Our Customer Challenge Group

Sukhvinder is Chair in Common (designate) of Kingston NHS Foundation Trust and Hounslow and Richmond NHS Trust.  She is also Chair of Regeneration at the London Legacy Development Corporation and a Board Member of the Government's Regulator of Social Housing.  Previously,  Sukhvinder was CEO of the Barrow Cadbury Trust and of the Runnymede Trust promoting equality, diversity and social inclusion. She has a track record of supporting and working with a range of local charities serving those living in disadvantaged areas. 

Sukhvinder is a community champion determined to advocate for all consumers and particularly those at greatest risk of vulnerability. In her previous roles at EnergyWatch and the Government watchdog Consumer Futures, Sukhvinder secured stronger performance from utilities on behalf of their customers. Sukhvinder led on regulatory policies for marginalised groups at the Cabinet Office Better Regulation Executive. She is knowledgeable about the water and waste industry having served two terms on the Board of Severn Trent Water. 

Catherine is currently the Consumer Council for Water's (CCW) Head of Company Engagement for the South of England. She works with a number of companies, putting consumers at the heart of business decisions, fulfilling CCW’s mission to ensuring people are well-informed, treated fairly and have confidence in their water services. 
 
Catherine joined CCW’s consumer relations team in 2008, working to resolve individual cases and improve complaint outcomes. She has worked on projects including the introduction of adjudication, sharing best practice across a range of consumer priority issues and improving the end to end customer journey.

Appointed: January 2022

Charlotte is a leading expert in behavioural economics and joins Thames Water Customer Challenge Group with over 15 years experience in customer behaviour. Charlotte is a Partner at London Economics, a consulting firm providing economic advice to the private and public sector internationally. Before moving to the UK, Charlotte was an advisor to the Victorian Government in Australia where she worked on water and land protection.

"As a behavioural economist I understand we are all unique and as water customers we all play an important role in the protection of our water, land and biodiversity’. I look forward to working with Thames as a voice of the customer and to challenge and grow Thames Water’s listening and engagement with water customers."

Appointed: January 2022

David is a journalist and former public services editor of The Guardian, where he won a number of awards for his writing on social policy issues. He advises on strategic communications and is a regular conference chair and speaker. He has been a board member of national charities, social enterprises and housing associations for almost 30 years and currently chairs Ambient Support, which provides services across England for older people and those with learning disabilities and mental health issues. The welfare of people at risk of exclusion continues to be his overriding concern.

Appointed: January 2022

Pete Daw is a specialist in urban and environmental policy and is currently Head of Climate Change with responsibility for London’s climate change mitigation and adaptation policy and programmes. Previously Pete worked for Siemens as Director of Urban Development and Environment at the Global Centre for Cities where he worked with cities globally to help them understand the role technology can play in tackling their challenges. He worked extensively on Siemens smart city approach in China, India, Italy and Saudi Arabia. He also headed the Siemens partnership with C40 cities where he has produced thought leadership pieces on topics ranging from connected and autonomous vehicles to climate financing. He also developed Johannesburg’s first ever greenhouse gas inventory as part of Siemens work with C40 cities. Previously Pete worked in London government for 12 years at the GLA and the London Development Agency on climate mitigation, energy, air quality and waste programmes.

Appointed: January 2022

Sarah has worked for the Environment Agency and its predecessors for over thirty years. In that time she has fulfilled a number of roles relating to regulation and enforcement, environmental planning, policy and customer engagement. Based in Reading, she has worked at local, regional and national level interacting with businesses, NGOs and other stakeholder groups. She served as the Water Industry Planning Manager during PR14 and PR19, working with Thames Water and Southern Water in the development of their business plans.

She led the Environment Agency’s input to the recent WINEP taskforce alongside Defra and Ofwat. Until recently she led the Environment Agency’s approach to chalk streams, before taking up the role of Water Company Account Manager in October 2021. She takes a lead on matters relating to Thames Water, Southern Water and Anglian Water.