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Meet the Team

Staff

Barnabas Shelbourne

CEO

barnabas@greenpower.co.uk

Nicollette Baldwin

Director of Operations

nicollette@greenpower.co.uk

Vaughan Curnow

Community and Education Development Manager

vaughan.curnow@greenpower.co.uk

Kieran Kinsella

Stores Manager

kieran@greenpower.co.uk

Jamie Morgan

Systems & Data Coordinator

jamie@greenpower.co.uk

Jon Martin

Team Engagement Manager

jon.martin@greenpower.co.uk

Lucy de Silva Puttick

Event Executive

lucy@greenpower.co.uk

Imogen Thomas

Event Assistant

imogen@greenpower.co.uk

Jo Geall

Office Administrator

jo@greenpower.co.uk

Patrons

The Duke of Richmond and Gordon

Often seen at the start line of the National Final with the Union Flag, The Duke of Richmond has been a supporter of Greenpower for many years. The Duke is a keen motorsport enthusiast, and created the world renowned Festival of Speed and Revival meetings on the Goodwood Estate.

“Environmentally friendly motorsport is a thing of the future, with Greenpower we are seeing tomorrow’s engineers and drivers whetting their appetites for greater things to come”.

David Richards CBE

As the chairman of Prodrive and Aston Martin, and a former team principal of the BAR and Benetton Formula 1 teams, David is perfectly placed to offer advice and support to the Greenpower Education Trust and to the young engineers we inspire.

“After attending the Greenpower National Final at Goodwood, I was impressed not only by the superbly engineered cars, but also by the focus, passion and great teamwork I witnessed among the young competitors, who had designed and built the cars they were racing. At Prodrive we constantly look for talented engineers with precisely this level of drive and commitment, so I wholeheartedly support Greenpower’s aim of encouraging even more young people to consider engineering as a future career.”

Trustees

As a charity we are supported and governed by the advice from our trustees 

Nash Vracas

Chair of Trustees

nash.vracas@greenpower.co.uk

Nash holds with a Masters in both Experimental Physics and Aerospace Dynamics, along with a PhD in Engineering. She has gained extensive experience in both the automotive industry and elite sports sectors, specialising in aerodynamics, aeroacoustics, and vehicle dynamics. Throughout her career, she has contributed to the development of notable vehicles such as the Range Rover, Range Rover Evoque, Jaguar E-Pace, and Jaguar F-Type. In addition, Nash has collaborated with prestigious organisations including British Skeleton and British Rowing. Nash's journey with Greenpower began in 2003 during her time at school, where she actively participated in building and racing two cars. In 2009, she generously offered her time as a volunteer for Greenpower, contributing to the successful organisation and management of events nationwide. She was invited to join the board in 2015 where she actively championed Greenpower within the STEM industry and fostered a strong connection between the board and the participants. In 2022, Nash assumed the role of Chair, further demonstrating her commitment and leadership within Greenpower.

Stuart Morgan

Vice Chair of Trustees

stuart.morgan@greenpower.co.uk

Stuart started as an electrical design engineer for a small firm working on hologram embossing machines. Later, he designed a cold-laminator for foil transfer and ventured into holographic rotary label cutting machines. Later he become heavily involved in graphic inks and started his own business printing exhibition graphics. In 2000, he joined Carte Blanche Greetings (CBG) as Reprographics Manager. Over the 21 years at CBG, he held technical, production, and procurement roles. He developed the supply chain across the UK, Europe, and Far East and implemented the MS Dynamics D365 system. In 2021, he joined Columbus Global as a Senior Business Consultant advising companies on digital transformation using MS Dynamics. Stuart first encountered Greenpower in 2013 and established a team at Funtington Primary School. Fundraising efforts led to their first race in 2014 and brought home their first trophy in 2015. Stuart was invited to join the board in 2017 and in 2020 took on the position as Vice-Chair. He still continues to run Funtington Goblins, fostering the next generation of Greenpower enthusiasts.

Lisa Russell

Lisa originally is a trained electrical engineer and a qualified secondary Maths teacher. She first encountered Greenpower as a Teacher almost 20years ago when teaching Maths in a local secondary school. She then introduced Greenpower to The JCB Academy which was the first engineering academy in the country when it opened. She left JCBA to take a role consulting to UTCs and exam boards and advocated for Greenpower at every opportunity as she firmly believes it to be a great vehicle to inspire young people with a project that can take young people towards STEM careers. During this time she joined the board and led education initiatives to link to the 14-19 curriculum and links with DofE and CREST schemes. She also worked with Formula E when we linked with them through their inaugural season and our foray into international franchising. She has remained on the board and thoroughly enjoy advocating for and being a part of Greenpower despite life having taken me on a different path.

Chris Baylis

Chris studied engineering as part of the Nuffield Staff Apprentice scheme, where he worked in various factories and earned an engineering degree from Birmingham University. He started his automotive career with Morris Commercial and Leyland Trucks, where he designed several vans and trucks, completing 17 vehicle projects. Later, as Chief Engineer at Jaguar Cars, he focused on vehicle dynamics and safety, in particular crash testing and occupant restraints. He later held the role as General Manager at Nissan, overseeing European product design, development, and production. Venturing into consultancy, he collaborated with companies like General Motors and Delphi, later working with Antonov in France and establishing their presence in the UK. Founding AVID, designing electric vehicle systems and building 10 EVs, including two EV Range Rovers in 2010. He started Hyperdrive Innovations, creating robotic warehouse systems, battery energy storage, the world's fastest EV Drag Racer, and more. In a significant milestone, Chris sold his companies to Bill Gates in 2020, concluding his entrepreneurial journey. Outside his professional work he also contributed to Rotary as a District Governor and Director in Rotary UK. Chris first got involved in Greenpower through the Rotary club, running a team with local schools. He joined the board in 2013 and was Chair from 2016-2020.

Vaughan Clarke

Vaughan has an Electrical Engineering degree and taught Mathematics and Physics in various schools, eventually becoming Head of Science at a Comprehensive School in Chester for nine years. Seeking a new challenge, he transitioned into the electronics industry, working on the development of the first British robot. After eight years in industry, he returned to education as the Head of Technology at St Swithun's School in Winchester where he worked for 15 years, guiding students in technology and innovation. In addition to teaching, he worked part-time for Young Engineer Clubs, designing competitions as well as serving as a judge. He entered a team in the national expansion of the Greenpower F24 competition in 2000 and have since remained connected to Greenpower, becoming a trustee in 2005. Outside of his professional pursuits, Vaughan served on the Prince of Wales Committee for six years, he’s been a Hampshire County Councillor for eight years, and served on the Board of the South Downs National Park for four years. He also had the honour of being the mayor of Petersfield on two occasions, representing the local community.

Ajai Ahluwalia

With over 12 years in the Offshore Wind industry, Ajai has a broad technical and commercial experience. He has worked across the Development, Construction and Operations phases of Offshore wind. Whilst working on one of these offshore wind farms, he became familiar with Greenpower and wanted to get more involved. At this point he was invited onto the board, serving since 2017. He has since let the electrical engineering world and recently started at RenewableUK as the Head of Supply Chain, making sure the industry can deliver upon the UK’s ambitious offshore wind deployment targets, and indeed seeing how opportunities in the UK supply chain can be realised. Relating to this is the skills shortage and how through Greenpower, we can inspire young people to get involved in STEM related subject, in particular ones that could lead them into a career in Renewables.

Andrew Browne

Andrew has been working in education for nearly 20 years and in that time has developed a wide range of engaging curriculum activities for young people. At his current secondary school, Baysgarth in North Lincolnshire he has been hugely integral in their Greenpower gateway curriculum which amalgamates the Engineering curriculum with employability skills that are strongly linked to Gatsby benchmark standards.

We have found that Greenpower used as a focal point embedded across the STEM curriculum has a huge amount of positive engagement from our students, and very successful outcomes. Students are very well placed in achieving successful opportunities post secondary education, ensuring the local and national labour markets are well catered for with employable young people

Harry Sherrard

Harry is a lawyer, with 30+ years partner level legal experience, specialising in employment law. He is also a qualified non-executive director, having attended Henley Business School and the IOD Directorship Programme. He also has 30+ years' experience as a motorsport competitor, including events as diverse as racing in the Goodwood Revival, rallying in the North African desert, competing in Wales Rally GB and historic road rallying. He is the author of "Taking Part – My 33 Years in Motorsport" and was recently admitted to membership of the Guild of Motoring Writers. Harry is the vice chairman of the Brooklands Museum Members and head of the talks team, as well as working with the Museum’s STEM and apprenticeship initiatives.  He is also an international public speaker on motorsport and historic subjects, including history of Goodwood.

Josh Dyson

Josh first became involved with Greenpower as a competitor in 2005, racing (even with the odd win!) until 2010. Having gone to university to study engineering he also became a Greenpower official in 2011. Upon graduating with a BEng and PhD in mechanical engineering in 2018 he left Greenpower to start his career in Computational Fluid Dynamics. He is currently working on developing power systems to decarbonise the mining industry.

Jon Clarke

Jon started his engineering career with the Ministry of Defence, and after 12 years moved into the automotive industry, initially working for BMW in the engine calibration and controls team developing powertrain applications for Mini. He moved to Ricardo in 2001 continuing to work on the BMW product line but now responsible for electrical systems integration, subsequently working on Bugatti Veyron transmission and engine control system leading a team to deliver the world first 1001hp supercar. Joining TATA Motors European Technical Centre in 2008, he took responsibility for Gasoline Engine Management Systems delivering 25 modified vehicles to pure EV drivetrains for customer use around Coventry and Birmingham. Subsequently Jon has been involved with a number of high profile EV conversions for TATA Motors.

 

Now Engineering Director for RLE Futuremotiv, Jon is responsible for a team of 31 Engineers in the areas of High Voltage Systems design, Powertrain, Electrical Integration, CAD and EDS. He is a Chartered Engineer and Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (MIET).

Event Staff

Our events couldn't run without the support of the fantastic people below. 

Our event team travel the length and breadth of the country along with the core team, to ensure our events are run safely and efficiently from Aberdeen all the way to Cornwall, and everywhere in between.

Will Humphrey

Clerk of the Course (Formula Goblin)

Jonny Owens

Clerk of the Course & Chief Scrutineer

Join the team

If you are interested in joining the Greenpower Team please send your CV to Greenpower.
info@greenpower.co.uk