Team

Dave is a Director and Co-Founder of ClearLead Consulting Limited in the UK. Since qualifying with an MSc in Energy & Buildings in the late 1980’s Dave has been involved in all aspects of energy efficiency and climate change management. He has considerable experience in many industrial, commercial and agricultural settings both in the UK and abroad. Dave currently project manages a global energy efficiency programme for an international chemicals company, delivering many millions of dollars to the bottom line. His energy efficiency and greenhouse gas (GHG) work has meant traveling throughout the world to help clients reduce costs and environmental impact leading to many air-miles. He is passionate about his work and his wealth of experience and expertise is widely recognised resulting in him being asked to speak at conferences both in the UK and abroad. When not saving energy Dave volunteers on a heritage railway in the UK, shovelling coal into an extremely inefficient, but wonderful piece of Victorian engineering. Dave lives in the South West of the UK near both the coast and wilderness moor land.

James is a Director and Co-Founder of ClearLead Consulting Ltd in the UK. James spotted an opportunity in school science classes at the age of 13 when told that the world’s oil reserves would run out in 15 years’ time. Well over 30 years later we’re still waiting for that moment, but he wasn’t wrong when he worked out that energy efficiency would be a good business to be in! Since graduating from the University of Leeds with a BEng (Hons) degree in Fuel and Energy Engineering, James has amassed over 25 years’ experience in energy and carbon management and sustainability consultancy and has carried out client engagements in almost all industrial, commercial and public sectors, from the UK to mainland Europe, North America, Russia, Uzbekistan, Moldova, China and the Middle East. James lives in the UK’s picturesque Peak District and in his spare time enjoys spending time with his children, motorcycling, mountain biking, fell running, snowboarding, warm beer and travel.

Johanna is a Director and Co-Founder of ClearLead Consulting Limited in the UK. Her career began in academia at the University of Manchester where she was involved in a number of national and international sustainable development projects as well as running training programmes around the world. Johanna is an expert in the field of strategic environmental assessment and sustainability appraisal having worked in this field for the past 20 years. She is an experienced project director and has led over 50 strategic environmental / sustainability assessments and has worked in numerous sectors including transport, tourism, regeneration, energy, minerals and waste and at a variety of spatial scales. Johanna has considerable experience in capacity building and stakeholder engagement and is an experienced facilitator. She regularly runs both internal and external training courses, consultation workshops, and has presented at numerous national and international conferences. In her spare time she enjoys running, skiing and surfing (badly!) and also has been helping to teach young children about the natural environmental through volunteering at a local school. However, her holy grail is spending as much time as possible with friends, family and Marge the dog, preferably on the beach and in the sea.

Emma is an Associate Director of ClearLead Consulting Limited in the UK and leads our Environmental Compliance services. Emma’s interest in the environment began at an early age, leading her to study Atmospheric Chemistry, amongst other natural sciences, at Cambridge University before specializing with a Masters in Environmental Resources at Salford University. Since then she has focused on the implementation of management systems, completing a PhD in the subject in the 1990s. She has helped a diverse range of organisations both within the UK and globally ensure compliance with legislation and gain certification to ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001, ISO 9001 and ISO 50001. Her approach is to work in partnership with her clients, empowering them with the knowledge and skills to effectively maintain their own systems. She aims to become a ‘critical friend’ to her clients and frequently works with them over many years (over 20 in one case). During her spare time she would rather be outside when the weather permits, although living in the North West of England means that the gym, yoga studio and swimming pool often have to substitute!

Vicky is a Principal Consultant at ClearLead Consulting Limited in the UK and joined the team in May 2015. Vicky has been an environmental and sustainability consultant since 2003, when she began working on strategic environmental assessment / sustainability appraisal and habitats regulations assessment and providing support to organisations to improve sustainability performance. She has undertaken assessments of the sustainability performance and environmental impact of a range of activities and plans, from individual buildings, proposed developments, and business operations to local, regional and national scale plans. As well as undertaking full sustainability assessments, Vicky has also been involved in supporting clients through providing review and verification services and training. Vicky is an experienced project manager who regularly manages the co-ordination and integration of multiple assessment processes effectively and efficiently. More recently, she has assessed entries for a high profile national sustainable development award and managed the team of assessors working through a large volume of entries in a short period. Vicky is interested in sustainable living and looks for ways to reduce her own impact. In her personal time she enjoys spending time with friends and family, pilates and making the most of the great outdoors in the spectacular South West of England.

Louise Dunkerley is an environmental planning professional with over 15 years’ consultancy experience. Louise advises local authorities, developers, government bodies and local communities on a wide range of site-based and strategic scale projects. She has experience of development and infrastructure projects in the housing, regeneration, retail, energy and marine sectors. Louise has also worked in central government and for Historic England.
Louise is an experienced people and project manager and is highly successful at leading multi-disciplinary teams to deliver high quality outputs for public and private sector clients.
She specialises in environmental impact assessment, sustainability appraisal, biodiversity net gain and biodiversity conservation, with an MSc in Environmental Conservation. Louise is currently helping local authority clients refine their planning policies in relation to biodiversity net gain as well as identifying where biodiversity opportunity areas can be enhanced.
Her experience includes senior management roles and leadership of an EIA team for a large multi-disciplinary environmental consultancy. She has an eye for detail and successfully handled controversial projects and has won call-in and public inquiry cases.
In her spare time Louise enjoys swimming, kayaking and photography. She also enjoys running environmental education sessions for children most recently at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew.

Claire is a Senior Consultant at ClearLead Consulting Ltd with over 10 years’ experience working in the environmental field. She has a degree in Environmental Studies and a Masters in Environmental Management and Sustainable Development. Claire is also a Registered Lead Auditor with the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment, an ISO 14001 Trained Lead Auditor, and an ISO 9001 Trained Auditor. She has managed a wealth of environmental projects including compliance auditing, due diligence auditing, environmental management systems, Phase I site assessments and calculating carbon footprints. She has successfully supported clients to achieve ISO 14001 certification and manages their ongoing commitments including undertaking regular internal / compliance audits. She also develops and maintains legal registers to provide clients with added reassurance that they are meeting their compliance obligations and are kept up to date on changes in environmental legislation that may impact their site or activities. Her experience includes work with national and multinational clients. In her spare time, Claire loves to travel and in her youth spent a year travelling around South-East Asia and New Zealand. She is also an avid reader, often with three or four books on the go, and when not reading loves escaping the city to go walking in the Derbyshire Dales.

George is a Senior Consultant at ClearLead Consulting Limited in the UK and has been working in the energy and carbon management sector since 2007 after graduating from Bath Spa University with a BSc in Environmental Sciences. George has become a specialist (geek!) in energy efficiency projects and carbon footprinting, working for a large number of clients across a range of sectors, including industrial, retail, commercial and public sectors in UK and global markets. He is experienced at leading and managing energy efficiency audits and can regularly be found in the back of plant rooms, on roof tops, in basements or cold stores, in search of energy savings! George’s passion for energy efficiency has led him to work internationally, in British Columbia, Iceland and mainland Europe on a range of strategic and technical projects. When not chasing carbon savings, George loves going to the Cornish coast with his family in his VW Campervan. He also loves surfing, mountain biking, and sharing his sofa with his ex-racer greyhound, Maddie.

Liz is a Senior Consultant at ClearLead Consulting Ltd with nine years’ experience working within varied roles in energy and resource efficiency, sustainability and business support. Liz has delivered high-level, detailed energy efficiency and carbon advice to over 90 businesses through on-site energy audits, analysis of energy data, identification of energy saving actions, quantification of energy, carbon and financial savings and the presentation of findings to senior management. She has a reputation for delivering a high quality, professional service and has most recently successfully managed a capital fund to help businesses develop circular economy and environmental growth strategies. Having a MSc in Climate Change & Risk Management, Liz also has an understanding of climate change adaptation. Liz has a BSc in Geography and is a Practitioner with the Institute for Environmental Management and Assessment.
Outside of work, Liz loves to travel, having spent a career break travelling slowly around the world, making her way to the mostly southerly part of South America and from the UK to Hong Kong overland. At home, Liz spends her time exploring the south-west countryside, running, playing netball and loves all activities that involve getting in the sea.

Jess is a Senior Consultant at ClearLead Consulting Limited in the UK and joined the team in September 2021. Jess graduated from the University of Bath with a Masters in Chemistry and has been working in the energy sector since then. She has conducted audits in the commercial and public sectors and has implemented an energy management contract for a University. This involved finding ways to reduce energy usage and calculating the potential savings to enable funding for new energy efficient technology. In her spare time, Jess can be found in a badminton hall or outside on a hockey pitch!

Izzy is a Senior Consultant at ClearLead Consulting Ltd UK, having joined in February 2019 as a Graduate Consultant. She graduated from Swansea University, Wales, in 2018 with a BSc (Hons) in Marine Biology. During her final year, Izzy undertook a module which focused on the role of assessments such as environmental impact assessments (EIAs), which sparked her interest in the consultancy sector. In her spare time, Izzy enjoys walking on Dartmoor and swimming at her local club.

Carla is a Consultant at ClearLead Consulting Ltd who recently graduated with a distinction in an MSc in Global Sustainability Solutions at the University of Exeter. Her time at university equipped her with significant proficiencies in the realm of sustainability and climate change. Carla is interested in the emerging effects of climate change on the natural world and how behavioral change is a necessary means of mitigating these impacts, fueling her passion for consultancy. Carla has worked considerably with GIS mapping programs, utilizing the software significantly in her undergraduate degree in BSc Geography with Applied GIS. Aside from her academic work, Carla has experience in consultancy, conservation, and retail, and in doing so has worked with several clients on projects ranging from in-office carbon footprinting to sea turtle nest relocations in Greece. Carla loves to travel and some of her favourite places that she has visited so far include Lake Tahoe, Gullfoss Falls, and the Parque Natural de Corralejo, but she one day hopes to travel the world. She loves surfing and team sports, having played Cricket and Netball for much of her life, and she is a black belt first dan in Tae Kwon Do.

Ciaran Egan has joined the team as a Consultant based in the North. Ciaran has recently completed his MSc in Environmental Management and Assessment at the University of Salford. The course, which he passed with distinction, focuses on analysing and managing the environmental impacts of organisations. His previous experience includes an internship with Twelvetrees Consulting working on a bid for funding from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, and four years with Barclays Business providing business support. Ciaran has also completed extensive research through his master’s dissertation, which was on the role of decarbonising heating through heat pumps in the public sector. Through his experience and knowledge, Ciaran will be supporting our clients with environmental compliance, carbon footprinting and net-zero. Outside of his profession, Ciaran is passionate about music, through writing and production for personal projects and supporting other young musicians in developing their craft. He also enjoys keeping fit through regularly playing football as well as managing a local open age men’s team.

After completing an internship with ClearLead Consulting Limited, Joshua returns to the team as a Graduate Consultant. As a BSc Economics and Business graduate at Swansea University, Joshua’s addition brings a new perspective to the company. An understanding of the macroeconomic implications of a low carbon transition and the risk and opportunity to business initially triggered an interest in the environmental sector. More recently, an MSc in Global Sustainability Solutions at the University of Exeter provided Joshua the platform for exploring the interconnection between the natural world, society and the economy. In particular, behavioral economics as a tool for fostering pro-environmental behavior has been a subject of significant interest for Joshua and has helped guide his career towards consultancy. He also has experience with a diverse range of SMEs spread across retail, digital, charity and industrial sectors, helping them achieve carbon and energy related objectives and accreditations.
In his spare time he enjoys an active lifestyle, regularly climbing, open water swimming, surfing, and whilst the snows still around, skiing. Travelling has always been an important escape and after living in Austria, Spain and Canada, his plan is to continue exploring at every opportunity.

Paula is the Office Manager for ClearLead Consulting Limited in the UK and joined the team in January 2016, she is the first point of contact, and deals with the day to day general Administration duties, Accounts, Health & Safety, Arranging Travel and any other support the team needs, and tries to bring some order and structure to the office!
In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her friends and family and getting out and about to enjoy what the South West has to offer.

Emma Farthing has worked with Dave, James and Jo intermittently since 2006. She launched Quarter Penny Consulting in 2018, having seen a gap in the market for quality delivery of a range of sustainable finance services by experienced personnel. QPC is client focused and applies professional, practical knowledge to technical assignments. The QPC team is based in the UK and works with associate colleagues, specifically ClearLead Consulting and Bridge House Advisors.

Trained as a hydrogeologist (MSc) she has nearly 30 years of experience in environmental consulting with expertise in ESG due diligence auditing, compliance & liability assessments; sustainable finance; environmental management systems and capacity training; and corporate sustainability strategies. Emma has worked extensively with industrial and commercial clients in a variety of sectors including ports and airports, mining, steel, metals processing, packaging, petroleum, chemical, pharmaceutical, electronic and telecommunications, automotive, and food. She has also been consultant to various law firms and private equity firms in the context of due diligence assignments. Emma has completed numerous environmental projects in the UK, the USA, Brazil, Germany, The Netherlands, France, Portugal, Sweden, Poland, Croatia, Egypt and Israel.
https://www.quarterpennyconsulting.co.uk

Adrian is an Associate ClearLead Consulting Ltd and has been consulting on energy matters for years – many, many (25) years. And in that time he’s covered almost everything from energy strategy for international industry to multi-family energy studies to municipality carbon footprints. He has completed carbon management and sustainability projects in seventeen countries around the globe and is one of the few people to have run energy efficiency training courses in a Siberian brewery. He also has a strange tendency to struggle up the Grouse Grind a couple of times each week.