Ralph Cohen is a Chartered Accountant. After 10 years at Ernst & Young in audit and specialist corporate departments, he spent 20 years in the energy division of the Paris-based Vivendi Universal group. During this time, he was the Finance Director of their UK energy services subsidiary through its flotation on the London Stock Exchange and latterly was the Managing Director of its joint venture with Electricité de France, providing commercial management of EdF’s electricity exports to the UK over the 2000MW sub-sea interconnector. During the last 3 years, he has headed his own consultancy practice, specialising in M&A work in energy and in support services in the not-for-profit sector.