Exploring personal, organisational and climate resilience to unlock growth, adaptability and long-term success

Resilience is a topic that has increasingly come to the fore whether climatic, national, organisational, personal, energy, defence, security etc. It opens up a number of very important discussion topics both at an applied and research level.

This conference will be hosted by the University of Exeter in their Business School.

Over the coming weeks we will build a very full agenda with the University as we explore those resilience topics.

Conference Details:

Date: Friday 30th October 2026

Time: 09:00 - 14:00 (registration from 08:30)

Venue: University of Exeter Business School, Henderson Lecture Theatre

Logistics: Details of car park locations can be found at the link below:

Car park locations | Car parking | University of Exeter

Agenda:

08:30 - 09:00: Arrivals – Teas and Coffees

09:00 - 09:05: Welcome and housekeeping, Paul Coles, SWBC

09:05 - 09:10: Welcome to the University of Exeter, Chris Evans, University of Exeter

09:10 - 09:20: Steve Race, MP for Exeter

09:20 - 09:40: Clair Mills, Bank of England

09:40 - 10:00: Speaker session - TBC

10:00 - 10:20: Speaker session - TBC

10:20 - 10:40: Nicky Cunningham, University of Exeter

10:40 - 1100: Panel session

11:00 - 11:20: Tea Break/networking

11:20 - 11:35: Ryan Barrett, Network Rail

11:35 - 11:50: Tom Byrne, National Grid Electricity Distribution

11:50 - 12:05: Alan Burrows, Pennon Group

12:05 - 12:25: Panel session

12:25 - 12:50: Speaker session - TBC

12:50 - 13:00: Close and conference summary, Claire Pearce, SWBC

13:00 - 14:15: Networking Lunch

The final line-up of speakers will be announced shortly.

Refund Policy:

Refunds will be allowed up to 14 days before the event.

Our conference is kindly sponsored by National Grid Energy Distribution

Jacob Wallace, National Grid Energy Distribution, commented:

“We’re delighted to sponsor this conference and work alongside SWBC and other partners across the South West to strengthen regional energy resilience. A resilient and flexible electricity network provides the essential infrastructure needed for the region to thrive, underpinning energy security and enabling long-term economic growth.”

Keynote Speaker: Clair Mills, Executive Director, Banking & Payments, Bank of England

Clair Mills is Executive Director for Banking and Payments Operations at the Bank of England. She is responsible for several divisions across Banking Services, Payments Operations, and Strategic Change and Operations (SCO).

This is a diverse operational area, which includes the Bank’s back and middle office functions, the gold vaults and notes counters, the real-time gross settlement system and CHAPS – the UK’s high-value payment system. She also oversees payments change delivery, as well as the wider change portfolio, COO and operational resilience and risk functions for the Markets, Banking, Payments and Resolution deputy governorship.

Clair began her career in retail banking before moving into operational and technological change management and consultancy. She has more than 20 years of board-level experience in financial services and has led major strategic and technological transformations across several organisations. In 2011, she joined the Financial Services Authority to lead the Twin Peaks transition to the PRA/FCA regulatory model, becoming Chief Operating Officer at the PRA in 2018. She has also been our Director for Banking, Change and Operations.

Clair is co-executive sponsor of the Bank’s Age Network and a trustee of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments and the Addington Fund, a farming charity.

She is a frequent keynote speaker on central banking operations, fintech, and the role of central banks in a transforming digital world.

Speaker: Nicky Cunningham, Senior Lecturer, University of Exeter Business School

Nicky Cunningham is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Exeter Business School and a specialist in resilience, systems thinking and professional education. She works with organisations including Arup, Lloyds Banking Group and the Ministry of Defence to design and deliver executive education programmes that help leaders navigate complexity, uncertainty and change.

Before joining academia, Nicky spent more than 20 years in the water and environment sector, holding senior roles in environmental planning, regulation and policy. This combination of practical leadership experience and academic expertise enables her to bridge theory and practice, helping organisations translate emerging ideas into meaningful action and meet the challenges posed by an increasingly unpredictable world.

At Exeter, Nicky teaches sustainability, resilience and systems thinking. Her current PhD research explores governance as a pathway to water security, drawing on systems thinking approaches to understand complex social and environmental challenges. She is passionate about equipping leaders with the tools and mindsets

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