Mike Chappell heads up Lloyds' European Project Finance team and has primary responsibility for leading infrastructure and utility acquisition activities. Mr Chappell led the Lloyds team supporting Cheung Kong Infrastructure’s (CKI) successful bid for EdF’s UK electricity distribution networks (Project Eclipse), the Eversholt Rail (ex HSBC) ROSCO acquisition by a group of infrastructure investors and the recent financing of the €4bn Eiffarie/APRR French toll transaction. He has over 12 years of project finance experience in sourcing and executing high profile transactions across the energy, power and infrastructure sectors in Europe and North America. He has a BSc (Hons) in Chemistry, is ACIB and ACT qualified and is an FSA Corporate Finance Representative.

Gershon Cohen is a Fund Principal of Lloyds Bank European Infrastructure Partners LP and Lloyds Bank UK Infrastructure Partners LP, green-field infrastructure funds focussed on UK & Europe, and he is also Chief Executive Officer of the Infrastructure Fund’s platform at Lloyds Bank with $1bn PPP funds under management. Mr Cohen was formerly Global Head of Project Finance at Lloyds Bank, having been previously Head of Infrastructure Finance in Bank of Scotland prior to the acquisition by Lloyds of HBOS in 2008. He has had an interesting banking career; including time spent at NatWest and Hill Samuel Bank, and has been at the forefront of the development of financial solutions for publicly procured, privately financed infrastructure projects in the UK. Mr Cohen is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, trained as a chartered accountant and has a BSc in Combined Science (maths and physics). He has also presented at and chaired numerous conferences, seminars and roundtables and has written a number of articles on PPP.

Brian Groom was appointed Financial Times’ UK Business and Employment Editor in January 2009, having spent four years as Comment and Analysis Editor. Prior to that Mr Groom was the Editor of the continental European edition for three years. Before that he was Political Editor and UK and Regional Affairs Editor. Mr Groom first joined the FT in 1978, writing on labour issues. He was part of the team that launched the European edition in 1979 and he became UK News Editor in 1985. Between 1988 and 1997 he worked on Scotland on Sunday where he was Deputy Editor until 1994 and then Editor for three years. He returned to the FT in 1997. He graduated from Balliol College, Oxford, in 1976.

Alan MacKay is the Chief Executive Officer of Hermes GPE. Hermes GPE is a specialist global private markets investor, active in private equity, private infrastructure and private debt, managing more than £4.2bn of capital for leading institutional investors and pension funds via bespoke and diversified investment portfolios. Mr MacKay joined as CEO in April 2010 when Hermes GPE was formed via a merger of the private markets operations of Hermes Fund Mangers and Gartmore. He has been an active investor and manager in private equity for almost 25 years, both as a general partner and limited partner across venture, growth and buyouts in Europe, Asia and North America. He joined the international private equity investor 3i in 1987 and was appointed to the board of 3i plc in 1993. He led the development of 3i Europe plc from 1997 to 2003 and from 2004 to 2009 was responsible for global product and sector initiatives for 3i Group plc.

Derek Potts joined John Laing plc in 2001, where he heads the Business Development division, which is responsible for all the Group's bid development activities in all sectors, both in the UK and overseas. This includes traditional PFI/PPP projects as well as strategic partnership structures such as urban regeneration schemes in the UK. Growth is targeted principally in Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific. Mr Potts is a Chartered Accountant and graduate engineer, and previously held senior positions with Jardine Matheson UK, GB Railways Group plc and Virgin Group. He is a member of the Group's Executive Committee, and a main board director. He is responsible for CR issues relating to customers and consumers.

Geoffrey Spence is currently Chief Executive of Infrastructure UK, part of HM Treasury responsible for infrastructure industries in the UK, and Senior Corporate Finance Practitioner. Previously, Mr Spence worked for 25 years in investment banking, specialising in financing the Utilities, Energy and Infrastructure industries. He has also been a long standing adviser to the UK Government. As a member of the Council of Economic Advisers, he was adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on financial stability issues and business policy and was in 2001-04 Head of PFI Policy and created the Private Finance Unit.