24 June 2025
June Board Meeting, Aberdeen
Attendees:
Juergen Maier CBE FRS, Chair, Great British Energy
Dan McGrail, CEO, Great British Energy
Emma Floyd, Shareholder Non-Executive Director, Great British Energy
Chris Stark, Director, Shareholder Non-Executive Director, Great British Energy
Kate Gilmartin, Non-Executive Director, Great British Energy
Frances O’Grady, Baroness of Upper Holloway, Non-Executive Director, Great British Energy
Frank Mitchell, Non-Executive Director, Great British Energy
Nina Skorupska, CBE FEI, Non-Executive Director, Great British Energy
Valerie Todd, Non-Executive Director, Great British Energy
Alison Presly, General Counsel, Great British Energy
Paul Addison, Policy and External Affairs Director, Great British Energy
Tim Cullen OBE, Business Development & Partnerships Director, Great British Energy
Rob Gilbert, Supply Chain Director, Great British Energy
Helen Seagrave, Local Power Director, Great British Energy
John Waldron, Head of Office, Great British Energy
Chair’s Welcome & Introductions
Juergen Maier (JM) welcomed the Board and set out the respective roles of the non-executive directors and executive directors and expressed his enthusiasm in announcing that Chris Stark (CS) was being formally appointed to the Board.
Confirmation of Agenda and Minutes
JM confirmed the Board was quorate and all Board members agreed to the agenda. All Board members confirmed that they had no new conflicts to declare.
The Board discussed and approved the minutes from the March shadow Board and discussed the Action Log and Decision Log.
Terms of Reference
The Board approved the GBE Board Terms of Reference (ToR) subject to several minor changes and discussed the proposed subcommittees and draft ToR for each subcommittee.
The Board agreed to review the proposed governance structure in light of best practice governance formations in energy, and other sector, and agreed that the proposed sub-committees should come back to the Board once GBE’s strategy is set via the Strategic Plan.
Designations
The Board noted the Shareholder designation of Company articles and the Shareholder nomination of start-up Directors.
Framework Document and Strategic Statement of Priorities
The Board reviewed drafts of the Interim Framework Document and the government’s Strategic Statement of Priorities agreeing there should be consistent language between two documents and proposing several recommendations for DESNZ to consider. The Board tasked the GBE executive to work closely with both DESNZ and HMT on the appropriate governance and it was confirmed that a final version of the Interim Framework Document would come to a future Board for approval.
CEO Report
Dan McGrail (DM) updated the Board on organisational progress over the last quarter, thanked the GBE executive team for their work and commitment, and noted the excellent work from the DESNZ set-up programme on his welcome and induction.
DM highlighted positive market engagement, explained progress on matters of organisation set-up such as estates and recruitment, and outline his vision for GBE’s strategy.
The Board discussed the CEO report, including matters such as recruitment.
The Board discussed the risk register, and the GBE executive team went through the risks that had been escalated to Board.
GBE Communications
Paul Addison (PA) summarised the latest update on communications and stakeholder reactions and set out the upcoming GBE communications and engagement strategy.
The Board discussed this and passed on thanks to PA and his team for the work on GBE announcements and landing GBE key messages.
GBE role in advising on policy matters
The Board discussed and agreed that GBE has a role to play in ensuring policymakers are aware of the latest information and agreed that when doing so GBE should ensure any commercial information is protected and that GBE will not use this role to further its own interests. It must also be clear to all, that GBE will never be the policy maker, and acts solely as an advisor, based on its own independent market experience.
Investment
Tim Cullen (TC) summarised the investment and partnerships papers for the Board.
The Board discussed matters such as measuring success, governance and the role of GBE investments in creating high quality jobs and additional social value.
The Board agreed to the interim strategy presented and that it should be pursued until the Strategic Plan is developed and published, and the Board endorsed responsible investment guidelines for GBE staff.
Local
Helen Seagrave (HS), presented the culmination of strategic work on GBE Local and set out vision covering both commercial and non-commercial activities and strategic priorities for the GBE Local team.
The Board discussed matters relating to ensuring all in society benefit from the energy transition and the role of GBE Local in that, working closely with government, and ensuring GBE takes an innovative approach to the development of commercial models. The Board endorsed both the GBE Local vision and the strategic priorities.
Supply Chain
Rob Gilbert (RG) set out the GBE ethical supply chain framework, the latest work on GBE’s supply chain grant fund and the GBE supply chain strategy.
The Board discussed GBE’s role as in meeting and raising standards on ethical supply chains, how to deliver the grant scheme successfully, including learning lessons from other initiatives, and discussed how to focus the supply chain strategy on areas where the UK has comparative advantage.
The Board endorsed the ethical supply chain framework, the design of the supply chain grant fund, and the GBE supply chain strategy.
JM thanked the Board for their contributions and thanked the GBE executive directors for their clear presentation and work to-date, then closed the meeting.