Meet the Team

If you'd like to get in touch, please contact us

Senior Management

Hugh McNeal

Chief Executive

As Chief Executive, Hugh leads the work of the association and is accountable to the Board for the performance of the business and staff.

Emma Pinchbeck

Deputy Chief Executive

Full Bio

Emma manages our communications, policy, and technical affairs teams, and the Northern Ireland Renewable Industry Group and Cymru offices. Emma sits on Scottish Renewables Board and leads the organisation’s work on whole energy system thinking.

Maf Smith

Deputy Chief Executive

Full Bio

Maf leads the commercial aspects of RenewableUK. He is responsible for events, member growth and ensuring a positive member experience.

Policy

Barnaby Wharton

Head of Policy & Regulation

Full Bio

Barney leads the policy team and ensures the coordination of all our regulatory and policy work.

Rhys Jones

Head of Technical Affairs

Full Bio

Rhys leads our work with members, regulators and stakeholder partners, on health, safety, well-being, skills, and security issues.

Marina Valls

Economist

Full Bio

Marina leads thinking in the industry on renewable energy analysis by: producing original analysis and reports that support our advocacy and policy work; answering questions on issues about our industry’s economics and showcases our thought leadership on markets, future generation and deployments.

Rebecca Williams

Senior Policy Manager

Full Bio

Rebecca leads our policy work on technology issues, working with members on the future of the energy markets.

Yonna Vitanova

Policy Analyst

Full Bio

Yonna leads work on energy networks issues, charging issues and technical and policy barriers to the deployment of renewables and system flexibility resources.

Alicia Green

Policy Analyst - Planning & Environment

Full Bio

Alicia leads policy work on planning and development, the environment and barriers to deployment.

External Affairs and Communications

Luke Clark

Head of External Affairs

Full Bio

Luke leads our team engaging with media and Parliament across the range of technologies and activities we work on.

Robert Norris

Head of Communications

Full Bio

Rob works to achieve positive media coverage for RenewableUK and our industry.

Nathan Bennett

Senior Public Affairs Manager

Full Bio

Nathan leads work on our public affairs engagement with Parliamentarians and other stakeholders.

Emma Fidler

Communications Executive

Full Bio

Emma leads on content and engagement on our social media channels. She is always looking to work with members, so get in touch with her if you want us to promote your news or share photos of the things you’re working on.

Events

Garth Halliday

Director of Events

Full Bio

Garth leads the team responsible for the delivery of all our events, sales and marketing.

Vicky Mant

Head of Business Development

Full Bio

Vicky leads our business development work and is responsible for identifying new markets and partnerships.

Aparna Coutinho

Head of Marketing

Full Bio

Aparna is our marketing lead and works with media partners to advertise our events and ensure trade press representation at our conferences.

Michael Smith

Head of Events

Full Bio

Michael is responsible for managing and developing all key RUK events.

Parul Patel

Event Manager

Full Bio

Parul works within the events team and supports delivery of all of our key events, such as Global Offshore Wind, the Aviation and Emergency Response conferences.

Membership

Jeremy Sullivan

Head of Membership

Full Bio

Jeremy is the first point of contact for our members, ensuring that we are delivering a positive member experience to existing and new members alike.

Rhys Thomas

Information Manager

Full Bio

Rhys leads the development of the Project Intelligence Hub and wider information services such as our Supply Chain Maps.

Bahzad Ayoub

Senior Analyst

Full Bio

Bahzad is responsible for day-to-day management of our Project Intelligence database and supporting members in its use. He supports the wider team and membership on data and analysis of offshore wind projects

Programme Management Office

Rachel Holloway

Head of Programmes and Planning

Full Bio

Rachel is our programme management lead and heads the team that ensures we are an effective and well run organisation. She leads the work to implement the Sector Deal for Offshore Wind.

Oankar Birdi

Senior Programme Manager

Full Bio

Oankar leads and develops the delivery of our work programmes and projects against business plan objectives, working across the organisation. She is responsible for delivery of the content of our conference programmes and is the lead on our supply chain support.

Mary-Ann Dent

Programme Manager

Full Bio

Mary-Ann supports the delivery of our work programmes and projects against business plan objectives, working across the organisation. She is a researcher for the Project Intelligence Database. She manages all financial transactions and is the main contact for all financial related queries.