Our staff and trustees

Janine is an experienced leader with over three decades of experience in the energy efficiency and sustainable energy sector. She brings extensive knowledge of the policy and regulatory environment governing the UK energy market, alongside a strong technical background and deep understanding of the social and economic challenges faced in addressing net zero and fuel poverty.

Before taking on the role of CSE Chief Executive in 2024, Janine held the role of Deputy Chief Executive and before that Director of Development & Communications, overseeing an eight-fold growth and the diversification of CSE’s funding base since she joined the charity in 2000.

Prior to joining CSE Janine’s career spanned roles in private consultancy, research, central government, industry and the third sector. She has advised on changes to energy standards in building regulations, authored best practice guidance on energy efficiency for housing, designed national energy efficiency schemes and worked on local and national public energy awareness campaigns.

Janine currently sits on the Independent Stakeholder Group for the National Energy System Operator, is a member of the Advisory Panel for National Grid’s Distribution System Operator and is chair of Retrofit West Community Interest Company, which CSE set up to grow home energy retrofit services across the West of England. She is also a non-executive Director of a community-benefit society where she lives in the Forest of Dean which has developed and owns two 500KW wind turbines.

Matt joined CSE as Director of Finance and Operations in October 2022, overseeing the finance, HR, IT, training and administration and facilities functions across the organisation.

Prior to CSE, he has worked for over 30 years in senior finance positions across a range of sectors, from local government, through public healthcare, publicly funded education, and into the private, commercial sectors of publishing, marketing and engineering, across two continents.

Matt is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy (CIPFA).

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Keith is the Director of the Local & Community Empowerment team, assisting groups across the country to receive funding and the support they need to create change in their community. Keith has over a decade’s worth of experience in working with civil society organisations, governments and community groups around the world to help them achieve their social and environmental goals. Since starting with CSE, Keith has advised on numerous community energy projects across the UK and increased engagement with disengaged groups, previously disconnected from the community energy movement.

Keith began his career at Plan UK, focussing on community development, where his work took him to live in Haiti and Mali. Subsequently Keith joined WWF where he first led the delivery of the organisation’s people-centred conservation programme and then most recently supported the development and strengthening of WWF’s offices in the global East and South. Keith has experience in the delivery of large-scale and multi-stakeholder projects with skills in project design and planning, communication, partnerships, financial management, engagement and learning.

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Charlotte leads CSE’s Research and Analysis team. She is an expert in social justice and low carbon transitions and has a track record of delivering high impact, collaborative research and innovation projects. She is part of CSE’s Senior Leadership Team and oversees two work programmes: Fairness and Local Authority Support for Net Zero. Charlotte joined CSE’s Research and Analysis team after spending 10 years as a social scientist at University College London’s Energy Institute. She has strong social research skills, specialising in mixed methods approaches and interdisciplinarity. Charlotte also sits on Scottish and Southern Electricity Network’s DSO advisory board.

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Ian has 24 years of experience in sustainable energy and fuel poverty, spanning practical project delivery, innovation, research and policy analysis. Ian joined CSE in 2001 and sits on CSE’s Senior Leadership Team. For eight years he led CSE’s Household Energy Services team, having delivered energy advice and retrofit schemes and overseen award-winning advice projects including WHAM, Futureproof, TEA and advice line support for WPD and OVO customers. As Director of Development, Communications and External Affairs from 2023, he now holds overall responsibility for CSE’s project fundraising, communications and policy work. Ian frequently represents CSE externally and has spoken at events for many different organisations.

Ian oversees all CSE’s policy work and is a leading expert on consumer protection, fuel poverty, low carbon retrofit and justice in the energy system. He has a detailed understanding of Government energy policy and is able to interpret the potential impacts of policy change from the perspective of Government, businesses and householders, including the strategic implications for the delivery of policies at a commercial level. He has recently represented CSE on the Ministerial Working Group for the Fuel Poverty Strategy and sits on the National Retrofit Hub’s Advisory Board.

His previous role as Senior Analyst for CSE’s research team covered analysis into the distributional impacts of energy policy, fuel poverty, consumer behaviour, hard-to-treat housing issues and scheme evaluation. During the Hills Review of Fuel Poverty in 2013, Ian ran a major research programme which involved consulting stakeholders from Government, energy supply, energy networks, NGOs and politicians. Ian’s particular skills include energy modelling, data collection, analysis and survey work.

In his spare time, he acts professionally, has had several children’s books published and DJs at local festivals and events.

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Paul has 16 years of experience of specialising in energy advice, fuel poverty, operational management and practical project delivery. Paul joined CSE in 2009 and has held a range of positions from advisor, caseworker, transport coordinator, and senior project manager, delivering exemplar projects such as Warm and Safe Wiltshire for nearly six years. For 4 years Paul was Head of Advice, supporting the Director to deliver award winning fuel poverty and retrofit services. Paul also oversaw the operations function of the team, spanning fuel poverty energy advice and retrofit schemes, ensuring all projects had a full complement of staff, with the right skills and experience to deliver our advice work.

Paul has been a member of CSE’s Senior Leadership Team since 2024, contributing to the organisational direction and leading the team to ensure CSE’s advice and retrofit work remains at the forefront of the industry, maintaining the quality of advice work CSE is known for. Paul has used his skills and experience to nurture relationships with organisations like Scottish and Southern Electricity Network, who are now funding CSE for a central and southern England advice service, building relationships with energy suppliers for the Warm Home Discount Industry Initiatives programme.

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Gerald joined CSE as the Head of Retrofit in 2023 bringing eight years of experience in social housing, specialising in Compliance and Retrofit. He has managed off-gas retrofit projects in rural areas and created specifications for new build projects to meet local government requirements on net zero. Gerald has managed contracts for gas servicing, maintenance and planned preventative maintenance, and undertaken stakeholder engagement at all levels to ensure regulatory compliance and key performance indicators (KPIs) were met. He is experienced in applying social value and the circular economy into procurement by way of apprenticeships, community centre repairs and maintenance and other local community benefits.

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Martin has over 22 years of experience in technical consultancy and research for sustainable energy following a career in engineering. He is one of CSE’s most experienced project managers, having managed or contributed technical expertise to a wide portfolio of projects since joining CSE in 2002. These have ranged across subject areas including heat decarbonisation, heat network feasibility, renewable energy systems, local energy systems and resource assessment, low carbon housing retrofit, community energy support, energy auditing and net zero and climate change planning policy. In delivering projects Martin has worked with private and public sector organisations at all scales both in the UK and overseas.

Alongside his role as Head of Technical Consultancy, he also acts as technical director for many of CSE’s larger or more complex projects and leads on our work programme tasked with providing support to local authorities on Net Zero. Martin is also a member of CSE’s Senior Management Team.

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Karn joined CSE in February 2021 as a Senior Project Manager in the Household Energy Services team. He took on large, complex projects such as NGED’s Power Up! project that supports over 3000 Priority Services Register customers across the South West each year; A Warm Welcome Home, which supported patients at risk of being discharged from hospitals to a cold home; and the Rural Communities Support Network project, that offered energy advice training and mentoring to frontline professional and voluntary organisations throughout Somerset and Wiltshire.

In 2022, Karn pioneered a new approach of supporting vulnerable and fuel poor households better understand, participate in and benefit from our rapidly changing energy system, through Smart Energy Action Plans (SMEAPS). This has seen CSE upskill our entire energy advice team through in-house training on smart energy and low-carbon technologies and become a leader in smart energy advice for people in fuel poverty and vulnerable circumstances. Karn is now CSE’s Head of Advice and the Lead for our Fuel Poor and Vulnerable Customers Work Programme.

Prior to joining CSE, Karn worked in engineering, project management and business development roles across different sectors, including for Jacobs in the UK, Water for People in Peru, and Freyssinet in France. Karn graduated from Imperial College London with first class honours in MEng Civil Engineering and is fluent in Spanish, French, Hindi and Gujarati.

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Harriet has seventeen years of experience within the sustainability field, with twelve years specialising in energy issues. Harriet leads CSE’s Community Action on Energy work programme, working across the organisation to ensure CSE is meeting its strategic objectives to increase the scale of informed and inclusive community action which is tackling energy challenges and capturing opportunities to meeting community needs.

Harriet works directly with communities and community-based organisations, building interest in sustainable energy issues and co-creating grassroots action, with a focus on increasing participation and capacity in marginalised communities. She is interested in the use of deliberative methods with community stakeholders to support the co-design of approaches which reflect Just Transition principles and community needs. She is also an RTPI-qualified planner and has co-developed guidance and delivered workshops for several projects at CSE covering neighbourhood planning, rural landscapes and retrofit of heritage buildings.

She holds an MSc in Social Science Research Methods and has training and experience in the use of qualitative research techniques and quantitative data analysis. Harriet’s research work at CSE includes resource and programme evaluations, design of deliberative research with the public, the management of grant programmes, and the design and delivery of energy upskilling programmes for a range of stakeholders. Her subject knowledge is supported by her MA in Human Geography.

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Chloe has worked in the field of sustainability in the built environment for over 14 years in a range of different roles that provide a comprehensive and rounded view of energy, housing, and social justice in the energy transition. As well as consultancy and project management, she brings direct experience from two local authorities and the social housing sector where she has worked on local and national policy, strategy development, and producing research, guidance, and reports for a wide range of audiences.

Chloe’s work at CSE focuses on fairness in the low carbon transition and she has overseen several large-scale social research projects exploring participation and inclusion in consumer-led flexibility. She manages projects from the tender process through to delivery, coordinating the outputs of consultancy teams, monitoring progress, work programmes and budgets, providing guidance on project direction, playing a key role in stakeholder engagement, and producing tailored reports and communications. She has an MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development with a dissertation on domestic energy efficiency policy, and has completed a Level 3 Diploma in Green Deal Domestic Energy Advice.
Chloe joined CSE’s research team in January 2023.

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Roy joined CSE in April 2017 to manage our environmental leadership programme for young people, Bright Green Future. Prior to this role Roy worked in animal welfare, marine conservation and the education sector.

Roy has an undergraduate degree in zoology from the University of Edinburgh, an MSc in Environment, Science and Society from University College London, a PGCE from the University of Nottingham and is a qualified Forest School Leader.

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Paola has been delivering a range of energy advice roles at CSE since 2015, building on four years of prior experience in advice, advocacy, market research, and customer service. Her role at CSE focuses on energy and related advice to households through project management, outreach events, as well as delivering training. Paola also manages CSE volunteers.

Paola is experienced in working with a range of vulnerable people, including the elderly, disabled people, asylum seekers and refugees, students and children. She is also a competent line manager and has experience managing a variety of projects. She is thorough and organised in her work, helping householders to tackle issues with sensitivity and initiative. She is a good communicator and fully fluent in English and Spanish (the latter as a native speaker). Her academic research for her BA and MSc degrees explored anthropological topics in Colombia, during which time she delivered project planning training for small enterprises amongst indigenous peoples. Paola has also worked in advice and advocacy roles for students and asylum seekers in Bristol.

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Katey has been working for CSE since 2021. She leads process improvement and digital infrastructure development to empower staff and enhance customer outcomes. This includes creating an online internal knowledge base of our energy advice and resources to improve the quality of advice we give. A firm believer that the best solutions come from the people delivering them, she ensures that frontline insights feed directly into improvements in our processes as well as wider industry policy consultations — helping shape regulations so that they genuinely meet the needs of the vulnerable consumers we support.

With a background in mental health services and a passion for energy efficiency, she brings a blend of empathy and technical expertise to improve our frontline services. For example, leading on the development of our safeguarding policy and procedures. For the last year much of her work has focused on our work to ensure the smart energy transition is fair and inclusive. She works on the Smart Energy Action Plan project and is deputy lead on our Fairness Work Programme.

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Neil is a Chartered Town Planner with the Royal Town Planning Institute and a qualified urban designer. He has 15 years of experience working in the public sector, having worked in regional, sub-regional and local government, focusing on addressing climate change within the planning system. He has led the delivery of sound and adopted Development Plans for a Local Planning Authority, appeared at Examinations in Public Inquiries, and led stakeholder engagement.

At CSE, Neil leads the design and delivery of innovative and empowering approaches to planning that enable the fair transformation of local places at a pace and scale consistent with the climate emergency. He led the PLACE project (Planning Locally to Address the Climate Emergency) for the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, working with community partners around England to understand how they are using the planning system to advance their goals on energy and climate, and how to increase the capacity of underrepresented groups to engage. He also worked with National Grid ESO to update their future energy scenarios model through a stakeholder engagement process with local authorities, and has led on high profile projects for the UK Climate Change Committee and the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales.

He currently leads the delivery of our Future Energy Landscapes work in the Forest of Dean. Future Energy Landscapes is a collaborative approach to community engagement on renewable energy. The technique demonstrates how effective public engagement can contribute to the production of exemplary Local Plans with ambitious renewable energy policy frameworks that can contribute to tackling the Climate Emergency. Neil has a BA (Hons) in Geography and a MA in Town Planning from the University of the West of England, and a PGCert in Urban Design from Oxford Brookes.

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Nick joined CSE in March 2018 bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge from his previous job roles. These roles include coordinating a community project that uses thermal imaging surveys to save energy in buildings across Bristol, and developing and managing a wide range of energy and environmental projects in the local authority and charity sectors.

Nick’s current role at CSE focuses on delivering home retrofit projects including the Futureproof service, which provides retrofit services to help homeowners across the west of England to make energy efficiency improvements and cut carbon emissions. He is also managing a project that aims to share knowledge and experience with other community organisations across Britain to collectively enhance our home retrofit services.
Nick has a BSc and PhD in natural sciences and is a member of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment.

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Natasha leads CSE’s communications function, bringing over 20 years’ experience in strategic communications across charity and commercial sectors. Since joining in 2021, she has transformed CSE’s approach to communications, developing and implementing the organisation’s first comprehensive communications strategy and delivering a new brand and website.

With expertise spanning behaviour change communications, environmental campaigning, digital marketing, and public affairs, Natasha ensures CSE’s complex work in sustainable energy reaches and resonates with diverse audiences — from policymakers and industry professionals to community groups, consumers and those in vulnerable circumstances.
Natasha excels in translating technical content into compelling narratives that drive engagement and action. She oversees all external communications across CSE’s six work programmes, ensuring consistent messaging while tailoring approaches to meet specific programme objectives.

Leading a skilled communications team, Natasha has strengthened CSE’s media presence, securing national coverage including Channel 4’s Dispatches among others. She has established strategic partnerships to amplify CSE’s influence and developed measurement frameworks to demonstrate communications impact. Her integrated approach to communications directly supports CSE’s mission to tackle climate change and end the suffering caused by cold homes.

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Steven is a Senior Project Manager in CSE’s Local and Community Empowerment Team, bringing extensive expertise in renewable energy systems, engineering, and technical project management. With a strong background in delivering complex, multi-technology renewable energy projects, he has overseen initiatives from feasibility and design to construction and commissioning, ensuring they are completed on time, within budget, and in compliance with safety and regulatory standards.

Passionate about driving the transition to a decarbonised and sustainable future, Steven works closely with stakeholders to develop impactful, community-focused energy solutions. His expertise includes risk management, stakeholder engagement, and strategic project delivery, enabling him to navigate challenges and implement forward-thinking initiatives. With a proven track record of leading cross-functional teams and successfully managing large-scale renewable energy projects, Steven thrives in collaborative environments. He is committed to empowering communities through innovative, sustainable solutions that maximise both environmental and social benefits.

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Will joined CSE in September 2018 as a volunteer for the Home Energy Services team and has progressed via advisor, casework and project management to his current role as a Project and development officer.

Will’s role focuses on projects addressing fuel poverty, energy advice and support for vulnerable households through telephone advice, home visits, casework, and outreach events.

Will presents, co-produces guidance and facilitates funder, clients and 3rd party learning and delivers training to householders, organizations and groups. He coordinates events and outreach for the Home Energy team and helps administer and organize grant funds. Will reports to funders and maintains referral partnerships. Will line manages three energy caseworkers in the Home energy services team and is a mental health first aider across the organisation.

Will builds partnerships, navigates key contacts, and organizes and contributes to funding bids for CSE’s development team. Will manages small projects and supports project managers on large projects. Previously, Will owned and ran his own vintage clothing company.

Will has a background in event coordinating work. Will has also worked abroad in several countries as an English teacher. Will has a Degree in English and American Literature from The University of Kent.

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Emily leads CSE’s Social Research and Evaluation team. She is a social scientist with expertise on energy and climate transitions, public attitudes and perceptions, social justice, and carbon removal. She has 15 years’ research experience, as well as teaching climate and energy policy and social psychology at degree level. Emily joined CSE from Oxford University, with a track record of successfully managing interdisciplinary projects to deliver impactful research outcomes. She has published in top journals including Nature, and her research has been cited in more than 100 policy documents and reported by outlets such as New Scientist and Carbon Brief. She has acted as a technical advisor for bodies including the UK and Scottish Governments, UNEP, the IMO and Royal Society, and is on multiple editorial and advisory boards.

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Clare joined CSE in 2021 as an ACA qualified accountant with many years of experience working with charity finances. Clare’s role at CSE is to manage the finance function and provide support to the Head of Finance & Operations. Prior to joining CSE, Clare has worked as Head of Finance at the St Vincent de Paul Society and in charity finance audit.

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Edward joined CSE in August 2018 as an Energy Advisor and since September 2022 has held the role of Advice Centre Manager for CSEs advice line team, which provides free energy advice over the phone to householders in the Southwest and Central Southern England. He also manages the Home Visit Advanced project, which provides free in-home visits to vulnerable clients in the West of England, Somerset, Wiltshire and Swindon.

Edward was previously a Project Officer on the WHAM (Warmer Homes, Advice and Money) project. He gave in-depth casework to clients struggling with a wide range of issues from energy efficiency through to benefits entitlements and making home improvements. He also provided project management support, creating new processes and ways of working to improve the project’s efficiency and scope.

Edward gained valuable experience of working with vulnerable people including the elderly, disabled and those with mental health conditions and learning disabilities through his role in social care at Somerset County Council. Edward’s role in Customer Care at Bristol Energy has given him a broad knowledge of the energy industry, which he has furthered by completing a level 3 City and Guilds qualification in Energy Awareness.

Edward graduated from the University of Sussex in 2014 with a BA (Hons) in Anthropology and French and can read, write and speak French to a high standard. Since graduating Edward has gained experience in recruitment, social care and energy industry customer service.

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Shareen joined CSE in September 2015 and is working on a range of our Home Energy Team projects. Her role at CSE focuses on energy and related advice to households – particularly vulnerable people including low income families, the elderly and disabled people – through telephone advice, home visits and casework.

Shareen has an Msc in Environmental Science focusing on sustainable environmental management.

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Lisa joined CSE in 2002 and has extensive experience helping households who live in fuel poverty and in supporting vulnerable people. As a result of this experience, Lisa has managed a range of advice projects for the Household Energy Services. Lisa is currently managing the innovative Bristol, North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset partnership project: Warmer Homes Advice and Money (WHAM) now in its eighth year. Lisa’s work has not only helped to develop partnership working with other support agencies but also building strong links with the health sector.

Lisa is also active in contributing to the development of other energy advice projects supporting households living in fuel poverty across the Southwest. Prior to working at CSE Lisa worked for Rethink, supporting people with mental health issues and for the NHS as a research assistant.

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Dr Tom Hinton joined CSE as a software developer in June 2012. He has extensive experience in software development and design and a wide knowledge of machine learning and optimisation techniques.

He holds a PhD from University of Bristol, as well as a MEng and BSc in Computer Science, both from the University of Bristol.

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Victoria is an experienced Software Project Manager and Product Manager with a proven track record of managing and delivering complex, customer-focused software solutions to local government, central government, and commercial organisations. She excels when collaborating with stakeholders to gain a deeper understanding of requirements, using her creativity and technical expertise to guide software development towards meaningful outcomes. This approach delivered a software solution that fully automated the schematisation of network data, making it accessible on any device, and saving the client £250K annually in operational costs. This achievement was recognition as a Software Innovation Finalist at the Utility Weekly annual awards.

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Neil is a software engineer with 8 years’ experience designing, implementing, testing, and deploying software in industry. He has worked with a variety of programming languages, including Java, Clojure, JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, and Go; keeps abreast of best practices in software engineering, and has demonstrated his ability to deliver functional and user-friendly software.

Since joining CSE, Neil has worked on CSE’s THERMOS heat network planning tool, played a key role in delivery of the National Zoning Model for DESNZ, programmed new features of the London Heat Map and led the technical implementation of CSE’s new solar PV calculator. He has experience working with geospatial data and building geospatial systems and models that can scale to processing tens of millions of records. He has built and maintains the research team’s internal shared geospatial data infrastructure and modelling pipelines.

Neil has experience working in a team and individually, and has provided technical leadership for small teams. He has worked on a range of different projects, requiring skills from different areas of software engineering and computer science, including GIS, API and database design, algorithm design and implementation, and frontend web development. He has been involved with a variety of sizes of projects at all stages of the project life-cycle and understands the value of clean code and good architecture in keeping projects maintainable.

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Annette has eighteen years’ experience within the sustainability field, with seventeen years specialising in sustainable energy. She is part of CSE’s Research and Analysis team, managing and providing technical input to projects tackling key issues relevant to UK energy policy and the move towards a lower carbon energy system.

Annette’s particular expertise lies in the field of energy consumption in buildings, including data monitoring analysis; she has strong knowledge of energy-efficient construction and refurbishment techniques and of the practicalities of installing renewable technologies at domestic and district scales. She also has experience of conducting building assessment methods such as the BREEAM and Code for Sustainable Homes schemes and of modelling energy consumption in SAP software. Annette undertakes GIS analysis and mapping for CSE’s resource assessment work and has also managed the development of a number of CSE’s software tools including the Impact Community Carbon Calculator, the Solar Wizard and the Energy Choices Tool. Annette’s MSc has given her strong grounding in UK and European energy policy.

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Pete is a Senior Retrofit Development Manager working on retrofit projects across the South West. Pete joined CSE in 2017 where he built upon his energy expertise and experience supporting vulnerable households. He has extensive experience supporting and managing fuel poverty and retrofit projects. His role focusses on managing our relationships with installers and developing the retrofit market. He leads on our ECOFlex and ECO Support projects, facilitating and managing the distribution of grant funded works to fuel poor households.

Further to this Pete is a technical lead internally with a focus on software and project management software integration for the advice and retrofit teams. Pete’s knowledge across these sectors and presenting skills have placed them well for internal and external training and policy advocation on energy topics such as renewables, energy awareness, and grid management.

Pete has fifteen years’ environmental experience within the public, private and charity sector. These roles vary from hands on engineering, project and contract management, to supporting vulnerable people. Pete has a strong understanding and appreciation for sustainability and environmental work as proven by his career history and MSc in Environmental Assessment and Management, and publication.

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Bridget has been with CSE since 2009, working on community scale approaches to deliver action on energy. She has managed a wide range of projects developing and supporting community energy in its broadest interpretation, including community engagement, community renewables, fuel poverty, community resilience and community retrofit.

Previous work includes management of the Plan Local energy efficiency and Green Deal toolkit, establishing the national Green Open Homes network and setting up the Bright Green Future programme. More recently she has led some of our open data projects (including Open LV, and 3D), and supported our work in community retrofit and behaviour change messaging.

Bridget has more than 20 years’ experience in project management, partnership management and community development work in the public, private and voluntary sector. She has a BSc in Environmental Science from Southampton University and holds qualifications in project management.

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Alex joined CSE in October 2021 as the Net Zero Local Energy Engagement Lead within our Local & Community Empowerment Team. Alex’s main role is to support meaningful consultation and secure the support and active participation of a broad range of stakeholders in the many big changes that will be required to achieve net zero. He has a keen understanding of the challenge that local authorities have in mobilising cross-sector partnerships and takes a systems approach to identifying opportunities for change.

Alex has a Post-Graduate Certificate in Communities, Engagement and Enterprise (University of Brighton) and an undergraduate degree in Mathematics (University of Exeter). He holds Level 3 Awards in Community Organising and Education and Training and is a PRINCE2 Practitioner, a Training Associate with Community Organisers Ltd. and a Nurture Development ABCD Guide.

With over a decade of experience of supporting stakeholders across both urban and rural authorities to identify key issues, build collaborations and enact sustainable solutions, Alex brings strong skills in engagement, facilitation and training.

He is a senior project manager within the Local & Community Empowerment Team and currently oversees a number of projects and stakeholder engagement processes.

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Julia joined CSE in January 2020. Drawing on her diverse planning and environmental background, as well as experience in the renewable energy field, Julia supports local areas achieve their net zero ambitions, with an added focus on heat decarbonisation and district heating.

As part of that, Julia has been leading CSE’s research work in the local area energy planning (LAEP) space, from managing the production of our LAEP method for Ofgem in 2020 to delivering area-based net zero strategies and renewable energy studies for a range of local authorities across the UK. With a specialised interest in heat decarbonisation, Julia has also completed a number of heat network studies and masterplans for local government and is working with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) in developing the heat network National Zoning Model.

Julia holds a BSc in Tourism and Environment from London Metropolitan University and an MSc in Spatial Planning and Environmental Management from the University of Barcelona. She is also a PRINCE2 Agile Registered Practitioner and a proud member of the District Heating Divas.

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Cora has twelve years of experience in energy and fuel poverty roles, nine of which specialising in energy advice at CSE. She is currently Senior Operations Manager of the Household Energy Services team, alongside project managing the Cosier Homes Advice Service. Project work includes managing budgets, reporting and liaising with funders. Oversees projects teams and their workload in meeting KPIs, and has a commitment to using projects to improve HES e.g. casework training resources or accessibility for clients.
As HES Operations Manager Cora is responsible for co-ordinating staff capacity planning across Advice and Retrofit projects, identifying recruitment needs and overseeing improvement work on e.g. risk assessments or project evaluations.

She was the Advice Line Manager for 6 years, which is a central hub and first point of contact for most HES projects. The work involved liaising between HES project managers, keeping systems and procedures up-to-date, managing the workloads and rotas for energy advisors, and supporting the induction of new CSE advice staff. She also managed several energy advice projects, including our OVO Advice Line services and Wales & West Utilities advice hub.

Cora was an energy advisor prior to taking over the management of the advice line, with strong experience working with vulnerable householders to build trust and resolve issues, including elderly people and those with a long-term illness, disability or low income. She has a good technical grounding in energy systems in buildings through her MSc and practical volunteering placements with ecological building projects. Cora also managed outreach events, resources development and training for frontline workers, and had experience in delivering community energy projects through her voluntary work with Bedminster Energy Group in Bristol.

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David joined CSE in April 2024 as the Senior IT Manager. He has been working in the IT industry for over 25 years, having gained experience in all aspects on the support side from first through to third level, working from small charities through to large multi-national companies, across multiple countries.

In his role, David is the leader and decision maker in regards to IT, deciding and co-ordinating the strategical direction for the department.

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Dan is CSE’s policy officer. Dan is a chartered Town Planner with over 20 years’ experience working in planning, bringing excellent knowledge of how the planning system can be used to address climate mitigation and adaptation issues.

In addition to Dan’s planning expertise and experience, Dan has an excellent knowledge of policy and regulation in relation to renewable energy, community energy, heat decarbonisation, fuel poverty, housing retrofit, historic buildings and energy governance in England. Dan’s role within CSE is to collect and synthesize knowledge and expertise from across the organisation and apply it externally to lobby for positive changes in policy, and to build relationships externally to achieve these objectives.

Dan is an excellent communicator and facilitator and a compelling public speaker. He regularly represents CSE at external events including appearing as an expert witness in select inquiries in parliament. Dan has excellent interpersonal skills and a proven ability to foster and build relationships with outside organisations and policy makers and build consensus. Dan regularly publishes blogs and articles on behalf of CSE and is adept at tailoring communications for different audiences, for professionals with technical knowledge, politicians, and the public.

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Kate has over 25 years of experience delivering customer support and behavioural change projects, with a strong background in business development for environmental and social organisations. Kate is responsible for some of CSE’s most ambitious energy advice projects. She plays a significant role in building and maintaining relationships with a range of external partners, including housing associations, local authorities, and third sector providers. Kate is skilled in project development and management, evaluation systems, market research, behavioural change campaigns and research. She has substantial experience in developing and managing volunteer support programmes, with a particular emphasis on supporting vulnerable adults and working with disabled, low income and non-English-speaking audiences. Prior to joining CSE, Kate ran her own business and held senior management positions in third sector organisations promoting resource efficiency and supporting disabled people. Kate also holds a BA in Business Studies.

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Jonathan brings over 25 years of experience in fundraising within the environmental sector, including 17 years at CSE, where he now leads the Development team. His strategic insight and strong communication skills have played a key role in shaping CSE’s growth and success, enabling the organisation to secure funding from a wide range of sources.

As Head of Development, Jonathan has been instrumental in designing and securing funding for many of CSE’s major energy and climate programmes, often in collaboration with partner organisations.

Before joining CSE, Jonathan worked in development roles across two environmental charities, securing funding from corporate sponsors, major donors, and trusts, and writing the fundraising strategy for The Wild Place Project at Bristol Zoo and Gardens. His experience extends to grant-making, having spent four years at the Camelot Foundation, further deepening his understanding of the funding landscape from both sides.

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Mark is a qualified Retrofit Coordinator and Assessor and use these skills to work on multiple retrofit projects within CSE. This work involves significant involvement in retrofitting domestic properties including reviewing assessment data, initial consultations with householders, developing improvement options and medium-term plans, liaising with multiple contractors to arrange work, monitoring the work in progress, and identifying and rectifying issues, handover to the client once complete, and evaluating on completion. Technical understanding of the built environment is a key factor within the process.

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As Senior Staff Development Manager in the Household Energy Services (HES) team Jamie is responsible for the recruitment and onboarding of new HES staff; monitoring their probation period and overseeing their continuing professional development and role progression within the team. He leads the HES line managers group and offers regular guidance to line managers in the support of their staff. He is also responsible for the HES mentoring programme which aims to help staff adapt to a new role within the team.

Jamie manages the Tenants Energy Advice (TEA) service on behalf of Bristol City Council. This is a large project providing fuel poverty outreach and telephone advice services for low income and vulnerable households. He has a good understanding of working with vulnerable groups, and in previous roles has worked with homeless people and adults with mental health problems.

Jamie has over 20 years of experience in delivering energy efficiency advice, including telephone and email advice, outreach events, home visits and casework. He has worked extensively within CSE’s home energy advice hub as a qualified energy advisor, team leader and project manager, and has played a key role in the development of the energy advice service. He is skilled in project and staff management, and takes a thorough approach to project monitoring, systems development, data management, quality assurance and maintaining excellent customer service.

Jamie has a BSc (Hons) Geography from the University of Plymouth. He also has City & Guilds 6176 Energy Awareness, City & Guilds 6176 Renewable Energy in the Home and NVQ Level 3 Providing Energy Efficiency Services.

Email Jamie.

Claire joined CSE in June 2022 as a Senior Project Manager, focusing on retrofit projects. In her first year, she delivered projects including the Home Upgrade Grant scheme in Somerset and Bristol Heat Pump Ready Phase 1.

Claire has 10 years of experience delivering fuel poverty and retrofit projects. Before joining CSE, she worked for a local authority, managing a range of fuel poverty and retrofit projects including the Warm Homes Fund in Bristol.

Email Claire.

Shantha works in the areas of sustainability and social mobiity. He is currently NED/COO at Pinwheel which works with environmental organisations and corporates to increase funding for vital carbon and biodiversity projects. He also works with universities to embed work experience opportunities into curriculums.

He started his career in the civil service, first on the fast track working on renewables policy in the DTI (2002) then HM Treasury’s climate change team (including the Stern Review). Shantha joined Dyson in 2010 as Global Strategy and Product Director. He served as Dyson’s Europe Commercial VP. He joined ROLI, a music tech start up, as Chief Commercial Officer in 2019. He has a PhD in Molecular Biology. Shantha was appointed to the Board in October 2018.

Rachel is a dynamic and strategic leader with over 30 years’ professional experience in the public, private and non-for-profit sectors. She is passionate about environmental sustainability with a national and international track record in enhancing climate resilience and transitioning to a low carbon future.

Rachel has a particular focus on ensuring that the transition is just – that no communities are left behind and new opportunities are maximised for all. She has held lead business development and management roles in private and public sector organisations, and is currently Head of Energy and Environment, and wider environmental spokesperson for Ipsos UK.

Ariane has more than 20 years local government experience at county, district and unitary levels and has worked in the not-for-profit sector.

As a member of the Climate Action management team at Oxfordshire County Council, Ariane leads on partnerships and the transition to a zero carbon Oxfordshire. The county is currently the highest rated county council for climate action according to the Climate Emergency UK scorecard.

Ariane has led organisational change programmes and is an Executive Coach. She became a Trustee of CSE in June 2014.

Andrew is a widely-recognised expert in behaviour and social change, carrying out research for a wide range of public and voluntary sector clients.

Andrew has a background in advertising, followed by extensive experience – and formal qualifications – in market research. As an expert on behaviour change, he developed a new inter-disciplinary model of behaviour which was launched by The Scottish Government in 2013, and is now their tool of choice for maximising the public’s contribution to delivering a Low Carbon Scotland.

Over the years working on behaviour change and public engagement, Andrew has built up a reputation as an authority on using segmentation in the public sector. Between 2007 and 2012, he has acted as an independent advisor to Defra on segmentation models.

Most recently, Andrew acted as research director throughout the process of developing the Welsh Government’s Sustainability Audience Segmentation. Andrew continues to work on segmentation in the context of food-related behaviours (eg. with WRAP) and is completing a scoping study for the Department for Transport (with Aberdeen University) on developing a travel and transport-related segmentation model of businesses.

Andrew joined the Board of CSE in June 2014.

Elizabeth has worked in the environmental conservation sector for over two years, most recently as Education and Community Officer at Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, having previously held internships with Shropshire Wildlife Trust and Hengistbury Head Nature Reserve. She has been part of CSE’s Bright Green Future programme for over seven years, both as a participant, mentor and Youth Advisory Board member.

Elizabeth holds a First Class BASc in Global Sustainable Development and Philosophy from the University of Warwick, where she held the role of a Student Ambassador and up graduating, was awarded the Citizenship and Leadership Award for her work on a university-wide project called Widening Participation. She was also Campaigns Coordinator for Warwick Student Action for Refugees Society.

William was Managing Director of Warm Zones community interest company until his retirement in March 2018. Warm Zones is a not-for-profit social enterprise wholly owned by national fuel poverty charity, National Energy Action (NEA). The company contributes to the achievement of NEA’s objective of addressing fuel poverty by delivering energy efficiency improvements and related services targeted at low income and other vulnerable households.

William was involved in the establishment of Warm Zones in 2000, was a founding director of the company and was appointed as full-time Managing Director in 2008. Prior to this he was Chief Executive of NEA for nine years having been initially appointed to the charity as Deputy Director in 1988. William has been a member of a number of government and industry fuel poverty and energy efficiency advisory bodies.

Before joining NEA he had extensive experience working in local government in housing management and the delivery of capital programmes, together with general community development. He has also been involved in a range of voluntary housing and energy projects.

William has a degree in economics and holds the Institute of Housing Professional Qualification.

Bill Hull is a Partner and Head of Commercial Services at national law firm TLT. He has worked as a lawyer specialising in renewables and energy efficiency for the last 25 years, advising on a range of commercial contracts, procurement and subsidies related matters across a broad client base. He has been recommended by Legal 500 since 2004.

Bill has particular expertise in advising on renewable energy projects across both the energy and public sectors and has advised on some of the most significant and high profile energy efficiency projects in recent years. He has also advised on projects relating to solar PV, off and onshore wind, hydro, biomass, anaerobic digestion and landfill gas generation schemes. He is recognised for his work as an adviser on UK Government and Scottish Executive programmes supporting energy efficiency and renewables.

Bill is regularly invited to speak at industry events where he has in the past commented on the opportunities for energy efficiency, renewable electricity and renewable energy supply.

Claire is an Architect & Associate at Askew Cavanna Architects, a practice specialising in low energy, sustainable and community focused projects. Claire leads on the practice’s public consultation and engagement processes.

Throughout her career Claire has worked predominantly with existing buildings and feels strongly that upgrading our existing built stock at pace is needed to significantly reduce our carbon emissions. To support this she holds a L5 Diploma (PAS 2035) in Retrofit Coordination and Risk Management from the Retrofit Academy, and sits on the Design West review panel which aims to promote excellence in architecture and urban design.

She is an active advocate for gender and racial equality, youth empowerment and social mobility in the built environment, as well as providing mentoring for young people via the RIBA, Social Mobility Foundation and Built By Us, and is an Equal Opportunity Ambassador for Babassa.

Jane Wildblood is a climate, energy and environmental sustainability strategic leader whose career has spanned senior leadership roles in local government and environmental campaigning at national and international level. She has a strong policy, management and delivery track record, and extensive experience of influencing decision makers and enabling council and community action.

Previously environmental sustainability, climate change and sustainable energy strategic lead for Bath and North East Somerset Council, Jane has a deep understanding of the strategic sustainable energy challenges facing local communities, particularly in the West of England  – from affluent heritage city to urban and rural poverty and inequality. In addition to her role as trustee of CSE, Jane also sits on the board of Bath & West Low Carbon Community Fund and the West of England Rural Network.