Our Board

Simon is the co-founder of Gold●Collins, a crisis advisory business, and has a variety of chair, board and advisory roles with UK and international organisations.

He was Chairman and Senior Partner of KPMG LLP until 2017, following roles leading the Transactions and Corporate Finance businesses.  Prior to that he was an investment banker with SG Warburg and NatWest Markets.  He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse in 1986.

Simon is a non-executive director of the Royal Air Force, Chairman of the University of Manchester’s Global Leadership Board, Chairman of the Catalyst Board for Cancer Research UK and Chairman of Resilience First.

He is married to Simone and they have two adult children and live in North London.

Seth Schultz is Chief Executive of Resilience Rising. He has a long track record of building consensus and initiating change in the field of sustainable development, and of raising international awareness on the role of cities in tackling climate change.

With over 20 years of experience, Seth’s background is as a geologist and environmental scientist. Driven by the need to create change in urban sustainability he has worked with leading and innovative organizations in this space including the Louis Berger Group, the US Green Building Council, the Clinton Foundation, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, the Global Covenant of Mayors, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), where he was Co-Chair of the Scientific Steering Committee for Cities IPCC and served as a lead author on the ground breaking IPCC Special Report on 1.5 Degrees.

His recent work has focused on turning theory to practice, whether developing a global standard for Greenhouse Gas Emissions in cities, founding new organizations such as The Coalition for Urban Transitions, or a hard-hitting report on Mayoral powers and the ability and need for city leaders to become global change makers.

Seth sits on various boards and advisory councils, is a sought-after speaker and guest lecturer, and has authored numerous articles, reports, blogs and thought leadership pieces around the world. He has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from Binghamton University.

Mike Rooney was previously the Chief Operating Officer of London First (2004-2018) and was responsible for member management, commercial development and company support services. Before joining London First in 2002 as Commercial Director, he was Chairman and Chief Executive of Langdon’s Foods Plc.

He has had a wide experience of the dairy industry having worked during the 1980s and 1990s in senior management positions for Dairy Crest Foods Plc and as Household Director responsible for the doorstep delivery business. His early career was spent in marketing and advertising, working with leading advertising agencies including CDP and Inter Public as an account manager.