Our People

Regina Finn is the Chair of LCCC and ESC. She is a Director of Lucerna Partners, a consultancy specialising in public policy, economic regulation and competition and consumer policy and a non-executive Director and Chair of the Remuneration and Nominations Committee of Places for People, the UK’s largest social enterprise. She is also on the board of Motor Fuel Group – a forecourt operator. Regina has 20 years’ experience in utility regulation, including as Commissioner for Energy Regulation in Ireland, Director General of the Office of Utility Regulation for energy, post and telecommunications in Guernsey and as Deputy Director of ComReg, Ireland’s first economic regulator for the telecommunications sector. Regina’s previous non-executive positions include Chair of Mutual Energy Limited, non-executive director of the Channel Islands Competition and Regulatory Authority and non-executive director of Irish Water. She was the first Chief Executive of Ofwat, the water regulator for England and Wales, where she served for seven years.

Neil McDermott is the Chief Executive and a Board Director of Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC) and Electricity Settlements Company (ESC). Neil joined LCCC and ESC in 2014 and led the set up and growth of the companies where, today, they manage large portfolios of Contracts for Difference and Capacity Market agreements, with pivotal roles in contract management, settlements and development of the these key markets. He has over 30 years’ experience in the energy sector and brings strong strategic, commercial, regulatory and operational skills working predominantly in the electricity generation and wholesale markets. Neil has held a range of leadership roles in new infrastructure project development, joint ventures, energy trading, infrastructure operations and commercial management. He has worked across the range of electricity generation types including gas and renewables. Prior to his current role, he held positions at EDF Energy, Enron, Ernst & Young and National Power.

George has many years’ experience both in senior leadership roles in finance and within the energy sector, in particular in recent years in the B2B energy supply arena. Having graduated from Oxford, George went on to work at Shell, Centrica and Orsted before coming to Low Carbon Contracts Company in 2019. George is an adaptable finance professional with a track record of building teams, processes, systems and controls needed to enable growth. George is able to effectively communicate value-enhancing proposals to diverse audiences, and then work across businesses to drive delivery.

Dr Maxine Mayhew is the Chief Operating Officer for Collections & Specialist Services at Biffa, the waste services company. She leads the Industrial & commercial, municipal and industrial services divisions as well as the Company Shop Group division plus the group functions of marketing, Fleet and facilities. Previously she was the MD for Natural Resources for Costain, where she was responsible delivery of activity in the energy, water and defence markets along with growing the consultancy capability for the group. Maxine completed a PhD in 1998 and has held a variety of roles in the water industry. During recent years Maxine has focused on commercial leadership and strategy development and implementation and she has held director roles which have covered all aspects of the industry from operations and engineering, through to support services including health, safety, risk, security, procurement and marketing.

Gerard is the Finance Director of Mutual Energy and director of its various subsidiaries. Mutual Energy is a company limited by guarantee which owns and manages strategic gas and electricity infrastructure energy assets in Northern Ireland's. He is also a member of the governance board and audit committee of PRISMA European Capacity Platform GmbH. He has board-level experience of large energy asset construction, major financing of infrastructure assets, and the regulatory challenges of decarbonising the electricity and gas networks. Gerard joined Mutual Energy in 2010 after five years with the Viridian Group, where he was Finance and Operations Manager with their unregulated energy supply business covering both the Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland market. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and trained with Coopers and Lybrand in Belfast. Gerard has previous experience in the health, retail and energy sectors within Northern Ireland and brings his broad financial, risk and governance experience as well as his experience of other sectors.

Dr Steph Hurst is a non-executive director of LCCC and ESC. She is also Deputy Director in the Energy Efficiency and Local Directorate at BEIS, where she has held various senior positions for a number of years. Stephanie has considerable experience of the electricity industry, with her work including oversight of the energy retail and wholesale markets, cross cutting energy affordability matters, the levy control framework and the energy price cap. Steph is a career civil servant who has held senior positions in several Whitehall Departments including BEIS, Defra, the Department of Communities and Local Government and the Cabinet Office.

Amanda Aldridge is a non-executive director of LCCC and ESC. She is also a non-executive director of Staffline Group plc, Impact Healthcare REIT plc, and The Brunner Investment Trust plc where she is also chair of the audit committee, and a member of the remuneration and nominations committees. Amanda is a chartered accountant and brings broad financial, risk and governance experience as well as her experience of other sectors. Amanda spent her executive career of some 30 years with KPMG (as a partner for some 20 years) before retiring from the firm in 2017.

Dan Osgood has been Director for Energy Markets & Analysis since summer 2021. He has extensive experience in climate and energy policy, including previously leading the Government’s work to reduce carbon emissions from buildings and industry, and as Senior Responsible Owner for a number of major Government projects. Prior to his current role, he was Strategy Director in the Vaccine Taskforce, supporting the UK development and supply of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Jo Coleman is a non-executive director of LCCC and ESC. Jo is also a non-executive director of Guernsey Electricity Ltd, Chair of Northern Powergrids Distribution System Operation Review Panel and a member of their Independent Stakeholder Group, and a non-executive director of the British Geological Survey. Jo has spent her entire career in the energy sector and previous executive roles have included Strategy Director at the Energy Technologies Institute, Head of Whole Systems Analysis at the Energy Systems Catapult and Energy Transition Manager at Shell UK. She has also previously been an independent member of the Governments Net Zero Innovation Board and sat on numerous industry advisory boards including Offshore Wind, CCUS & Hydrogen. Jo is also an Ambassador for POWERful Women and the Clean Energy Ministerial’s Equality in Energy Transitions Initiative. She is a Fellow of the IMechE and was awarded an OBE for services to the energy sector in 2018.

Neil McDermott has been the Chief Executive of the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC) and the Electricity Settlements Company (ESC) since 2014. With over 25 years in the energy sector, he brings to the team a breadth of strategic, commercial and leadership skills gained across a range of environments having undertaken roles in management consulting, development of energy infrastructure projects, energy trading, asset operations and commercial origination. Previous companies include EDF Energy, Enron, Ernst & Young and National Power, the forerunner of RWE. He has served as a Board Director for over 20 years and since 2017, he has been an independent member of the BEIS Project Investment Committee.

As Chief Financial Officer, George is responsible for multiple areas of the business, including Finance, Procurement, Risk and Assurance, Analytics, Technology, Settlement and Scheme Operations, and Change Management. His career spans more than 20 years of varied experience across the energy industry in finance and leadership roles. Prior to joining LCCC in 2019, George held senior positions in Orsted, Centrica and Shell giving him a broad and deep knowledge of the energy industry, and also how people in finance, technology and operations can come together to deliver excellent results. George’s commercial experience in sales-led businesses has also sharpened his ability to ensure that LCCC realises the best possible value for money in achieving outcomes on behalf of the end consumer. George holds an M.Eng. in Engineering, Economics and Management from the University of Oxford, and subsequently trained as a management accountant.

Allison is a dual qualified lawyer and surveyor with over 20 years’ experience in the energy and construction sectors. She is a former Partner of an international law firm and currently a non-executive director of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Allison brings to the role extensive in-house legal and private practice experience and has particular expertise in long term contracts with stable income streams and renewable energy projects including wind, hydro, biomass and CHP.

Andrew joined LCCC in November 2022 as Director of Strategy and Development. Andrew has worked in the energy industry for over a decade, specifically with National Grid Plc for over six and a half years and previously with RWE Group. Previously, Andrew has led on a range of areas from developing HVDC electricity interconnector businesses across Europe, growing offshore wind in the Northeast US, as well as hydrogen and CCUS within the UK. Andrew’s roles have covered commercial/business development, directing large clean energy projects and developing strategy and growth ambitions. At LCCC, Andrew’s role will be to be to develop our company strategy, improve existing schemes, develop new schemes, and drive LCCCs stakeholder engagement and corporate affairs activities. Andrew holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography from The University of Birmingham, various project management qualifications, and is currently on course to complete his Global Masters of Business Administration by the end of 2023.

James is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer (CEng) with over 30 years of experience in delivering major infrastructure projects in the utilities sector. At LCCC James has responsibility for Scheme Delivery, which includes the CfD contracts and the New and Bespoke Schemes. Prior to joining LCCC, James worked for a Tier 1 infrastructure contractor as a sector Commercial Director. James’ career has included engineering and environmental consultancies, windfarm development, water and wastewater commercial project development and operations via project finance. James is a member of the Institute of Directors (IoD) and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE). He holds BEng (Mechanical Engineering), MSc (Engineering & Project Management), and MA (Leadership & Management) degrees.

Rachel joined LCCC in July 2024 bringing with her a wealth of HR and leadership experience across a range of sectors. Rachel’s most recent roles were in FinTech scale-ups, where she was responsible for the full People, Culture and Talent agenda globally. Prior to this, her career was spent in large global organisations including Arriva and Johnson & Johnson, where she led large-scale change and transformation projects, and held specialist roles in Talent and Reward. Rachel is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and member of the Strategic Advisory Board at Loughborough University Business School.