David Sigsworth

David Sigsworth OBE FRSE (born July 1946, British) is a career energy-industry executive whose working life spans more than six decades, beginning with an engineering apprenticeship in Yorkshire and rising to the main board of one of the UK's largest utilities. He joined Scottish Hydro-Electric plc as Commercial Director in January 1995 and went on to hold a succession of board roles at Scottish and Southern Energy plc (SSE), including Energy Trading Director (1998), Energy Supply Director (April 2000), and Generation Director (2002–2005). In those roles he pioneered new approaches to energy trading, helped build the group's gas and combined-heat-and-power (CHP) generation, managed a generation fleet of more than 10,000 MW, and oversaw a roughly £1 billion programme of investment in renewable generation, including early demonstration of deep-water offshore wind.

Beyond SSE, Sigsworth has held a range of public and regulatory leadership positions in Scotland. He chaired the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), led the Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum, and sat on the government's Strategic Working Group that shaped fuel-poverty legislation. He was awarded an OBE in 2016 for services to the environment and sustainable futures and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE). He is also an Honorary Professor in the School of Science and Engineering at the University of Dundee.

In the corporate arena, Sigsworth served as Chairman of Edinburgh-based Sigma Capital Group plc, a specialist in the private-rented sector (PRS) that built and managed large-scale rental housing and helped establish The PRS REIT. He stepped down as Chairman in May 2020 and continued as Senior Independent Non-Executive Director; Sigma Capital was subsequently acquired by PineBridge Investments in 2021. Company filings show he has held roughly 49 UK directorships over his career, concentrated in the energy, sustainability, and technology sectors.

More recently, Sigsworth has focused on backing and governing early-stage clean-energy companies. Since 2019 he has been Chair of Exergy3 Limited, a spin-out commercialising ultra-high-temperature heat-storage technology, and he serves as an Advisor to Continuum Industries. He is described as actively promoting start-up companies developing clean-energy and energy-efficiency technologies.

• Backs and governs early-stage clean-energy and decarbonisation ventures, frequently university/research spin-outs, drawing on deep operating experience in generation, trading, and renewables.
• Sector conviction sits in thermal/heat storage, offshore wind and renewables, energy efficiency, and sustainability, mirroring his SSE and SEPA background.
• Prefers a hands-on board role (chair, senior independent director, advisor) rather than passive cheque-writing — value comes as much from governance, regulatory insight, and industry networks as from capital.
• Rooted in Scotland/UK, with a track record of helping technologies move from demonstration to commercial deployment (e.g., early deep-water offshore wind at SSE).