Putting energy at the heart of everything.
Severn Wye Energy Agency is a sustainability charity working across Wales and the West of England.
Founded in 1999, Severn Wye’s vision is of a stable climate with energy for all. We help to achieve this by working with people to overcome fuel poverty and act on climate change, by putting energy at the heart of everything we do.
Find out more below about our purpose, our organisation, our staff team and Board of Trustees, and our impact as a charity.
About Severn Wye
Sustainability is the most important challenge of our lifetime.
Severn Wye exists to support householders, communities and other organisations to overcome the sustainability challenges they face. We deliver practical programmes to benefit the general public on behalf of a range of public, private and third sector funders and authorities.
We stand ready to help your community or organisation become more sustainable now, and for the future.
Severn Wye’s charitable status
Severn Wye is a registered charity in England and Wales (03830608). Consequently, we have three Charitable Objectives that guide the work we do:
The relief of fuel poverty and the preservation and protection of health, by promoting the efficient use of energy and use of renewable sources of energy.
The advancement of education for the public benefit in relation to energy conservation, energy efficiency and the use of renewable sources of energy.
To promote sustainable development for the benefit of the public by:
- The preservation, conservation and the protection of the environment and the prudent use of resources;
- The relief of poverty and the improvement of the conditions of life for those socially and economically disadvantaged;
- The promotion of sustainable means of achieving economic growth and regeneration.
Sustainable development means “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Our staff
Severn Wye is governed by a Board of Trustees, and led by an Operations Team comprising a small Senior Leadership Team and Senior Project Managers.
At the heart of Severn Wye’s services and programmes are a delivery team made up of domestic and business energy experts, community place coordinators and talented project managers.
Senior Leadership Team
Our Senior Leadership Team oversee all aspects of Severn Wye’s work.
Sandy Ruthven MBE
Chief Executive Officer
Sandy leads the team at Severn Wye, providing strategic oversight and leadership across all the organisation’s activities
Kuda Mativenga
Director of Finance and Operations
Kuda has oversight over the nuts and bolts of the business and provides strategic financial input.
Dave Gittins
Director for Wales
Dave leads Severn Wye’s Wales-based teams, delivering fuel poverty, sustainable community and carbon-saving programmes across the country
Allison Cawley
Director of Energy Services
Allison heads up an award-winning team of energy assessors, retrofit co-ordinators and project managers, covering both domestic and non-domestic sectors, to deliver grant-funded and commercial paid-for services.
Hannah Persaud
Director of Energy Advice
Hannah leads our energy advice line team, which takes more thant 5,000 calls each year, and our team of community energy advisers who are based in local communities and provide in-person advice and practical support to over 1,000 households each year.
Anna Henderson
Head of Fundraising and Impact
Anna leads a team focused on fundraising through bid submissions – ranging from small community grant applications to large, complex submissions in collaboration with multiple partner organisations. Data analysis and impact assessment is also delivered by Anna’s team.
Ruth Darling
Head of Marketing & Communications
Ruth and her team are brand builders, telling Severn Wye’s story both on- and off-line, delivering practical marketing and communications campaigns that spark interest and enquiries, and helping to shape a great culture through colleague communications and engagement.
Board of Trustees
Mareike Schmidt
Chair of Trustees / Audit Committee
Mareike is the Innovation Lead at Innovate UK, having previously worked as Head of Operations for Q-Bot and for Bristol City Council where she delivered a £50m Energy Investment Programme. A Non-Executive Director for Merlin Housing, she has been involved in reshaping their asset management strategy including the delivery of energy efficient housing. She holds a Financial Times Non-Executive Director/Trustee qualification.
Chris Welby
Vice Chair / Governance Committee
Chris has been in energy policy for over 20 years and was until recently Head of Regulation & Policy at Bristol Energy, and previously Good Energy. He is now at Elexon, looking at introducing flexibility into the market to achieve Net Zero. He passionately believes that fighting climate change and fuel poverty are not “either/or” and both can be achieved.
Andy Bull
Governance Committee
Andy joined the staff of Severn Wye in 2007 after 30 years in local government. He established an office in Wales and was part of the management team until 2015, when he became an associate to focus on a trans-national biogas project. He retired in 2018 and joined the Board in 2019.
Simon Burgess
Audit Committee
Louise Cooke
Remuneration Committee
Louise is a Data Management specialist in the Civil Service, helping organisations to operate more efficiently and effectively by enabling them to fully exploit data, information and knowledge. She is a member of a Climate Action Network within her organisation, with a special focus on sustainable IT, and has recently embarked upon an MSc in Sustainability at the University of Bournemouth.
Vilislava Ivanova
Young Trustee, 2020-22 / Audit Committee
With a background in European policy and market research, Vilislava works as an energy policy advisor at Energy Systems Catapult, focussing on policy research and innovation projects in the areas of electricity, heat and transport decarbonisation. She supports innovators to navigate the complexities of the energy sector and bring new low-carbon solutions to market.
Rowena Kay
Remuneration / HR / Legal
Rowena is a lawyer, specialising in employment matters. Outside work, she is a trustee for another sustainability charity and a keen allotment holder.
Emma Voss
Emma Voss currently leads the global commercial offshore wind team at Statkraft, Europe’s largest producer of renewable energy. She believes that an acceleration of the deployment of renewable energy will help to solve the energy trilemma of security of supply, affordability and sustainability whilst also combatting climate change. Emma is a big 4 trained chartered accountant and previously spent 11 years in the CFO business area of Statkraft. She is a Board director of Statkraft UK Limited and a member of their ED&I steering committee.
Chris Brierley
Chris brings with him a wealth of communications and engagement experience, with over two decades of working in both the public & private sector influencing key stakeholders from MPs, Chief Executives to key community leaders. From being a talented multimedia broadcaster with the BBC for over a decade, to his 4 and a half years stint as Gloucestershire’s first Deputy Police & Crime Commissioner. He now works as a senior engagement and impact advisor at Energy Systems Catapult and is also a trustee of a women’s refuge. He’s passionate about the climate change agenda and believes in the power of people and organisations in delivering real change.
Paul Smith Lomas
Paul is a mechanical engineer by training, with a focus on water supply and sanitation. For over 30 years he worked in international development, including 10 years living in Africa, and was awarded an MBE in 2002. Prior to retiring in 2021, Paul was CEO of Practical Action, an international not-for-profit organisation seeking innovative solutions to global challenges. He’s now engaged on issues closer to home, including energy and the environment. Paul joined the board in 2023.
Severn Wye’s impact
Each year we release an Impact Report that looks back at the activities and services we have invested in to make a positive impact on the world around us. It helps us to remain focussed, committed and proud of our work.
tonnes of CO2 will be saved every year
saved for beneficiaries every year
in funding levered in
households supported
Our recent awards
Severn Wye is proud to be an award-winning charity. We’re regularly recognised across the sustainability world for our high quality work and the way we strive for excellence in everything we do. Here are a selection of our recent awards.
National Energy Efficiency Awards 2022
Second place: Energy consultancy
West Midlands Energy Efficiency Awards 2022
Winner: Vulnerable customer support
West Midlands Energy Efficiency Awards 2022
Highly commended: Energy consultancy
National Energy Efficiency Awards 2021
Winner: Multi-measure project
South West Energy Efficiency Awards 2021
Winner: Energy consultancy
West Midlands Energy Efficiency Awards 2021
Winner: Large project of the year
Sustainable Academy Awards
For Our Future’s People
Powys Business Awards 2021
For our work at the Hive