Kristen joined Crown Commercial Service (CCS) in 2013 and has worked in various roles across the business over the past 10 years including project management, commercial strategy of £bn frameworks and business development.

Kristen recently followed her passion for the environment and took on the position of Head of Sustainability, working to decarbonise the £30bn annual spend through CCS. Kristen works closely with public sector buyers, suppliers and industry bodies to help accelerate the journey towards achieving CNZ by 2050 at the latest.
Kristen is MCIP-qualified.

Guy Battle of the Social Value Portal will present on:

o Why is it important to embed social value into infrastructure projects?
o How to develop a winning Social Value Strategy
o The impact of the Procurement Act
o What does the future hold?

Issy Greenfield is the Social Value and Legacy Manager at EKFB, overseeing social value initiatives on HS2. She is a dedicated advocate for social value and legacy management, leveraging her expertise to make a meaningful impact on communities and projects alike.

In her role, Issy collaborates closely with internal teams and external stakeholders to identify opportunities for community investment and social value. She emphasises the importance of integrating social value into commercial conversations, recognising its potential to drive business success while aligning with ethical principles.

Jon is a Chartered Ecologist and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM), and has been an ecological consultant for almost 30 years. Before that he worked at the Natural History Museum in London, researching beetle diversity in the tropics. He set up RSK Wilding (part of RSK Biocensus) in early 2020, with a primary focus upon biodiversity net gain (BNG), biodiversity offsetting and habitat restoration. Wilding works with developers, landowners and local authorities alike to ensure successful implementation of BNG whilst at the same time maximising other ‘natural capital’ benefits (such as carbon sequestration, water quality improvement, flood risk mitigation and improved public access to nature).

A strategic communicator, Caroline draws from more than two decades in the built environment and the public and private sectors. She has worked on some of the UK’s largest infrastructure projects including HS2 and Crossrail. Caroline focuses on devising powerful campaigns to engage diverse audiences and stakeholder groups and obtain consensus views. Commercially astute, she provides highly effective and intuitive bid development support, as well as brokering viable approaches for both clients and contractors.

No matter the length of the project, Caroline motivates her team to deliver best practice year in, year out. Highly resilient and adept at steering projects through sudden change, challenge and crises, she offers an insightful approach to reputation protection and promotions, Caroline is also highly skilled at resolving conflict and removing contention. As a director, Caroline has oversight and manages the delivery of existing projects while maximising our commercial performance, driving growth and new business acquisition.

Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) is a charity, learned society and membership body with 12 UK regions and a number of international groups.

CIHT represents and qualifies professionals who plan, design, build, manage and operate transport and infrastructure.

We offer routes to qualifications including Chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer and Engineering Technician, the SoRSA Certificate of Competency and Transport Planning Professional.

CIHT is the leading voice of the highways and transportation infrastructure profession. We are the prime source of advice for national and local government and other national and local government and other strategic stakeholders when they are seeking technical expertise and knowledge to guide future policy and investment.