Rachel Kyte was appointed UK Special Representative for Climate on 21 October 2024. She is Professor of Practice in Climate Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford and dean emerita of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Rachel was previously Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and CEO of Sustainable Energy for All. She has also served as World Bank Group Vice President and Special Envoy for Climate Change, as well as Vice President for Sustainable Development at the World Bank, and for Business Advisory Services at the International Finance Corporation. Rachel has held non-executive director, trustee and board member roles with a number of private and public financial institutions, as well as non-profit organisations, focused on climate and development.

Dr Martin Reeves has been Chief Executive of Oxfordshire County Council since March 2023. He has a PhD in applied economics, an Honorary Doctorate from Coventry University in recognition of his service and commitment to the City of Coventry and is the first Honorary President of LARIA (Local Area Research and Intelligence Association) and is the current Local Government Association National Procurement Champion.

Marjorie was appointed Lord-Lieutenant on 1 October 2021. She is the founder and chief executive of an Oxfordshire-based clean energy company which develops private/public partnerships that combine renewable energy projects and community hubs. Her firm also undertakes key environmental work for the restoration of peatlands across the UK. Alongside this work, she has taken on voluntary leadership roles in Oxfordshire, leading her town’s efforts to develop a new £2.5m community centre to create a new library, sports hall, café and community space. The centre opened in 2017. In recognition of this work and other community services Mrs Glasgow was awarded the British Empire Medal by Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in the 2019 New Years Honours List. As Lord-Lieutenant, Mrs Glasgow leads a team of 40 exceptional Deputy Lieutenants to connect across Oxfordshire and support HM The King’s primary interests of Community, Climate, Culture, and the Commonwealth. She is a member of the Ditchley Foundation Council of Governors, an active member of her local church, and her interests include running, equestrian sport and the natural environment. Mrs Glasgow is a graduate of Stanford University. She was born in the US, but now has dual citizenship and lives in Charlbury with her husband, Dine. They have two adult children.

Philip Campbell is the Commercial Director at MEPC, where he oversees the management of Milton Park, a dynamic science and technology community, home to over 270 companies. With over 25 years of experience in commercial real estate and as a Chartered Surveyor, Philip has been instrumental in shaping Milton Park’s 2040 vision, LDO, promoting sustainable travel, building long term relationships with occupiers and partnerships with many organisations in Oxfordshire, alongside being involved with Didcot First and the Didcot Powerhouse Fund. He serves as one of three external members on Oxford University's Strategic Capital Steering Group and is a long-term Oxfordshire resident.

Stephen is an energy consultant and chartered town planner with over two decades of experience in sustainable and low carbon infrastructure and urban development. He is Arup’s Urban Energy and Integrated Energy Systems Business Leader. Stephen is a UK heat network industry leader with experience across the value chain and across central government, local government, developers and industry. He has extensive experience working with national and local governments on local area low carbon energy planning. He has led Local Area Energy Plans and strategies for local authorities across England and Wales. Stephen has also worked across eastern Europe, the Balkans and central Asia on a variety of sustainable development and energy infrastructure projects.

Matthew is a Technical Director in AECOM's London Planning Policy Team, leading growth and infrastructure planning work in the South East, addressing the challenges and harnessing the opportunities of regional and sub regional growth. Matthew has led a number of significant regional Infrastructure planning projects in the UK including Growth and Infrastructure Frameworks for Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Essex, Hertfordshire, WECA and Oxfordshire, through the first and now the current Oxfordshire Infrastructure Strategy (OXIS). These have prioritised and supported significant strategic infrastructure investment in the south East of England. He also works with a number of public and private sector clients to advise on the appropriate infrastructure delivery solutions to support large scale masterplans and planning applications. Matthew has led the development of nationally significant strategic planning studies for Central Government including work for MHCLG on the Ox-Cam-Arc New and Expanded Settlements Programme and for Homes England and the Thames Estuary Growth Board on the Thames Estuary 2050 Growth Study.

Hannah Battye is a dynamic and highly motivated leader with over two decades of robust experience in transport, strategic planning, infrastructure delivery, and organizational change management. Currently serving as the Head of Place Shaping at Oxfordshire County Council, Hannah leads a team of 100 staff, overseeing strategic planning, infrastructure planning place planning, transport planning, and healthy place shaping. Her innovative and logical approach has been instrumental in restructuring services to align with Council priorities and key improvement areas. Her work in strategic planning is core to tackling some of the infrastructure issues in the County including transport, energy and regeneration. Hannah champions social value projects and her teams are changing tradition engagement approaches in places, rolling out co-production of schemes with communities. Hannah has been championing the climate agenda at Oxfordshire looking to implement PAS2080 and climate resilience. She currently leads on the Electric Vehicle charge point roll out across the County. Prior to her current role, Hannah served as the Head of Infrastructure Delivery at Oxfordshire County Council, where she managed a £500m+ program, leading a team of over 40 staff, consultants, and contractors. Her expertise in negotiating complex agreements with national funding bodies and managing key stakeholders has been pivotal in the successful delivery of numerous infrastructure projects.

Roli is Managing Director and Head of Finance at Global City Futures, with more than 20 years’ experience in professional practice. His work focuses on building investable business models that deliver on sustainable housing, decarbonisation, NHS and community infrastructure. Roli also previously led the renewable energy advisory practice for one of the Big 4 and was the lead facilitator for the firm-wide UK HM Treasury Green Book Standard training course. Roli specialises in attracting private sector investment for renewable infrastructure, making strategic approaches to government to secure funding, and demonstrating the economic value of infrastructure projects.

Helen has over 25 years’ experience gained within economic development, tourism, inward investment, and strategy and programme development, across the public and private sectors. Helen is responsible for building and managing relationships with a wide range of partners, stakeholders, and government to develop strategies and policies and oversee the effective implementation of these through the development and management of programmes to drive investment, innovation, and sustainable economic growth within Oxfordshire. Helen has responsibility for Strategy, Programmes, Communications, and the Inward Invest service that includes Oxford Calling.

Phoebe focuses on the UK’s implementation of nature markets, including voluntary carbon and Biodiversity Net Gain. She leads market engagement to identify the solutions and enabling market conditions that allow projects to access private finance. This culminated in the launch of the Investment Readiness Toolkit and the Farmers’ Toolkit for Assessing Nature Market Opportunities. Alongside this work, she is an advisor and assessor to the Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund (NEIRF) in England and the Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland (FIRNS).

Justin also acts as the finance lead for the Department of Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ) Local Net Zero Accelerator Pilots supporting Greater Manchester, West Midlands and York and North Yorkshire Combined Authorities. Justin has an extensive background in investment banking (capital markets and hedging infrastructure finance), education management, curriculum development, consultancy, social enterprise, and sector specialisms in renewable energy and environmental goods & services.

Professor Rajat Gupta is Director of the multidisciplinary Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development (OISD) and leads the Low Carbon Building Research Group at Oxford Brookes University, where he holds a senior professorial chair in Sustainable Architecture and Climate Change. His research focuses on achieving net-zero emissions through local energy solutions, decarbonising buildings using smart energy systems and addressing overheating risks in vulnerable settings. He is currently Principal Investigator of the recently launched £7.4 million UKRI/NIHR-funded National Research Hub on Net Zero, Health and Extreme Heat (HEARTH). Professor Gupta has served as an ad hoc member of DEFRA’s Air Quality Expert Group, and is currently advising the Ministry of Justice on retrofit strategies to mitigate overheating across the prison estate. As a Director of the international Passive and Low Energy Architecture (PLEA) network and a member of British Standards Institution (BSI) committees, he plays an active role in shaping international discourse and technical standards on sustainable and climate-resilient buildings.

Louise Wilson is a co-founder and joint MD of Abundance, the purpose-led FCA-regulated retail investment platform, that has well over a decade’s experience increasing the accessibility of high impact investment to individuals to address climate emergency in a more just way. Abundance has raised £135m for sustainable businesses, and now over £10m for councils as a way to build networks of trust between councils and residents in support of council climate emergency plans. Our municipal lending product draws inspiration from the past when councils borrowing from residents and citizens was a regular occurrence, and from the US where ‘munibonds’ fund two thirds of all public infrastructure. Before Abundance, Louise was Head of Equity Capital Markets at UBS Investment Bank. Louise is on the Advisory Board of Imperial College’s Centre for Climate Finance & Investment; and of Stratiphy, a start-up which is focused on giving access to institutional investing tools to retail investors, with a sustainable objective; and is a Senior Advisor to Earth Security which is focused on the business case for nature and driving global capital to nature-based solutions. She has a Bachelor of Laws with Honours from the University of Edinburgh.

Paul Watkiss is the director of a small climate research consultancy company in the UK. He has over 25 years of experience in the policy, economics and financing of climate adaptation. He led the economic analysis of adaptation in the UK CCRA3 and work on the barriers to adaptation finance for the Climate Change Committee. His current work includes the development of resource mobilisation strategies, adaptation investment plans and bankable projects, at both the national and regional level. He is the lead author of the UNEP Adaptation Finance Gap report.

Katie Spooner has led Green Finance at the Environment Agency for the last 6 years, supporting the development of mechanisms for private sector investment in climate and nature. This has included co-chairing the Transition Planning Taskforce working group on Adaptation and acting at a member of Green Taxonomy Advisory group. Katie and her team have worked to ensure that private finance delivers for environmental outcomes and unlocks new investment opportunities for sustainable growth.

Matt manages the Oxfordshire Local Nature Partnership, where partners from a broad range of sectors work together to radically enhance nature, its positive impact on the climate and the priority its given, helping to make Oxfordshire a place where people and nature thrive. Matt has a particular interest in supporting groups of landowners to access private nature markets, delivering landscape resilience as part of their farm businesses. He has recently set up an All Party Parliamentary Group in Westminster to advocate for local nature recovery.

Placi has over 25 years’ experience in the consulting world, with a robust commercial acumen, funding intelligence and a passion for developing new and exciting innovation ecosystems. She has a wealth of experience in supporting SMEs and helping businesses identify and capitalize on sustainable opportunities.  She is also a TEDx Speaker, a natural connector and champion of collaborations. She is driven by the opportunity to support sustainable economic growth whilst enhancing the environment in her role as Place and Ecosystems Manager.

Barbara is CEO of the Low Carbon Hub, Executive Director and sits on the Audit Committee, Nomination and Governance Committee and Remuneration Committee. Founder and CEO of Low Carbon Hub since 2012, she drives the sustainability initiatives, pioneering community energy and leading Low Carbon Hub. From 2000 until 2010, Dr Barbara Hammond was in Government, heading up the UK’s renewable energy programme and then, as International Director for Sir David King, supporting him on international climate change policy influencing. Since 2008 Barbara has been involved in starting up community energy businesses in her own neighbourhood, as Director of Osney Lock Hydro and West Oxfordshire Community Renewables. Then in 2011, she founded the Low Carbon Hub. Not only has Barbara led the Low Carbon Hub in its development of a significant portfolio of renewable energy projects, she has also led on developing critical relationships with many partner organisations that are fundamental to the Hub’s continuing success. Justin has an extensive background in investment banking (capital markets and hedging infrastructure finance), education management, curriculum development, consultancy, social enterprise, and sector specialisms in renewable energy and environmental goods & services.

Tim Coates is a 3rd generation farmer - currently in an aggressive regenerative transition. He is a Director of the North East Cotswold Farmer Cluster community interest company, England’s largest farmer cluster and is also the Managing Director of the Evenlode Landscape Recovery - the cluster’s Natural Capital Special Purpose Vehicle.  Tim was the co-founder and Chief Customer & Regulatory Officer of Oxbury Bank Plc, the UK’s only dedicated bank for food, farming and the rural economy where he implemented a Responsible Impact and Natural Capital approach to strategy, including being the first UK Financial Institution to fully disclose under the TNFD framework.  He now supports projects across the UK on raising finance for nature as Chief Investment Officer at Great Yellow. He has advised numerous financial institutions on interactions with the rural and farming community, including contributing to reports and research by the Green Alliance, Bankers for Net Zero and the Green Finance Institute. He also sits on the Board of the Oxfordshire Local Nature Partnership.

Jacqui Canton was appointed Principal and Chief Executive of Abingdon & Witney College in 2020. With over 20 years of experience in the further education sector, she has developed particular expertise in fostering effective partnerships with employers and industry, and in delivering high-quality apprenticeship programmes. Under her leadership, the College has launched several major initiatives, including the state-of-the-art Construction Skills Centre in Bicester, the Green Construction Skills Centre in Abingdon, and the Net Zero Skills Hub, which has already provided upskilling opportunities to more than 300 adults across Oxfordshire. A passionate advocate for lifelong learning, Jacqui is committed to the transformative power of skills development in driving inclusion, social mobility, and economic growth. She remains a strong voice for the further education sector and its role in shaping a more equitable and prosperous society

Ben was born and raised in Oxfordshire and has always felt a deep connection with its landscape, heritage and natural beauty. Ben spent much of his career in the humanitarian aid sector, much of it spent in sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe with Oxford-based humanitarian agency, Oxfam. Returning home and raising children (two boys - again born and raised in Oxfordshire) reawakened his sense of connection with the countryside and nature. But that process of reconnection also brought a sense of deep unease with the increasingly stark losses in species abundance and diversity. Cue a career change and very steep learning curve. Ben is passionate about harnessing financing (public, private and philanthropic) to protect, restore and reconnect natural ecosystems in the UK