People

The Joint Office staff are seconded by the Gas Transporters. They have extensive experience of the governance processes surrounding development of the commercial arrangements which underpin the gas industry in GB.  Brief details of each staff member are provided below.

All can be contacted via enquiries@gasgovernance.co.uk

Kate Elleman

Head of Joint Office Operations 

Kate has over 30 years experience working in the Gas Industry having worked in Metering, Gas Distribution and Transmission businesses within National Grid.  Kate started work as a commercial trainee with British Gas West Midlands and has held a variety of roles including Customer & Contract Manager, Network Operations Manager, Head of Asset Management and Business Improvement Lead.

For more information please see https://www.linkedin.com/in/kateelleman/

Joanna Ferguson

Head of Strategy & Transition 

Joanna has over 20 years gas industry experience joining Transco as a management accountant, undertaking a variety of roles including project finance management and transporter revenue and credit manager for Northern Gas Networks following network separation in 2005. She moved into industry codes and regulatory compliance for NGN in 2009, leading delivery of the Xoserve Finance, Governance & Ownership review. Joanna has been NGNs nominated Joint Governance Agreement Committee member since 2019 working closely with the Joint Office. 

 

Rebecca Hailes

Industry Governance Manager

Rebecca has over 25 years’ experience working with energy systems and energy technologies, both in the UK and overseas. Prior to joining the Joint Office, Rebecca worked with Synnogy Ltd and E4tech (now part of ERM), focusing on new energy strategy, business development opportunities, future planning and horizon scanning for blue chips and large public bodies such as BP, E.On, GE, Uniper, WWF, Linde/BOC, Balfour Beatty and HSL with a key focus on fuel cells and hydrogen, in all applications. She previously worked in fuel cell and H2 reformer product development with Nuvera Fuel Cells in the US and at Kodak. She holds degrees in Environmental Technology, Manufacturing Engineering and German from Brunel University and Imperial College and is a Chartered Engineer. Rebecca has previously lived and worked in some of the world's richest and poorest countries and speaks several languages. At the Joint Office, she Chairs the DSC Change Management Committee and the Distribution Workgroup and enjoys the challenge of leading the Legal Text team and working on the most technical modifications. She is the designated UNC Modification Panel Secretary with responsibility for ensuring Panel operations run pragmatically and in line with Code. 

For more information please see: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccahailes/ 

Yvonne Reid-Healy

Industry Governance Manager

Yvonne joined the Joint Office in May 2021 and has nearly 20 years' experience in the gas industry. Yvonne joined National Grid on a year’s development as a Financial Analyst and has held a variety of roles within National Grid, Fulcrum and Cadent including, Transactional Finance Manager, Continuous Improvement & Performance Manager, Data Assurance Specialist, and RIIO-2 PMO Manager.

For more information please see https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvonne-r-16084457/?original_referer=

Mark Cockayne

Industry Governance Manager

Mark has more than 25 years’ experience in the gas industry, originally joining Transco’s credit team and has spent much of his career with Xoserve managing teams including the Billing Operations and the Transportation & Energy Balancing Credit departments. He has experience of numerous major industry projects and was head of Business Change & Training for Xoserve. Prior to leaving Xoserve at the end of 2021, he was part of the senior leadership team as Head of Credit & Ops. More recently Mark has been employed by Northern Gas Networks as Energy Futures Regulation Manager involved in discussion / developments around hydrogen including Hydrogen Village, Town and Blending.   

Paul McKie

Industry Governance Manager

Paul has 14 years experience in the gas industry and held a number of senior managerial roles with Transco back in the 1990s/2000s including: Capacity Development Co-ordinator; Credit Risk Manager (Energy); Invoicing Manager; Billing Quality Manager and Commercial Service & Data Manager at Hinckley. In the 2000s Paul took a break from the gas industry and stepped into a variety of roles including: church leadership; running his own photography business and working as an ‘inbound’ manager for Amazon at their only UK alcohol warehouse. Last year Paul returned to the gas industry to work for National Gas Transmission taking responsibility for the leading the capacity auctions team.

Helen Bennett

Industry Governance Specialist

Helen has over 30 years’ experience in the Gas Industry, originally joining British Gas on a 6-month Youth Opportunities Scheme and then working in various departments from Customer Services to Performance Reporting. She then enjoyed some time at Npower and Xoserve before moving to National Grid and the Gas Incentive Team managing the Capacity Auction process. Helen joined the Joint Office in February 2017.

Helen Cuin

Industry Governance Specialist

Helen has over 35 years' experience in the gas industry.  Helen started work as a commercial trainee with British Gas West Midlands and has held a variety of roles within Network Operations and Customer Account Management.  Helen joined the Joint Office in 2005.  She Chairs a number of Committees including the Demand Estimation Sub-committee (DESC), the DSC Credit Committee, the Energy Balancing Credit Committee (EBCC) and is also the Secretary to various Workgroups and Committees.

Ben Mulcahy

Industry Governance Analyst

Ben has nearly 30 years of experience in the Gas & Electricity Industries having worked at a number of Shippers and Suppliers, both I&C and Domestic, as well as in Gas Metering and Gas Distribution Network businesses.  He has held a range of roles, including Operations Management, Siteworks, Customer Support, Account Management and Sales as well as Product Development. Ben has worked widely in energy regulation, managing responsibilities (including audits) under several energy industry codes.