WATERWAY RESTORATION CONFERENCE 2022

VIRTUAL DELEGATE PACK

The Day Ahead ... 

Speaker Bios

Jim White

Chair of Trustees, Cotswold Canals Trust

Jim is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer with a past career at all levels in the aerospace and defence industry. In 2011 he was appointed Engineering Director for the Charity. 

His first project was the design of paddle gear, followed by canalside benches, landing stages and mechanisation of lock gates operating in confined sites. His ambition is to make all lock gates, paddle gear, moving bridges and other features on the Stroudwater Navigation and Thames & Severn Canal, safe and easy to operate; thus creating the UK’s most user-friendly canal and towpath accessible for everyone.

Chris Mitford-Slade

Canal Project Director, Stroud District Council

Chris has lived in the Stroud area since 2003. Chris has had an interesting, adventurous and varied career having spent 16 years as an Army Officer serving on operations in Cyprus, Bosnia and Kosovo; as well as leading expeditions to the Himalayas and the Amazon before embarking on a career in the technology sector.

Chris helped to transform MessageLabs, from a product to a $1Bn company over a five-year journey, initially as Programme Manager and then as Global HR Director.  Chris then took the bold step to set up his company, as founder and CEO of XCD HR Limited, a cloud based HR & Payroll solution built on the Salesforce platform.

Ian Sesnan

Inland Waterways Association Volunteer - Funding

Ian Sesnan serves the IWA in a number of voluntary roles including strategic funding and the Heritage and Planning Advisory Panels. He started campaigning for inland waterways at the age of 18 when the Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal was threatened with further blockage (by the Edinburgh City Bypass). He has volunteered and served on boards of a number of heritage projects, in particular the Wensleydale Railway. Professionally he was worked for a London Borough, Friends of the Earth, and the Dioceses of London and Rochester. Since the millennium he has worked as a self-employed consultant in heritage and community projects often specialising in community-led projects; social enterprises; funding and business planning.

John Dodwell

Chair of the Montgomery Canal Partnership

John's interest in the Canal goes back to participating in the 1969 Welshpool “Big Dig” which started the Canal’s restoration. Nearly 60% of the Canal’s 35 miles have been restored. John has been an IWA member since 1961 and lobbied Parliament for IWA when the 1968 Transport Act was passed which helped to create a leisure future of the waterways. He was IWA General Secretary 1971-74 during which period the Government’s proposals to break up the waterways by handing them to regional water authorities was defeated. During this period, IWA set up a National Waterways Restoration Fund. In the 2000’s he was a member of the Government’s Inland Waterways Advisory Council where he dealt with water freight matters. He was a founding trustee of the Canal & River Trust 2012-17.

Neil Owen

Senior Engineer, Canal & River Trust

Neil is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Chartered Water and Environment Manager, with both contracting and design experience and over Twenty Years’ Experience within Canal & River Trust (and British Waterways). He has undertaken various roles with the Trust including Waterway Engineering, Water Management, Operations Management and has for the last seven years been a Regional Engineer managing the Asset Engineer Function in the South.  

Neil currently acts as Asset Owner and Sponsor for all Engineering Projects with the South Regions. He has experience of inspecting and managing all types of waterway assets with a particular interest in water resources management.  

Grace Jeremy

Programme Manager, Young Trustees Movement

Grace is an educator and activist with over 12 years experience of facilitating in social change settings. Their background is in Disability Justice, LGBTQ+ issues, youth rights and participation, and mental health. When Grace isn’t working you can find them growing veg, watching birds, and playing boardgames or Dungeons & Dragons.

Jason Leach

Canal & River Trust - Head of External Programme Delivery

Jason has worked for Canal & River Trust for over 20 years. He joined to work on the Rochdale Canal Restoration where he saw the benefits of what canals can do for communities. Jason has an environmental background with a passion for improving the canal and river network for wildlife and people.

Since joining he has had numerous roles including leading the Droitwich Canal Restoration, Olympic programmes in the lead up to 2012 and most recently overseen the team successfully completing the Unlocking the Severn project a £20m programme of building large fish passes and an unique underwater viewing window. This project has seen significant outreach activity promoting the natural environment to schools, locals and visitors. He has recently taken on the next phase of the Montgomery Canal Restoration and will be looking forward to promoting progress and benefits to the wider canal community. Jason loves spending time outdoors with his family and does CrossFit to keep fit.

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