Kate Ellis
Biography
Kate Ellis became Chair of the Oil and Pipelines Agency in June 2021.
Until her retirement at the end of 2021, Kate was the Group Chief Commercial and Business Development Officer at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), where she oversaw the procurement, contract management and revenue generation activities associated with the safe and efficient clean-up of the UK’s civil nuclear legacy. Kate also chaired the Board of Nuclear Transport Solutions, a subsidiary of the NDA which provides rail and seaborne transportation of nuclear materials for government and commercial customers in the UK and overseas.
Kate started her career in the private sector as an engineer at Jaguar Cars then spent 22 years at BP where she held senior commercial roles in a variety of businesses including international gas pipelines, crude oil trading, petrochemicals and shipping. She joined the public sector in 2015, initially as commercial director of Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service at the Ministry of Justice, before she joined the NDA 2 years later.
Kate has also sat on the Boards of a Richmond charity (RPLC), Birmingham Business School and the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, London.
Chair, The Oil and Pipelines Agency
The Chair leads The Oil and Pipelines Agency (OPA) Board. The Board’s role is to support and challenge the OPA executive in the development of business strategies, plans, business cases and targets, and to monitor OPA’s business performance against the approved corporate plan.