60 seconds with… Johnathan Reynolds

Want to know more about one of our newest board members Johnathan Reynolds? We caught up with him for a quick 60-second Q&A to talk about Suffolk’s energy opportunity and how major investment can create lasting benefits for local businesses and communities.

How would you sum up your work and experience in a couple of sentences?

I’ve spent much of my career working where sustainability, energy, infrastructure and economic development come together. Today I lead Opergy, helping places and organisations turn big ambitions into deliverable strategies, investment and practical action.

What motivated you to join the Suffolk Business Board?

Suffolk has enormous potential to demonstrate what genuinely sustainable growth can look like – creating a stronger economy while responding to the challenges facing our communities, infrastructure and environment. I joined because I want to help ensure the county shapes that growth and captures the long-term benefits, rather than simply accommodating change.

Suffolk is at the heart of the UK’s energy sector – what excites you most about that opportunity?

The sheer breadth of it: nuclear, offshore wind, ports, electricity networks and emerging low-carbon technologies, all in one county. But the bigger opportunity is to use those strengths as a platform for wider sustainable growth – creating new businesses, better infrastructure, skilled careers and investment that stays in Suffolk.

What’s the biggest change you’ve seen in the energy industry during your career?

When I started, clean energy was often treated as a specialist environmental issue. It is now part of a much wider transformation in how we power our economy, move people and goods, develop places and remain competitive. The debate has shifted from whether change is needed to how we deliver it quickly, affordably and fairly.

How can we make sure local communities benefit from major investment projects?

Start early. Local businesses, colleges and communities need visibility of what is coming and a genuine role in shaping it. Jobs, skills, supply-chain opportunities and wider benefits for the places hosting these projects then need to be planned, procured and measured – not just promised.

If you could fast-forward 10 years, what would success look like for Suffolk?

Suffolk would be recognised as a prosperous, sustainable county that has built confidently on its strengths in energy, agrifood, ports, technology and the natural environment. Success would mean thriving local businesses, resilient communities, modern infrastructure and young people seeing a high-value future for themselves here.