Kerry Mashford, the Chief Executive of the National Energy Foundation has won the environment award at a women leaders award ceremony - in recognition of her leadership of the Foundation’s work improving the use of energy in buildings.

The Women Leaders MK Awards recognise women who have contributed to the growth of their own particular sector and the ongoing success of Milton Keynes.

Kerry was shortlisted in two categories: Environment and Science & Technology, and won the Environment category.

All the nominations were shortlisted by twelve judges and those shortlisted were later personally interviewed by a panel of three judges.The criteria used to choose the winners included:

• Significant achievements to date.
• Impact in the local community.
• Making a distinctive, unusual or innovative contribution to their field in Milton Keynes.

The awards were announced and presented at a black tie evening on Friday 20 November. The evening was attended by high-profile guests and local dignitaries including the Mayor of Milton Keynes,the MP for Milton Keynes South and the High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire. The guest speakers were Brigadier General Nicky Moffatt CBE (retired) and Dany Cotton, Assistant Commissioner, London Fire Brigade.

Having won the award, Kerry will now go through to the national2016 First Women Awards. The First Women programme was created in 2005 and brings together outstanding women from across all sectors. It also includes a series of high-profile events, including the Awards, Winners Lunch and Summit.

Kerry was appointedas the Chief Executive of the National Energy Foundation in December 2012. Since then, she has led the Foundation in its mission to improve the use of energy in buildings through research, development and delivery of projects for clients who share its values and through its nationally-recognised initiatives - SuperHomes, YouGen, VolDECs, Energiesprong UK and the recently launched Energy Envoys in partnership with The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

A Chartered Engineer, Kerry began her professional life as a mechanical engineer in power engineering before moving into utilities and then product and manufacturing innovation. During the 1990s, whilst with Unilever, she pioneered agile manufacturing and mass customisation before accepting a secondment to direct the UK’s Manufacturing 2020 Foresight programme. Much of her work has been national and international combining visiting academic roles with work in industrial ecology, circular economy and sustainable urban development, including being Chairman of the Manufacturing Industries Division of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and strategic adviser on sustainable cities in the Far East.

Working as a consultant to Innovate UK, Kerry led the inception and delivery of an £8million UK programme to investigate what is now known as the ‘performance gap’ between predicted and actualenergy performance of UK buildings, a role which prepared her well for her current role at the National Energy Foundation.

Kerry holds masters qualifications in Interdisciplinary Design of the Built Environment from the University of Cambridge and in Applied Mechanics from Cranfield University, and a doctorate in Design Theory and Methodology from Brunel University. She is also a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.

After receiving the award, Kerry Mashford commented:

“Winning the Environment category in the Women Leaders MK Awards is a great honour and I am delighted to receive it in recognition of the work of the National Energy Foundation and on behalf of all my colleagues and Trustees. The Foundation’s work is both national and local. We’re delighted to make a contribution to the local development of Milton Keynes and help raise its national profile.

“The Women Leaders MK Awards provides inspiration and role models for anyone (male or female) considering a career in the environment and engineering sectors, as well as offering excellent networking opportunities to enable the Foundation to work even more closely with local communities and businesses.”