


Speakers (Afternoon Sessions):
Leo Bedford
Leo Bedford
Partner
Leo is a seasoned financier, with a specialist interest in sustainability and the delivery of social goals alongside financial ones. Leo’s conviction is garnered from pathfinding roles in military engineering, disaster relief, regeneration, and impact investing, where he has witnessed the power of collective ambition. Leo has created and managed funds with AUM of c £1bn, including London’s seminal London Energy Efficiency Fund (LEEF) and Mayor of London's Energy Efficiency Fund (MEEF).


Pete Radford
Investment Director
Pete has over 15 years of experience in developing and financing energy and infrastructure projects. For the last 12 years Pete has been part of Amber’s Impact Funds team, where he is a Key Executive on Amber’s Mayor of London’s Energy Efficiency Fund and the North East Combined Authority’s Green New Deal Fund. Through his role in Amber he has worked across some of the UK’s most innovative net zero projects including decentralised energy, district heating, energy efficiency and net zero mobility. Prior to joining Amber Pete spent 7 years at the Royal Bank of Scotland initially in Group Treasury before moving into project and structured finance.


Daryl Murphy
Managing Director Infrastructure
Darryl is responsible for origination, structuring and execution of new infrastructure debt transactions. Prior to joining Aviva Investors, he was a partner at KPMG in the Infrastructure Advisory practice. Darryl has over 27 years’ experience in infrastructure finance having also worked at Hambros, SG, Newcourt Capital, RBC and was head of European Project Finance at HSBC. He is widely recognised as one of the leading infrastructure financing experts in the UK and has structured, advised and arranged on a wide number of projects globally and has particular expertise in public private partnerships.


Murray Birt
Senior ESG Strategist
Murray joined DWS in 2015 to undertake ESG thematic research and support the company’s responsible investment strategy. Prior to his current role, Murray worked at a Group level in Deutsche Bank, supporting senior management leadership in the area of climate finance and implementing the Bank’s climate change business strategy. He previously worked with companies to develop consensus policy positions, published papers and lobbied UK and European governments on energy and climate change policies at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).


Stuart Leslie
Director, Local Authority Advisory & Lending
Stuart joined the National Wealth Fund at the start of 2023 after 15 years at Lloyds Bank, where he was a Relationship Director responsible for a portfolio of large corporate UK FTSE and international clients. He has extensive experience leading complex debt financing transactions and providing insight on capital structuring, liquidity and risk, and has also previously worked in both debt restructuring and securitisation. In 2018 he became an Exec Board member at St Nicks, an award-winning environmental charity, stepping up to Chair.


Justin Olosund
Senior Funding &
Investment Manager
Justin is a Senior Funding & Investment Manager working within the Environment Directorate of the
West of England Combined Authority. Justin also acts as the finance lead for the Department of Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ) Local Net Zero Accelerator Pilots supporting Greater Manchester, West Midlands and York and North
Yorkshire Combined Authorities. Justin has an extensive 35-year career background in education management, curriculum development, consultancy, investment banking (capital markets and infrastructure finance), social enterprise, and sector specialisms in renewable energy and environmental goods and services.


Paul Bourgeois
Strategy Director
Paul has worked in the public, private, third sectors and academia for over 27 years specialising in multi-sector investment and delivery of decarbonisation projects, initiatives and programmes. His experience includes securing multi-million-pound national and European funding for a variety of green tech, clean tech, circular economy, and supply chain development endeavours, including multi-sector investment propositions for LEPs and county areas. This work has encompassed energy infrastructure, local business growth, practical decarbonisation measures in domestic, commercial, and third sectors, and community-led deployment interventions leading to demonstrable energy and carbon savings, allied with sustainable economic growth.


Katie Sargent
Green Futures Manager
Katie Sargent is the Greener Futures Group Manager at Surrey County Council. Her role includes oversight of climate change, strategic energy, ecology and nature recovery. She is the Deputy Chair of the ADEPT Clean Growth and Energy Working Group. Katie has worked in the environment sector in Local Government for 20 years. She is particularly interested in the finance mechanisms that can be developed to support decarbonisation at a local level.



Alex Rathmell
Programme Lead, Local Net Zero Accelerator
Alex is a sustainable energy consultant, entrepreneur and engineer, specialising in business model innovation to drive low carbon investment. He has led a number of consultancy teams, advising corporate and public sector clients on energy strategies and developing innovative business models that make sense of energy efficiency. Alex joined the Greater South East Net Zero Hub where he is leading the Local Net Zero Accelerator programme, supporting local authorities in scaling up their climate programmes through strategic investment partnerships.


Matthew Daffurn
Partner Energy, Environment & Infrastructure
Matthew Daffurn is a partner in the Firm’s Energy, Environment & Infrastructure practice group. He advises corporations, lenders, sponsors, governments, multilateral agencies and political risk insurers on large, complex multi-source project development, financing, acquisition and disposal of renewable, conventional power, nuclear, petrochemical, infrastructure and extractive industry projects in the UK, Europe, Africa and other emerging markets. His experience extends to energy transition, upstream exploration and production and midstream and downstream oil and gas projects.


Tom Day
Head of Energy & Low Carbon
Tom is a qualified Chartered Accountant with deep analytical skills, strong programme management experience and has led the Essex County Council's Energy and Low Carbon work for over 7-years. He has extensive experience working in a consulting environment at PricewaterhouseCoopers.



Rob Robinson
Low Carbon Kent Manager
Rob heads up the Low Carbon Kent team at Kent County Council, where he’s co-designed and delivered multiple (mainly EU-funded) projects since 2016. With a strong practical background in energy surveying and consultancy across a wide range of sectors, he has a strong passion for evidenced-based advocacy of sustainability investment.


