Team

Team

Benny PNG

Benny Higgins

Chairman

Benny joined Standard Life in 1983 as an actuarial student, later becoming a member of the Standard Life Group Executive Committee in 1996.  Between 1997-2005, he was the Chief Executive of Retail Banking at RBS, during which time he oversaw the successful integration of NatWest Retail Banking, one of the largest hostile takeovers ever undertaken in banking.  He became Chief Executive, Retail, HBOS in 2006 before joining Tesco Bank as Chief Executive in 2008, a position he held until February 2018.

In September 2017, the Scottish Government approached Benny to develop an implementation plan for the creation of a Scottish National Investment Bank, subsequently appointed as Strategic Adviser to the First Minister on the building of the Scottish National Investment Bank and Chairman of Scottish Government’s Advisory Group on Economic Recovery post COVID19.

Benny holds various Executive/Chairman positions, including Executive Chairman of the Buccleuch Group; Chairman of the National Galleries of Scotland; Chairman of Sistema Scotland and Chairman of Forster Chase Advisory Limited.

Benny is a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.  He holds various Honorary positions, including Honorary Professor at the University of Glasgow, Honorary Professor at Edinburgh University and Visiting Professor at Strathclyde University.

Simon has worked within the family business since leaving school, where he studied in Glasgow and Spain. 



After spending five years pursuing a career within the music industry, he traded ‘securities’ for a period of two years. He then fully committed his time to rejuvenating the family’s interest in the renewable energy sector by co-founding Hy2Go and has been instrumental in all aspects of the project, from acquiring the land, to the name and branding itself. 



Simon’s focus has been to build strategic relationships with technical advisors and Hy2Go’s target market. His objective is to have 100MW of electrolysis in operation by 2030 contributing to a zero emission solution to the UK and beyond.  

TEAM.1

Simon Coakley

Managing Director

TEAM.1

Simon Coakley

Managing Director

Simon has worked within the family business since leaving school, where he studied in Glasgow and Spain. 



After spending five years pursuing a career within the music industry, he traded ‘securities’ for a period of two years. He then fully committed his time to rejuvenating the family’s interest in the renewable energy sector by co-founding Hy2Go and has been instrumental in all aspects of the project, from acquiring the land, to the name and branding itself. 



Simon’s focus has been to build strategic relationships with technical advisors and Hy2Go’s target market. His objective is to have 100MW of electrolysis in operation by 2030 contributing to a zero emission solution to the UK and beyond.