The SwiftComply story begins in Dublin in 2016, though our roots stretch back to 2008. At this time, Michael O’Dwyer was working as an engineer at Dublin City Council, where he developed Europe’s first fat, oil and grease regulatory programme to solve Dublin’s growing problems with excessive build-up of FOG.

Mick witnessed first-hand how the outdated regulatory processes and fragmented relationships between restaurant owners and regulators hindered virtually all clean-up efforts.

After achieving a staggering 90% reduction in FOG blockages in Dublin, Mick set about creating a tool that would revolutionise how cities around the globe collaborate with the food service industry to solve this problem.

Lila is responsible for British Water’s strategic direction. Lila was formerly responsible for the delivery of British Water’s international services leading scoping and business development visits to a wide range of markets including Saudi Arabia, Libya, Morocco, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, China and India to help companies grow their business overseas.

Lila has more than 20 years of experience driving business growth, policy development and stakeholder engagement in a variety of industry sectors. Lila sits on a number of working groups and is a member of the International Water Association UK committee.

Ian joined Southern Water as CEO in January 2017 and was appointed to the Board from 1 February.

Ian has more than 30 years of global water and environmental experience and a significant record of achievement operating in both publicly quoted FTSE 100/250 companies and privately held enterprises.

Ian holds an honours degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering and is a Chartered Member of the ICE, CIWEM. Throughout his career he has managed major utility, construction and consulting businesses in the UK, Belgium, India and the USA. He has enhanced this practical experience with professional executive education, most notably at Harvard Business School. He has extensive experience in the UK regulated utility, construction and environmental services sectors, holding board positions across a broad range of commercial and statutory organisations.

In his previous role he served as an executive director of the Pennon Group plc and chief executive of its subsidiary company, Viridor, one of the largest renewable energy and recycling companies in the UK.

In a non-executive capacity, he served as an independently appointed member of Greater Manchester Authorities Low Carbon Hub Board and Scottish Government’s 2020 Climate Change Board. He currently chairs the Greater Brighton Infrastructure Panel. He has also provided expert input to Government Review Groups and Industry Partnerships with particular emphasis on the UK skills agenda and development of future smarter regulation and environmental policy.

Frederico Fernandes is, since 2015, the CEO of the municipal company responsible for the management of urban water cycle in the city of Porto: Águas do Porto. His main corporate functions include strategic planning, project sponsoring, performance indicators monitoring, IT and innovation management, global budgeting and finance oversee, and institutional relationships.

Previously, between 2014 and 2015, he was member of the Executive Board of this company. Prior to that, he worked in construction and retail companies.

Regarding academic qualifications, Frederico Fernandes obtained a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Porto Business School, and has a master`s degree in Civil Engineering in Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto.

After finding her way into the industry several years ago, Laura has developed a passion for all things water.

Starting in drinking water, she has experienced the extent of regulation required to drive an efficient water sector and the affects water misuse can impose on human and environmental health.

Joining SwiftComply in 2019 to lead the UK business, Laura has come full circle with the challenges the industry faces. She is an advocate for positive change, alongside a keen supporter of women in water.

Tom Curran is a lecturer in UCD School of Biosystems and Food Engineering at University College Dublin. He was a Fulbright Scholar (TechImpact Award 2017-18) at North Carolina State University to develop an advance warning system for sewer blockages.

He leads the EU Horizon 2020 AgroCycle waste project with 26 partners across Europe and China. He contributes to media articles about fatbergs.

Andrea’s career spans over 20 years in the water industry, during which time she has worked in blue chip consultancies, start-up and growth businesses.

She joined Thames Water in September 2018 to lead the Research, Development and Innovation team.

Prior to joining Thames Water, Andrea was the Managing Director, Europe for Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies, a leader in the field of nutrient recycling. Earlier in her career she launched an innovation programme in the UK water industry that supported technology commercialisation for over 50 start-up businesses and attracted over £20m venture investment to the sector.

Steve has worked since February 2013 for Southern Water as a Network Protection and Enforcement Officer.

One of his primary responsibilities is the FOG & Unflushables Project, where he works as enforcement for the Trade Effluent Department, Tankering, and 3rd Party Recovery.

Steve’s role is to investigate sewer misuse and abuse from both Traders and Food Service Establishments as well as assisting in the investigation of sewer blockages, internal and external flooding, pollutions, and illegal connections. Steve has made contact with major National and International Food Service Establishments to deal with the issue of FOG at a higher level, ensuring a consistent approach across those companies.

With a professional background in the catering, waste and technology industry, Lily has a heart for innovation and sustainable entrepreneurship.

At Suez she has helped governments from different levels such as local municipalities, European Commission and several ministries in Belgium to deal with waste in a responsible and sustainable way. Her ticket to Google in Dublin has opened her eyes when it comes to opportunities that comes with technology to help businesses thrive.

Today at SwiftComply she’s a firm believer that that modern environmental challenges can be tackled in an efficient and smart way. Working together with governments, allows her and the entire team to influence and educate mainstream entrepreneurs on the dangers growing below our feet.

Nikolai is a Senior Officer in ICLEI Europe’s Sustainable Resources, Climate and Resilience team, working on issues related to circular economy, climate and energy planning and bio-economy since three years. Being part of ICLEI’s European Secretariat, Nikolai works to support local governments in Europe in sustainable urban development through addressing these issues.

Prior to joining ICLEI, Nikolai worked as a Junior Researcher at the Institute of Social Ecology in Vienna working on Material Flow Analysis (MFA) and circular economy research. Nikolai began his career as an Intern at the United Nation’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), where he went on to work as a Consultant for several years.

I joined the Business School in 2017 where I am co-director of the Exeter Centre for Circular Economy. Prior to this I was based at the Bradford Management School where I has two primary roles. Firstly, Director of the University Ecoversity initiative, a whole institutional programme to embed sustainability into the research, teaching and operational performance of the University. This involved the design and build of a new £5M BREEAM outstanding Centre as a home for Ecoversity and circular economy activity. Secondly, since 2009, I led the UniversIty’s strategic partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) as a Global Pioneer for Circular Economy.

In 2014 I established the world’s first MBA in Circular economy. In parallel I created a Global on-line Masterclass – An introduction to Circular Economy for the Ellen MaCarthur Foundation CE100 and Global Partners which ran for 5 years and attracted over 1000 participants. During this time I worked closely with the EMF to translate the principles of circular economy into multiple research and educational contexts including EPSRC and Innovate UK grants, policy and industrial sector application and c-suite, postgraduate, undergraduate and civic society courses and workshops.