Cordner Peacocke
Director / CTO
Internationally recognised chemical/process engineer, specialist subject expert and former CTO [4¼ years] with 35+ years’ commercial and leadership experiences in thermal conversion: bioenergy; pyrolysis, gasification and combustion. Brings deep technical insight, commercial discipline, and independent judgement to engineering SMEs seeking scale-up, de-risking, scaling TRL rapidly to TRL-9 and/or global market expansion.
Experienced in board-level decision making, technology governance, IP strategy, risk oversight (ATEX, HAZOP, Health and Safety; environmental compliance), and evaluation of large-scale energy and waste-to-energy demonstrators. Trusted advisor to governments (UK, EU, USA), investors and industry with significant experience in due diligence, proposal evaluation and capital project scrutiny.
Adds value in strategy, technical assurance, R&D governance, product development, commercial validation, and sector-specific risk management for companies operating in pyrolysis, biochar, gasification, thermal waste conversion and related cleantech fields.
NON-EXECUTIVE / BOARD & ADVISORY EXPERIENCE
Director, Conversion And Resource Evaluation Ltd. (1996–present)
Independent advisory company specialising in thermal biomass conversion and bio-energy systems. Board contributions:
• Ownership of a specialist engineering consultancy having worked in 24+ countries.
• Governance of commercial and technical delivery, multi-country contract negotiation, risk management.
• Oversight of expert technical evaluations for >65 organisations: SMEs, PLCs, universities, private individuals, institutions, international agencies and government bodies.
• IP contributor on US and UK patents (biochar, hot vapour filtration, ablative thermolysis).
• Commercialisation insight for pyrolysis and gasification technologies.
Expert Evaluator & Rapporteur, European Commission (2000–present)
DG TREN, DG Research, DG RTD
Governance relevance:
• Independent assessment of major EU-funded technology and energy proposals
• Moderator and Vice-Chair roles on evaluation panels (equivalent to senior multi-stakeholder governance)
• Robust experience in risk assessment, feasibility evaluation, compliance, financial scrutiny and project governance
Expert Advisor, Energy Technologies Institute (UK) (2012–2019)
Board-level impact:
• Advised on major thermal waste-conversion demonstrators and commercial systems.
• Contributed to selection and oversight of projects leading to a 1.5 MWe demonstrator and pathway to a 20 MWe commercial plant.
• Governance of technical risk, performance validation and investment readiness
Oversight of academic quality and doctoral research standards in advanced energy systems.
Independent Assessor to UK DTI / Technology Strategy Board (2003–2009)
Evaluation of national bio-energy R&D proposals; judgement on feasibility, value-for-money and regulatory compliance.
Independent Assessor to US Dept. of Agriculture (1998–2003)
Assessment of SME innovation proposals on biomass/waste conversion.
