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
Juliet Sarah Davenport[2] was born in Haslemere, Surrey, in 1968.[3][4]
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.[5]
Career
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.[6]
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 was named a Sunday Times Best Green Company in 2008 and 2009, and received The Observer’s Ethical Award for best online retail initiative in 2009.[7] In 2012, Davenport was named as PLUS CEO of the year.[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]
Honours and awards
Davenport was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to renewable energy supply.[2] She holds honorary degrees from the University of Bristol (2018)[16] and the University of Bath (2022).[17]
Published works
- Davenport, Juliet (2022). The Green Start-up. Blink Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78870-751-0.
Personal life
Davenport was married to Mark Shorrock [now divorced][citation needed] and has a daughter and a stepdaughter.[3] 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.[18] 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.[19]
References
- ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
- ^ a b Cabinet Office press release, New Year Honours 2013, p.26. Accessed on 11 February 2013.
- ^ a b Tim Webb, The Good Life still means Sustainability, The Times, 10 December 2012.
- ^ Emma Sinclair, How Juliet Davenport went from science to chief executive, The Daily Telegraph, 14 January 2013
- ^ Mark Tran, Ethical powerhouse, The Guardian, 25 June 2004.
- ^ Good Energy website, Juliet Davenport, accessed on 11 February 2013.
- ^ "Awards and accolades". Good Energy. Archived from the original on 9 March 2011 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Ruthven, Hunter (2 March 2012). "New energy entrepreneur Juliet Davenport walked off with the CEO of the Year gong at the PLUS Awards last night". Growth Business. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ "Launching my new podcast, Great Green Questions". Juliet Davenport. 18 March 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
- ^ "Good Energy announces appointment of new CEO". Good Energy. 7 April 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Ambrose, Jillian (1 January 2022). "Juliet Davenport: Good Energy founder spreads her wings and her expertise". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
- ^ Makortoff, Kalyeena (25 October 2021). "London Stock Exchange poised to list first company with all-female board". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
- ^ "Energy Institute: Trustees". Charity Commission. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
- ^ "Renewables pioneer Juliet Davenport appointed Energy Institute President". Energy Institute. 4 July 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
- ^ "Honorary degrees awarded at the University of Bristol". University of Bristol. 13 July 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ "Juliet Davenport, OBE: Oration". University of Bath. May 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ Vaughan, Adam; Morris, Steven (25 June 2018). "Government rejects plan for £1.3bn tidal lagoon in Swansea". the Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
- ^ 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.