Business Champion (utility partner)

This award recognises and honours an exceptional woman whose work exemplifies dedication, excellence, and impact in the utilities sector's backoffice functions.

The contenders

Gemma Whiteley

Calisen

Gemma Whiteley has delivered two of Calisen’s most transformative workplace programmes in recent years, fundamentally reshaping how more than 550 colleagues work and collaborate. While her role sits within estates management, Gemma stepped far beyond her remit to lead the consolidation and redesign of Calisen’s Wigan and Manchester offices, delivering modern, inclusive, digitally enabled workplaces on time and within budget, instigating substantial savings for Calisen. Alongside her work, she champions inclusion through EmpowerHER (Calisen’s Women’s Network), leading initiatives and supporting wellbeing and multi-faith spaces. Gemma’s leadership, commitment and impact make her an outstanding business champion.

Katherine Smith

M Group Water

Katherine Smith, head of customer & stakeholder for M Group Water Capital Delivery, is transforming how infrastructure projects engage with customers, communities, and stakeholders. Leading across civils and mains rehabilitation, she has embedded a structured, proactive approach that aligns engagement with operational delivery. Her leadership has driven measurable improvements, including significant reductions in complaints and a doubling of commendations. Katherine has integrated social value, STEM, and inclusive engagement into live projects, creating lasting community impact while strengthening client relationships. A dynamic and authentic leader, she is championing a more inclusive, customer-focused approach to delivery within the utilities sector.

Kirsty Williams

IDenteq & Landlord Tap

In just two years at IDenteq, Kirsty Williams has progressed from business analyst to product manager for consumer services, now leading the B2C development team and acting as strategic lead for Landlord Tap. She has delivered the successful migration of over one million records and driven platform growth that has more than doubled transaction volumes, generating significant cost savings for water companies. Alongside her commercial impact, Kirsty is a passionate advocate for diversity in utilities, mentoring women, leading industry engagement, and helping shape IDenteq’s diversity and inclusion strategy. She is a role model who combines performance, leadership, and purpose.

Laura Maguire

Lanes Group

Laura Maguire is a brilliant people manager, change agent, businesswoman and role model, all wrapped up in one person. Her operational energy and strategic vision are driving a learning and development programme that has grown from almost nothing to one of the biggest in the water industry in little more than two years. It’s vital for Lanes Group’s continued growth. What Laura loves just as much is giving women every opportunity to contribute to the water industry’s future success, and shine brightly, showing the way for others, as they do it.

Leanne Biddulph

Alconex

Leanne Biddulph is Alconex's invaluable asset manager and a driving force for women in the utilities sector for nearly a decade. Central to generating revenue, Leanne single-handedly secures top commercial deals for the company’s electric, gas, and water infrastructure assets, selling them to IDNOs (independent distribution network operators). Consistently going above and beyond as Alconex's subject-matter expert, Leanne single-handedly beats financial targets and sets new company records. Crucially, in the past 12 months alone, she has negotiated strategic rebate deals and secured significantly improved payment terms, robustly strengthening Alconex’s long-term financial health, all while supporting her young family.

Olga Karasavova

tem

Olga is a product manager at tem, a tech scale-up backed by Lightspeed at a £300M+ valuation. Since joining, Olga has shipped product that has fundamentally changed how tem operates: ~90% of prices now distribute automatically, ~60% of tenders are created automatically, and the e-signature flow she built — valued at £200,000 — is enabling instant contract closure for brokers across the platform. Alongside this, she led the P442 MVP (launched January 2026), enabling businesses to access Exempt Supply and reduce Non-Commodity energy costs, a first-of-its-kind product in the UK market.

Rishu Sharma

Sopra Steria

Rishu Sharma is a standout leader in the utilities sector, driving excellence in safe digging and streetworks services for major UK utility companies. As delivery manager, she leads a large, high performing team delivering critical back office operations that protect vital underground infrastructure and ensure safer, more efficient works across the UK. Her strategic vision, operational expertise and commitment to safety have transformed delivery, reducing risk, improving compliance and enhancing customer outcomes. A passionate champion for her teams and a role model for women in operations, Rishu continues to set new benchmarks for leadership and industry excellence.

Rosie Porter

Gentrack

Rosie Porter, programme manager at Gentrack, has played a central role in supporting the company’s customers through their transition to Market-wide Half Hourly Settlement (MHHS) - one of the UK’s most significant regulatory transformations. Leading a complex, multi-stakeholder programme, she has ensured customers are not only technically ready, but confident and prepared to operate in a new market environment. Known for her clarity, resilience, and ability to bring people together, Rosie has consistently driven progress in the face of evolving challenges. Her leadership has delivered measurable outcomes while empowering those around her, making her a standout business champion.

Sorahya Jenkins

M Group

Sorahya is a senior organisation development manager at M Group, a leading infrastructure services business operating across water, telecoms, transport, and energy. She’s transformed how our organisation approaches inclusion, moving from mandatory compliance to a real, lived cultural commitment. Through her leadership of the ENABLE inclusive employee network, her creation of our Respect, Inclusion & Belonging framework, and her role championing the annual employee survey and internal employee recognition awards, the Beyond Expectations Awards, Sorahya has become a genuine force for positive change. Her influence reaches every level of the business, making her an outstanding business champion for the industry.