Innovation and Participation Advisory Group

Glenn Coates has more than 30 years' experience in the electricity sector. He has held senior management roles at Orion in Christchurch and operational roles for Transpower in Wellington.

At Aurora Energy, Glenn is responsible for asset management strategy and the associated growth and lifecycle management of their network assets. He also leads the Aurora engineering teams to support the efficient and sustainable delivery of their network capex and opex projects and programmes.

Glenn has a wide range of distribution network experience including customer facing roles, research and development, planning, network performance/resilience and demand side management.

He has contributed to numerous industry working groups and is currently involved in the Electricity Networks Association Smart Technology Working Group, the Flexforum, and recently led the South Island Distribution Group investigation into new distribution operating models.

Glenn is an electrician by trade and holds a University of Canterbury B.E. Hons in electrical and electronic engineering.

Margaret Cooney works for Octopus Energy Group as Chief Customer Officer and has previously led Powershop.

She has worked across a range of functions including operations, commercial, strategy, restructuring and capital raising in the energy and technology sectors.

Margaret holds an LLB and BCom (Economics).

Victoria Parker recently joined Transpower as Pricing Manager for the grid owner.

Prior to joining Transpower, she worked in the UK as Head of Regulation for Bulb, a start-up technology company providing 100% renewable energy in the UK, Spain, France and Texas.

Victoria has also worked in gas and electricity distribution, representing network companies on UK innovation projects and charging working groups.

Before working in the UK, Victoria worked for Genesis Energy and has a background in public policy.

Buddhika Rajapakse has over fifteen years’ experience in delivering strategic and commercial solutions in the water, electricity and aviation sectors.

Previously, Buddhika was Manager, Energy Futures at electricity generator and retailer Mercury. He was responsible for developing strategies, thought leadership, new business opportunities and partnerships for Mercury's new energy ventures portfolio encompassing e-mobility, alternative energy carriers, battery storage and distributed energy resources, among others.

He has a deep technical, regulatory and analytical appreciation for the New Zealand electricity market from nearly ten years in roles covering high voltage transmission and trading analytics.

Buddhika has also regularly contributed to Mercury’s external engagement on regulatory policy. This spanned wholesale electricity market design, transmission pricing, grid investment, the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme and new technologies.

Andy Sibley wears many hats as Chief Executive Officer at Simply. As well as leading, growing, guiding, and mentoring a diverse and talented bunch of people, he constantly thinks about the future in creative and imaginative ways. 

With a real passion for improving the world we live in, Andy’s the driving force behind shaping Simply to support their customers transition to a low-carbon future. When he’s not leading the team, and creating a supportive culture, he’s out and about talking with customers, looking for new partners to team up with and providing direction and vision on future technologies.

Andy came to Simply when it joined forces with Contact in 2020. During his ten years at Contact, his focus on people before process delivered significant business improvements and shifts in culture within the teams he led (as Engineering Manager, General Manager Business Improvement and Support and more recently as General Manager Innovations and Ventures).

Corrie has over 20 years’ experience in New Zealand's electricity industry within varied roles. Due to her invaluable first-hand insight of several industry participants businesses and their interactions with consumers, Corrie has a strong understanding of the complexities of the industry and the need to balance this with the consumer experience, product innovation and emerging technology.

Corrie is highly experienced in the process of integrating transformation from innovation, new technologies and regulatory changes back into businesses, whilst managing the impacts and the delivery to customers.

Scott Willis is a Director at Climate Navigator, a purpose-drive social enterprise and consultancy working with organisations across the public and private sectors.

His work in the community sector over the last 12 years has involved creating energy literacy, energy efficiency and enabling innovation in community energy.

He has a special interest in the democratisation of New Zealand’s electricity sector and distributed energy.

Scott also provides project management of the Otago Home Upgrade Programme at Aukaha Limited, a Kaupapa Māori organisation, and is a regular contributor to the Otago Daily Times on sustainability, climate adaptation and energy issues.