Scottish Government Offshore Wind - Biographies

John Callaghan, Programme Manager (Wave & Tidal), The Crown Estate

John Callaghan manages the Crown Estate’s activities in wave and tidal energy. The Crown Estate plays a key role in the UK low carbon energy industry, providing leases for offshore projects and supporting their development. This includes wave and tidal projects, notably ten schemes with a total potential capacity of 1.2 GW which resulted from the first commercial leasing round in the Pentland Firth and Orkney waters. John is currently working on the development of further leasing rounds.

John was formerly a senior manager at the Carbon Trust, where he created and led several multi-£m technology development projects, including the Offshore Wind Accelerator, a joint venture with five electricity/oil companies. Prior to that he worked on onshore wind projects for developers and investors as a consultant with AEA Technology. John has a MEng from Durham University and a MBA from IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Sainsbury Management Fellow.

Sandy Cumming CBE, Partnership Director – Offshore Energy, Scottish Government

Sandy Cumming was appointed HIE’s Chief Executive in November 2000. He started working with the predecessor agency, the Highlands and Islands Development Board in 1973. He later became Head of Natural Resources and then a strategic planner, working on policy formulation in preparation for the launch of HIE in 1991. He then spent two years as Director of Natural Resources before taking up an appointment as Chief Executive of Ross and Cromarty Enterprise in 1993. He is an Edinburgh University graduate with a BSc Honours in Agricultural Economics. Sandy was a member of the National Economic Forum, the Strategic Forum, the Scottish Energy Advisory Board, and the Convention of the Highlands and Islands. He was also a member of Scottish Development International's Management Board, and the Scottish Government’s Public Bodies Strategic Group and Strategic Group on Economic Recovery. In March 2010, he was seconded to the Scottish Government for a year to help spearhead the development of green offshore energy in Scotland. He chairs the Offshore Energy Programme Board which reports directly into the Energy Advisory Board.

Jenny Hogan - Director of Policy, Scottish Renewables

Jenny is Director of Policy at Scottish Renewables, the voice of Scotland’s renewable energy industry, representing almost 300 member organisations. She manages the four Policy Team staff in influencing the legislative, regulatory and financial framework to deliver the best possible conditions for the growth of the renewables industry. She is also directly responsible for Scottish Renewables’ offshore wind activities.

Jenny is a member of the Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland (FREDS) sub-group on offshore wind (Offshore Wind Industry Group) and the Scottish Government’s Marine Strategy Forum.

Jenny has worked in renewable energy and sustainable development since 2004. After graduating with a degree in Marketing, Jenny worked in media advertising for two years before joining Scottish Renewables as Membership Officer initially, then Development Officer (Marine and Bioenergy). Jenny broadened her policy, research and communications work as Policy Development Manager at sustainable development charity, Forward Scotland, in 2007 before returning to Scottish Renewables in 2008 to head up all wind energy work before taking on her current role in 2010.

Cameron joined Mainstream at the company’s inception where he established and now runs Mainstream’s Scottish Business, including the 420MW “Neart na Gaoithe” offshore wind project in the Firth of Forth.

Cameron was previously one of the four original members of Airtricity’s highly successful Scottish team, where he developed a number of major onshore windfarms which now generate gracefully over the Dumfriesshire landscape.

Cameron is a chartered electrical engineer with a hands-on background in shipbuilding and marine installation.

Lynne Vallance – Head of Offshore Renewables Policy Team, Scottish Government

Lynne joined the Scottish Government’s Renewables Energy team in 2008. Initially leading the design of the Saltire Prize (£10m international prize for development of marine renewables), she now heads up the Offshore Renewables policy team with responsibility for offshore wind and marine renewables. With the Scottish Government’s strong ambitions for offshore renewables, Lynne’s focus is on working with industry and public sector bodies to support the establishment of thriving offshore wind and marine renewables industries in Scotland, making substantial contributions to the 2020 renewables targets. She is co-chair of the Offshore Wind Industry Group (OWIG).

Lynne’s previous role in Government was leading the EU Strategy team, drafting the Scottish Government’s European Strategy. She spent 3 years working in Brussels where she enjoyed a secondment to the European Commission (DG Competition), before moving to the UK Permanent Representation to the EU (UKRep), the UK Government department working within the EU. Lynne was responsible for representing the UK’s interests in EU Competition Policy and Company Law in EU negotiations.

Lynne graduated from the University of Glasgow in 2000 with a MA in Politics.