11 Nov 2026

SGN and Adura join POWERful Women Leaders’ Coalition to drive gender diversity across energy

Highlights:

Becky Lumlock and Neil McCulloch join senior energy leaders making a public commitment to accelerate gender balance across the sector.
Announcement made at POWERful Women Annual Conference 2026, bringing the sector together around inclusive leadership, AI and accelerating progress towards 2030

POWERful Women today welcomes SGN and Adura as the newest members of its Leaders’ Coalition, bringing two more major energy businesses into the senior-level drive to improve gender diversity and inclusion across the UK energy sector.

The Coalition brings together senior energy leaders from across the UK who have made a public commitment to improving gender diversity. Each member CEO/Chair signs the POWERful Women Leaders’ Coalition Charter, committing to accelerate gender balance, tackle barriers and share solutions across the sector.

Neil McCulloch, CEO of Adura, and Becky Lumlock, Chair of SGN, will join fellow Coalition members in using their collective leadership and influence to help drive progress, learn from one another and share effective approaches across the industry.

Their membership is announced today, 11 November, at the POWERful Women Annual Conference 2026 in London. Under the theme ‘The Human Edge: Leadership, AI and Inclusive Progress’, the conference is focused on the bold action, collaboration and accountability needed to secure lasting progress on gender diversity and inclusion in energy.

With four years remaining to meet POWERful Women’s ambition for women to hold at least 40% of middle management and leadership roles by 2030, the conference brings together senior leaders, DEI professionals and changemakers to explore how the sector can embed diversity, equity and inclusion at the heart of business.

“It is fantastic to welcome SGN and Adura to the POWERful Women Leaders’ Coalition. Meaningful and lasting change requires leadership from the very top, with businesses prepared not only to set ambitions but to work together, share what works and hold themselves accountable for progress.

“There is still a great deal to do to achieve a genuinely gender-balanced energy sector. Bringing Becky and Neil into the Coalition strengthens that collective commitment at an important moment, as our industry faces both enormous opportunity and significant change.

“Today’s conference is about the human edge we need to navigate that change successfully. From inclusive leadership to the opportunities and risks presented by AI, we need to make sure the energy sector of the future draws on the widest possible pool of talent and creates workplaces where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.”

Monica Collings OBE, Chair of POWERful Women

Neil McCulloch, CEO of Adura, said:

"Our support for initiatives such as POWERful Women reflects our commitment to advancing equality of opportunity across the energy sector. "By supporting the visibility, development and advancement of women, we are helping to foster a more inclusive industry, strengthen the talent pipeline and create lasting positive change for future generations."

Becky Lumlock, Chair of SGN, said:

“I’m delighted to be joining the POWERful Women Leaders’ Coalition on behalf of SGN. Gender balance doesn’t happen by accident. It needs leaders to set clear ambitions, be honest about where progress is too slow and take responsibility for closing the gap.

“Our sector is going through a once-in-a-generation transformation. Therefore, the decisions we make now about who we recruit, develop and promote – ensuring the widest possible range of talent – will shape the energy system for decades to come. “No single company can solve this alone. I’m looking forward to working with fellow Coalition members to share what’s working, learn from one another and hold ourselves to account as we push towards the 2030 ambition.”

The announcement comes as the energy sector gathers for the 12th POWERful Women Annual Conference, which this year puts inclusive leadership and AI at the centre of the conversation.

The programme includes discussions on kindness and inclusive leadership, building an inclusive AI future for energy and understanding the gender pension gap, alongside practical workshops covering the moral and commercial value of EDI, responsible AI, career confidence and male allyship around menopause.The conference also sees the launch of the POWERful Women Leaders’ Coalition Annual Report 2026, led by ENGIE’s Miya Paolucci, Chair for 2026 of the POWERful Women Leaders’ Coalition.

ENDS

Notes for editors

1. For media enquiries contact Neil Michie at [email protected] or +44 (0)20 7467 7132.

2. The POWERful Women Leaders’ Coalition Annual Report 2026 can be found here.

3. POWERful Women (PfW) is a professional initiative, based at the Energy Institute, working to achieve a gender-balanced, diverse and inclusive energy sector in the UK to meet the needs of a net zero future. Our target is for at least 40% of middle management and leadership roles to be held by women by 2030. To deliver this we work with business leaders, DEI experts, government, the regulators, aspiring women and partner organisations to accelerate change. Find out more at www.powerfulwomen.org.uk

4. The Leaders’ Coalition, formed in 2018, comprises:

Alana Kühne, SVP, Head of Europe Development, Ørsted
Alex Grant, UK Country Manager and SVP, Equinor
Anthony Nunan, Chief of Staff & Corporate Relations, Shell
Becky Lumlock, Chair, SGN
Chris O’Shea, Group CEO, Centrica plc
Dan McGrail, CEO, Great British Energy
Lloyd Duthie, CEO, Seaway7
Louise Kingham OBE, SVP Europe and Head of Country UK, bp
Martin Pibworth, CEO, SSE
Miya Paolucci, Country Chair, ENGIE Group
Neil McCulloch, CEO, Adura
Rebecca Sedler FEI, President, National Grid Ventures UK
Stuart Payne, CEO, North Sea Transition Authority
Tom Glover, UK Chair, RWE

5. More information about the Leaders’ Coalition can be found here.

6. More information about the POWERful Women conference can be found here. Energy Week 2027 can be found here.

Becky Lumlock’s biography:

7. Becky is an Operating Partner for Brookfield.

Prior to joining Brookfield in 2022, Becky spent 5 years working in the public sector and over 20 years working for FTSE 10 companies. She was a member of the Executive Committee at Network Rail and a Managing Director for one of the busiest parts of the UK rail network, managing a quarter of a billion passenger journeys a year, and worked closely with the government and the regulator. Becky gained extensive international experience during her career at BG Group Plc and Shell, living and working on four continents. She held numerous senior leadership positions, served on several joint venture Boards with host governments, delivered multiple capital delivery projects, and ran one of the UK’s major liquefied natural gas import terminals. She was CEO of Freightliner, the UK & European rail freight company, until August 2023. Becky is currently a Director on four company boards including SGN, the second largest gas distribution network in the UK, representing a 72,000km network to service approximately 6 million households, where she is Chair of the Board. Becky is also Brookfield Infrastructure’s Global Head of Health and Safety, overseeing safety for over 60 infrastructure companies across the globe.

8. Neil McCulloch’s biography: A chartered engineer with a degree in Chemical Engineering from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University, and with a Masters with Distinction in Petroleum Engineering from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. Neil is a Fellow of the Energy Institute. Before joining Adura Energy, Neil was the CEO of Spirit Energy and previously held the position of Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director for EnQuest Plc. Prior to that he served as SVP, Engineering and Production, at OMV in Vienna. For 11 years, he held asset and functional general management roles at BG Group Plc, including a ‘nation and company-building’ experience, managing daily production of around 0.5 million barrels from multiple mega projects in the Nile Delta, Egypt. Neil has held a number of external assignments. As well as recently being Co Chair of the NSTA’s UK CO2 Transportation and Storage Task Force and a member of its Energy Transition Steering Group, he has served twice as Operator Co-Chair of Offshore Energies UK, and has also Co-Chaired the Decommissioning and Repurposing Task Force (DaRT), and was a non-Executive Director of the Net Zero Technology Centre.

9. The Energy Institute (EI) is the chartered professional membership body for people who work across the world of energy. Our purpose is creating a better energy future by accelerating a just, secure, and low carbon energy transition.

We do this by attracting and developing a diverse energy workforce; convening expertise and evidence to inform energy decision making; enabling industry to make energy safer, more efficient and lower carbon.