Emma Fitzgerald

Former CEO/Independent Director, Puma Energy

Role: Associate

Site: CDL-Oxford

Stream: Climate

Emma is a business leader with a passion for building great teams and bringing innovations to market to address the worlds big challenges, from combating cancer to application of smart materials to drive performance. She has a particular interest in supporting the energy transition, especially in developing markets.

She has 25 + years experience in leading businesses in the Energy & Water sector. Most recently she was CEO of Puma Energy focused on delivering affordable and sustainable energy solutions to emerging markets in Africa, Central America and Asia. Prior to this she ran gas, water and waste networks for National Grid and Severn Trent in the UK. She also spent many years running Downstream Retail, Lubricants and LPG businesses for Shell around the world. Over the last 10 years she has served on the boards of plc, privately owned and non for profit organizations in both an Executive and Non Executive Director capacity.

She is currently a Non-Executive director of UPM Kymmene, an innovative global paper & biomaterials business which uses biodegradable wood fibres and molecular bio-products to create renewable biomedical solutions and sustainable packaging and labelling, Seplat Energy plc an indigenous Nigerian Energy company playing a key role in providing affordable power and cooking solutions to customers and communities as part of the energy transition in Nigeria, Newmont Corporation, a global gold and copper mining company recognised for its ESG leadership and Graphene Manufacturing Group an Australian company developing the next generation of batteries to replace Li ion technologies.

Emma holds a DPhil in Surface Chemistry from Balliol College, Oxford University and an MBA from Manchester Business School. In her spare time her passions are photography, hill walking and mentoring technology startups. As a dyslexic herself, she also supports various organisations helping children and adults with learning difficulties to realise their full potential.