Meet the Team
Board of Directors
Wayne Preece
Group CEO
Wayne was one of the original founders of Hydro and is passionate about its mission. An electronics engineer, he has held senior positions in some of the world’s leading organisations including Sony, 3Com, EADS Airbus, and Thales. He was proud to showcase Hydro technology at COP26 and the Global Investment Summit in 2021, and joined the U.K. Prime Minister on a trade mission to Africa. Under his leadership, Hydro has expanded globally, opening offices in Riyadh, Cairo, Bahrain and London whilst securing backing from the Future Fund which has left the U.K. Government with a direct stake in the company.
David Pickering
Chairman
Over 30 year’s business experience nationally and internationally with high profile organisations. Most notably David held the Chairmanship of the Welsh Rugby Union for 11 years during its most successful period in terms of national team success and business performance. David has also Chaired the IRB and Six Nations and was Director of the British and Irish Lions, and was also Director of the Rugby World Cup hosted by England in 2015. David chaired the NSPCC in Wales, raising £8.5 million for this charity over an 8 year period.
Diane Briere De L'Isle
Diane is a major philanthropist who has given years of her life to supporting good causes in Wales and around the world. A law graduate from Paris V University, she qualified for the Bar in France and the USA before moving to the U.K. Diane set up the Resolve lt as a social enterprise to teach young people how to diffuse difficult situations. More recently her Moondance foundation has helped transform cancer outcomes in Wales and made significant contributions to other good causes like the NSPCC. She was awarded an OBE for her charitable work.
Guto Harri
Guto is a strategic communications adviser with experience of some of the most challenging roles in the industry. He worked for Boris Johnson when he was Mayor of London and – more recently – in his role as Prime Minister at No. 10 Downing Street. He was also hired by Rupert Murdoch to rebuild the reputation of NewsUk after the phone hacking crisis. A graduate of Oxford University, Guto spent nearly 20 years at the BBC, where he was posted to Rome and New York, presented some of its flagship shows and became its Chief Political Correspondent. Guto is a volunteer vaccinator and serves as Royal National Lifeboat Institute crew on the River Thames, London.
Henrietta Baldock
Henrietta Baldock is Chairman of European Financial Institutions at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. She has 24 years of investment banking experience (including 8 with Kleinwort Benson) and an in-depth knowledge of the financial services sector. She has worked on numerous equity capital raisings in the sector, including seven insurance IPOs. She has also had extensive experience of insurance demutualisation and M&A. Henrietta has advised on many banking deals in the UK including bank recapitalisations during the global financial crisis and she advised the Irish government on the capital and liquidity support provided to the Irish banking sector during that period. Henrietta has been included in the Financial News Top 100 Most Influential Women in European finance since 2009. She is Chairman of the Leadership Trust Foundation, a charity that’s primary purpose is to enhance and influence leadership and develop leaders in all aspects of society.
Myra Tabor
Myra Tabor is the Founder and CEO of Cognis Capital, a private equity firm with a formidable track record of investing in tech start-ups and unlocking the growth potential of more mature firms. She previously headed up the Special Investments Group at the Royal Bank of Scotland and worked for the World Bank in Africa. Myra qualified as a Chartered Accountant in Swansea and completed her MBA at the London Business School.
Senior Management
Brigadier Richard Libbey
Former Brigadier, Chief Operating Officer
Rick came to Hydro with a wealth of experience as a senior leader in the private, public and voluntary sectors. He ended a 30 year career in the British Army in the rank of Brigadier having enjoyed postings all over the world and leading soldiers on operations. Rick spent four years as the Director of The Prince’s Trust Cymru and Director for South West England, helping young people from challenging backgrounds to move into education, training or employment. He has also been Managing Director of a manufacturing business and a ‘lean’ trained consultant majoring in leading change and operational excellence. Rick has led major organisational change and managed diverse and complex projects including a major MOD change programme. Rick leads Hydro Industries worldwide projects to deliver drinking water and waste water treatment, particularly in developing countries.
Dr Mark Lawson Statham
Director, Corporate Finance
Following a Degree in Chemistry and Doctorate in Neutron Scattering from Oxford University, Mark has spent the bulk of his career investing in, advising on and building high growth technology companies. Over the 1990s he was Head of Equity Research at Robert Fleming (one of the UK’s largest fund management groups), Director of the Bank’s Middle East Sovereign Wealth Management and Corporate Finance Divisions and responsible for the British Government’s Technology Transfer Initiative into the Middle East (“Economic Offset”). In 2002 he raised the seed capital for a British technology spin-out and, after raising over £200m of additional capital, he helped to float the business on the London Stock Exchange at a valuation of $1bn (the largest pure technology listing for 5 years). His experience as a Technologist, Investment Manager, Technology Banker and Entrepreneur gives him a unique, 360 degree insight into the challenges faced in growing companies from Inception to listing on a Stock exchange.
Robert Brooks
General Legal Counsel
Qualifying as a UK solicitor in 1976, Robert has 40 years experience of international and domestic UK company and commercial legal affairs. Robert spent much of his career in private practice in London where he represented a wide variety of domestic and international companies in sectors as varied as aerospace; medical technology; mining; commodities trading; insurance; film production; and sports administration in connection with all aspects of their commercial activities worldwide. Robert has previous in-house experience having served as General Counsel for a US quoted telematics company with worldwide operations in the US; Europe; MENA and SE Asia. Robert has advised quoted companies at board level in relation to regulatory matters and other issues of corporate governance and now manages Hydro’s legal and compliance issues worldwide.
Ashleigh Vers
Procurement Director
Ashleigh is a Procurement professional, with experience working at Senior and Director level in Manufacturing, Construction and Utilities Sectors. Working for leading organisations including, Mitel, Skanska, Wales & West Utilities, Suez and Agbar. Responsible for the creation of The Western Procurement Hub which consists of five Regulated Utilities across Wales and the Southwest of England, leveraging volumes to obtain cost certainty, introducing shared logistics and carbon reduction. Represented UK business units at Suez European Procurement Council, driving standardisation across the Group in readiness for the implementation of Pan-European level contracts. At Hydro, Ashleigh is building a fully integrated strategic supply chain, with suppliers from around the globe, ensuring sustainable, ethical and cost-effective supply chain partners that complement our technology and ethos.
Ffion Evans-Jones
HR Manager
Since joining Hydro in 2013 as an Executive Assistant, Ffion has gone on to complete her Level 5 in CIPD qualification in HR Management and is now the HR Manager at Hydro, looking after all the companies HR requirements. Ffion is also on Hydro’s ISO team, reviewing and conducting internal audits when necessary, as well as being Hydro’s Mental Health First Aider as of July 2022.
