Look back at the event that's driving North Sea innovation forward.

Rob Fox

Europe Managing Director, SLB

With over 25 years in the Oil & Gas industry, Rob currently holds the position of Managing Director, Europe for SLB. Prior to this role he was Managing Director Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan based in Kazakhstan. Rob has held various management positions in operations, human resources and sales in the Middle East, Asia, North America and Europe. He began his career as a Research and Development Engineer in 1994 in the UK.

David Whitehouse

CEO, OEUK

As an industry leader with 30 years of experience, David Whitehouse is a longstanding champion of OEUK, the leading trade association for the UK’s integrating offshore energies industry. Its membership includes over 400 organisations with an interest in offshore oil, gas, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and wind.

Working together with its members, OEUK is a driving force supporting the UK in ensuring security of energy supply while helping to meet its net zero ambitions. It works on behalf of the sector and its members to inform understanding with facts, evidence and data, engage on a range of key issues and support the broader value of this industry in a changing energy landscape.

David is respected across the sector for his strategic and hands-on leadership in the North Sea and around the world, including the USA, Netherlands and Philippines. His passion for energy, engineering and innovation is built on a PhD in Theoretical Chemistry from Cambridge University and a first-class degree in Chemistry from Manchester University. He is currently studying at the University of Aberdeen for a Masters in Renewable Engineering, an area of key growth and interest for OEUK and its members.

Pauline Innes

Supply Chain and Decommissioning Director, North Sea Transition Authority

Pauline Innes joined the NSTA in 2019 as Head of Decommissioning, leading the work to ensure decommissioning is carried out in a manner that is cost effective and supports the country’s net-zero target. She has a background in the public sector, working for the Scottish Government in social and economic policy before joining BEIS in 2015 to work in decommissioning.

Mitch Flegg

CEO, Serica Energy

Mitch Flegg has over 40 years’ experience in the upstream oil and gas industry, including positions at Shell and Enterprise Oil. First joining Serica in 2006, Mitch left the company to become Chief Executive Officer of AIM-listed Circle Oil plc in 2015, before returning to Serica as CEO in 2017. During this time, Mitch has increased the AIM listed companies’ portfolio, with Serica now one of the top 10 UK producing oil and gas companies. Mitch also sits on the Board of OEUK, the representative body for the UK’s offshore energies industry.

Dawn Brady

Europe HR Manager, SLB

With 28 years experience in Human Resources, spanning Financial Services, Banking, Manufacturing and Oil & Gas industries, Dawn currently holds the position of Head of HR for Europe. Prior to this role, Dawn was Global Talent Manager for the Well Construction Division. Dawn has held various HR roles with differing scopes of responsibility including Global Division, Corporate and Regional through assignments in Singapore, London, Houston and Aberdeen.

Heather Milne

Growth & Inward Investment Manager, Skills Development Scotland

Heather Milne, Growth & Inward Investment Manager within SDS. Focus on ensuring that the skills, training and education needs of potential and existing inward investors are met with a comprehensive package of support, helping them navigate the skills system and building their short to long term talent pipelines. Prior to joining SDS, Heather spent a large part of her career in the Oil & Gas industry in a resourcing capacity.

Michael Love

Head of Skills Policy, OPITO

Michael has over 12 years’ experience in energy industry training and competence development. He has held several, senior positions within the oil and gas, maritime and renewables sectors, and joined OPITO in 2018. With OPITO, he leads the organisation’s domestic and international policy strategy, and is accountable for delivering the various people and skills commitments under the North Sea Transition Deal. Previously, he managed the quality assurance and audit function across North and South America. A seasoned public speaker, panellist, and commentator on energy skills matters, he is also a member of the Chartered Quality Institute, the Institute of Directors and holds a Masters degree in business administration from Aberdeen University.

Jamie McRorie

Partner, Shepherd & Wedderburn LLP

Jamie joined Shepherd and Wedderburn in Autumn 2023 and is a partner in the regulation and markets practice, with areas of practice including water, electricity and gas. He joined from Ofgem, where he was a Senior Civil Servant working at the forefront of energy regulation, decarbonisation and net zero initiatives.

Jamie was the Head of Legal on energy system matters which impact the transmission and distribution network, generation, interconnectors and gas shippers. His role included legal oversight of the wholesale, balancing and capacity markets. Jamie’s role also included leading all regulatory enforcement across Ofgem’s broad range of functions.

Prior to Ofgem, Jamie spent over 10 years in the public law team (EU, Competition and Procurement) of an international law firm, specialising in advising on major infrastructure projects. Jamie regularly advises on novel and cutting-edge regulatory matters in the areas of public law, judicial review, human rights, international treaties and sanctions, subsidy control and competition law.

Tom Swan

Partner, Shepherd & Wedderburn LLP

Tom is a partner in Shepherd and Wedderburn’s corporate finance team. He has a wide range of corporate, restructuring and financial markets experience, specialising in particular in M&A, joint ventures and equity financings in the upstream oil and gas, renewables, natural resources, power and infrastructure sectors across the UK and internationally.

Jenny Stanning

External Relations Director, OEUK

Jenny Stanning is responsible for leading OEUK’s external affairs, events, and membership teams. In this role her responsibilities include working with Governments, Parliaments, industry leaders, business and industry organisations and regulatory bodies to ensure that members’ interests are well represented.

Prior to joining OEUK, Jenny worked in politics and stakeholder management for 10 years including the Scottish Parliament and Westminster.

Andy Norrie

Head of Sales and Business Development - Europe, STATS Group UK

Andy Norrie is Head of Sales and Business Development for Europe at STATS Group. In his role, he is tasked with leading the company through a phase of expansion and market penetration within the European region. Andy possesses comprehensive expertise across various facets of the STATS portfolio, encompassing piping and pipeline isolation, hot tapping, as well as plugging for repair, maintenance, and decommissioning activities.

Originally joining STATS Group in 2011 to support the growth of their digital marketing presence, in 2013, Andy transitioned to the role of Technical Proposal Specialist, and in 2015, he assumed the position of Business Development Manager. In this role, he played a pivotal role in supporting numerous offshore, onshore, and subsea projects in the UK, as well as across Europe, the Middle East, and Caspian regions.

In 2017, Andy was appointed as the Regional Business Development Manager for Canada, where he lead the expansion of STATS' presence in Canada's onshore pipeline industry. Returning to STATS UK in 2020, Andy resumed his position of Business Development Manager before moving to his current role in November last year.

Dr. Christopher J. Banks

Principal New Energy & Geoscience Consultant, SLB

Chris Banks provides consultancy on Sustainable Energy Projects. A geoscientist by background, he worked conventional oil and gas, tar sands and shale gas projects around the world both for regulators and industry. After an ethical epiphany in 2016, he pursued a MSc in Sustainable Energy Solutions and now works in development of “new” energy projects. His focus is on blue/green hydrogen value chain development in Scotland as part of the Net Zero Technology Centre consortium. He also leads the SLB Sustainability Community, which is an employee grass roots organisation to help advocate for action on climate, social and nature within corporations.

Allister Thomas

Editor, Energy Voice

Allister has been reporting directly on the North Sea since 2018 and has led the Energy Voice editorial team across its digital and print output since September 2021.

In the last year, he has broken exclusive stories on offshore electrification, the impact of the windfall tax on jobs and projects, and put a spotlight on HSE failures for the offshore workforce.

Alongside editorial coverage, Allister moderates a series of industry events each year ranging in scope from ScotWind to Decom, and is the lead host of the Energy Voice Out Loud podcast.