Triodos Renewables

Charles Secrett - Chairman (appointed 25 September 2003)

Charles works as an advisor on climate, environment and sustainability, is a founder of The Robertsbridge Group, and a senior associate at the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership. Previously, he has been a special advisor on climate change and sustainability for the Mayor of London (2004-2008) and a Board Member of the London Development Agency (also 2004-2008). He was executive director of Friends of the Earth between 1993 and 2003, where he had overall responsibility for growing the organisation's annual budget from some £5 million to over £10 million and significantly reducing its administrative and fundraising costs, while greatly increasing its organisational and campaign effectiveness. Prior to that, he worked for the International Institute for Environment and Development as climate change programme director, among other senior environment jobs. He was a member of the UK Round Table for Sustainable Development between 1994 and 2000, and the UK Sustainable Development Commission between 2000 and 2003.

James Vaccaro - Managing Director (appointed 10 March 2008)

James is Managing Director of Investment Management at Triodos Bank's UK Branch and undertakes the role of Managing Director of Triodos Renewables. He has worked for Triodos Bank since 1998. In that time he has helped build the Group's renewable energy business in the UK having led project finance and equity investments. James has also led venture capital investments and runs the Triodos EIS Green Funds. He has served on the boards of several environmental companies and charities.

Matthew Clayton - Operations Director (appointed 1 December 2010)

Matthew has worked for Triodos Bank as a Fund Manager since early 2006, undertaking the role of Operations Director of Triodos Renewables focusing on acquisition, developments and operational management. He has contributed to the acquisition and integration of 32 MW of Wind Projects, the operation of the portfolio and the development options for in excess of 70 MW of onshore wind. Prior to joining Triodos Bank, Matthew was part of a small team which established Camco International, one of the world's leading carbon trading companies, focusing on supporting sustainable energy projects via the Kyoto framework. Before this, Matthew worked in Risk Management for TXU's Energy Trading team.

Ann Berresford - Non-executive Director (appointed 31 March 2009)

Ann has over 25 years experience in financial management across the financial services and energy sectors. Most recently (until 2006), she was finance director for the Bank of Ireland's UK financial services division and for Bristol and West plc. Prior to that, Ann held a range of senior roles in Clyde Petroleum plc, an independent British oil and gas exploration and production company, including group treasurer and finance director for the Dutch operations, based in The Hague.

Ann is now a non-executive director at the Pension Protection Fund, where she chairs the audit committee, and is a non-executive director at the Bath Building Society. She is also an independent trustee to the local government Avon Pension Fund, administered by Bath and North East Somerset Council. Ann read Chemistry at Liverpool University and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.

Emma Howard Boyd - Non-executive Director (appointed 25 Sept 2003)

Emma has been actively involved in socially responsible investment ('SRI') since joining Jupiter Asset Management in 1994. As head of SRI and governance, Emma has overall responsibility for the management and development of Jupiter's SRI business. She is also responsible for building up Jupiter's corporate governance and engagement services for institutional clients and Jupiter's UK retail funds.  Emma is an independent non-executive member of the Environment Agency Board. She is also a Senior Associate of the University of Cambridge's Programme for Sustainability Leadership.

During 2007, Emma was a member of the Commission on Environmental Markets and Economic Performance set up by the UK Government to make detailed proposals specifically on enhancing the UK environmental industries, technologies and markets. Emma was chair of the UKSIF, the sustainable investment and finance association, until March 2006 and was founding chair of Eurosif, the European Sustainable Investment Forum.  Prior to working at Jupiter, Emma specialised in corporate finance at Hill Samuel and Banque Nationale de Paris.

John Harrison - Non-executive Director (appointed 23 July 1999)

John has worked as an investment adviser for small to medium-sized companies since the mid 1960s. Since 1975 John has been involved in founding and operating 'green' businesses, initially one of the UK's first organic restaurants, then in 1980 a London based wholesaler of organic vegetables (now Organic Farm Foods Limited). In semi-retirement in West Wales, in addition to his directorship of Triodos Renewables since 1997, he is a non-executive Director of Bro Dyfi Community Renewables, a small community-owned wind electricity generator, and a trustee of The Magdalen Project, a charity providing education in sustainability, based on an organic farm in Dorset.

Simon Roberts OBE - Non-executive Director (appointed 31 March 2009)

Simon has spent more than 25 years helping people, organisations and policy-makers to change the way they think and act on energy. He is Chief Executive of the Centre for Sustainable Energy, one of the UK's leading energy charities. Prior to this, he was a senior manager at Triodos Bank (1998-2002) and Managing Director of Triodos Renewables (formerly The Wind Fund plc) until 2002.

Simon's advisory roles include the Department of Energy and Climate Change's Green Deal Consumer Advisory Panel and the Government's Renewables Advisory Board (2002-2010) where he led its work on community engagement. He sits on Ofgem's Consumer Challenge Group, examining the issues associated with developing energy networks fit for a low carbon future. Simon represents the Centre for Sustainable Energy on the board of Energy Advice South West Ltd, a charity-owned joint venture delivering energy advice services across the region. Simon was elected a Fellow of the Energy Institute in 2007. Simon was awarded an OBE for services to the renewables industry in the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours.

Peter Weston - Non-executive Director (appointed 22 March 2011)

Peter has more than 15 years' experience working in the energy markets as an investor, lender and strategic consultant. He is currently Global Head of Finance and Investment for Siemens Wind Power, one of the leading manufacturers of wind turbines in the world. Prior to this, he led the energy lending division of GE Capital in Europe (2007-10) and was an executive director for Westdeutsche Landesbank's energy group (2001-07). He was business development manager at US energy trader Aquila (1999-2001) and established the European energy consulting business for a subsidiary of Osaka Gas (1995-99). Previously he was a journalist for Euromoney and the Financial Times.

Triodos Investments Limited - Non-executive Director (appointed 19 December 2003)

Triodos Investments Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of Triodos Ventures BV, a company controlled by Triodos Bank) nominates a representative to the Board, currently Charles Middleton, the Managing Director of Triodos Bank in the UK

Executive Management Team

James Vaccaro - Managing Director

Matthew Clayton - Operations Director

See above in the Board section.

Dan Hird - Finance Director

Dan is Head of Corporate Finance within the Triodos UK Investment Management team. He joined Triodos Bank in November 2008 and acts for clients on corporate finance and investment banking projects as well as performing the role of Finance Director of Triodos Renewables. Dan is a Chartered Accountant, trained with KPMG in Bristol and spent six years within KPMG Corporate finance as a lead adviser on a range of mergers and acquisitions, including management buy-outs and fundraising deals. Dan then established his own corporate finance business with offices in Bristol and Bath and completed over 80 transactions, mainly in the SME sector over a seven-year period. After this he joined a major tile retailer as Finance Director and was instrumental in building this business for sale to a trade purchaser.

Immediately prior to joining Triodos Bank, Dan was Finance Director of a rapidly growing manufacturing business and led two growth capital finance-raising projects to enable expansion and relocation.  

John Bromley - Senior Investment Manager

John joined Triodos Bank in 2011 as a Senior Investment Manager to focus on equity investment in a range of renewable energy projects. He has specialised in social and environmental infrastructure projects in the UK and overseas for 10 years and previously held management roles at two water utility companies, Ernst & Young and John Laing.  John's experience includes equity participation in a number of landmark transactions in the UK water and municipal waste management sectors. In 2008 John and his wife established a successful yoga and complementary therapy business in Marlborough, UK.

Monika Paplaczyk – Investment Manager

Monika joined Triodos Renewables in 2007. In her role as Investment Manager, Monika focuses on originating investment opportunities within the  sustainable energy market for Triodos Renewables, performing the investment valuations and negotiations and due diligence of new investments. Monika is also responsible for managing a portfolio of companies and projects within Triodos Renewables including power purchase, land rental and insurance aspects. Before joining Triodos Bank, Monika worked in Edinburgh for a consulting company where she was mainly involved in preparing business plans and grant applications for community development projects, biomass and grain storage.