AED Board Members

Sheila’s background is in Modern Languages, curation of prehistoric artefacts in the museum environment, and Heritage Management.

She is a field officer working within the Planning, Consents and Advice Team of the Heritage Directorate in Historic Environment Scotland (the Scots equivalent of English Heritage and Cadw) and has 30 years’ experience in carrying out archaeological field survey projects, producing field reports on Scheduled Monuments of National Importance, and advising on managing land to protect the historic environment. Two main areas of recent archaeological work across Scotland have been the recording of Prehistoric rock carvings and erosion of coastal archaeology through storms and rising sea levels; climate change is visibly affecting our historic environment.

She has worked extensively alongside Forestry and Land Scotland and private commercial forestry companies, as well as SEPA, SNH (now Nature Scot), RSPB, NTS and other organisations. She has lived in Dalavich since 1988 and is a founding member of the Dalavich Improvement Group.

Peter has been resident in Dalavich since 2012. In 2016, he retired from his job as a Process Engineer for Thames Water, where he worked on the sewage side of the business and now lives full-time in Dalavich. He was heavily involved in a professional capacity improving the generation of electricity from waste materials and was actively involved in the commissioning of several Combined Heat & Power plants.

He brings a wealth of technical expertise and capability and has been a valuable member of the Design Team, most recently in Operataions where he leads the team in standard and non-routine maintenance. A Polymer Rheologist by background, he is a keen mountain and climbing enthusiast, a qualified Mountain Leader, and has a strong interest in sustainability and ecology. Peter is keen to see the Hydro generating energy and wealth for both the community and the investors.

Peter joined the Board of Directors as a Founder Member in November 2015, served as Finance Director until July 2017, was Company Secretary from 2017 to 2018, and has served as Operations Director since May 2018.

Born in Scotland in 1952, Andrew completed his education in England and took a degree in Natural Sciences at Cambridge. He then worked for 33 years in the banking industry rising to board level. His final position was as a director of Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank, where he created their Corporate Banking Division establishing a series of project finance and asset finance operations including a Renewable Energy Finance team.

Retiring in 2007, Andrew now lives in Yorkshire, where he is the treasurer of a small local conservation group. He is also active in the Scout Association with a number of roles including Treasurer of Chiltern North District in Buckinghamshire. Andrew is a keen hill walker, and he usually visits Scotland several times each year.

Andrew joined the Board of Directors in June 2017. He was appointed Finance Director in July 2017.

Sam is a local businesswoman based in Lochgilphead. She was elected to the Board in 2018 and swiftly became Company Secretary, a role she has proudly carried out ever since.

Her background is managerial and educational. She runs her own training consultancy predominantly teaching office based disciplines including Business Administration, Management and Social Media for Business. During 2020, Sam acquired a business specialising in handyman services and has one employee delivering that service throughout Mid-Argyll.

Sam brings commitment and experience in these fields to support the board in moving the programme forward. Since 2018, Sam has learned a great deal about the effective operation of Community Benefit Societies. As a shareholder, she makes considered decisions at board level that protect the interest of all shareholders, whilst balancing the needs of the community, sometimes a difficult balancing act.

Sam believes that she has acted with everyone’s best interest at heart since 2018 and would like to continue to do that until 2024 when she’s up for re-election again.

Carol moved to Dalavich in 2012 after a long career in Supply Chain Management, Business Development, and Business Consultancy. She is an experienced Project and Business Manager having managed, amongst other things, a multi-national cross-functional team implementing complex software in conjunction with building a second manufacturing plant in the highly regulated Nuclear Pharmaceutical Industry. She has led several process improvement projects; delivered change management; coached and trained people in all aspects of Supply Chain and Project Management in blue chip companies in Food & Beverage, Pharmaceutical, Heavy Industrial, and Research companies.

In addition to her work-based expertise, she is also a local business owner, served for 28 years as a volunteer Leader with the Scout Association, and has a keen interest in wildlife, ecology, and sustainability.

She joined the Hydro Project Team in 2014 and has worked tirelessly since then to make the scheme a reality. Carol says: I want my descendants to know I did my best to make a difference, I see the Hydro as an opportunity to make a positive contribution both locally and globally and besides I enjoy making things happen and I have a warped sense of fun!

Carol joined the Board of Directors in June 2017.

As a seasoned management professional with 20 plus years in project management, I offer a consistent and impressive track record of successfully completing projects on time and under budget. I also have a history of helping companies streamline processes on an ongoing basis to continually improve efficiency and effectiveness. I am confident that the skills and experience I bring to the table are a perfect match for the position at AED’s Board membership.

I have spent the majority of my career in the information technology field with extensive experience in staff training and development. I have managed well over 250 plus staff throughout my career. I possess a vast amount of knowledge about the most effective ways of guiding teams to meet ambitious project milestones and targets on time and within budget. I am process-driven and meticulous in my approach to leading teams and meeting targets.

Michael joined the Board of Directors in June 2017.

Cath is a research scientist with a chemistry degree working for a global company. She is married with 2 children and lives in Cheshire.

She is a Brownie leader and used to be a voluntary volunteer manager with responsibility for approximately 600 registered volunteers across the NW, over 25 branches of a national parent support charity but stepped down from that about 9 months ago to do more Guiding! She has always seemed to end up in the treasurer role before so it's nice that this time she hasn't because this is dealing with larger sums (which she didn't want to do).

Investing in Awesome Energy was a no-brainer for Cath. She looked at the numbers and was happy with them but more than that she wanted to put money into a green energy project and to have such a project in an area which will benefit a community that she has ties to (and that her children view as a second home) is fantastic.

Patrick moved to Argyll in 2017, after a career as a handyman in Devon.

Since moving to Argyll, Patrick has secured a role as a bus driver with a local bus company and can mostly be found doing the school runs during the week.

Patrick is an electro-mechanical engineer by trade and this knowledge, along with an insatiable curiosity to create or improve his surroundings has led him to stand for election to the board. His proximity to the project, and his circle of friends, means that he has been on the periphery of all things AED since 2017, and is looking forward to contribute to the longevity of the operational machinery.

Patrick truly believes in renewable energies. He drives a fully electric car and has installed a solar system to his property. He spends his free time researching technologies online and looking at how he can make his own property more efficient without spending the earth!

Patrick joined the board of Directors in May 2023.

David G Wilkinson MB ChB, MRCGP, FRCPsych,is now retired after 30 years as a full time NHS Consultant and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Old Age Psychiatry at Moorgreen Hospital, and University of Southampton UK.

He qualified in medicine at Birmingham University, and became an old age psychiatrist after initial training in general practice. In 1989 he founded the Memory Assessment and Research Centre (MARC) which is one of Europe’s premier clinical trials units in AD research.

Dr Wilkinson has been Principal or the Chief Investigator for more than 150 multi-centre, multi-national randomised controlled trials in all types of dementia and studies of inflammation, genetics and imaging in relation to dementia treatment outcomes. He was a clinical expert advisor for the NICE appraisal of drug treatments for dementia and on many pharmaceutical company advisory boards. He has published over a hundred journal articles and book chapters in the fields of dementia and geriatric psychiatry.

He has a keen lay interest in green energy, and a lifelong interest in bird watching, nature, the environment and since lockdown acrylic painting. His specific interest in AED came from his having had a holiday home in Dalavich for the past 14 years.