Chris McDonald MP was appointed Minister for Industry in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) on 11 September 2025.

He was elected as the MP for Stockton North in July 2024.

Chris studied Chemical Engineering at Cambridge, graduating with BA and MEng degrees. He also completed an MBA at the University of Warwick.

Before becoming an MP Chris spent 20 years working in the steel industry, with a focus on research.

In 2008, he became a laboratory manager within the research division of Tata Steel. In 2014 he led the divestment of the Materials Processing Institute from Tata Steel UK, becoming CEO.

Chris is also a Fellow at the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Laura Sandys has been working in energy transformation for 20 years and chairs The Green Alliance, The Food Foundation and Electrify Industry.  She is an advisor to the International Energy Agency on smart grids and is on the board of SSE Transmission, Ohme Global, Sero Homes and Highview Power.   

She was the Chair of the UK Government’s Energy Digitalisation Taskforce and is now working globally to spread best practise of the digitalisation of the energy system.  She was also a member of the UK Government’s Energy Efficiency Taskforce chairing the domestic efficiency working group. 

She co-founder of POWERful Women and was former Deputy Chair of the Food Standards Agency.   She chaired the Northern Ireland Energy Strategy Group and is member of the UK Ministerial Council for Carbon Capture and Storage.  

She was previously a Member of Parliament for South Thanet, and described by The Times as ‘one of the sanest of all MPs’ and as ‘lateral-minded, original and free-thinking’.  

Richard Earl is the Director of Research and Development at EO Charging. For the last 20 years, Richard has been working in the energy and automotive sectors across a number of engineering and leadership roles. Since studying Electrical and Electronic Engineering at university he has developed code for safety critical applications such as engine controllers, lead teams of software developers to develop large scale software applications managing millions of end points and he has managed cross functional teams to deliver multiple electronic products to the mass market.  

In his roles at EO Charging he has led the successful delivery and evolution of the Mini Pro and Genius families of electric vehicle charging stations - two of which have received nominations for product innovation along with submission for patents. Now Richard oversees the introduction of new charging technology into EO ranging from new protocols, standards and new charging stations in order to solve complex customer problems. 

Additionally, Richard is also the chair of the BEAMA trade association EV Infrastructure Group helping the industry navigate the evolving regulatory landscape as EV infrastructure moves from niche to mass adoption. 

Henrik Juhl Hansen has more than 30 years’ international and expatriate leadership experience in cross-cultural business in USA, Nordics, Europe, Africa and Middle East, having held multiple positions in sales & marketing organisations and general management for international companies. He graduated from Copenhagen Business School in 1989 with an MSC (Econ) in strategic planning and marketing excellence.

Henrik joined the Vaillant Group organisation in 2016, responsible for a number of European markets including Italy, Belgium and Austria, bringing his extensive experience in sales and marketing as well as leading teams globally and locally.

During his five-year tenure, he worked on developing the organisation and capabilities to support our business transition towards renewable energies.
In January 2022 Henrik took responsibility for Vaillant Group UK & Ireland. His experience will ensure the company continues to lead the way in the Carbon reduction revolution through the transition to heat pumps and other renewable technologies, while continuing Vaillant Group’s well-established ethos of proudly supporting our customers and partners. His leadership will ensure that Vaillant and Glow-worm continue to lead the way in heating technology and services.

In April 2024, Henrik took on the role of Chair of the Heating and Hot water Industry Council (HHIC). The HHIC is taking a leading role in the national challenge to decarbonise heating and hot water for homes and businesses, working closely with Government to scale up the transition and ensuring all stakeholders are represented.
Henrik also holds the role of Vice President of the Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA).

Alongside these roles, Henrik is an active stakeholder in many other industry bodies and often engages with organisations such as the Heat Pump Association (HPA), BEAMA & Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

Jon is a Partner at LCP Delta and host of the Talking New Energy podcast, which launched in 2019 to bring the leading edge of the energy transition to life. His work today centers on helping clients to navigate the complexities of energy retail, services, networks, and whole-system change, developing strategies that drive the transition forward. 

Jon is passionate about connecting the dots across different aspects of the energy transition and exploring the patterns that shape our sector’s future. Before this, he spent nearly 20 years co-founding and co-leading Delta-EE, building on more than 25 years of experience in the energy sector. 

Elizabeth Wilkinson is the Domestic Product Director at Groupe Atlantic UK, ROI & NA, responsible for future domestic product strategy for both Ideal Heating and Gledhill Building Products. With 8 years at Groupe Atlantic and prior experience in an International Marketing role, Lizzie enjoys working with a broad range of customers and bringing new products to market. Over the last 5 years Lizzie has been heavily involved in the launch of Ideal Heating’s flagship heat pump range the Logic Air and smart thermostat Halo as the business broadens its product offerings and invests heavily in scaling up for low carbon technologies.

Marc is Sales Director for Eaton's Commercial Buildings business for UK & Ireland, focusing on solutions in energy transition, power distribution and building safety.

Marc originally trained as an Electrical Engineer within building services but has spent most of his career working in marketing and sales roles for both corporate and small to medium sized organisations.

Andrew Eldred is ECA’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer. This role includes leading on all aspects of association membership and skills strategy, including workforce skills policy, apprenticeships, Electrotechnical Training and Careers Alliances, and the ECA Growth Hub. In addition to his role at ECA, Andrew is a trustee-director of the apprenticeship training charity JTL, ECA’s representative on the board of the Electrotechnical Skills Partnership, and deputy chair of the Engineering and Building Services Skills Alliance. He has previously contributed as a member to the Building Safety Regulator’s Industry Competence Steering Group and the DESNZ Solar PV Taskforce Skills Group.