Board of Directors

Chairman

Colin Roy

Colin Roy is a Scottish entrepreneur dedicated to the development and scaling up of technologies which can make a major contribution to the transition to a sustainable low carbon economy. A major shareholder in Highview since 2008, he was appointed Chairman in 2017, bringing to Highview more than 20 years of international executive experience in multinational corporations.

Colin was previously the CEO of Greenhill & Co. Europe and was one of the co-founders of New York-based Greenhill & Co, Inc. Prior to this, he played a leading role in establishing the German investment banking franchises of Merrill Lynch and SG Warburg (now UBS). During this time, he was a lead advisor on many of Europe’s most significant restructurings and M&A transactions, including the mergers of Mannesmann and Vodafone and of Bayer and Schering.

After banking he resolved to concentrate only on activities which could change the world for the better, even if only in a small way. Hence: Chair and co-owner of a wilderness safari business in Africa and multiple related community projects; skills training projects in Andean Peru; Co-founder of Corigin Solutions in California to make agriculture more sustainable… and Highview.

Director

Dr. Gerhard Cromme

Gerhard is a German industrialist and champion of Franco German relations and the German start up sector. He was also chair of the German corporate governance commission. 

Following executive roles at St Gobain in France he is best known as the CEO of Fried Krupp and his courageous reorganisation and painful rationalisation of the German steel industry through mergers with Hoesch and Thyssen, ultimately serving as CEO and then Chairman of ThyssenKrupp AG as well as Chairman of Siemens AG until 2017. He has served on over 20 boards in Germany, France and the UK, including Compagnie de Saint Gobain, SUEZ SA, Thales SA, BNP Paribas, Allianz SE, E.ON AG, Volkswagen AG, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Axel Springer SE and continues to support a handful of German public and private companies, including AroundTown and Auto1 Group SE.

He was created a Commandeur du Légion d’Honneur by Jacques Chirac in 2002 and Grand Officier du LH by François Hollande in 2015, and received the Großes Verdienstkreuz from German President Horst Köhler in 2004.

Director

Ingmar Grebien

Ingmar Grebien is a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs with over 18 years of experience in investing, financing, and trading across commodity markets. He leads Commodities Sustainable Solutions in the Global Markets Division, focusing on energy transition, and heads up GS Pearl Street, Goldman Sachs’ platform to provide financing, route-to market and trading services to renewables and energy storage assets.

Previously, he managed a large portfolio of principal equity investments in the commodity sector and helped build the Commodities Structured Finance team at Goldman Sachs. He represents Goldman Sachs in industry associations and is also an Advisory Board Member for Xpansiv. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Ingmar worked at the World Bank.

Ingmar Grebien is a British and German citizen. He holds an MSc in Business Administration from the University of Mannheim and an MSc in Development Economics from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris.

Director

Kasper Trebbien

Kasper Trebbien is Vice President, Energy Transition and Land Sustainability, in KIRKBI A/S, based in the Copenhagen office.

Before joining KIRKBI A/S in 2015, he has held senior corporate finance positions within renewables and infrastructure in DONG (now: Ørsted) and EY. Through his position in KIRKBI A/S, Mr Trebbien is a member of the Board of Directors in Adapture Renewables, Inc. (former: Enerparc Inc).

Kasper Trebbien is a Danish citizen, and he holds a Master of Science in Economics from Københavns Universitet (University of Copenhagen).

Director

Laura Sandys

Laura Sandys has worked in energy transformation for over 20 years and currently chairs the UK Regulator’s Network Innovation Taskforce, Sero Homes, and Green Alliance. She also serves on the boards of SSE Transmission, Ohme Global and Highview.

She previously chaired the UK Government’s Energy Digitalisation Taskforce and now works globally to advance best practice in the digitalisation and optimisation of energy systems.

Laura is a co-founder of POWERful Women.

She was awarded a CBE in recognition of her contribution to energy policy, alongside a Lifetime Achievement Award in the Green Economy from Business Green and the Utility Week Industry Champion award in 2019. She has recently been appointed Senior Research Fellow at Imperial College and serves on the Advisory Council of EPRI.

Director

Niko Elmaleh

Niko is a founding member of Highview and has played a key role in developing Highview and LAES since 2006. Originally from New York, he built his career in auto distribution and real estate through the family company, World-Wide Holdings. 

Nearly 20 years ago, Niko shifted his focus to practical philanthropy in climate change and sustainability. Recognising the need to develop long duration energy storage well ahead of the market, he became Highview’s first large investor in 2006 and joined the board in 2008, championing the transition to LAES technology.

In addition to Highview, Niko serves on the boards of several philanthropic organizations as well as supports various startups addressing critical issues like water purification, sustainable agriculture, GHG mitigation, plastics recycling, data center cooling, and vehicle charging technologies. An accomplished sportsman, Niko resides in Barcelona and Bridgehampton with his family.

Director

Nick Woollacott

Nick Woollacott is a former FTSE 100 Executive Director with extensive experience in the energy sector, covering conventional oil, gas, electricity, renewable energy, and energy conservation. After earning a degree in physics, he began his career as an oil trader for Shell and worked on energy policy for central government, developing profitable power and gas businesses in the UK and abroad. He has led major project financings and managed assets worth billions, overseeing an operational workforce of over 15,000.

Post-Shell, he served as Deputy Head of Economics at the Atomic Energy Authority, established electricity trading and generation at Southern Electric, and led BG plc’s global generation business. As a board member of Lattice Group plc, he managed Transco and merged it with the electricity transmission network to form National Grid Transco, now National Grid plc. He has also been a Non-Executive Director for several public and private companies on all the major continents.

Director and Executive Vice President, Sumitomo Heavy Industries

Shaun Dean

Shaun is a proud Yorkshireman who joined Sumitomo Heavy Industries in 1996 via an acquisition. Coming from a background in Finance he has worked in many roles within the SHI Group, predominately leading several M&A in EMEIA as well as being a turnaround specialist globally for the group. 

He has lived in around 10 countries in the last 25 years and currently resides in Amsterdam as the CEO of the newly created (1/24) SHI European Group HQ. Here we oversee the 8 main hubs of the Group – of which SHI Foster Wheeler (Tomas HJ) is one of them – as well as the 60+ subsidiaries within these groups.

Shaun is also a Senior Vice President of the holding company Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd (TSE listed) – him being one of only 2 non-Japanese Executives – his role here being to support SHI CEO in Global activities and expansions.

Director

Tomas Harju-Jeanty

Tomas W. Harju-Jeanty is CEO of Sumitomo SHI FW, a globally operating subsidiary of Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd (Japan) and Co-Chairman of Global Management Team of Energy and Environment Group of Sumitomo Heavy Industries. 

Tomas focuses on advancing the transition to sustainable and clean energy through technology and innovation, overseeing a global business in decarbonization technologies and lifecycle services for the energy, environmental, and circular economy sectors.

With over 20 years of experience, he has led energy technology companies in the USA, UK, and Japan, gaining expertise in integrating multinational operations and driving value through integration and M&A. His background includes power and environmental technologies and large capital projects, with a track record in market entries, turnarounds, and strategic alliances across Europe, the USA, Southeast Asia, India, China, and Japan.

Previously, Tomas was President of the Power Systems and Technology Group at Amec Foster Wheeler and CEO of Foster Wheeler’s power business in Europe and Asia. He also served as a visiting lecturer on Advanced Project Management at Helsinki University of Technology from 2004 to 2008.

Director

Nyawira Kariuki

Nyawira has worked in Kenya across various industries in Real Estate, Beverages, and Energy, overseeing the marketing and communications, sales, business development, IT and legal functions. She consulted on the setting up of a U.K. registered energy company that was developing its first power plant in Zambia. Nyawira has a Bachelor of Law (LLB) and qualified as a solicitor in 2007. She also holds an MBA from ESSEC Business school in Paris, France.
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On completion of her MBA in 2012, she returned to consulting in the UK and France focusing on developing strategies and supporting companies expand outside their home markets, developing branding and positioning strategies. She worked in the beverages industry for 3 years before joining JCG Management in November 2019. ​

Director

Dave Kirwan

Dave Kirwan, Managing Director of Board Gáis Energy, has led the company since 2011, overseeing its sale to Centrica plc in 2014. He has held a variety of senior roles across the Centrica Group. He returned to Bord Gáis as MD in 2020, to lead the company’s transition to a fully integrated, green energy company.

He is now Managing Director of Centrica Power, in addition to his Bord Gáis Energy role, and is responsible for power investment across Centrica’s global markets.

Dave holds a BE in Electronics from UCD, is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineers of Ireland, he holds an MBA and a doctorate in business economics (DBA) from UCC.

He is a member of the Ibec Executive Committee and Focus Ireland’s Philanthropy Council.

Director

John Isherwood

John is Managing Director of Portfolio Management at the National Wealth Fund, where he leads the management, development and oversight of the Fund’s growing multi-billion investment portfolio, supporting assets that drive economic growth across the UK.

He joined the National Wealth Fund in 2025, bringing deep expertise in making and managing equity investments across a range of sectors, particularly energy and infrastructure. Prior to this, he has held Managing Director positions at Low Carbon, a regulated fund management company, and Macquarie Capital / Green Investment Bank.