Neil Griffiths-Lambeth Associate Managing Director, Public Projects & Infrastructure Finance Moody's Ratings

Neil Griffiths-Lambeth is an Associate Managing Director in Moody’s Infrastructure Finance team, based in London, and responsible for the rating agency’s coverage of regulated and unregulated utilities across EMEA. Over the course of his career at Moody’s, Neil has acted as lead analyst for a broad range of utilities and transport infrastructure companies. He has followed the UK water sector since 2008, writing extensively on regulatory and other developments and playing a key role in developing the rating agency’s strong reputation in the sector. As an authoritative independent commentator, Neil is a frequent speaker at conferences and other events. Moody’s has a leading global Infrastructure Finance franchise, rating some US$2 trillion of corporate and project finance securities, representing more than 90% of all public bonds issued globally in the sector. 140 analytical sector staff cover more than 1,000 infrastructure issuers globally. Moody’s EMEA team of 50 specialists is responsible for rating around 416 issuers. The rating agency covers more than 11,000 corporate issuers and 135 sovereign nations. Prior to joining Moody’s in 2007, Neil spent 15 years at Lazard. Over this period he advised a broad range of clients on raising finance in the public and private markets. Notable transactions included advising the UK Government on support and funding for Network Rail, Veolia on the acquisition and highly-leveraged financing of Southern Water, and Wind Telecommunicazioni on funding for its network roll-out. Neil read Mathematics at the University of Sussex and pursued postgraduate research at Imperial College, London.

Mikael Nordlander Head of Industry Decarbonisation Vattenfall

Mikael Nordlander joined Vattenfall in 2001 and has held various position in R&D and business development. He has had different responsibilities in strategic projects, mostly in Northern Europe. Since 2016, Mikael is leading Vattenfall’s work on decarbonisation of industrial processes in partnership with large companies, e.g. the HYBRIT project for fossil-free steel with SSAB and LKAB. He holds a MSc degree in Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics from Linköping University and a post graduate diploma in Strategy and Innovation from Oxford. He is a fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.

Dr. Michael Müller CFO RWE

After qualifying as Master in Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen and Dartmouth College (USA), and Master in Business Administrations at RWTH Aachen, Michael Müller completed a PhD in Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen. In 2000, he began his career, initially as a management consultant at McKinsey, and joined RWE five years, later, in 2005. There he held positions at RWE Power and RWE Generation, where his responsibilities included power plant construction, procurement, asset management and delivery of a restructuring program. In 2014, Müller took over as Head of Group Controlling at RWE. Two years later, he became Managing Director and CFO of the subsidiary RWE Supply & Trading. Since November 2020, Müller has been a member of the RWE Executive Board where, as CFO, he is responsible for Accounting, Finance & Credit Risk, Controlling & Risk Management, Investor Relations and Tax.

Dr. Arina Freitag CFO TenneT

Dr. Arina Freitag is CFO of the European electricity grid operator TenneT since 1 January 2022, with operations in the Netherlands and large parts of Germany.

Arina Freitag (53) has more than twenty years of professional experience in finance and has also gained experience in executive as well as non-executive supervisory boards of large German infrastructure companies, where regulatory aspects and the political environment play a very important role: Freitag was managing director of Flughafen Stuttgart GmbH from 2017 to 2021. She started her career in 1998 at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi as an economist. In 2001, she moved to Fraport AG as Head of Financial Communications and held various management positions here in the following years, focusing on finance, operations and regulation. From 2011 onwards, she was responsible for the economic management of the Aviation division of Fraport AG. In 2015, she moved to Deutsche Bahn, where she was responsible for marketing and sales at DB Netz AG.

Neil Griffiths-Lambeth Associate Managing Director, Public Projects & Infrastructure Finance Moody's Ratings

Neil Griffiths-Lambeth is an Associate Managing Director in Moody’s Infrastructure Finance team, based in London, and responsible for the rating agency’s coverage of regulated and unregulated utilities across EMEA. Over the course of his career at Moody’s, Neil has acted as lead analyst for a broad range of utilities and transport infrastructure companies. He has followed the UK water sector since 2008, writing extensively on regulatory and other developments and playing a key role in developing the rating agency’s strong reputation in the sector. As an authoritative independent commentator, Neil is a frequent speaker at conferences and other events. Moody’s has a leading global Infrastructure Finance franchise, rating some US$2 trillion of corporate and project finance securities, representing more than 90% of all public bonds issued globally in the sector. 140 analytical sector staff cover more than 1,000 infrastructure issuers globally. Moody’s EMEA team of 50 specialists is responsible for rating around 416 issuers. The rating agency covers more than 11,000 corporate issuers and 135 sovereign nations. Prior to joining Moody’s in 2007, Neil spent 15 years at Lazard. Over this period he advised a broad range of clients on raising finance in the public and private markets. Notable transactions included advising the UK Government on support and funding for Network Rail, Veolia on the acquisition and highly-leveraged financing of Southern Water, and Wind Telecommunicazioni on funding for its network roll-out. Neil read Mathematics at the University of Sussex and pursued postgraduate research at Imperial College, London.

Diego Diaz Pilas Global Head of Technology & Ventures Iberdrola

Diego manages and coordinates Iberdrola´s 200 M€ venture capital program – Iberdrola Ventures - PERSEO, that invests & collaborates with the most promising smart energy start-ups worldwide, and he also leads the Technology Prospective Analysis unit in charge of assessing the potential of key technologies for the future of the energy sector. 

He joined Iberdrola back in 2008 and since then he has contributed to the launch and management of the company´s venture program, engaging its activity with the corporate innovation strategy. Leading a team of investment professionals, he is responsible for the management of the program and the full life cycle of the investments, serving as a director in the board of key portfolio companies.

On the technology prospects area, since 2016, he leads the team of analysts that build the company´s internal models for cost and competitiveness of key technologies for decarbonization of electricity (wind, solar, storage) and electrification of demand (electric vehicles, electrification of heat, batteries,…).

After graduating and prior to joining Iberdrola, he developed his career in several roles related to engineering, technology development, innovation and entrepreneurship both in the Telco (Telefonica and Eir) and Energy sectors.

He holds an M.Sc in Engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and an executive degree in Venture Capital from the Walter A. Haas School of Business in the University of California at Berkeley.

Eirik Wærness Chief Economist Equinor

Senior Vice President and Chief Economist in Equinor, head of Global External Analysis, group responsible for Macroeconomics, Energy and commodity market analyses, Geopolitics, Competitive intelligence, and policy and regulation in mid- and downstream markets.

Executive in Residence in Economics at the Norwegian Business School.

Broad experience from government, academics, and private sector companies. In Equinor, leader of Corporate Strategy, Corporate Planning and Analysis, Economic Analysis in Upstream Norway, Energy Market Analysis, in addition to current role.

Current external representations: Board member of IOGP Europe, Member of World Economic Forum’s Chief Economists Community, Non-resident fellow at Payne Institute at Colorado School of Mines.

Previous work experience from the Centre for applied research at the Norwegian School of Economics, Norwegian Ministry of Finance, Total E&P Norway, and Pöyry Management Consulting/Econ Centre for economic analysis.

Previous external representations: Non-executive board member of Norges Bank, Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority and Innovation Norway.

Colin Ellis Managing Director - Head of Centre for Credit Research Moody's Ratings

Colin Ellis is Moody’s first Global Credit Strategist, and a Managing Director in the Credit Strategy team. 

In his current role, Colin provides thought leadership for the rating agency that deepens the understanding of ratings and debt capital markets through rigorous and quantitative research. He leads Moody’s teams working on default and ratings analytics and on global financial analysis, including bank projections and stress testing. Colin is also a member of Moody’s Macroeconomic Board, which sets the global forecasts that underpin Moody’s universe of ratings.

Colin joined Moody’s in February 2012, initially leading the work of the Macroeconomic Board and authoring the quarterly Global Macro Outlook. He subsequently worked in the Financial Institutions Group, developing quantitative forward-looking analyses. For 8 years he was the Chief Credit Officer for EMEA, leading analysis and coordination of credit and ratings across all rating franchises in the region. He was also the ‘Head of UK’ for Moody's Ratings, responsible for the running of Moody’s UK operations, from 2019-2022 including the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Prior to joining Moody’s, Colin held roles at the Bank of England, Daiwa Capital Markets, the BVCA and at Birmingham University. He has published papers on a range of topics including corporate investment and pricing, credit risk, private equity, data uncertainty, stress testing, financial contagion and monetary policy. Colin holds degrees from York University, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Middlesex University. He is a Visiting Professor at Hult International Business School and LSBU, and is also a Fellow of the RSA.

Paul Marty Associate Managing Director, Infrastructure Finance Moody's Ratings

Paul Marty is a Associate Managing Director in Moody’s EMEA Infrastructure Finance team, based in Paris. He oversees a team of analysts covering regulated and unregulated utilities across EMEA and is also responsible for a portfolio of utilities in Portugal. Over the course of a long career at Moody’s, Paul has covered a broad range of sectors including oil & gas and real estate and is experienced in rating both conventional and complex structured financing arrangements. Paul is an authority on the European utility sector and the lead author of Moody’srating methodology for regulated electric and gas networks. He has published extensively on the utility sector, authored well-received reports on environmental risks and developments, and frequently presents Moody’s views at investor roundtables and other events. Moody’s has a leading global Infrastructure Finance franchise, rating some US$2trillion of corporate and project finance securities, representing more than 90% of all public bonds issued globally in the sector. 180 analytical sector staff cover more than 1,700 infrastructure issuers globally. Moody’s EMEA team of 46 specialists is responsible for rating around 430 issuers. The rating agency covers more than39,000 issuers and transactions. Paul’s prior work experience includes 3 years in an independent credit research boutique, covering high-yield corporate issuers. Paul started his career in Mergers& Acquisitions at BNP Paribas where he worked on a number of transactions in the oil & gas sector. Paul graduated from the ESSEC Business School in Paris, France. He is fluent in English and French.

Benjamin Leyre Vice President – Senior Credit Officer, Infrastructure Finance Moody's Ratings

Benjamin Leyre is a senior analyst in the EMEA Infrastructure Finance Group, based in Paris. He has responsibility for a portfolio of Southern European utilities, including unregulated electric and gas utilities, and regulated electric and gas networks. Benjamin has a wide range of utility experience acquired through a number of roles which he uses to comment on sector credit themes. Moody’s has a leading global Infrastructure Finance franchise, rating some US$2trillion of corporate and project finance securities, representing more than 90% of all public bonds globally in the sector. 140 analytical staff cover more than 1,000infrastructure issuers globally. Moody’s EMEA team of 50 specialists is responsible for rating 416 issuers. The rating agency covers more than 11,000 corporate issuers and 135 sovereign nations. Before joining Moody’s, Benjamin worked for Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, where he was heading the global energy team, and managing the fund’s European utilities equity portfolio. Prior to this, he worked as an equity analyst for ExaneBNP Paribas, as the head of its European utilities team, with direct coverage of large European corporates. Benjamin also worked as a senior consultant with IHS CERA, where he provided strategic advice to utilities, banks and governmental institutions in the US and in Europe, and where he kick-started the consultancy European environmental practice. Benjamin holds an M.Sc in Technology and Policy from M.I.T. and a M.Eng in mechanical Engineering and Energy Economics from Ecole des Mines de Paris. He is fluent in English and French.

Neil Griffiths-Lambeth Associate Managing Director, Public Projects & Infrastructure Finance Moody's Ratings

Neil Griffiths-Lambeth is an Associate Managing Director in Moody’s Infrastructure Finance team, based in London, and responsible for the rating agency’s coverage of regulated and unregulated utilities across EMEA. Over the course of his career at Moody’s, Neil has acted as lead analyst for a broad range of utilities and transport infrastructure companies. He has followed the UK water sector since 2008, writing extensively on regulatory and other developments and playing a key role in developing the rating agency’s strong reputation in the sector. As an authoritative independent commentator, Neil is a frequent speaker at conferences and other events. Moody’s has a leading global Infrastructure Finance franchise, rating some US$2 trillion of corporate and project finance securities, representing more than 90% of all public bonds issued globally in the sector. 140 analytical sector staff cover more than 1,000 infrastructure issuers globally. Moody’s EMEA team of 50 specialists is responsible for rating around 416 issuers. The rating agency covers more than 11,000 corporate issuers and 135 sovereign nations. Prior to joining Moody’s in 2007, Neil spent 15 years at Lazard. Over this period he advised a broad range of clients on raising finance in the public and private markets. Notable transactions included advising the UK Government on support and funding for Network Rail, Veolia on the acquisition and highly-leveraged financing of Southern Water, and Wind Telecommunicazioni on funding for its network roll-out. Neil read Mathematics at the University of Sussex and pursued postgraduate research at Imperial College, London.

Joanna Fic Senior Vice President, Infrastructure Finance Moody's Ratings

Joanna Fic is a Senior Vice President in Moody’s EMEA Infrastructure Finance team, based in London. She is currently responsible for a portfolio of utilities and transport infrastructure companies in the United Kingdom and Africa, in addition to certain transport infrastructure companies in Norway and Turkey. With extensive credit experience across both the utility and infrastructure sectors, Joanna has a deep understanding of both conventional and complex structured financing arrangements.

Over the course of her career at Moody’s, Joanna has written extensively on transport infrastructure credit, covering airports, ports and toll roads. She has contributed to the development of a number of transport infrastructure methodologies and was the author of Moody’s Rating Methodology for Privately Managed Toll Roads, published in October 2017. Joanna has also published widely on European utilities, including in Germany, United Kingdom and Central and Eastern Europe. A highly regarded analyst and respected commentator, Joanna is a frequent speaker at conferences, investor roundtables and other events.

Prior to joining Moody’s in 2007, Joanna was a credit risk manager at Citigroup in Warsaw, where she was responsible for a diversified portfolio of corporates. Joanna holds a master’s degree in Finance and Banking from Warsaw School of Economics.

Joanna Fic Senior Vice President, Infrastructure Finance Moody's Ratings

Joanna Fic is a Senior Vice President in Moody’s EMEA Infrastructure Finance team, based in London. She is currently responsible for a portfolio of utilities and transport infrastructure companies in the United Kingdom and Africa, in addition to certain transport infrastructure companies in Norway and Turkey. With extensive credit experience across both the utility and infrastructure sectors, Joanna has a deep understanding of both conventional and complex structured financing arrangements.

Over the course of her career at Moody’s, Joanna has written extensively on transport infrastructure credit, covering airports, ports and toll roads. She has contributed to the development of a number of transport infrastructure methodologies and was the author of Moody’s Rating Methodology for Privately Managed Toll Roads, published in October 2017. Joanna has also published widely on European utilities, including in Germany, United Kingdom and Central and Eastern Europe. A highly regarded analyst and respected commentator, Joanna is a frequent speaker at conferences, investor roundtables and other events.

Prior to joining Moody’s in 2007, Joanna was a credit risk manager at Citigroup in Warsaw, where she was responsible for a diversified portfolio of corporates. Joanna holds a master’s degree in Finance and Banking from Warsaw School of Economics.

Dougald Middleton Interim Finance Director GB Nuclear

• Dougald is currently the Interim Finance Director for Great British Nuclear (GBN) the Government sponsored Arms Length company which has been formed to promote the development of SMR nuclear new build projects in the UK. 
• GBN is in the process of procuring Technology Partners for the design, build and financing of two projects, each up to 1.5GWe at a cost of up to £40bn.
• GBN’s procurement process has down selected 4 potential partners and is entering into detailed discussions with the bidding companies ahead of the issuing BAFO documents early in the new year and down selecting preferred partners in Q2 2025.
• Dougald has responsibility for exploring the private financing options for the stations and has also designed the co-investment funding to enable the bidders to mature their technology designs and build manufacturing and supply chain capacity. 
• Prior to joining GBN Dougald advised BEIS on the financing and RAB aspects of SZC and prior to that was the senior infrastructure finance partner at Ernst & Young for 20 years where amongst other projects he advised HMG on the RAB structure for Thames Tideway Tunnel.

Simon Wilde Partner Oxera

Simon is a partner in Oxera’s energy and regulation practices, and advises energy companies, investors and the public sector on a wide range of energy regulatory, policy and finance matters. Simon was previously an executive committee member at UK energy regulator Ofgem, including as Senior Director for Markets and Energy Crisis Response, overseeing Ofgem’s domestic and international actions with respect to wholesale and retail energy markets. Working with the UK government, he also led the financial and commercial strands of emerging regulatory models for new sectors such as nuclear, CCUS, hydrogen, etc. 

Since joining Oxera, the firm has been advising on several nuclear sector opportunities, as well as regulated assets including new regimes such as CCUS. Simon also led Oxera’s work on investability for Water UK, looking at the attractiveness of UK regulated assets for global investors. 

Prior to Ofgem, Simon was an energy investment banker for 25 years, with senior positions at Macquarie Capital, RBS and ABN AMRO, advising on many transactions. These included Iberdrola’s acquisition of Scottish Power, CKI’s acquisition of UK Power Networks, Macquarie’s investments in offshore wind and E.ON on the Horizon JV acquisition of new nuclear sites.

Dr. Arina Freitag CFO TenneT

Dr. Arina Freitag is CFO of the European electricity grid operator TenneT since 1 January 2022, with operations in the Netherlands and large parts of Germany.

Arina Freitag (53) has more than twenty years of professional experience in finance and has also gained experience in executive as well as non-executive supervisory boards of large German infrastructure companies, where regulatory aspects and the political environment play a very important role: Freitag was managing director of Flughafen Stuttgart GmbH from 2017 to 2021. She started her career in 1998 at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi as an economist. In 2001, she moved to Fraport AG as Head of Financial Communications and held various management positions here in the following years, focusing on finance, operations and regulation. From 2011 onwards, she was responsible for the economic management of the Aviation division of Fraport AG. In 2015, she moved to Deutsche Bahn, where she was responsible for marketing and sales at DB Netz AG.

Joanna Fic Senior Vice President, Infrastructure Finance Moody's Ratings

Joanna Fic is a Senior Vice President in Moody’s EMEA Infrastructure Finance team, based in London. She is currently responsible for a portfolio of utilities and transport infrastructure companies in the United Kingdom and Africa, in addition to certain transport infrastructure companies in Norway and Turkey. With extensive credit experience across both the utility and infrastructure sectors, Joanna has a deep understanding of both conventional and complex structured financing arrangements.

Over the course of her career at Moody’s, Joanna has written extensively on transport infrastructure credit, covering airports, ports and toll roads. She has contributed to the development of a number of transport infrastructure methodologies and was the author of Moody’s Rating Methodology for Privately Managed Toll Roads, published in October 2017. Joanna has also published widely on European utilities, including in Germany, United Kingdom and Central and Eastern Europe. A highly regarded analyst and respected commentator, Joanna is a frequent speaker at conferences, investor roundtables and other events.

Prior to joining Moody’s in 2007, Joanna was a credit risk manager at Citigroup in Warsaw, where she was responsible for a diversified portfolio of corporates. Joanna holds a master’s degree in Finance and Banking from Warsaw School of Economics.

Mikael Nordlander Head of Industry Decarbonisation Vattenfall

Mikael Nordlander joined Vattenfall in 2001 and has held various position in R&D and business development. He has had different responsibilities in strategic projects, mostly in Northern Europe. Since 2016, Mikael is leading Vattenfall’s work on decarbonisation of industrial processes in partnership with large companies, e.g. the HYBRIT project for fossil-free steel with SSAB and LKAB. He holds a MSc degree in Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics from Linköping University and a post graduate diploma in Strategy and Innovation from Oxford. He is a fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.

Dr. Michael Müller CFO RWE

After qualifying as Master in Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen and Dartmouth College (USA), and Master in Business Administrations at RWTH Aachen, Michael Müller completed a PhD in Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen. In 2000, he began his career, initially as a management consultant at McKinsey, and joined RWE five years, later, in 2005. There he held positions at RWE Power and RWE Generation, where his responsibilities included power plant construction, procurement, asset management and delivery of a restructuring program. In 2014, Müller took over as Head of Group Controlling at RWE. Two years later, he became Managing Director and CFO of the subsidiary RWE Supply & Trading. Since November 2020, Müller has been a member of the RWE Executive Board where, as CFO, he is responsible for Accounting, Finance & Credit Risk, Controlling & Risk Management, Investor Relations and Tax.

Eirik Wærness Chief Economist Equinor

Senior Vice President and Chief Economist in Equinor, head of Global External Analysis, group responsible for Macroeconomics, Energy and commodity market analyses, Geopolitics, Competitive intelligence, and policy and regulation in mid- and downstream markets.

Executive in Residence in Economics at the Norwegian Business School.

Broad experience from government, academics, and private sector companies. In Equinor, leader of Corporate Strategy, Corporate Planning and Analysis, Economic Analysis in Upstream Norway, Energy Market Analysis, in addition to current role.

Current external representations: Board member of IOGP Europe, Member of World Economic Forum’s Chief Economists Community, Non-resident fellow at Payne Institute at Colorado School of Mines.

Previous work experience from the Centre for applied research at the Norwegian School of Economics, Norwegian Ministry of Finance, Total E&P Norway, and Pöyry Management Consulting/Econ Centre for economic analysis.

Previous external representations: Non-executive board member of Norges Bank, Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority and Innovation Norway.

Diego Diaz Pilas Global Head of Technology & Ventures Iberdrola

Diego manages and coordinates Iberdrola´s 200 M€ venture capital program – Iberdrola Ventures - PERSEO, that invests & collaborates with the most promising smart energy start-ups worldwide, and he also leads the Technology Prospective Analysis unit in charge of assessing the potential of key technologies for the future of the energy sector. 

He joined Iberdrola back in 2008 and since then he has contributed to the launch and management of the company´s venture program, engaging its activity with the corporate innovation strategy. Leading a team of investment professionals, he is responsible for the management of the program and the full life cycle of the investments, serving as a director in the board of key portfolio companies.

On the technology prospects area, since 2016, he leads the team of analysts that build the company´s internal models for cost and competitiveness of key technologies for decarbonization of electricity (wind, solar, storage) and electrification of demand (electric vehicles, electrification of heat, batteries,…).

After graduating and prior to joining Iberdrola, he developed his career in several roles related to engineering, technology development, innovation and entrepreneurship both in the Telco (Telefonica and Eir) and Energy sectors.

He holds an M.Sc in Engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and an executive degree in Venture Capital from the Walter A. Haas School of Business in the University of California at Berkeley.

Colin Ellis Managing Director - Head of Centre for Credit Research Moody's Ratings

Colin Ellis is Moody’s first Global Credit Strategist, and a Managing Director in the Credit Strategy team. 

In his current role, Colin provides thought leadership for the rating agency that deepens the understanding of ratings and debt capital markets through rigorous and quantitative research. He leads Moody’s teams working on default and ratings analytics and on global financial analysis, including bank projections and stress testing. Colin is also a member of Moody’s Macroeconomic Board, which sets the global forecasts that underpin Moody’s universe of ratings.

Colin joined Moody’s in February 2012, initially leading the work of the Macroeconomic Board and authoring the quarterly Global Macro Outlook. He subsequently worked in the Financial Institutions Group, developing quantitative forward-looking analyses. For 8 years he was the Chief Credit Officer for EMEA, leading analysis and coordination of credit and ratings across all rating franchises in the region. He was also the ‘Head of UK’ for Moody's Ratings, responsible for the running of Moody’s UK operations, from 2019-2022 including the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Prior to joining Moody’s, Colin held roles at the Bank of England, Daiwa Capital Markets, the BVCA and at Birmingham University. He has published papers on a range of topics including corporate investment and pricing, credit risk, private equity, data uncertainty, stress testing, financial contagion and monetary policy. Colin holds degrees from York University, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Middlesex University. He is a Visiting Professor at Hult International Business School and LSBU, and is also a Fellow of the RSA.

Neil Griffiths-Lambeth Associate Managing Director, Public Projects & Infrastructure Finance Moody's Ratings

Neil Griffiths-Lambeth is an Associate Managing Director in Moody’s Infrastructure Finance team, based in London, and responsible for the rating agency’s coverage of regulated and unregulated utilities across EMEA. Over the course of his career at Moody’s, Neil has acted as lead analyst for a broad range of utilities and transport infrastructure companies. He has followed the UK water sector since 2008, writing extensively on regulatory and other developments and playing a key role in developing the rating agency’s strong reputation in the sector. As an authoritative independent commentator, Neil is a frequent speaker at conferences and other events. Moody’s has a leading global Infrastructure Finance franchise, rating some US$2 trillion of corporate and project finance securities, representing more than 90% of all public bonds issued globally in the sector. 140 analytical sector staff cover more than 1,000 infrastructure issuers globally. Moody’s EMEA team of 50 specialists is responsible for rating around 416 issuers. The rating agency covers more than 11,000 corporate issuers and 135 sovereign nations. Prior to joining Moody’s in 2007, Neil spent 15 years at Lazard. Over this period he advised a broad range of clients on raising finance in the public and private markets. Notable transactions included advising the UK Government on support and funding for Network Rail, Veolia on the acquisition and highly-leveraged financing of Southern Water, and Wind Telecommunicazioni on funding for its network roll-out. Neil read Mathematics at the University of Sussex and pursued postgraduate research at Imperial College, London.

Paul Marty Associate Managing Director, Infrastructure Finance Moody's Ratings

Paul Marty is a Associate Managing Director in Moody’s EMEA Infrastructure Finance team, based in Paris. He oversees a team of analysts covering regulated and unregulated utilities across EMEA and is also responsible for a portfolio of utilities in Portugal. Over the course of a long career at Moody’s, Paul has covered a broad range of sectors including oil & gas and real estate and is experienced in rating both conventional and complex structured financing arrangements. Paul is an authority on the European utility sector and the lead author of Moody’srating methodology for regulated electric and gas networks. He has published extensively on the utility sector, authored well-received reports on environmental risks and developments, and frequently presents Moody’s views at investor roundtables and other events. Moody’s has a leading global Infrastructure Finance franchise, rating some US$2trillion of corporate and project finance securities, representing more than 90% of all public bonds issued globally in the sector. 180 analytical sector staff cover more than 1,700 infrastructure issuers globally. Moody’s EMEA team of 46 specialists is responsible for rating around 430 issuers. The rating agency covers more than39,000 issuers and transactions. Paul’s prior work experience includes 3 years in an independent credit research boutique, covering high-yield corporate issuers. Paul started his career in Mergers& Acquisitions at BNP Paribas where he worked on a number of transactions in the oil & gas sector. Paul graduated from the ESSEC Business School in Paris, France. He is fluent in English and French.

Benjamin Leyre Vice President – Senior Credit Officer, Infrastructure Finance Moody's Ratings

Benjamin Leyre is a senior analyst in the EMEA Infrastructure Finance Group, based in Paris. He has responsibility for a portfolio of Southern European utilities, including unregulated electric and gas utilities, and regulated electric and gas networks. Benjamin has a wide range of utility experience acquired through a number of roles which he uses to comment on sector credit themes. Moody’s has a leading global Infrastructure Finance franchise, rating some US$2trillion of corporate and project finance securities, representing more than 90% of all public bonds globally in the sector. 140 analytical staff cover more than 1,000infrastructure issuers globally. Moody’s EMEA team of 50 specialists is responsible for rating 416 issuers. The rating agency covers more than 11,000 corporate issuers and 135 sovereign nations. Before joining Moody’s, Benjamin worked for Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, where he was heading the global energy team, and managing the fund’s European utilities equity portfolio. Prior to this, he worked as an equity analyst for ExaneBNP Paribas, as the head of its European utilities team, with direct coverage of large European corporates. Benjamin also worked as a senior consultant with IHS CERA, where he provided strategic advice to utilities, banks and governmental institutions in the US and in Europe, and where he kick-started the consultancy European environmental practice. Benjamin holds an M.Sc in Technology and Policy from M.I.T. and a M.Eng in mechanical Engineering and Energy Economics from Ecole des Mines de Paris. He is fluent in English and French.

Dougald Middleton Interim Finance Director GB Nuclear

• Dougald is currently the Interim Finance Director for Great British Nuclear (GBN) the Government sponsored Arms Length company which has been formed to promote the development of SMR nuclear new build projects in the UK. 
• GBN is in the process of procuring Technology Partners for the design, build and financing of two projects, each up to 1.5GWe at a cost of up to £40bn.
• GBN’s procurement process has down selected 4 potential partners and is entering into detailed discussions with the bidding companies ahead of the issuing BAFO documents early in the new year and down selecting preferred partners in Q2 2025.
• Dougald has responsibility for exploring the private financing options for the stations and has also designed the co-investment funding to enable the bidders to mature their technology designs and build manufacturing and supply chain capacity. 
• Prior to joining GBN Dougald advised BEIS on the financing and RAB aspects of SZC and prior to that was the senior infrastructure finance partner at Ernst & Young for 20 years where amongst other projects he advised HMG on the RAB structure for Thames Tideway Tunnel.

Simon Wilde Partner Oxera

Simon is a partner in Oxera’s energy and regulation practices, and advises energy companies, investors and the public sector on a wide range of energy regulatory, policy and finance matters. Simon was previously an executive committee member at UK energy regulator Ofgem, including as Senior Director for Markets and Energy Crisis Response, overseeing Ofgem’s domestic and international actions with respect to wholesale and retail energy markets. Working with the UK government, he also led the financial and commercial strands of emerging regulatory models for new sectors such as nuclear, CCUS, hydrogen, etc. 

Since joining Oxera, the firm has been advising on several nuclear sector opportunities, as well as regulated assets including new regimes such as CCUS. Simon also led Oxera’s work on investability for Water UK, looking at the attractiveness of UK regulated assets for global investors. 

Prior to Ofgem, Simon was an energy investment banker for 25 years, with senior positions at Macquarie Capital, RBS and ABN AMRO, advising on many transactions. These included Iberdrola’s acquisition of Scottish Power, CKI’s acquisition of UK Power Networks, Macquarie’s investments in offshore wind and E.ON on the Horizon JV acquisition of new nuclear sites.