show in relation to both the exhibiting brands and designer installations, which bring together international leaders in the interior design world year on year. Sam’s strong relationships with the exhibitors and designers have also helped to create thought-provoking content alongside sourcing over 75 speakers for Decorex’s annual educational seminar programme. Sam and the Decorex team ensure each annual edition brings together the most exceptional people, products and businesses.
Saul Leese
Saul recently launched The Sustainability Show, the UK’s first sustainable consumer event covering fashion, design, home and lifestyles, in October 2022. He has also headed up marketing on Interiors UK, Decorex, 100% Design, Clerkenwell Design Week and Ascential’s retail portfolio Spring and Autumn Fair, Pure and Glee. Saul also launched Design Shanghai receiving widespread acclaim across the international event and design industry. Saul has judged a number of design events in the past including New Designers and the UK Design Awards.
Harriet Spita
Harriet Spita is the Retail Manager at We The Curious a science and arts centre and educational charity in Bristol, England. It features over 250 interactive exhibits over two floors, and members of the public and school groups can also engage with the Live Science Team over programming in the kitchen, studio and on live lab. Harriet is responsible for shop procurement, sales and management. Since taking on the role, she has launched an online shop & relaunched a branded range. Harriet is passionate about sustainability, diversity and inclusion and demonstrates this through her approach to product purchasing. She has a degree in Environmental Sustainability Studies with a concentration in Equity & Environmental Justice.
Holly Langley Sutton
Holly is a student at SOAS studying for her masters in Migration and Refugee Studies. Alongside her studies she’s an education inclusion officer at BackUp a charity that for over 30 years, has helped people and their families to rebuild their independence after a devastating spinal cord injury. Holly is researching how the green economy can be more just and inclusive based on models presented by regenerative natural systems.
Zoe Yu Tung Law
Zoe is the Co-Founder of New Wave Biotech, building integrated solutions to unleashing biotech innovation from lab to market for a greener and fairer future. Supported by the Carbon13 Venture Builder programme, the company has a goal to reduce CO2 emission by over 10 million tonnes per year.
Prior to New Wave Biotech, Zoe also founded Sourcery, an Online Wholesale Marketplace for Sustainable Consumer Products, and co-founded CoVis, an app using location and public data to predict individual COVID risk and immunity that won the MIT COVID Challenge.
Before entering entrepreneurship, she spent 10 years launching new products and services for Fortune 500 companies and startups. With a focus on applying emerging technologies to develop innovative ventures, her work spans a wide range of industries including healthcare, tech, finance, consumer and energy sectors.
Beyond her work, Zoe also supports the startup community through training, coaching to entrepreneurs via organisations such as The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network (TERN), Hatch Enterprise, Hyper Island City University and Kingston University.
Matthew Clayton
Matthew is the Managing Director of Thrive Renewables (formerly Triodos Renewables). Since 2006 he has undertaken the overall full time management of Thrive Renewables Plc. In this time Matthew has contributed to 15-fold growth in the Company. Prior to joining Triodos Bank, Matthew was part of a small team which established Camco International, one of the world’s leading carbon trading companies, focusing on supporting sustainable energy projects via the Kyoto framework.
Claire Humphreys
Claire heads up Naturesave, the UK’s leading ethical insurance broker and has over a decade of insurance experience. Claire took on her latest role when Naturesave became part of the Benefact Group, an international group of financial services businesses, that gives all available profits to charities and good causes. Claire’s experience covers all aspects of insurance; however her passion is for renewable energy and for promoting industry ethics. Claire is an accomplished piano player and still enjoys teaching when time allows.
Supported by our Patrons
Thrive Renewables and Naturesave support the Blue Patch Sustainability Awards and the LET’S DO NET ZER0 training programme which helps SMEs and micro-enterprises to audit and reduce carbon emissions in order to meet net zero requirements.
For past winners please have a read.
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