Louise initially joinedNorthumbrian Water Groupin 2006 to lead its sustainability strategy as Head of Corporate Responsibility, and was appointed to her current role of Director of Corporate Affairs in July 2012. Louise has responsibility for public relations and media, public affairs, internal communications and corporate partnerships, including community and sustainability programmes.
During the past eight years, Louise has driven Northumbrian Water’s approach to sustainability, the success of which has been recognised by; Business in the Community’s (BITC) Corporate Responsibility Index, where NWG has scored among the top UK companies since 2009; the achievement of the Queen’s Award for Sustainability in 2009 and in 2014; and being named as the only water utility on the Ethisphere Global list of most ethical companies for the past four years.
Prior to this she was Head of Business Development at BITC, working in the north east, where she supported FTSE 250 companies to develop their corporate responsibility strategies and community engagement activity. Following her work on the development of BITC’s Corporate Responsibility Index and her ground breaking work on business-school partnerships, Louise was promoted to North East Regional Director of BITC before leaving to join Northumbrian Water Group.
Louise, who was born in Blyth, Northumberland, started her career as a trainee Chartered Accountant with KPMG in Edinburgh, after studying economics and finance at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. While specialising in financial sector audit and pensions investigations, Louise developed an interest in community financing and volunteered at a local homelessness support centre, providing financial and benefits advice to homeless people.
Louise has continued to be active in her community as a Director at Castle View Enterprise Academy, the Northumbrian Water Group sponsored academy school in Sunderland. Louise participates on the steering groups of many regional charities and cultural projects including the Business Durham Education Group, Lumiere Development Group, St Oswald’s Hospice Fundraising Committee, Percy Hedley Fundraising Committee and Chair of the Business Group for the North East Cultural Partnership.
Louise also takes an active interest in regional business affairs and is a Director of Newcastle Gateshead Initiative, a council member of North East Chamber of Commerce (also Chairing NECC Partners lunches and supporting the NECC Women’s Forum), and a member of Business in the Community’s North East Leadership group. Most recently Louise has become a Director of social enterprise Impeller, which aims to improve performance and safety for people and places across the globe.