Juliet Davenport

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Juliet Davenport OBE (born 1968[1]) is a British businesswoman. She founded and is the former chief executive of Good Energy, a renewable energy company in the United Kingdom.

Origins and education[edit]

Davenport was born in Haslemere, Surrey, in 1968.[2][3]

She read physics as an undergraduate at Merton College, Oxford before taking a master's degree in economics and environmental economics at Birkbeck, University of London. She also worked for a year at the European Commission on European energy policy and at the European Parliament on carbon taxation.[4]

Career[edit]

Davenport began working with Energy for Sustainable Development, an environmental consultancy. While there, she ran technology models and analysed policies on renewable energy from countries around Europe.[5]

In 1999 Davenport set up Unit[e], a subsidiary of the Monkton Group, of which she later became CEO. In 2003, Unit[e] was renamed Good Energy. The company has won several awards, including being twice named a Sunday Times Best Green Company, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s Outstanding Contribution to the Environment 2009 and The Observer’s Ethical Award for best online retail initiative.[6] In 2012, Davenport was named as PLUS CEO of the year.[7]

Davenport was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours 2013.[8]

In March 2021 the podcast Great Green Questions launched with Davenport as host. On the series she speaks to a variable panel of celebrities, experts and comedians about the issues of sustainable living.[9]

From 1 May 2021 Davenport stepped down as CEO of Good Energy,[10] and she left the company's board in 2022.[11] She holds a number of non-executive directorships[11] and is chair of Atrato Onsite Energy, a company which installs solar generation on roofs of commercial buildings.[12][13]

Davenport has been a trustee of the Energy Institute professional membership body since 2019,[14] and in July 2022 was appointed as its president for a three-year term.[15]

Published works[edit]

  • Davenport, Juliet (2022). The Green Start-up. Blink Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78870-751-0.

Personal life[edit]

Davenport was married to Mark Shorrock [now divorced][citation needed] and has a daughter and a stepdaughter.[2] Shorrock is an entrepreneur in renewable energy production and was a leading proponent of a tidal generation scheme using Swansea Bay, which the UK government considered in 2018 to be not financially viable.[16] Previously, Good Energy had bought a £500,000 stake in Shorrock's company in return for an option to buy 10% of its generated power.[17]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
  2. ^ a b Tim Webb, The Good Life still means Sustainability, The Times, 10 December 2012.
  3. ^ Emma Sinclair, How Juliet Davenport went from science to chief executive, The Daily Telegraph, 14 January 2013
  4. ^ Mark Tran, Ethical powerhouse, The Guardian, 25 June 2004.
  5. ^ Good Energy website, Juliet Davenport, accessed on 11 February 2013.
  6. ^ Good Energy web-site, Our history, accessed on 11 February 2013.
  7. ^ Growthbusiness.co.uk web-site, 2 March 2012 (accessed on 11 February 2013).
  8. ^ Cabinet Office press release, New Year Honours 2013, accessed on 11 February 2013.
  9. ^ "Launching my new podcast, Great Green Questions". Juliet Davenport. 18 March 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  10. ^ "Good Energy announces appointment of new CEO". Good Energy. 7 April 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  11. ^ a b Grundy, Alice (20 May 2022). "Juliet Davenport steps down from Good Energy's board to pursue portfolio career". Current. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  12. ^ Ambrose, Jillian (1 January 2022). "Juliet Davenport: Good Energy founder spreads her wings and her expertise". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  13. ^ Makortoff, Kalyeena (25 October 2021). "London Stock Exchange poised to list first company with all-female board". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  14. ^ "Energy Institute: Trustees". Charity Commission. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  15. ^ "Renewables pioneer Juliet Davenport appointed Energy Institute President". Energy Institute. 4 July 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  16. ^ Vaughan, Adam; Morris, Steven (25 June 2018). "Government rejects plan for £1.3bn tidal lagoon in Swansea". the Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  17. ^ Gosden, Emily (6 March 2016). "Meet the man who wants to be Britain's first tycoon of tides". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 18 November 2021.