Smarter Data Smarter World 2024 on tour featuring Utilities

Elysia is a passionate and experienced product professional with a background in software engineering. She managed three compliance-based products as a Product Manager at Anglian Water. One of which, successfully reduced the accident frequency rate to record-low levels through the design, development, and rollout of a new digital risk assessment. Driven by the power of tech and data to be used for good she moved into the Product and Operations Manager role at Stream, for the water sector open data platform. With her blend of technical expertise, visionary thinking, and commitment to social responsibility, Elysia aims to inspire and lead with purpose and heart in the ever-evolving landscape of data and technology. 

Francis is Founder and CEO of MapStand a small spatial analytics company focussing on energy systems and energy transition. MapStand build and maintain digital models of integrated energy systems covering power, oil and gas infrastructure as well as key technologies and applications supporting energy transition such as hydrogen and ccus. Francis started his career nearly 20 years ago as a geoscientist mainly working in oil and gas before starting MapStand. In 2024 MapStand moved to Sheffield where the business is looking to grow. Francis is a father of three and a keen fell runner.

Jess started her career at IBM working in the Smarter Cities team with a particular focus on data analytics. She also worked with the Global Cloud Acquisition team as IBM acquired multiple Cloud start-ups.  

Jess then decided she needed some real-world experience and spent two years pounding the streets of London for the Metropolitan Police Service. She also sat as a cohort representative on the board of trustees for the Police Now recruitment scheme.  

Deciding to return to the corporate world and move back North, Jess has been with 1Spatial for the last four years.  

During this time she has worked closely with customers across the Utilities sector to help identify and deliver solutions that truly meet customers’ business needs. Jess is a big advocate that technology should fit to customer requirements, rather than customers settling for what the technology (designed by vendors) can offer. 

Seb has a degree in Cybernetics and Computer Science - which included modules on AI - and joined 1Spatial in 1997 as a software engineer. After progressing through various development, consultancy and product management roles Seb is now Chief Technology Officer at 1Spatial He has a broad experience in management, quality assurance, transformation and integration of spatial data for sectors such as national mapping agencies, central government and utility companies.

Richard Flemmings has specialised in applying geospatial and satellite earth observation data to environmental challenges throughout his career. He is interested in taking a highly collaborative approach to ensure that these data feeds can benefit as much of society as possible. Richard is a volunteer Director of the Association for Geographic Information (AGI), the UK's leading independent organisation representing the interests of the geospatial community. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and a Chartered Geographer, and is the founder of Map Impact, who have launched unique nationwide biodiversity and climate monitoring products. Map Impact are working closely with local government, developers, landowners and others to provide understanding of nature and climate risks and support mitigation.

Claire Hannon is a Product Owner at AITL. After winning the Microvision Prize for her GIS Master's Dissertation Claire has worked with Utilities, National Mapping Agencies and Transport Network Modellers to maximise their investment in spatial and network data. She has guided many migrations, transformations and innovations with particular focus on semantic disambiguity, quality and building trust within and across organisations as they utilise these complex datasets.
Within her work at AITL Claire ensures that development of the product maximises value across the customer base, enabling AITL's mission to accelerate an informed, fair and affordable transition to a net zero energy system.

Andrew has spent the last 20 plus years bringing new technologies to market within critical infrastructure, primarily in the transport sector. He lists his career highlight as setting up the systems engineering architecture for Virgin Hyperloop One in Los Angeles and more latterly bringing 1Streetworks to market.

His background if a mixture of boots on the ground engineering, software and technology development and commercial execution in both the public and private sector.

When he’s not working you will find him bombing around the Peak District and Yorkshire Dales on his mountain bike or spending time with his family and two (slightly crazy) dogs…

A Geospatial professional and enthusiast, Charlie is the GIS Platform Manager for National Grid Electricity Transmission. Charlie is passionate about ensuring that geospatial tools, data, and capability are embedded within business, having spent 20 years in the public sector building enterprise GIS systems and effective geo-processes from the ground up. With previous experience as part of a Data Architecture team, she is now looking to increase collaboration as an IT ‘tech’ manager with data teams delivering ever-growing demands for high-quality, trusted data.

Sally Wrigley manages the teams at Butterfly Data taking on innovative fast paced projects guiding clients on their journey from dirty data to clean insights, making sure they can have “data behind every decision”. Out of work she takes on the ‘domestic chief of staff’ role at home with two young children and a weekend job as a military planner for Army Reserves. She occasionally finds the time to nip abroad to assist the camera crews on the World Rally car Championships or go for mini adventures with little legs in North Wales.

Bob joined Laser-Scan (which became 1Spatial) in 1998, and his main goal has always been to understand how to create products and solutions that maximise the value that 1Spatial can deliver to its customers. In doing this, Bob looks to understand the patterns behind creating valuable products, and the processes that support great solution delivery. 

After 15 years of delivering products and solutions to 1Spatial's customers in all industry sectors, Bob moved to head up the Consulting team, bringing the group operation together with project management, group direction, architecture and agile methodologies. 

In 2018, Bob became COO at 1Spatial. He is also 1Spatial's Chief Product Officer.  

Clive is Innovation Partnerships Manager for Northumbrian Water Group (NWG).  Having spent 25 years in Information Technology and Information Systems, Clive has been delivering and deploying operational solutions within Northumbrian Water for last 14 years, most notably in the geospatial field.  Clive has been a driving force in progressing a national underground asset register, established England’s first moss tree, and has pioneered a number of initiatives to improve positional accuracy of buried assets.  Partnership and collaboration have been at the heart of his work.  Now Clive helps colleagues win external innovation funding to turn their ideas into reality.

Fun fact: In his spare time Clive is a tower runner – racing people up the stairwells of tall buildings!

Holger is an experienced professional with over 25 years of working in geoscience, environment and infrastructure. He has a strong background in research and government programs, emphasising collaboration, digital transformation and data sharing. Notably, he contributed to the National Underground Asset Register at the Geospatial Commission. His expertise spans project management, team leadership, policy development and strategic stakeholder engagement, both in the UK and internationally.

As a trained geographer, soil scientist, and chartered geologist, Holger is known for his dynamic approach to forming inclusive teams and communities focused on innovation and change. He advocates for the use of geospatial data and digital transformation to address societal issues and the effects of climate change. Holger’s career includes significant time at the British Geological Survey and a leadership role in The Future of the Subsurface Foresight Project at the Government Office for Science before moving to AtkinsRéalis in 2024.

Chris has spent nearly forty years working at 1Spatial, in a variety of different roles.  Chris has worked with many of 1Spatial’s customers worldwide.  Currently as a Managing Consultant, Chris has been working with the VertiGIS software for the past 12 years.  He lists his career highlight as developing the 1Integrate business rules to monitor road trains in Queensland Australia.  The results of which reduced the incidents of speeding by 70%.

His background ranges from digitising maps in his early career, helping to set up the US and Australian offices through to his current roles installing and configuring the VertiGIS software.

When he is not working, Chris tries to use his motorhome as much as possible getting out and about and also spending time with his family

Rob Carling is an experienced channel manager with over three decades of knowledge in the UK's and internationally's environmental and geospatial sectors. He oversees the global reseller partner network as the Channel Sales Manager for Twinn by Royal HaskoningDHV.

Charlotte joined 1Spatial in 2021 as a graduate consultant after studying Geography with applied GIS at Exeter university. 

She joined the 1Streetworks team as a consultant developing the 1Integrate rules logic to automate the production of traffic management plans.  Recently, she has transitioned into a software development role developing the user interface of the 1Streetworks application

Growing up across Southern Africa in a utility family Jamie took a deliberately different path becoming a Theologian, University Lecturer and Research Manager for an NGO. Following emigration to the UK Jamie found himself on a two month temporary contract with Anglian Water carrying out data capture. This initial contract turned into over 19 years (so far) with Anglian Water in which he has re-trained, specialising in programme management, design, strategy, operational capital delivery, Asset Health and more recently co-creation. Jamie is committed to using his varied experiences to help the continued development of Anglian Waters‘ six capitals aspirations within the treated water distribution network and Integrated Maintenance and Repair Alliance.

Tom Ogden is an Innovation Technical Specialist at Yorkshire Water focusing on the wastewater network. He has worked in the water industry for over 13 years and has a wealth of experience in investigating and solving problems on the wastewater network. He is passionate about using new technologies to improve the efficiency and sustainability of the water industry.

In his current role, Tom is leading a large-scale trial of a new smart wastewater network in Yorkshire. This trial is using a combination of survey techniques, sewer network monitors, water quality monitors, and AI analytics to better understand the network and its performance. This information will be used to prevent flooding, pollution, and spills.

Tom is also a keen advocate for sharing best practices within the water industry. He is a member of several industry bodies and is currently the R&D rep for UKWIR Big Question 6 “How do we achieve a sustainable and resilient sewerage and drainage service for communities and the environment by 2050?”

Phil Welch manages a suite of mobile and survey GIS applications for government and utilities sectors. His collaborative work ensures that these critical products are both innovative and highly functional, meeting the specific needs of customers within these industries.

Phil has over 20 years experience in critical infrastructure, enterprise asset management, GIS, and BIM in the Highways, Government, and Utilities sectors. His career has taken him across the UK, Europe, the US, and Australia, where he has led large-scale solutions and products that deliver operational efficiencies to organizations at scale.

Outside of work, Phil lives in rural Cambridgeshire with his wife and dog. He is a keen landscape photographer, often venturing outside of the flat fens to more dramatic landscapes, including Scotland, Cumbria, the Alps, and Canada.

Ian Thomas is a Performance & Risk Analyst at Thames Water Utilities Limited.

His role within Asset Operations involves using big data analytics, GIS and risk modelling to provide business critical insights, decision support tools and cost effective targeting of proactive intervention programmes to reduce blockages, flooding and pollution from our sewer network. Whether it's unmapped sewer inference, interceptor trap removal, utility network migration, sewer level monitor prioritisation or Ofwat performance reporting, his work aims to innovate and improve frontline operations to reduce the impact on customers and the environment we serve, and to meet Thames Water's current and future challenges. This requires geospatial and statistical modelling, data mining/visualisation, behavioural analysis and the development of innovative tools to identify operational trends and provide insight into asset performance, health and risk.

Tom is currently the GIS Product Owner at National Gas, leveraging years of experience gained in the army as a GIS technician. His role involves overseeing the development and implementation of GIS solutions across the company.

In his spare time, he enjoys exploring game engines and continuously learning new skills to enhance both his professional and personal interests.