Faraday Institution Strengthens Board of Trustees – The Faraday Institution

Distinguished leaders in energy innovation, analysis and distribution will help guide energy storage research programmes for automotive and other sectors.

HARWELL, UK (16 March 2021) Three new members have joined the Faraday Institution’s board of trustees, further strengthening the board’s expertise in energy storage research, innovation, and the automotive, grid and other industries.

The Faraday Institution is the UK’s independent institute for electrochemical energy storage research, skills development, market analysis, and early-stage commercialisation. The organisation convenes commercial partnerships and research collaborations that have the aim of maximising UK economic value from the global race to electrification.

The board of trustees, with the three newly appointed trustees, bring multifaceted perspectives and experiences from academia, industry, and public service to the role of advising the Faraday Institution.

The three new members of the Faraday Institution board are:

Cordi O’Hara – National Grid

Mark Newman – Nyobolt

Isobel Sheldon – Britishvolt

Announcing the new appointments, board chair Professor Peter B. Littlewood said: “Facilitating the move to a low carbon economy is a singularly important research question of this generation, and energy storage research sits squarely at the movement’s centre. Our board of trustees provides valuable guidance for the Faraday Institution as it determines how our battery research can most effectively deliver impact to the automotive and other industries, to UK jobs and prosperity, and enable performance improvements to drivers of future electric vehicles. We are delighted to welcome to the board three new distinguished and widely respected individuals, who will help us seize new opportunities to make a difference through discovery and innovation.”

Said Faraday Institution Chief Executive Professor Pam Thomas: “Cordi O’Hara, Mark Newman and Isobel Sheldon bring extraordinary leadership and depth of expertise in energy storage technology and policy to the Faraday Institution’s board of trustees. They will provide valuable guidance to the Faraday Institution as we continue to take innovative and commercially relevant battery research forward to meet the UK’s needs on the journey to Net Zero.”

Introducing the new board members:

Cordi O’Hara

Cordi O’Hara OBE is Chief Operating Officer, US Gas Business for National Grid, where she is accountable for the safe, reliable and affordable operation of National Grid’s gas distribution businesses across New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Prior to joining the US business, she ran the UK System Operator for National Grid. Cordi has more than 20 years of experience in the energy industry, managing key relationships with government officials, regulators and customers. Prior to joining National Grid, Cordi worked for Centrica, the largest UK energy retailer, in a variety of commercial and operational roles. She is a fellow of the UK Energy Institute.

Mark Newman

Mark Newman is Chief Commercial Officer and Head of Strategy for pioneering battery company Nyobolt, the original founders of ultra-fast charging niobium-based battery technology. Mark previously spent 11 years as Managing Director and Senior Analyst covering technology at Bernstein, where he was lead author of numerous research reports focused on batteries, electric vehicles and semiconductors. Prior to Bernstein, Mark worked at Samsung in Korea for six years in various strategy and business development roles where he was a key driver of several strategic initiatives, venture investments and acquisitions.

Isobel Sheldon

Isobel Sheldon OBE is Chief Strategy Officer of Britishvolt, responsible for overall business, manufacturing, technology and customer strategy. She joined Britishvolt from her role as Business Development Director at the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre. She has 20 years of experience in battery design and development, technology and industry, and is a globally renowned automotive battery specialist. Isobel has worked with many of the world’s major automotive businesses and suppliers including Jaguar Land Rover, Lotus, Nissan, Ricardo and Johnson Matthey Battery Systems helping them advance their battery system solutions.

The full list of board members can be found here.