We’ve turned our pipe dream into a reality

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 Executive Chairman in 2017, bringing to Highview more than 20 years of international executive experience in multinational corporations. He has successfully scaled up several businesses from scratch to market-leading positions.

Besides his executive role at Highview, Colin Roy is closely involved in Regenerative Agriculture technology through California-based, Corigin Solutions Inc., a venture rolling out one of the most effective and scalable processes for greenhouse gas avoidance and carbon sequestration.

In a previous life he was 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, privatizations, and M&A transactions, including the mergers of Mannesmann and Vodafone and of Bayer and Schering.

Rupert Pearce understands the intricacies and challenges associated with transformation. A highly accomplished industry leader in the tech sector, Pearce has a well-earned reputation for guiding high-growth global technology companies through monumental transitions that heighten their ability to change the world. As CEO of Highview Power, Pearce leverages his comprehensive background in leadership, transformation, globalisation, strategy and business development, operations and investment & finance to position the company as a leader in accelerating the energy transition.

Before joining Highview Power, Pearce served for nearly a decade as CEO of Inmarsat PLC, the world’s leading mobile satellite operator. Under his leadership, Inmarsat entered the FTSE 100 index. Mastering the technical concepts associated with the satellite and mobile broadband industry enabled Pearce to build impactful business strategies around complex technology and successfully navigate government processes globally.

Pearce earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Christ Church College at Oxford University and was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. His substantial industry leadership includes membership on the U.K. Government’s Trade Advisory Group for telecom services, chairmanship of the EMEA Satellite Operators Association, board membership for Tech U.K. and the Smart Africa Initiative, and commissionership of the ITU/UNESCO’s Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development. He had the distinction of serving as a Visiting Fellow of the Tanaka Business School and as a lecturer to the Royal College of Defence Studies annual course. Pearce is currently a venture partner with Columbia Capital and co-author of the book Raising Venture Capital.

Nick was Chief Executive of Southern Electric Power Generation (one of SSE’s predecessor companies) and then became Managing Director of British Gas’s global generation business.

Later, at Lattice Group, a forerunner of National Grid Transco (the UK’s leading electricity transmission and gas transportation utility), he was COO of Transco, responsible for all gas transmission and distribution operations in Britain.

Earlier, he led the first comprehensive appraisal of renewable energy in the UK and was with Shell in oil and shipping trading. He has held directorships with companies on all the major continents.

Dr. Gerhard Cromme, former Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Siemens AG and ThyssenKrupp AG, joined Highview Power’s Board of Directors in May 2020. Dr. Cromme currently serves as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Auto1, Member of the Supervisory Board of ClearVAT AG, Chairman of the Advisory Board of Aroundtown SA, and Target Global.

Dr. Cromme started his career with the French group Compagnie de Saint-Gobain before moving on to the Krupp Group, where he held the position of Chairman of the Executive Board of the Group holding company. Following the merger with Thyssen, Dr. Cromme became Chairman of the Executive Board of the newly formed ThyssenKrupp where he led the company until 2001 and subsequently served as Chairman of its Supervisory Board until 2013. From 2007 to 2018, Mr. Cromme was Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Siemens AG.

Vice President of World-Wide Holdings Corp., a privately held venture capital investor and real estate developer. A founder member of the Clinton Global Initiative and actively involved with the world-renowned Rocky Mountain Institute, Niko is now developing and managing a portfolio of World-Wide’s assets in green technologies.

Since 2008 Tomas has run power businesses for Corporations from three different continents. He is currently CEO of Sumitomo SHI FW (www.shi-fw.com), part of Japanese Sumitomo Heavy Industries, a world leader in combustion and steam generation technology, whose power solutions expand to Long Duration Energy Storage in partnership with Highview Power, Environmental Products, Waste Heat technologies and a wide spectrum of Plant Lifecycle Services and digitalization. Prior to this, Tomas was President of Power Systems and Technology Group of AmecFW (UK), running a global business comprising of power projects, aftermarket services and power generation. Earlier he served as CEO of Foster Wheeler (USA) Global Power Group’s operating units in Europe and in Asia, and before that he was Chief Operating Officer of Foster Wheeler’s Power Group Europe. Tomas has a professional background in management of capital projects and supply chains as well as in project risk management.

Since 2005, Rikin has made Africa, the continent of opportunities,  his ‘work home’ .

He joins as a director of Highview Power in January 2021 with a vision to be part of Highview’s incredible growth journey and contribute by exploring avenues of deploying Highview’s technology in JCG’s core markets in Africa.

He currently serves as the CEO of Janus Continental Group (JCG), a pan-African conglomerate with businesses in the energy, real estate, hospitality, and conservation sectors. He is responsible for building adaptable business models and corporate governance structures to support sustainable and profitable growth.

He was previously the CFO at JCG. Prior to this, he was the Group Deputy CFO and a member of the Executive Committee at Export Trading Group (ETG), a global player with a diverse portfolio of agriculture commodities across the globe. He also held various senior positions at Olam International, Singapore based leading food and agri-business with global presence.

Richard Butland joined the board of Highview in August 2021. He brings to the company a wealth of experience from the energy industry, which is of value to Highview as the company constructs its first full sized facilities, increases the scale of projects and introduces practices to radically reduce the capex cost per MWh of the CRYOBattery.

After completing his studies in New Zealand Richard qualified as a chartered accountant and worked with Price Waterhouse in New Zealand, Japan and the UK, before commencing a career in corporate finance with Schroders and then Goldman Sachs, where he quickly advanced to Head of UK mergers & acquisitions. He transitioned within that organisation to the private equity division where he was involved in the acquisition and oversight of several fast growing or evolving companies, including Pret a Manger, Ontex, Expro and Dong Energy, now known as Orsted. He was particularly active in the energy sector where he led the group’s investing activity in Europe and was a member of Goldman Sachs Merchant Bank Global Energy and Infrastructure Investment Committees. Following his retirement from the firm, he has founded two EPC companies of his own active in the oil & gas sector and has established a private investment firm focused on purpose-driven growth investments.

Richard believes that Highview and its technology will play a critical role in the long duration energy storage market, which will itself represent the fastest growing segment of the energy economy over the next two decades.

Dr. Javier Cavada, was Highview Power’s Chief Executive Officer and President from September of 2018 through December 2021. Today, he remains a director of the company.

Javier is currently President and CEO at Mitsubishi Power EMEA. Prior to his executive role at Highview Power, he was at Wärtsilä Corporation, one of the world’s top three technology companies in the energy market and a global leader in smart technologies and complete energy lifecycle solutions. Since 2015, he was President of the Energy division and member of the Corporation’s Executive board, leading the company’s global energy business and driving its vision towards 100% renewables, performing a deep transformation towards becoming the leading system integrator. Under Javier’s leadership, Wärtsilä’s global market share in gas and liquid fuel power plants grew from 9% up to 21%. His 17-year career at Wärtsilä has included extensive international experience, including executive roles in China, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Finland.
In combination with these executive roles, Javier has chaired the Board of multiple subsidiary companies, being Greensmith Energy Management Inc. one of the most relevant, USA-based leading provider of energy storage solutions, advanced software and integration services. Prior to his Wärtsilä career, Javier has taken leadership roles within the German multinational firm Robert Bosch, in the fields of automotive technology and manufacturing industry. Javier holds a PhD degree in industrial engineering and among other awards has been recognized as Distinguished Alumni by the University of Cantabria in Spain.

Sandys is a prominent figure in the energy sector. She has led two Government taskforces on the digitalisation of the energy sector, has contributed to whole system policy changes on the journey to Net Zero, and was awarded a CBE for Energy Policy in 2019.   She is Chair of the British Standards Institute Net Zero Advisory Board, chairs the ESG committee on the board of SGN and is a board member of the Energy Systems Catapult.

Elected to Parliament in 2010-15, she served on the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee and was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister for Climate Change. Since leaving Parliament,  Sandys has co-Chaired the IPPR Environment and Justice Commission and ran the Reshaping Regulation Programme with Imperial College, where she authored a report stressing the importance of flexibility delivered through storage. Sandys was also a member of the Government’s Cost of Energy Review chaired by Professor Dieter Helm.