The Board

Ian Funnell has had a long and distinguished career in the global energy sector. Originally joining ABB in 1999, he then was Director of Major Projects and later Managing Director of Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission. Ian re-joined ABB in 2012 in France as Group Vice President in the global utility sector and later as CEO and President of ABB SA (France).

Ian was CEO of ABB UK from 2015-2019, before becoming Chief Executive Officer of Hitachi ABB Power Grids joint venture in the UK and Ireland in 2020. Ian is Chair of CBI Northwest Region, a member of the CBI President’s Committee, and a member of the advisory boards of Innovate UK (Energy Revolution) and Imperial College London (Energy Futures Laboratory). He is a Commissioner on the Covid Recovery Commission. Hitachi ABB Power Grids has recently gone through a rebrand and is now known as Hitachi Energy.

Paul has extensive experience in the nuclear industry covering operations, commercial and research portfolios in the UK and also overseas. He has worked with a broad range of stakeholders across Government, industry and academia and more recently has worked in the research, technology and innovation sector beyond nuclear.

Paul began his career working on the European Fusion Programme where he completed his PhD in nuclear physics after a first degree in Physics and Astrophysics at the University of Birmingham. He subsequently worked in Japan on technology transfer in the semiconductor industry and on the Japanese nuclear programme. Following this he worked for BNFL at numerous locations in the UK and in roles covering technology commercialisation, plant support and policy development, culminating in support to the UK Government on the case for new nuclear build in 2007. Paul also co-founded the Dalton Nuclear Institute and worked for the US organisation Battelle alongside US National Laboratories on M&O contract development. In 2009 he was part of the M&O team that was awarded the contract to run NNL; and he subsequently became CEO of NNL in 2011.

Paul holds a professorial position at the University of Manchester in nuclear technology and was elected to become a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2014.  He is a fellow of the Institute of Physics and the Nuclear Institute, holds an MBA from Salford University and in 2019 became an alumnus of Harvard Business School having completed their prestigious Advanced Management Programme. Paul has also served as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of the National Physical Laboratory, and is past-Chair of the Association of Innovation Research & Technology Organisations, he is also currently Chair of BHR Framatome Ltd.

Sam Wheeler is Company Secretary to our NNL Board, having held the position as Deputy Company Secretary since 2021. Prior to joining NNL Sam was Company Secretary within the NHS, advising senior colleagues on governance matters throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and helping to develop the Green Plan for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust.

During Sam’s career she has provided both legal and governance advice across several industry sectors, after beginning her career as a corporate lawyer for PwC Legal. Sam has a breadth of knowledge of the public sector, with expertise in rail, nuclear and health.  Since qualifying as a chartered company secretary Sam has strengthened her knowledge of corporate governance and is keen to introduce it to the sector. Sam is both an Associate of Chartered Governance Institute and a qualified solicitor.

Matt joined NNL in June 2018 and was appointed Chief Financial Officer in April 2019. He joined us from BAE Systems where he had spent the previous 16 years in a wide variety of roles, leaving his position as Finance Director for the Dreadnought Submarine Programme to join NNL.

Matt worked across multiple businesses within BAE Systems where he developed a deep understanding of financial management, corporate governance and information management and technology.

Matt is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and sits as a member of the CIMA Benevolent Fund. Outside work, he is a qualified rugby league coach with Chorley Panthers.

Steve joined NNL’s board in May 2020, having been Professor of Structural Integrity at Imperial College London and serving as a non-executive director of the Transport Systems Catapult. Prior to those roles, Steve was Director, Research & Innovation - Nuclear, at Rolls-Royce PLC, retiring in 2013. Over the previous 15 years, he held various engineering and technology director roles for Rolls-Royce, including Head of the Technical Authority for the nuclear submarine plant.

After a PhD in Applied Mechanics, Steve started his career with The Welding Institute in 1976, rising to head of engineering, before joining Rolls-Royce and Associates in 1996. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2002.

In addition to his non-executive director role, Steve chairs our Technical Advisory Board. He continues to serve on a number of nuclear advisory boards and is an honorary Professor at Imperial College London.

Iain joined NNL’s board in October 2019, having previously served as Chief Financial Officer of WYG plc, an international consulting, engineering and project management business. Prior to that, Iain was Finance Director for Amec Foster Wheeler’s Clean Energy business, and before that he held various finance director positions in Westinghouse Electric Company, a global nuclear technology provider, including two periods spent working in the United States.

Iain started his career with Coopers & Lybrand where he qualified as an ACA before moving into corporate finance to work on mergers and acquisitions. He moved into industry in 1996 and now has over 20 years’ financial leadership experience in international consulting and engineering businesses, with a particular specialism in the international energy sector.

In addition to his non-executive director role, Iain chairs our Audit Committee.

Clare Barlow is our Chief People Officer and a board member. Clare is passionate about driving the people agenda across NNL with an inclusive and sustainable approach.

Clare joined NNL in 2018 from BAE Systems, where she spent the previous ten years as HR Director for the UK and international combat air division. Prior to BAE Systems, Clare was Head of HR at Royal Mail, British Airways, and a number of manufacturing organisations.

Clare has a wealth of experience spanning both HR and business roles, specialising in strategy development, organisational development, change management and employee relations.

In addition to her NNL role, Clare is a Trustee of Age UK Lancashire and a qualified executive and team coach

Since 2017 Ann has been a Council Member and Trustee of leading international affairs think tank Chatham House, where she held the interim Chair post of the NomCo.

Ann has a wealth of experience, serving on the Audit and Risk Committee for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) between 2011-2019 before becoming a non-executive director the following year. She was also Council Member for the British Institute of Energy Economics, appointed as Vice Chair and Chair between 2006-2007.

In her executive career, Ann was Executive Head of HR for the De Beers Group between 2017 and 2021, leading the people transformation of the global business through Covid-19. She served on the RemCo of Element 6, a synthetic diamond, cubic boron nitride producer (a joint venture of the DeBeers Group) and prior to this, worked for Rolls Royce as Director International from 2013-2017. 

Ann is currently on the board and ARAC of Envipco, a reverse vending machine manufacturer in the Netherlands which collects bottles and cans, repaying the deposit to the customer to encourage recycling to promote sustainability. Recently, she was elected to the Business Committee of the General Council of the University of Edinburgh, where she went to University.

Edward joined UK Government Investments (UKGI) in 2015 and has worked on both corporate finance and corporate governance projects.

Prior to joining UKGI, Edward worked as a lawyer. He trained with the Scottish Government before moving into private practice first in Scotland and then London, specialising in project and asset finance. Edward combined work and study to complete a Masters in global energy and climate policy, and further augmented his sectoral experience with secondments to Network Rail, ING and UK Export Finance.

Edward undertook a two-year secondment with the Cabinet Office, where he first led on business, energy and environmental policy coordination in the Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat, working closely with HM Treasury and No.10. Edward then led a team preparing for the UK's exit from the EU, before being asked to help establish and lead a team within the COVID Taskforce.