Happy young talent day*!

Anglian Water took on a fantastic cohort of graduates in 2019 but I am of course biased, I ‘mentored’ one of them.

Craig Hopkinson received the short straw in the mentor ballot, and it became quickly apparent that on the surface at least, we had very little in common. He loves antiques and has a passion for cars and I wouldn’t know a dynasty vase from a dodge dynasty.

I didn’t have the chance to join a company on a graduate scheme but for a young adult, I can imagine it must be fairly daunting. You get a great view of an organisation but have to move from post to post after only just settling in. Then like many other new starters, he got thrust into the big bad world of Covid and quickly had to adapt to virtually moving from post to post. An even tougher challenge. But not for Craig.

He has now moved away from the graduate programme and is in the permanent position of Sustainability Manager for the Strategic Pipeline Alliance (SPA). Amongst his many accolades, he has certainly ‘passed it on’ in terms of heroing young talent and led the organisation on its Kickstarter programme. He has also contributed towards key parts of Anglians Water Resources Management Plan, their involvement with Project 13 and COP26. He doesn’t shy away from a challenge or to challenge, situations and people alike, and I think that’s the reason behind a lot of his success.

Craig has a way of making everything relatable. Recently for a COP26 blog he said ‘As a person who has a speech stammer, I was taught in therapy to create a toolkit of speech techniques to prepare for a variety of situations, from ordering a cup of coffee to delivering a presentation. The same logic can be applied for climate resilience, we need a wide range of solutions to best prepare for the uncertain future ahead. SPA may be just one element in Anglian Water’s resilience toolkit, but it will play a key part and I am proud of the role I am playing’.  Again, I am biased but I can’t imagine many people coming up with anything half as profound when they were his age. 

Yesterday, whilst eating my lunch I got to be proud of him all over again. He put himself out there and got to live his bucket list nerdy fantasy of appearing on Bargain Hunt. He came second (out of two).

So, in summary, Craig is going places. Sure, it isn’t to the winners podium of Bargain Hunt but no one’s perfect. Water sector and beyond watch out, he’s certainly deliberately delivering differently.

*This day does not exist, but national nerd day seemed too harsh.