Our advisory group

We established our new advisory group in 2021 to provide expertise and advice as we pursue our mission to align people’s money with their values and aspirations with their money. This group brings together inspiring individuals from a broad range of sectors with deep experience of investment, energy infrastructure, green policy and marketing. We could not be more pleased to have access to their skills and guidance as we grow our business.

Andrew Whalley

Andrew Whalley

Renewable Energy Pioneer & Investment Expert

Andrew is one of the UK’s leading renewable energy entrepreneurs. As founder of REG Power Management, he listed the company on AIM in the 2000s, and became one of the largest developers, owners and operators of renewable energy projects until taking it private again in 2015. REG Power Management has raised £4M through Abundance for 2 of its businesses.

He started his career in asset management, with roles that included CIO of Johnson Fry and CEO of Legg Mason UK, with a focus on UK and European utilities. Whilst at Johnson Fry, Andrew helped establish the first listed funds dedicated to investing in utilities, an activity that numbers in the billions today. Andrew has a deep understanding of both public and private capital markets as a result of his experience on both sides of the fence as an investor and as a developer of renewable energy, and of setting up and scaling a business.

Francesca Barnes

Francesca Barnes

Finance Leader & Sustainability Champion

Francesca spent 27 years working in leading financial institutions — including UBS and Chase Manhattan — in a range of top-level roles spanning strategy, risk, fixed income and private equity. In recent years she has switched her focus to non-executive roles and currently serves on the boards of Coutts and NatWest Holdings and 2 private equity businesses. She is using her strong desire to take action on the climate emergency through a role on NatWest’s Sustainable Banking Committee.

Francesca has also used her strategic expertise in the voluntary sector, following her long interest in education and individual development (as chair of an academy school in Hackney for over 7 years and now as a Council Member of the University of Southampton), and in healthcare where as chair she helped establish Penny Brohn’s holistic approach to cancer care as a mainstream approach.

June Aitken

June Aitken

Investment Market Specialist

June has over 30 years’ experience of financial markets and the institutional investment industry. As well as managing and advising various global management businesses, she has founded an independent fund management business, focusing on sustainable and resource efficient investments, which currently manages almost $2 billion for sovereign wealth funds, endowments, pensions, and foundations.

Recently she has become involved in a number of fintech businesses, bringing her understanding of regulatory and governance frameworks to help create successful and regulatorily compliant businesses. Her awareness and commitment to furthering the positives in the shift to ESG (environmental, social and governance focused) investing with her long experience of mainstream investing gives her (and Abundance) unique insight into the challenges and opportunities facing the industry.

Martin Saunders

Martin Saunders

Brand & Marketing Expert

Martin has over 25 years marketing experience across a variety of different sectors from SMEs and start-ups to global corporations such as Nike. Whilst at Good Energy he helped increase customer numbers fourfold and annual revenues by 50%. He now combines executive, advisory and coaching roles for both commercial and not for profit entities.

Nick Robins

Nick Robins

Climate Finance Trailblazer, Author & Academic

It is no understatement to say that Nick has been one of the key influencers in the sustainable finance movement for the past 20 years. At Henderson Global Investors, a leading UK-based asset manager, he introduced the first carbon footprint of an investment fund back in 2005; now this is becoming the norm. At the UN, he helped lead a global inquiry into what a sustainable financial system could look like. A widely published author (including Sustainable Investing: the Art of Long-Term Performance in 2008), he also co-founded Planet Tracker as well as Carbon Tracker which developed the now-dominant ‘stranded assets’ thesis around fossil fuel investments.

He is currently Professor in Practice for Sustainable Finance at the LSE’s Grantham Research Institute. One priority is how financial institutions can support a just transition, in other worlds climate action with positive social impact. He is also working closely with central banks, and is co-chairing a new initiative on biodiversity and financial stability. Nick brings a unique mix of investment experience, public policy insights and impact-oriented research.

Susan Hooper

Susan Hooper

Board Room Environmentalist

Susan has had a hugely varied career in senior executive and board positions across the leisure, FMCG, Utilities and travel sectors spanning almost 40 years. The common thread has been a need to be directed by clarity of strategy/purpose, a deep interest in and understanding of customers using data to provide insight and improve service delivery and more recently a desire to mobilise all people on the topic of sustainability. In recent years she has been using this expertise on the boards of our 20 companies, including current board roles at recently floated Moonpig plc, Uber UK, Affinity Water Ltd. and the Rank Group plc.

A few years ago, Susan became painfully aware of the climate crisis and our need to change, and is now a stubborn environmentalist focused on the area she can influence which is at Board level. She is a founding Director of Chapter Zero, which helps non-executive directors and chairs find the best way to bring the issue onto the board agenda in order to help companies engage with and respond to the climate emergency. At Moonpig and the Rank Group, she has taken the lead for the board on ESG (environmental, social and governance) considerations.

Tim Cornelius

Tim Cornelius

Green Energy Pioneer & Capital Markets Expert

Tim headed up SIMEC Atlantis Energy for over 15 years as it led the global charge to bring tidal power into the mainstream. During his tenure it delivered MeyGen, the world’s largest tidal stream system, and became the first publicly listed tidal company. Tim is a recognised business leader in renewable power generation, sustainable infrastructure and private wire project development who has gained first hand exposure to and understanding of a wide range of international capital markets, both debt and equity, and investors, both institutional and retail.

SIMEC Atlantis has raised £14 million over 3 raises through the Abundance platform, giving him first-hand experience of our service to issuers. He is now the CEO of Global Energy Group, one of the UK’s leading energy services companies.

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