Membership
List of current board members of the Industrial Development Advisory Board (IDAB) and their biographical details.
Ben Alexander (Chair)
Ben Alexander has over 25 years of experience in the financial services sector. He was a director at Deutsche Bank in London where he was co-head of derivatives trading and subsequently a partner of Close Brothers Private Equity where he was involved in institutional fund raising and sat on the boards of a variety of UK companies.
He is currently an external member of Cambridge University finance committee, board member of early-stage businesses and a commercial advisor to Cabinet Office.
Appointed: 2 May 2024
Term ends: 1 May 2027
Catherine Colloms
Catherine Colloms has over 25 years of experience across the public and private sector, specialising in infrastructure, technology and telecoms.
Catherine has advised corporates on working in partnership with government to deliver major infrastructure and environmental, social and governance projects and brings stakeholders together to solve economic and social challenges. She advises on value creation, customer experience and service and operational delivery and has a passion for facilitating cultural change in fast-growth environments.
Catherine spent 8 years on the executive of Openreach (BT) and was also a director at Brunswick Group. Catherine is a non-executive director at Gigaclear, a rural full-fibre telecommunications company.
Appointed: 1 May 2025
Term ends: 30 April 2028
Sacira Coric
Sacira Coric is a director at Turner & Townsend, specialising in infrastructure investment strategy and capital structuring across regulated and energy transition sectors.
With over 25 years of experience in major infrastructure markets, she focuses on converting industrial strategy and net zero objectives into investable propositions capable of attracting long-term institutional capital.
Her work centres on structuring complex, policy-sensitive programmes, aligning government and investor interests, and sequencing risk allocation to enable sustainable private capital deployment at scale. Sacira has particular expertise in regulated utilities, industrial decarbonisation and first-of-a-kind transition assets.
Appointed: 23 January 2020
Reappointed: 23 January 2023
Reappointed: 25 January 2026
Term ends: 24 January 2029
Silvia Holgado Gomez
Silvia is the managing director of UK Commercial Strategy at BBVA Corporate & Investment Banking. She leads the commercial strategy framework for the UK franchise, working across sector, product, finance and risk teams to strengthen profitability, capital efficiency and cross-border collaboration. Her focus is on ensuring that client and sector strategies translate into sustainable economic outcomes aligned with long-term strategic priorities.
Previously, Silvia served as head of commercial banking at BBVA UK, where she established and developed the UK Commercial Banking franchise and led its successful integration into Corporate & Investment Banking.
With over 29 years of experience in financial services, she has held senior leadership roles across corporate and business banking in Spain and the UK, with particular expertise in capital deployment, cross-border financing and strategic client development. She holds a BA in Economics and Business and an MSc in Economics, completed the MBA Fundamentals programme at the London School of Economics, and is a certified EFPA European Investment Practitioner (EIP).
Beyond her professional role, Silvia is committed to education and mentorship. She served as a board member of the Omnia Learning Trust from 2020 to 2024, and actively mentors emerging talent through IMFAHE, the University of Westminster, and other mentoring initiatives.
Appointed: 17 April 2023
Term ends: 16 April 2026
Angenika Kunne
Angenika Kunne has over 17 years of experience in balance sheet and fund investments across infrastructure, renewable energy and energy transition. As the Head of Infrastructure Equity at Aviva Investors, Angenika is responsible for all asset origination, investment and portfolio management activities across the UK and Europe, including for its flagship Climate Transition Infrastructure Funds.
Appointed: 17 April 2023
Term ends: 16 April 2026
Viral Mehta
Viral Mehta is a partner at Oakley Capital, a pan-European private equity firm. He has over 15 years of investing experience across a variety of sectors and geographies, and 3 years of prior mergers and acquisitions experience. He currently sits on the boards of a number of software companies across Europe: Brevo, Groupe Senef and Horizons Optical.
Outside of work he is currently involved with the British Asian Trust and was formerly a trustee of 2 educational charities.
Appointed: 1 May 2025
Term ends: 30 April 2028
Mark Poulton
Mark is an independent member of council of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, renowned for its research, post-graduate studies and continuing education in public and global health. He is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee and chair of the Uganda Unit Committee.
He is also a non-executive board member serving on the Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee of the UK government Department of Science, Innovation and Technology.
Mark was a partner at Clifford Chance, an international law firm headquartered in London, for 35 years, retiring at the end of April 2023. He advised corporates across a wide range of sectors on domestic and international acquisitions and disposals, business partnerships, restructuring and governance.
During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic he was part of a team advising the UK government on securing the development and supply of COVID-19 vaccines and investment to scale up COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing capability in the UK.
Through the second half of his career, he held various management roles culminating in leadership of the firm’s Corporate Practice in London. He was a member of the firm’s Inclusion Committee and partner sponsor of Accelerate, the firm’s gender parity affinity group.
Appointed: 17 April 2023
Term ends: 16 April 2026
Andy Simpson
Andy qualified as a chartered accountant with Coopers & Lybrand (PwC) and subsequently spent more than 30 years in senior positions in the food industry, with experience across a number of quoted, family, and private equity businesses. He was Group Chief Financial Officer for 15 years at 3 of the largest privately owned businesses in East Anglia, most recently at a major UK maltings company.
Andy has significant international experience, having lived and worked in the USA, Bermuda, the Netherlands and Ireland. Andy currently volunteers as a trustee, mentor, and writer, in his local community.
Appointed: 1 May 2025
Term ends: 30 April 2028
James Wise
James is a partner at Balderton Capital, a $5 billion asset under management (AUM) venture fund where he has a specific focus on artificial intelligence (AI), productivity and energy investments. He sits as a board member and observer for multiple portfolio companies, including Sophia Genetics (Nasdaq-listed $SOPH), Depop (acquired by Etsy), Tibber and GoCardless, and has been involved in the sale of companies to Salesforce, Microsoft, Epic Games and Elastic.
Prior to joining Balderton, James helped to launch and run one of the UK’s first social venture funds, providing support and capital to social enterprises. He has worked with entrepreneurs and businesses in Europe and Africa and as a consultant with McKinsey & Company.
As well as the professional experiences above, James is an author and served in 2011 as a specialist adviser to Parliament.
Appointed: 17 April 2023
Term ends: 16 April 2026
Andrew Wright
Andrew has wide experience of non-executive roles, especially of family-owned businesses, including as chairman of AW Hainsworth, creating woollen cloth under royal warrant. He completed a 9-year stint chairing the business support committee of West Yorkshire’s combined authority, leading on manufacturing and innovation for mayor Tracy Brabin. He is currently on the board of HG&Co, which distributes bulk alcohol in the UK.
Prior to this, he spent 10 years as chief executive of a high-tech engineering business in Yorkshire making motors for space and instruments for life sciences. He also spent 9 years on Teesside, leading Johnson Matthey’s chemical catalyst business, formerly ICI’s agricultural division.
He spent 18 years working for BP Chemicals in several roles, from industrial relations in Grangemouth refinery, to leading a large textile monomer business.
Appointed: 17 April 2023
Term ends: 16 April 2026
Owen Purcell
Owen Purcell has over 25 years of experience advising boards and senior leaders across regulated and public-interest organisations on governance, risk, operational resilience, and major programme delivery, with a strong focus on assurance and value for money.
He is a board member of Innovate UK Loans and Innovate UK Business Connect, contributing to the oversight and delivery of publicly-funded innovation and supporting effective collaboration between government, industry, and academia across the UK innovation system.
Owen was previously a managing partner at Ernst & Young (EY), where he led large-scale transformation and assurance programmes across financial services, energy, utilities, and the public sector. Earlier in his career, he held senior roles in banking and capital markets.
He currently serves as Chair of UNiac and holds additional non-executive roles including trustee of the National Youth Agency, Audit and Remuneration Committee member at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, and board member of Cornish Mutual.
Appointed: 1 March 2026
Term ends: 28 February 2029