Business Advisory Board

Dave Penrith is a Non-Executive Director and Senior Advisor with extensive experience in global engineering, manufacturing and supply chain operations. He spent 36 years at Unilever, culminating in the role of Global Chief Engineer for a €60 billion business, with responsibility for an €11 billion asset base and a €2 billion annual capital portfolio.

His experience spans capital allocation, risk management and long-term asset strategy across complex multinational organisations. He has led large-scale digital and operational transformation programmes, using AI, data platforms and digital twins to support performance, resilience and decision-making.

Dave has worked on strengthening governance frameworks, improving capital efficiency and overseeing complex investment programmes. His experience also includes cultural and organisational change, with a focus on leadership capability, safety and inclusion.

In his portfolio career, he provides independent oversight and constructive challenge to boards and executive teams across manufacturing, infrastructure and technology-enabled sectors. He has also contributed to UK national initiatives, including the COVID-19 Ventilator Challenge, supporting rapid, large-scale supply chain mobilisation.

A Chartered Engineer with a first-class degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Dave combines technical experience with a strategic focus on transformation, growth and risk.

Nick Bennett is Director of Strategic Advisory at Savills. Born in St Asaph and raised on Anglesey, he established the Menter Mon rural development agency. After working in economic development in North West Wales, he spent five years at the Wales European Centre in Brussels, successfully lobbying for increased regional aid for Wales. He later served as Special Adviser to the Economic Development Minister in the first devolved coalition government.

He has 30 years’ experience in public policy, with a focus on economic development and regeneration. He holds a BScEcon in Politics and an MBA from Aberystwyth University and also attended the JFK School of Governance at Harvard.

Nick served as Public Services Ombudsman for Wales from 2014 to 2022 and was previously Chief Executive of Community Housing Cymru.

Since joining Savills in 2022, he has established its economics team in Wales, working with clients across the public, private and voluntary sectors.

His governance experience includes membership of the Welsh Language Board, the Ofcom Advisory Board for Wales, the “Williams Commission” review of Public Services, the All-Wales Convention and the Ministerial Task Group on Accountability in the NHS.

Nick advises Ambition North Wales, serves as a lay member of Cardiff City Region Growth Board and is a board member of Adra Housing Association. He and his wife, Nia, have three grown-up children and have lived in Cardiff since 2000, while maintaining close links with North Wales. His interests include running, golf and indie rock.

• Project Director for Project Prince
• Manufacturing Expansion Director, Knauf Insulation

Ian Gornall is Project Director for Knauf Insulation’s low-carbon rock mineral wool insulation manufacturing facility, which is to be constructed in Shotton.

He brings manufacturing and project experience from a career spanning four decades in the construction materials manufacturing industry.

Ian takes a process-driven, pragmatic and entrepreneurial approach, with a focus on people, efficiency and sustainability.

Dr Edward Thomas Jones is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at The Albert Gubay Business School, Bangor University, and Director of the Institute of European Finance. His research and advisory work focuses on regional economic development, innovation in public and private finance, energy and major infrastructure investment.

Edward works with businesses, policymakers and public bodies across Wales. He is a member of the British Business Bank’s Wales Stakeholder Advisory Board and the Development Bank of Wales Economic Intelligence Wales Steering Group, and a Non-Executive Director of M-SParc. He has also provided independent expert advice to Senedd Finance Committees on economic performance and fiscal policy.

A fluent Welsh speaker, Edward has a particular interest in supporting sustainable economic growth that creates opportunities for businesses and communities across North Wales.

Jackie Pearson is Director of Corporate Affairs at Shotton Mill Limited, with more than 30 years’ experience in manufacturing, finance and corporate affairs. She began her career with UPM as a summer student before progressing to senior international leadership roles in the UK and Europe.

A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (FCMA) and MBA graduate, Jackie brings experience in strategic planning, business transformation, financial leadership and stakeholder engagement.

Since joining Shotton Mill in 2022, she has supported the site’s redevelopment into a major containerboard and tissue manufacturing operation, leading public affairs and engagement with government, industry and community stakeholders.

Jackie is Chair of the CBI North Wales Committee and a member of CBI Wales Council, contributing to discussions on economic growth, industrial policy, skills and investment. Her interests include education, sustainability and increasing opportunities for young people in industry.

Sasha Wynn Davies runs a stakeholder and community engagement consultancy, mainly supporting host communities and developers in nuclear and low-carbon energy. She has 30 years’ experience in socio-economic development, regeneration, engagement and communications across economic development, nuclear and wider energy sectors.

Her current projects cover nuclear and regeneration in Cumbria and North Wales, where GBE-N and Rolls-Royce SMR will build the first-of-a-kind power station or stations at Gwyndod (Wylfa), Anglesey. As Visiting Professor at the University of Manchester’s Dalton Nuclear Institute, she focuses on nuclear-enabled regeneration and social value.

Her public and private sector roles include Head of Strategic Development (Wales) for the former Horizon Hitachi Wylfa project and work at the Nuclear Innovation Research Office (NIRO), advising the UK Government on stakeholder engagement and nuclear development’s people aspects. She was founding Programme Director of Anglesey Energy Island and Director of Economy and Place at Conwy County Borough Council.

Sasha chairs Adra, a leading North Wales housing association, is a Nuclear Institute Board Trustee and President of Wales Nuclear, and recently joined the Ambition North Wales Business Advisory Board.

Outside work, she enjoys family life on Anglesey, sailing, Welsh football and rugby, and family campervan trips.

Claire Hinchcliffe is Project Facilitator at Net World Sports, supporting major projects and the company’s continued growth.

Claire previously founded and successfully exited her own business, gaining experience in entrepreneurship and business development.

She brings a creative and determined approach, with interests in business growth, innovation, supporting the younger generation and sustainability.

Edward Hunt is a senior programme director and client partner with extensive experience in major broadband infrastructure and healthcare transformation programmes.

At BT and Openreach, he has led regulated investments worth more than £350 million, extending high-speed broadband to over one million homes and businesses across Wales and South-West England.

His healthcare experience includes directing the early development of Cardiff’s £2.3 billion acute hospital transformation programme and helping to deliver the 1,500-bed Principality Stadium field hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Edward also contributes expertise in AI, cyber and ICT as an Independent Member of the Audit & Risk Committee at UWC Atlantic, an international sixth-form college in South Wales.

Professor Reynolds is Managing Director of Reynolds Geo-Solutions Ltd, a specialist geoscience consultancy. He has more than four decades of experience in the domestic and international renewable energy and environmental sectors, particularly offshore wind farms and terrestrial hydropower developments.

John is also Chair of North Wales Tidal Energy & Coastal Protection Co (NWTE), which is seeking to develop a 2.5 GW tidal lagoon project along the North Wales coast.

His advisory experience includes past and ongoing work as a Senior Technical Adviser on Disaster Risk Management for the World Bank, supporting hydropower development projects predominantly in Nepal and Bhutan.

John previously served as a member of the Ambition North Wales Business Delivery Board.