The team

Spent most of career in banking with HSBC in London and, latterly, in Jersey as Deputy CEO of the Bank’’s Offshore business. Founding CEO of Jersey Finance Ltd, the body that represents and promotes the Island’s finance industry, both at home, and internationally.
 
Non-executive director of portfolio containing both private and publicly owned businesses.
 
Chairman of Jersey Electricity plc.
 
Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers and a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute. Awarded an honorary doctorate in business from the University of Plymouth (October 2015) and an MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s honours list (January 2016). 

Non-executive director of Frontier Income Trust plc and the British Friendly Society.
 
Executive career across buy and sell side in City of London, gaining extensive knowledge of regulatory, governance and investment management processes and products.
 
Worked at Aberdeen Asset Management plc from May 2008 to March 2016, starting as Head of Internal Audit (EMEA) and becoming Global Head of Business Risk and responsible for the group’s risk management framework and internal capital adequacy assessment.

An award-winning authority in the global climate change movement and a qualified Barrister with 30+ years’ experience, James serves on a number of boards and advisory committees across business, finance, legal,
academic and government organisations.
 
James is an Executive Fellow at Yale Centre of Environmental Law and Policy and at the University of Oxford and, Oxford Martin School, and the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment.
 
James co-founded and chaired an investment bank Climate Change Capital and was on the board of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) serving from 2012 to 2020 as Chairman. He is a London Sustainable Development Commissioner and a Friend of COP26.

Currently a Principal in Investments at the Wellcome Trust, a global charity committed to improving human health and funded from a diverse, unconstrained portfolio of over
US$35 billion.
 
Previously investment banker and investment manager at Goldman Sachs. Lead of the Absolute Return and Agriculture team, focusing on uncorrelated investments including hedge funds, credit
and strategic landholdings. Covers the natural resources sector, with a strong interest in the energy transition. Director of Farmcare, Wellcome’s wholly owned UK agriculture company.
 
CFA Charterholder and read History at the University of Cambridge.

Matt is Co-head of Octopus Energy Generation, a team that he started nine years ago and has built to over 90 people with over £4 billion of energy assets under management. During this time, Matt led Octopus’s investment into Lightsource Renewable Energy (now Lightsource BP) and oversaw the growth of that business from start-up to exit. He also led the team’s expansion strategy from an initial focus on UK solar PV into onshore wind, offshore wind and other renewable energy assets across Europe and Australia.
 
Matt is Chairman of the Octopus Energy Generation Investment Committee and member of Octopus Investment’s Executive Committee.
 
Prior to Octopus, Matt was an investment manager at Shore Capital and a manager at PwC. He has an MBA from Cambridge University and an Economics degree from Bristol University

Chris joined Octopus Energy Generation as an Investment Director in 2015, is a long-standing member of the Investment Committee and a director on several wind and solar SPVs. Chris originated and led one of the largest wind farm portfolio acquisitions in the UK valued at c.£320m and led the Transactions Team that delivered over £1bn of debt and equity transactions.

Chris now focuses on the origination of acquisition opportunities and has oversight of the transactions from investment through to operations.

Prior to joining Octopus, Chris was Business Development Director at Falck Renewables where he had a range of roles, including M&A and leading greenfield development in France and Poland. Chris holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) degree and a Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical) degree from the University of Sydney.

David is an investment director who joined the Octopus Energy Generation team in 2014 and works full-time on fund management for ORIT. As well as working in the transaction team leading acquisitions and project finance debt raising in the UK, France and Ireland, David has previously led the team responsible for the management of Octopus Energy Generation’s bioenergy investments and has represented Octopus Energy Generation on a number of industry panels convened by Ofgem, the GB energy regulator.

Prior to joining Octopus, David was a director at Walbrook Capital, a boutique investment manager with a particular focus on renewables. He is a chartered accountant having qualified at EY, and holds a Masters in Mathematics from Oxford University.