| Data Conference 2025 Speakers |
Matt Hemmings | United UtilitiesMatt was appointed as Chief Operating Officer in September 2024. A proficient senior leader, with extensive experience in digital transformation, complex asset management and service excellence. Matt is responsible for operational performance across water, wastewater and bio resources. Prior to joining United Utilities, Matt held principal roles within several sectors consisting of corporate banking, telecoms and housing. Prior to joining United Utilities, he was managing director fibre and network delivery of Openreach, part of the BT Group. He is a former non-executive director at Trafford Housing Trust. 
Matt Hemmings Chief Operating Officer Rebecca Michael | Affinity WaterRebecca Michael is a Senior Data Science Asset Manager within the Asset Strategy department at Affinity Water, where she plays a key role in enhancing the organisation’s asset management through data-driven solutions. She is currently leading the development of a machine learning model for burst prediction at Affinity Water. With a strong background in the water industry, including prior roles at Affinity for Business and Castle Water, Rebecca also brings valuable expertise from her time in software R&D Cloud DevOps at AVEVA. Recognised for her proficiency in delivering automation, data solutions, and comprehensive reporting across various departments, Rebecca also serves as the convenor of British Water's Data and Analytics Focus Group. 
Rebecca Michael Data Science Senior Asset Manager Jill Broom | techUKJill leads the techUK Cyber Resilience programme, having originally joined techUK in October 2020 as a Programme Manager for the Cyber and Central Government programmes. She is responsible for managing techUK's work across the cyber security ecosystem, bringing industry together with key stakeholders across the public and private sectors. Jill also provides the industry secretariat for the Cyber Growth Partnership, the industry and government conduit for supporting the growth of the sector. A key focus of her work is to strengthen the public–private partnership across cyber to support further development of UK cyber security and resilience policy. 
Jill Broom Head of Programme, Cyber Resilience Jens Jensen | Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC)Dr Jens Jensen is acting leader of DAFNI, the Data Analytics Facility for National Infrastructure, which supports infrastructure analysis for resilience and security, and is security architect of the DAFNI support for the CReDo projects. His research interests include connecting countries together to enable global scientific collaborations, architecting data security for research, and defining best practices for trustworthy identity management and scalable authorisation to enable researchers to collaboratively share and analyse data. With a background in mathematics, he also likes to promote scientific software engineering and mathematical methods for data analysis and statistics. 
Jens Jensen Acting Leader of DAFNI Gordon Robinson | Future Water AssociationGordon Robinson has 33 years of experience in the security sector covering all types of electronic and physical security working in the UK, Europe and USA. He has gained over 20 years of experience in the water sector developing and delivering new products for SEMD and other high security programmes. Since 2016 he has looked at the implications of OT cyber security and its impact on Electronic Security systems. Gordon is Chair of the Future Water Associations IT/OT Data and cyber resilience working group, and through the FWA Standards working group he is their representative on BSI IST33/4 - Security and security equipment. He writes FWA monthly cyber news and interface with Government departments and academia for both physical and cyber security. 
Gordon Robinson Chair, IT/OT Data & Cyber Resilience Working Group Zale Johnson | Innovate UKZale Johnson started her career as a forensic researcher and has worked for a number of policing organisations, the Home Office Centre for Applied Science and Technology and the Home Office Commissioning Hub. After gaining 18 years of experience and knowledge within the security and policing environment, Zale took up her role in 2020 with Innovate UK as the UK’s National Contact Point (NCP) for the Horizon Europe’s Civil Security for Society Programme of Work. This sector encompasses several distinct areas such as, fighting crime and terrorism, borders management, protecting critical infrastructure, disaster resilience and increasing cybersecurity. Zale’s main function as an NCP is to engage with a diverse range of security researchers and innovators and provide advice and support to enable their successful participation in Horizon Europe’s funding programme. This facilitates collaborative partnerships that addresses societal global challenges and works towards developing fit for purpose solutions that will contribute to a more safe and secure world for citizens and their communities. 
Zale Johnson National Contact Point & Global Innovation Lead – Security Paul Westrip | OfwatPaul Westrip has 15 years’ experience in data analysis, engagement and training. As the new Open Data and Digitalisation Lead at Ofwat, he is looking to support both the water sector and Ofwat to maximise the benefit of open data and working in the open. He previously spent 6 years working within the NHS as the Service Lead for Open Data at the NHS Business Services Authority, driving the open data agenda and ensuring they were making high quality data publicly available by default so that it can benefit the wider NHS and beyond. Anyone who has worked with Paul knows the passion and enthusiasm he has for data and sharing insight with customers and colleagues. 
Paul Westrip Open Data and Digitalisation Lead Simon Powell | MOSLSimon has over 25 years of IT experience covering diverse technology disciplines including infrastructure, ERP, data security, AI & analytics, IT risk management and applications. Simon joined MOSL, the market operator for the non-household water market, at the end of 2023 and has helped drive a systems modernisation programme and improvements to market wide data. With the deployment of smart metering, MOSL are looking at ways that the market can efficiently manage the huge increase data volumes and the insights that can be derived from them, for the benefit of business customers. 
Simon Powell CIO Jeevan Samuel | Sand TechnologiesAs Sand Technologies' AI Solutions Director, Jeevan Samuel is focused on the development of the Strongford Digital Twin at Severn Trent Water. His previous experience includes a role as a Data/Machine Learning Engineer at Synthesis Software Technologies in Johannesburg developing data platforms for a South African citizen engagement application. He also held a role as an RF/Signal Processing Engineer at Protea Mechatronic Systems developing signal processing solutions for military radio applications and navigation solution engineer for avionic systems at Denel Dynamics. Jeevan holds a masters degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Pretoria and a masters in Data Analytics from the University of Central Florida. 
Jeevan Samuel AI Solutions Director Jim Manekshaw | AVEVAJim Manekshaw Sales Director working for over 20 years helping water and energy utilities to deliver value from their data. Translating data into actionable information to support sustainability, efficiency, cost reduction and continuous improvement across the asset lifecycle. 
Jim Manekshaw Sales Director, UK, Ireland & Netherlands Ruth Clarke | XylemRuth Clarke is a civil engineer with over 25 years’ experience of working with digital solutions within the water industry. Ruth started her career as a consulting engineer undertaking river and coastal modelling studies, but has since been involved in many projects from the delivery of flood and wastewater forecasting platforms, through to smart water and wastewater SaaS solutions. Ruth re-joined Xylem in 2023 as the Head of Digital, UK&I. 
Ruth Clarke Head of Digital, UK&I Melissa Tallack | Northumbrian WaterDuring her 30 plus years in the water sector, Melissa has undertaken a wide range of roles including in operations, scientific, engineering, asset management, change and data and technology resulting in a broad and deep understanding of the sector. This knowledge is proving very helpful now as she turns her attention to the ways in which data can be exploited to achieve better outcomes. She is currently co-leading the very exciting and award-winning Stream initiative alongside Andrew Myers at Northumbrian Water, which is focussed on unlocking water data to realise value for customers, society and the environment. She was recently named in the 2025 Open UK Honours list for her contributions to open data in the UK. 
Melissa Tallack Stream Co-Lead Tracy Britton | StantecTracy is a Technical Director for Advisory Services at Stantec, a leading global design and engineering firm. She leads the company’s community of practice for Digital Services and Innovation. She has more than 17 years of research and consultancy experience in both the water and energy sectors and has supported transformational projects in Australia, Singapore, and South Africa. Specialising in digital technology, Smart Systems, Internet of Things (IoT), Communication Protocols (NB-IoT/LoRa Wan), demand management and end use analytics. Tracy has a particular interest in how to manage end-to-end smart systems, open data environments, removing organisational silos and changing behaviour/working practices. 
Tracy Britton Market Lead for Digital & Innovation Hazel Martindale | STFCDr Hazel Martindale is an experienced data scientist who has worked in data science after completing a degree in physics, and then a PhD in astrophysics at the University of Sussex. Her career started at the Office for National Statistics, applying innovative machine learning methods to improve the ONS’s data analysis of new data sources. In 2022 she joined the Hartree Centre as a lead data scientist, where she has led projects across a range of sectors providing insight to heavy industry, energy and digital twin modelling. She has a particular interest in explainability and ethical AI. She has been involved in Bayesian model development for the CReDO digital twin exploring the complexities of assigning probabilities of failure to asset models. 
Hazel Martindale Lead Data Scientist Peter Hunter | University of StirlingPeter is Professor of the Digital Environment at the University of Stirling and undertakes pioneering research in the rapidly developing field of the ‘digital environment’. Peter’s research exploits new disruptive technologies including satellite observations, ‘internet of things’, wireless sensor networks, artificial intelligence, and supercomputing to transform how we measure and monitor our natural environment and help society to better adapt to the environmental challenges of tomorrow. Peter is also Science Director for the Forth Environmental Resilience Array (Forth-ERA) – a pioneering digital observatory for the Forth Valley region helping to drive innovation in environmental monitoring through the provision of operational and commercial data products and services to public and private sector organisations in the UK and beyond. 
Peter Hunter Science Lead, Forth-ERA James Combrink | Thames WaterBased in South Africa, James Combrink brings a global perspective to tackling water industry challenges and is dedicated to driving innovation and sustainable solutions for the future. Coming from a background in statistics, James now leverages his analytical expertise as Technical Delivery Lead. Most recently he has managed the Unlocking Digital Twins initiative focusing on fostering cross-company collaboration (Thames Water and Severn Trent), and advancing digital twin technology to build resilient water infrastructure. 
James Combrink Technical Delivery Lead Sanjay Neogi | Sand TechnologiesSanjay is an accomplished business leader with three decades of experience in the energy and utilities sector. His unique blend of industry, consulting and IT experience has helped him build a reputation as a digital transformation leader across the UK, US, Europe, Asia, India, Australia and Middle East. He has worked extensively with the UK’s utilities and energy market for the past 20 years. Sanjay’s career has included senior leadership roles in TCS and Capgemini, as well as a Country Head role for Enzen, a boutique energy and utilities-focused organization. 
Sanjay Neogi Managing Director of Utilities Dr Sonja Ostojin | Environmental Monitoring SolutionsDr. Sonja Ostojin is the Head of Innovation at Environmental Monitoring Solutions (EMS), where she leads pioneering projects that use cutting-edge technology to address environmental challenges. Her work focuses on developing solutions such as the CENTAUR® system which uses artificial intelligence to enhance wastewater management by reducing the number and volume of CSO spills, helping to reduce environmental risks, improve outcomes, and alleviate both operational costs and infrastructure strain. Sonja holds a PhD in the development of AI control algorithms to drive energy and cost savings, as well as a Master’s Degree in Automatic Control Systems. Since joining EMS in 2014, she has been instrumental in advancing innovation, collaborating closely with water companies and universities to foster strong partnerships across commercial and technical sectors. Sonja has in-depth knowledge of water infrastructure along with machine learning, hydraulic modelling, data and analytical skills. Her efforts align closely with EMS's commitment to innovation and sustainability, addressing the growing pressures on wastewater infrastructure. 
Dr Sonja Ostojin Head of Innovation Ally Potts | Southern WaterAlly has over 14 years’ experience in the water industry, with an extensive consultancy background where she’s grown her technical and modelling expertise. Ally is the Head of Technical for Southern Water’s Clean Rivers and Seas Task force. This award-winning team is paving the way on storm overflow reduction, using data, innovative engineering and partnership working to implement sustainable solutions within communities. Ally’s intuitive and meticulous nature successfully allows her to capture, analyse and use data to solve tomorrow’s problems. She has an unrelenting passion to encourage companies to digitalise their assets, providing answers on how to optimise and evolve our wastewater systems so they perform to the highest standards. Data exploration can be the difference between long-lasting spill reduction or reverting to the defacto ‘build more’ response. Ally will share her experience using data to tackle one of the industry’s biggest problems. 
Ally Potts Head of Technical - Clean Rivers and Seas Task Force Martin Duff | Atmos InternationalMartin Duff is Atmos International’s Business Development Director, responsible for the water sector. Since graduating in BSc Geography & Environmental Management in 2007 Martin has spent most of his career in the water industry both in the UK and internationally, taking a number of different technologies to market. Martin has focused on a variety of applications including surface water management, industrial and municipal wastewater, pump efficiency and leak detection, using his business development experience to create resilient supply chains that allow the water sector to tackle major challenges such as regulatory compliance, climate change, Net Zero and the energy crisis. 
Martin Duff Business Development Director John Browne | United UtilitiesJohn Browne is United Utilities’ Innovation Programme Manager, where he currently manages delivery programme of transformative projects for one of the largest UK water companies, as well as leading UU’s prestigious Innovation Lab accelerator. With a passion for innovation, John has over 10 years of experience in leading change in the industry, covering water, wastewater and bioresources and before that in the Rail and Infrastructure sectors. Since graduating in Civil & Environmental Engineering in 2007, John has built on his experience across design and construction in some of the most prominent industry organisations, which he now devotes to supporting complex change at the cutting edge of technology. 
John Browne Innovation Programme Manager Andrew Davey | APEM GroupAndy is an environmental statistician with 20 year’s research and consultancy experience in analysing environmental monitoring data to address water resources, water quality, and catchment management challenges. With an academic background in freshwater ecology, he currently leads the Data Science team within APEM’s Water & Land business, which specialises in developing predictive models to help assess, diagnose and mitigate impacts on the aquatic environment. As a Chartered Scientist and Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, Andy is passionate about using high quality, reproducible research to help organisations across the water, energy and environment sectors work with data more productively and take data-driven decisions that save money, reduce risk and achieve compliance. 
Andrew Davey Associate Director Louisa Davis | Severn Trent WaterLouisa Davis is a hydroecologist who works in water resources with a focus on balancing the needs of the environment and public water supply. Louisa has worked with Severn Trent Water for 8 years. Prior to working with Severn Trent she worked in Australia, within the public and university sectors. 
Louisa Davis Environmental Destination Principal Analyst |
