Eamonn Boylan was appointed Chief Executive of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority in January 2017. Prior to that he was Chief Executive of Stockport MBC from 2011. While at Stockport Eamonn led the Council’s £1 billion programme of investment in infrastructure and town centre regeneration.

Previous roles include Deputy Chief Executive of both the Homes and Communities Agency (responsible for all national regeneration programmes) and Manchester City Council where he led the Regeneration Division and helped shape Strategic Regeneration programmes across the City.

As the Chief Executive of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Eamonn chairs the Greater Manchester Wider Leadership Team and has responsibility for Policy & Strategy and a wide range of Greater Manchester services including Fire and Rescue, Waste, Transport, Economic Development and Planning. He also is jointly accountable for the Greater Manchester Strategic Plan for the transformation of Health and Social Care.

Michelle is a chartered civil engineer and experienced management professional, with over 30 years in the water industry. Her key areas of expertise include strategic business planning and asset management, performance monitoring, and technical and regulatory governance.

Michelle joined the Water Industry Commission for Scotland in 2017 as Chief Operating Officer and brings the experience of working within regulated companies to the practice of the economic regulator. By drawing on her extensive communication skills and expertise in collaborative working, she works with the water sector stakeholders in Scotland to promote Ethical Business Practice and Regulation and develop the trust and confidence necessary for the sector to operate moving forward. She also holds the role of technical expert in the Commission, supporting the understanding of performance and investment by Scottish Water to address the long-term challenges of climate change, growth and customer expectations.

Before joining WICS, Michelle was the Head of Network Asset Planning at Bristol Water and prior to this, was seconded from PA Consulting into Ofwat as the Programme Director for the Retail Market Opening Programme. Michelle previously worked for Black & Veatch, leading on several strategic business and asset planning assignments.

Michelle recently completed both the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program and the FT Non-Executive Diploma and sits on the Audit and Risk Committee of the Scottish Land Commission.

Nick is an experienced Chartered Civil Engineer and Hydrologist with an MSc in Hydrology for Environmental Management and an MBA. He is a qualified and skilled project and programme manager in both the commercial and public sector. He has spent most of his professional career and a significant part of his academic studies focusing on all elements of the water cycle, including water and wastewater projects both in the UK and abroad. He has over 25 years’ experience in engineering and environmental consultancy focusing on water related specialisms as part of multi-disciplinary teams or leading technical projects involving flood risk, water resources, hydrogeology, hydrology, water quality and various aspects of environmental risk. Nick enjoyed a period working as the Head of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation at an international NGO focusing on sustainable development initiatives for long-term community-based projects across the southern hemisphere. He has worked in the Environment Agency in a variety of management roles covering major flood risk management scheme design and delivery to strategic studies considering long term environmental initiatives under the Water Framework Directive and catchment-based flood risk policy. Prior to joining the Inspectorate he has worked with the economic regulator Ofwat, in a number of roles including the Head of Climate Change and Water Quality and latterly covering environmental work streams for water quality, climate change and focusing on water industry asset infrastructure resilience.

Iain Coucher became Chair on 1 July 2022, having previously held a number of senior executive roles, including that of Chief Executive at the Atomic Weapons Establishment and Network Rail. He has also been a non-executive director for Cadent Gas plc and a Board Member for the Rail Safety and Standards Board.

He is currently a senior adviser at HIG Capital, a leading global investment fund, as well as a Trustee of the British Trust for Ornithology

John is the Executive Director of Environment and Business, taking on the role in October 2022. John joined the Environment Agency in 2012. He has worked in a variety of roles in the EA including:

• Area Director (GMMC)

• Chief of Staff

• E&B Director in Water, Land and Biodiversity

Prior to the joining the Environment Agency, John had an extensive career in retail working in the technology and telecommunications industries for Deutsche Telekom, Orange, and EE where he was UK Head of Retail Sales and Services. Between his career in Retail and the Environment Agency, John started an artisan bread-making business and founded a food charity to provide fresh bread to local Food Banks.

Martin Woolhead is Deputy Director for Water Services at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Previously, Martin was Deputy Director for Transformation, leading organisational change in the Department, and prior to that Deputy Director for Food for the Vulnerable. In this role Martin lead the programme that delivered 4.8 million food parcels to the most vulnerable in society, shielding due to their increased risk relating to Covid-19.

Martin joined Defra in 2012 and has worked in roles spanning private office, international trade, negotiation (international and commercial), large-scale procurement and contract management, crisis management and contingency planning, legislation and Parliamentary handling, and policy development across the Defra brief.

David Elliott has over 30 years’ experience in the Utilities, primarily the water industry, at all levels including 10 years as an executive Director at Wessex Water. He is a systems thinker with particular experience in how markets, through the use of digital business models, can encourage better system design. He also specialises in how natural capital can contribute to some of our societal and environmental issues today, and how customers, as prosumers can contribute to better outcomes. Before joining Indepen he worked as Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer, at Wessex Water helping them migrate to a modern and agile water service provider based upon an open-system model enabling Wessex to deliver greater customer and environmental value.He has experience with a number of start-ups, including founding EnTrade, an exciting on-line trading platform for environmental services that enables businesses to collaborate on investments to improve environmental and societal outcomes. He acquired for Wessex Water and served as Non-executive Director at Flipper, an energy auto-switching platform and Albion Water – an independent water and sewerage services provider for new housing developments.

Shaun is a British Water International Business Mentor, and led the British Water Supply Chain Task Force initiative. Having graduated as a Environmental Engineer, he has gained over 25 years’ experience working in the water industry in the UK and Ireland within the consultancy, contracting and supply chain sectors. Shaun is currently General Manager of EPS Water, a provider of water and wastewater treatment products and services, focusing on growth strategy, business development, supplier relationships and continuous improvement. He is Chair of the Hampshire Water Hub and a committed football and rugby coach.

Sally has a strategic role in Mott MacDonald leading on Technical Excellence, Innovation and Digital for our 1000+ people in our UK water, environment and social business. Prior to this she was the Global Leader for Mott MacDonald’s Water Resources Practice. Mott MacDonald has supported the development of Spring, the new UK water sector innovation accelerator, and Sally is a member of the strategic advisory panel.

Sally has a diverse background with over 30 years’ experience across consultancy, academia and the water industry covering groundwater and water resources, including groundwater modelling, company and regional water resources planning and the impacts of climate change. She has a particular interest in collaborative approaches to water planning, bringing in multi-sector interests and adopting a systems approach to consider wider benefits.

Mott MacDonald is a global engineering, management and development consultancy. It was the first in its class to be independently certified as carbon neutral, globally and also holds a British Standard kitemark for Innovation Management.

Monisha Gower joined Northumbrian Water Group in May as the new Assets Director. She brings a wealth of experience delivering Capital Programmes and Asset Management from the Energy sector spanning the last 13 years.

In 2009, Monisha joined National Grid Electricity Transmission Construction delivering major infrastructure projects and programmes of work, culminating as Senior Project Manager for the South West region. Monisha moved to Cadent Gas in 2016 and held a number of senior management positions, most recently as Head of Investment Planning for the Eastern Network, Cadent’s largest regulatory network, accountable for Asset Management & Investment (£1.2b across RIIO2), Design, Delivery for two thirds of regulatory capital plan, Project Controls and Asset Data.

Prior to that, Monisha worked in IT Project Management, delivering enterprise server fulfilment projects, laptop and desktop deployments working with major players including Hewlett Packard, Dell and Fujitsu-Siemens.

Monisha has a Master’s Degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering, following a Batchelor of Engineering Degree in the same discipline. She is a Member of the Association of Project Managers (MAPM), certified PM Practitioner (IPMA Level C), and Member of Institution of Engineering & Technology (MIET).

Monisha was a Finalist in the 2021 Top 50 Women in Engineering: Engineering Heroes. She strives to encourage Women in Engineering, Inclusion & Diversity stretching from Client Utility organisations and right into the supply chain to stimulate the market. She is passionate about shaping the next generation of leaders, and is a mentor and Board member of Future Leaders Mentoring.

Sarah is responsible for Skanska’s work in the water and environment sectors. With some 15 years’ industry experience, she has extensive sector knowledge and expertise, together with an MSc in Major Programme Management from the University of Oxford.

Having started her career with Anglian Water and Thames Water, Sarah joined Skanska in 2013, spending five years as Project Director. Following two years with Laing O’Rourke in strategic level corporate roles, Sarah re-joined Skanska in 2023 as Operations Director.

Today, Sarah leads Skanska’s work for Anglian Water via the @OneAlliance, an industry leading collaborative relationship that has been a trailblazer for reducing cost and carbon. She also takes the strategic lead for further strengthening Skanska’s presence in the water and environment sectors.

Richard was appointed Group Chief Engineering Director on 1 September 2022, having joined Bristol Water in February 2018.

Richard is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and Institute of Water. He has over 30 years’ experience engineering, constructing and operating water and wastewater infrastructure, having previously held senior roles at other water companies.

Richard was instrumental in the transformation of Bristol Water as Chief Operating Officer. He is passionate about safety and customer excellence embedding leading practices whilst transforming operating and delivery functions.

Richard is also a director of Pelican, a joint venture, providing combined billing services to Bristol Water and Wessex Water customers.

Andrew’s experience is built upon a construction delivery background working for a contractor followed by several years in Hong Kong delivering extensive hinterland infrastructure projects to a fixed deadline in a highly contractual environment. Andrew then led delivery of UU’s £800m wastewater treatment and biosolids programme from which Andrew went on to start up and lead a UK Joint Venture design and build construction company delivering wastewater process and networks projects for Yorkshire Water. He has since led delivery of several transformation programmes. Most recently Andrew has been working with Water UK and England and Wales Water and Sewerage Companies to analyse deliverability of their PR24 / AMP8 investment programmes using experience gained across several sectors and investment periods over the last 35 years.

John has worked in engineering and water for over 30 years and joined GHD in 2014 as their Business Development Director. He now leads their UK water strategy, including AMP8 approach, and is a regular contributor to British Water initiatives.

In the past, he spent time with construction companies DCT Civil Engineering and Barhale, and with Severn Trent Water. He has been active participant on the ICE Water Expert Panel.

Tania Flasck is the Managing Director of Utilities at ExploreAI. She has had a range of experiences at senior Director level in consulting and water companies including Head of Water Networks for Thames Valley at Thames Water and interim Director of People at Affinity Water. She also serves as Chair of Waterwise, the leading authority on water efficiency in the UK. An environmental professional with over 30 years’ experience predominantly in the water sector, she has worked all over the world in operations as well as bringing strategy and projects to life. Tania’s formative years were spent as a consultant commissioning and operating water & wastewater treatment facilities in the UK / USA, subsequently progressing into a variety of leadership roles as Director and VP. She is passionate about the world of water and leading inclusive teams to drive positive outcomes for communities and customers.

Garie is a transformation professional with over 25 years of experience in IT and business-facing roles. He is currently the product owner for the delivery of a leading-edge digital twin and regional SCADA solution for the UK Water Utility Industry. His key skills and achievements include:

• Developing digital transformation strategies at a pan-European level

• Working with multiple UK water organisations to influence their strategy around asset data management;

• Designing an innovative and award-winning digital twin project for a key strategic pipeline for water transmission, which will make the East of England resilient to the risks of drought and secure water supplies for future generations.

Garie is passionate about using data and technology in conjunction with cultural and behavioural changes to improve the performance and sustainability of the water industry. He believes that the effective use of data will unlock significant value by enabling improved insights and better decisions.

Saffron Grant is an experienced Civil Engineer who, during her twenty-five years in the construction industry, has worked for Contractors, Designers and Clients. She is the founder of Setting Out for Construction (SOFC), a construction training company specialising in practical training for site engineers, and Founder and Director of Digital Construction Skills, who support SME and micro construction companies with digital adoption. She is actively involved in a wide range of construction and tech sector working and steering groups including SDS Digital Economy Skills Group and the ILG for Skills and Workforce Future Skills Group. She has also recently been involved in other groups including Digital Transformation for Construction SMEs, Building Standards Division Digital Strategy, Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan and Digital Economy Skills Action Plan consultation groups. She is passionate about mentoring and supporting engineers, young people and business owners and leaders to help them achieve their full potential.

Soumeya Madani is a chartered engineer with more than 16 years’ experience working across multiple industries in the UK. She started her career in the Oil and Gas Industry and is now working in the Water Industry with Xylem Water Solutions UK.

Soumeya’s background in control and instrumentation and her career working for different system vendors and engineering contractors provides her with a well-rounded outlook on delivering mega projects and supporting clients around the world meeting their commitments and KPIs.

As part of the sales team of Xylem Water Solutions UK, Soumeya is supporting water utilities in UK and Ireland advancing and optimising their processes along with meeting their emissions and sustainability targets.

Chris works with communities and clients across the UK and internationally to develop and implement ways in which we can continually improve how we manage water in an integrated way.

Over the last 25 years he has focused on reducing the impacts of storm overflows on rivers and seas, developed new ways to manage surface water and reduce flooding, while supporting stakeholders form successful partnerships to achieve multiple outcomes. Chris has developed multiple industry guidance documents for CIRIA, CIWEM and UKWIR, related to the management of surface water, the application of nature-based solutions (NbS), and the evaluation of the wider benefits of NbS.

He is a Visiting Professor at the University of Sheffield, a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management.

Sarah is the Strategic Catchment Planning Manager at United Utilities. In this role she has led on developing United Utilities’ largest ever Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) as well as driving enhanced partnership working through greater strategic alignment with key partners.

This has included the exciting developments in Greater Manchester where her team are working with the Combined Authority and Environment Agency on an Integrated Water Management Plan for the city region. Other areas of focus include breaking down barriers to increased use of nature based solutions and driving a Catchment Systems Thinking approach.

After gaining and degree in Environmental Science from Sheffield University and an MSc in Pollution and Environmental Control, Sarah has largely worked in the water industry across a range of areas from environmental regulation to asset management and strategic roles.

Rich Evans - Regional Network Monitoring Manager at Wessex Water. Created and manages the Sewerage Network Monitoring Team. The primary focus of the team is proactive identification of issues to reduce pollutions and their impacts.

Yvonne Ryan is a Smart Metering Strategy Manager at United Utilities Water, a leadership role responsible for setting the direction and influencing the business plan and investment requirements for water smart metering. She previously worked on Thames Water’s smart metering programme for five years developing and rolling out an industry leading product and service offering, working with customers, strategic suppliers and key stakeholders in her role as Metering Technology Development Manager. Prior to that, Yvonne had a key role in the end to end design, development and delivery of hardware and firmware for SSE’s (Scottish & Southern Energy) multi-billion pound energy smart metering programme, appointing and working with key delivery partners to bring products to market.

In May 2022, Carly commenced her role as the first Managing Director of the UK water innovation centre of excellence, Spring. She brings 15 years of experience into her role having led water teams as a management consultant in Sia Partners and PA Consulting. Her experience spans across regulation, strategy and innovation with an extensive and broad background, working with water companies to deliver Price Review programmes, transform performance and work through the barriers of technology and innovation adoption.

Carly is highly experienced in cross sector collaborations, working with supply chain and academia to explore future business models and she has also led the UK water sector to design an Open Data Strategy. She brings a huge amount of passion for collaborative working and solving the sectors big challenges.

Alison is the Jacobs Framework Manager for the Strategic Technical Partner Framework with Northumbrian Water which was appointed in spring 2023. She is currently working closely with Northumbrian Water on their exciting AMP8 Transformation.

Alison is a Chartered Water and Environmental Manager, Scientist and Environmentalist. Her career spans 14 years, and it began in SEPA’s Flood Risk Science Trainee programme which was set up by the Scottish Government to plug the skills gap in sustainable flood risk management. Following this, Alison joined Jacobs as a fluvial geomorphologist where she has led catchment river restoration and infrastructure removal projects. Whilst seconded into a utilities company, she pioneered the development of a risk-based sustainable approach to river and asset management.

As well as her environmental background, Alison spent time as a Global Integrated Delivery Manager and brought people together from all different backgrounds, countries, and cultures to deliver projects for UK clients. Cultural awareness was key to unlocking the potential in these diverse global teams. Alison learned then that people from different cultures view problems differently and think about risk differently. These observations have led Alison to believe that inclusion and diversity in our industry is not just the right thing to do by society but will likely be the key to unlocking solutions to the unprecedented challenges we face today.

Clement is a Panel Engineer with a professional background in Civil Engineering and Environmental Assessment & Management. He has over 18 years’ experience in the reservoir management and flood risk sectors delivering £multi-million projects in both sectors. He is currently supervising five Statutory Reservoirs and overseeing the inspection of over a hundred reservoirs amongst other related water quality obligations.

“The most enjoyable aspect of my profession is solving engineering problems using innovative solutions and of course, visiting assets located in scenic environments. I am passionate in career development and my goal is to bring more BAME members into the water/reservoir sectors as I believe this will better reflect the communities we serve. I live in Hertfordshire with my wife and two kids. We love travelling to new places and cycling.”

With over thirty years of working in the water industry, Jon now independently advises, supports and challenge supply chain, academia and industry in the water, waste and sustainability sectors.

His specialism is in “innovation”, the practical, commercial, technical and cultural variables of discovering and implementing change.

Jon nurtures a network of influencers and thinkers to help inform and lead change in water and related industries. Jon has played an integral and influential role in national innovation initiatives, often speaking in support, and in challenge, of water company strategy and performance, the role of the regulators and mainstream consultants.

Henry is an experienced environmentalist and sustainability professional with an in-depth understanding of the UK water industry having worked at both Thames Water and Southern Water before joining T&T as an SME in their Utilities team.

Mark Lloyd read Geography at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford and then completed a Masters in Environmental Water Management at Cranfield. He founded Thames21 in 1994, a charity cleaning up London’s rivers, which he led for 11 years. He has since been CEO of a number of angling and conservation organisations before taking up his current role in 2019 as Chief Executive of The Rivers Trust, the umbrella body for the rivers trust movement which comprises 60 independent charities in the UK and Ireland, employing over 450 staff. Rivers Trusts work in partnership to restore wild, healthy, natural rivers, valued by all.

Mark Froggatt, Chief Engineer with Anglian Water. Mark has over 34 years’ experience within the water industry working with most, if not all, of the UK providers Mark also has experience within Power Generation, Petro-Chem, Nuclear arenas and has been fortunate enough to have worked in many varied palaces around the world. However, his last 14 years have been solely within Anglian Water as Head of Engineering for the @one alliance before taking the role of Chief Engineer with Anglian Water. Mark’s passion is sustainable solutions coupled with a productised approach to delivery and creating an engineering workforce ready for future challenges.

Andy has more than 10 years’ of experience working in and within the water and environment sector. After joining WRc in 2018 as head of asset management, he was later appointed as commercial director, responsible for the organisation’s strategic growth, and soon saw WRc deliver its strongest trading performance for the past 10 years. During this period, Andy has also worked for HM Government as a water specialist for the Department of International Trade, working across the globe to promote the strengths and capabilities of the UK water sector.

In addition, Andy is a member of the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management and qualified by the Chartered Institute of Leadership Management. He is Chairman of the International Forum for British Water, where he represents the views of the UK supply chain. Andy is also a Non-Executive Director of Waterwise, an NGO committed to encouraging the efficient use of water.