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Speakers (Afternoon Sessions):

Leo Bedford

Leo Bedford
Partner

Leo is a seasoned financier, with a specialist interest in sustainability and the delivery of social goals alongside financial ones. Leo’s conviction is garnered from pathfinding roles in military engineering, disaster relief, regeneration, and impact investing, where he has witnessed the power of collective ambition. Leo has created and managed funds with AUM of c £1bn, including London’s seminal London Energy Efficiency Fund (LEEF) and Mayor of London's Energy Efficiency Fund (MEEF).

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Pete Radford
Investment Director

Pete has over 15 years of experience in developing and financing energy and infrastructure projects. For the last 12 years Pete has been part of Amber’s Impact Funds team, where he is a Key Executive on Amber’s Mayor of London’s Energy Efficiency Fund and the North East Combined Authority’s Green New Deal Fund. Through his role in Amber he has worked across some of the UK’s most innovative net zero projects including decentralised energy, district heating, energy efficiency and net zero mobility. Prior to joining Amber Pete spent 7 years at the Royal Bank of Scotland initially in Group Treasury  before moving into project and structured finance.

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Daryl Murphy
Managing Director Infrastructure

Darryl is responsible for origination, structuring and execution of new infrastructure debt transactions. Prior to joining Aviva Investors, he was a partner at KPMG in the Infrastructure Advisory practice. Darryl has over 27 years’ experience in infrastructure finance having also worked at Hambros, SG, Newcourt Capital, RBC and was head of European Project Finance at HSBC. He is widely recognised as one of the leading infrastructure financing experts in the UK and has structured, advised and arranged on a wide number of projects globally and has particular expertise in public private partnerships.

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Murray Birt
Senior ESG Strategist

Murray joined DWS in 2015 to undertake ESG thematic research and support the company’s responsible investment strategy. Prior to his current role, Murray worked at a Group level in Deutsche Bank, supporting senior management leadership in the area of climate finance and implementing the Bank’s climate change business strategy. He previously worked with companies to develop consensus policy positions, published papers and lobbied UK and European governments on energy and climate change policies at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Murray began his career in consulting, policy research and program support for energy efficiency, renewable energy and carbon markets in Alberta, Canada.

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Stuart Leslie
Director, Local Authority Advisory & Lending

Stuart joined the National Wealth Fund at the start of 2023 after 15 years at Lloyds Bank, where he was a Relationship Director responsible for a portfolio of large corporate UK FTSE and international clients. He has extensive experience leading complex debt financing transactions and providing insight on capital structuring, liquidity and risk, and has also previously worked in both debt restructuring and securitisation. In 2018 he became an Exec Board member at St Nicks, an award-winning environmental charity, stepping up to Chair.

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Justin Olosund
Senior Funding &
Investment Manager

Justin is a Senior Funding & Investment Manager working within the Environment Directorate of the

West of England Combined Authority. 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 35-year career background in education management, curriculum development, consultancy, investment banking (capital markets and infrastructure finance), social enterprise, and sector specialisms in renewable energy and environmental goods and services.

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Alex Rathmell
Programme Lead, Local Net Zero Accelerator

Alex is a sustainable energy consultant, entrepreneur and engineer, specialising in business model innovation to drive low carbon investment. He has led a number of consultancy teams, advising corporate and public sector clients on energy strategies and developing innovative business models that make sense of energy efficiency. Alex joined the Greater South East Net Zero Hub where he is leading the Local Net Zero Accelerator programme, supporting local authorities in scaling up their climate programmes through strategic investment partnerships.

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Mark Richards
Partner Energy, Environment & Infrastructure

Mark is the EMEA Head of the Energy, Environment & Infrastructure Team with extensive experience in providing multi-disciplinary advice to public and private sector clients. Clients include Amber Infrastructure, 3i, Nord LB, Ingenious Renewable Energy and Barclays Bank.

He works on a wide range of high value, innovative and complex infrastructure projects and has been involved in some of the most high profile infrastructure deals, including the first PF2 transaction to close in the UK. Mark has particular experience in:

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Paul Bourgeois
Strategy Director

Paul has worked in the public, private, third sectors and academia for over 27 years specialising in multi-sector investment and delivery of decarbonisation projects, initiatives and programmes. He has led data-driven thematic, strategic, and operational transformation plans, roadmaps, and blueprints at sub-regional and national levels. His experience includes securing multi-million-pound national and European funding for a variety of green tech, clean tech, circular economy, and supply chain development endeavours, including multi-sector investment propositions for LEPs and county areas. This work has encompassed energy infrastructure, local business growth, practical decarbonisation measures in domestic, commercial, and third sectors, and community-led deployment interventions leading to demonstrable energy and carbon savings, allied with sustainable economic growth.

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Canary Wharf London
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