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Michelle Ashford

Michelle Ashford

Director , Blue Thread Advisory
United Kingdom
Michelle is an experienced water sector professional and engineer with over 30 years’ experience in economic regulation, strategic planning, and infrastructure governance. She brings a unique combination of operational insight, public value focus, and cross-sector collaboration to her work. As a Partner at AliumBlue and Founder of Blue Thread Advisory, Michelle supports organisations navigating complex regulatory and policy environments, helping them embed ethical governance, stakeholder trust, and purposeful leadership in decision-making. She is passionate about resilience, adaptation, and enabling the water sector to play its full part in tackling the challenges of climate change. Michelle has held senior roles across the UK water sector, including Chief Operating Officer at the Water Industry Commission for Scotland. She has served as a co-opted member of the Audit and Risk Committee for the Scottish Land Commission and chaired the advisory group for A Freshwater Future. A strong advocate for good governance and ethical leadership, she focuses on building trust and integrity within regulatory and infrastructure systems. Michelle is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Programme and holds the Financial Times Non-Executive Director Diploma.

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