Jeremy Cresswell is editor of Energy, a satellite to the UK's oldest daily newspaper - the Press and Journal of Aberdeen. Cresswell is also: Founder/chairman of Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group; a director of Aberdeen Offshore Windfarm Limited; an honorary professor at Aberdeen Business School - Robert Gordon University; honoroary research fellow at the School of Geoscience - Aberdeen Univesity; an associate of economists Mackay Consultants and a Burgess of the City of Aberdeen.

David MacKay - Chief Scientific Advisor, DECC & Professor of Natural Philosophy, University of Cambridge

David MacKay was appointed as Chief Scientific Advisor to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) on 1st October 2009. The Chief Scientific Advisor’s role is to ensure that the Department’s policies and operations, and its contributions to wider Government issues, are underpinned by the best science and engineering advice available.

David MacKay studied Natural Sciences at Trinity College, he then went to Caltech to complete a PhD in Computation and Neural Systems. In 1992 he returned to Cambridge as a Royal Society research fellow at Darwin College. In 1995 he became a university lecturer in the Department of Physics, where he was promoted in 1999 to a Readership and in 2003 to a Professorship in Natural Philosophy. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 2009.

David MacKay’s research interests include reliable computation with unreliable hardware, and communication systems for the disabled. He believes that what the climate-change discussion needs is clear, simple numbers, so that we can understand just how big our challenge is, and not be conned by grand-sounding schemes that don't actually work. He has also written a book on the subject (Sustainable Energy - Without The Hot Air: David MacKay, UIT Cambridge, 2009).

Dr. Eddie O’Connor - Founder and Chief Executive, Mainstream Renewable Power

Dr. Eddie O’Connor was named world energy policy leader by Scientific American magazine in 2003.

Dr. O’Connor is a Chinese expert who has delivered two ground breaking speeches on China and as a result General Xiong Guang Kai, President of the China Institute for International Strategic Studies visited the Insititute of International and European Affairs in Ireland.

He was the Founder and Chief Executive of Airtricity from 1997 until January 2008, when the company was sold to E.ON and Scottish & Southern Energy for approximately €2 billion. In February 2008, Eddie founded Mainstream Renewable Power. Its core business is to develop, build and operate renewable energy plants in collaboration with strategic partners. The company employs over 90 highly experienced staff and has offices in Berlin, Cape Town, Chicago, Dublin, London, Santiago and Toronto.

Eddie is acknowledged as the driving force behind the European Offshore Supergrid. This vision and activity will, when built, guarantee European energy self sufficiency as well as producing carbon free electricity.

From 1987 to 1996 Eddie was Chief Executive of Bord na Mona, the Irish Peat Board, where he was responsible for the successful turnaround of the company.

In 1970 he began working with the Electricity Supply Board, where he held several managerial positions, until he left in 1987 when he was Manager of Fuel Purchasing.

Eddie holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering (1970) and a Master’s in Industrial Engineering (1976) both from University College Dublin and has a doctorate in Business Administration from the International Management Centres, Europe. In June 2008, Eddie was awarded an honorary doctorate in Science from University College Dublin. He is Secretary of the European Wind Energy Association.

Jason Ormiston - Communications Manager, Vattenfall Wind Power UK

Jason Ormiston is the Communications Manager for Vattenfall Wind Power in the UK. He has been with the leading European energy company for nearly a year supporting its extensive activity in both on and offshore wind in the UK. Before joining its Edinburgh office, he was the Chief Executive of Scottish Renewables, the industry trade body, leading on making the case for low carbon future for Scotland with renewables at its heart. A journalist to trade, he was the energy correspondent for daily Scottish newspaper Business a.m. in the early part of the last decade.

Matthew R. Simmons - Chairman Emeritus, Simmons & Company International

Matthew Simmons Matthew R. Simmons is Chairman Emeritus of Simmons & Company International, a specialized energy investment banking firm. The firm has completed approximately 785 investment banking projects for its worldwide energy clients at a combined dollar value in excess of $140 billion.

Mr. Simmons was raised in Kaysville, Utah. He graduated cum laude from the University of Utah and received an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School. He served on the faculty of Harvard Business School as a Research Associate for two years and was a Doctoral Candidate.

Mr. Simmons began a small investment bank/advisory firm in Boston. Among his early clients were several subsea service companies. By 1973, almost all of his clients were oil service companies. Following the 1973 Oil Shock, Simmons decided to create a Houston-based firm to concentrate on providing highest quality investment banking advice to the worldwide oil service industry. Over time, the specialization expanded into investment banking covering all aspects of the global energy industry.

SCI’s offices are located in Houston, Texas; London, England; Aberdeen, Scotland and Dubai, UAE.

In 2007, Mr. Simmons founded The Ocean Energy Institute in Mid-Coast Maine. The Institute’s focus is to research and create renewable energy sources from all aspects of our oceans.

Simmons serves on The University of Texas’ M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Foundation Board of Visitors (Houston) and is a Trustee of the Bermuda Institute for Ocean Sciences. In addition, he is past Chairman of the National Ocean Industry Association. Mr. Simmons is a past President of the Harvard Business School Alumni Association and a former member of the Visiting Committee of Harvard Business School. He is a member of the National Petroleum Council, Council on Foreign Relations and The Atlantic Council of the United States. Mr. Simmons is a Trustee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, The Island Institute and Farnsworth Art Museum in Maine.

Mr. Simmons’ recently published book Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy has been listed on the Wall Street Journal’s best-seller list. He has also published numerous energy papers for industry journals and is a frequent speaker at government forums, energy symposiums and in boardrooms of many leading energy companies around the world.

Mr. Simmons is married and has five daughters. His hobbies include watercolors, cooking, writing and travel.

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