About us

Hamish is the Director of the Electric Power Engineering Research Centre at the University of Canterbury.  His research focuses on the transition to resilient, low-carbon renewable energy systems, specifically, how electricity networks, transport, renewable energy, energy markets, community needs and public policy interact to shape New Zealand's energy future.  He is particularly interested in community energy.  Hamish has no financial or governance ties to the energy sector.

Dr. Rod Carr was the inaugural chair of New Zealand’s Climate Change Commission and has previously been Vice Chancellor of University of Canterbury and Chairman of the board of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. He is currently a director of ASB Bank and a trustee of Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust. He is a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Directors and holds a PhD in Insurance and Risk Management. He has financial interests in ‘Solar as a service’ company COG Power Ltd and a company that finances the importation of heat pump hot water systems Great Hot Water Ltd

Jamie connects communities, commercial businesses and the electricity sector to seed innovative strategies and solutions intelligently integrating renewables, flexibility and consumer value drivers. Jamie is a Managing Advisor as Silk Advisory and the Independent Chair of the Electricity Authority Advisory Group. Jamie is driven by the transformational opportunity we now have with $ billions of electrification and renewables investment to deliver lower cost, more resilient and cleaner choices.  This needs communities, businesses and the power industry connected with a common vision of our transformed future, mandate to deliver and review of progress. The forum delivers this, filling a critical gap.

Sam is Founder and Director of Climate Navigator, a Christchurch-based strategy and innovation consultancy focused on just energy transitions for Aotearoa and Canterbury communities. She began her career as a spacecraft thermal systems engineer on major space missions, including the James Webb Space Telescope, for which she received an award from NASA and ESA. Sam is a Chartered Engineer and holds an MSc in Advanced Environmental and Energy Studies. She is particularly interested in energy democracy and community energy. Sam is Deputy Chair of the Gas Industry Company (GIC), a member of the Electricity Authority Advisory Group and the FlexForum Steering Group, and a former employee of Meridian Energy.

Lee has spent most of his career transforming large, complex commercial organisations like banks and public sector organisations. Typically, these organisations get into the position of needing to transform from decades of making small, incremental changes which have created layers of complexity which is no longer sustainable to operate. “You can‘t increment your way to greatness“ is often a truism, but one which organisations keep falling into. More recently Lee has turned his attention to areas which will make a difference to the next generation (including his own kids), firstly education and now energy. The patterns across industry are the same, the slow incremental change is causing the problem, not solving it. We need to be bolder and think differently.

Jeremy worked for the United Nations for 10 years in New York and Addis Ababa and consults internationally on issues of energy, climate change and resilience. He has a PhD from University College London where he was “Exploring Preconditions for Effective Global Responses to Climate Change”. Jeremy is on the Board of the New Zealand Centre for Global Studies and is involved in community groups including the Cass Bay Reserves Management Committee, and the Lyttelton Energy Transition Society. Jeremy continues research on the green economy and issues at the intersection of society, the environment, culture and the economy – looking at what lessons we can draw from Aotearoa New Zealand to address global challenges.