Future Leader of the Year Award Winner

We would like to congratulate Christopher Wright, Director at Agilia Infrastructure Partners who won Future Leader of the Year at the Partnerships Awards in May 2025!

We asked Chris a few questions to get to know him a little better:

• What part of your current role excites you the most and why?
  I really like the tangible nature of infrastructure. If we work hard as a collective team and the project is set up well providing confidence to stakeholders that it will deliver real benefits to society, then something lasting and meaningful will be built. The opportunity to deliver real benefits locally and nationally from big infrastructure in terms of jobs, social value, decarbonisation and energy security really resonates with me. That’s why it’s a real privilege to work on mega project’s like Sizewell C, given the sheer size and scale and the tangible benefits it will bring.
  From a leadership perspective, I now lead a sizeable team in Agilia primarily supporting Sizewell C across a range of workstreams. The thing that excites me most is leveraging the power of teams in the broadest sense, encapsulating the client and at times other advisors, to deliver something truly great. Supporting our more junior members of staff and seeing them develop to take on more responsibility and growing in confidence is also something that I really enjoy.

• Tell us about a contribution you’ve made to your workplace/ society that you’re truly proud of?
  I helped a client pull together a pretty meaty set of materials which cut across the whole project scope including potential funding models to support the current position on new nuclear’s role in the future energy mix beyond Hinkley Point C. These materials have subsequently been developed to support the Finance raising process. Seeing Government’s support for new nuclear, the growing understanding of the need for low carbon baseload as part of a diverse energy mix and supporting the Capital Raise process on Sizewell C, which will be delivered under the Regulated Asset Base (RAB) model for nuclear, is something I’m really proud of. The works that are now underway onsite and the construction phase of the project really coming to life supporting local jobs and opportunities is truly inspiring.

• Who had the biggest impact on you early in your career, and what’s something they taught you that stuck?
  One of my schoolteachers once said to me ‘be a sponge’ which has certainly been good advice for me having switched from a STEM research background into infrastructure and project finance and thus needing to learn on the job whilst leveraging crosscutting skills. In the infrastructure space, I‘ve been lucky to work with some brilliant leaders both at Agilia and in the client teams I’ve supported. It would be remiss of me not to quote our joint-CEO Amar Qureshi’s mantra that the Project Cost and Risk Envelope is the heartbeat of any major infrastructure project and something all stakeholders need to buy into. Seeing leader’s like SZC’s Joint MD Julia Pyke communicate what can be quite complex topics using simple analogies is also something I try to emulate.

• What is a piece of advice have you received that you’d never pass on or tell others? 
  In terms of bad advice (which I’ve heard given to others), I would never tell anyone to fake it till you make it. My view is that no one is expected to know everything, in fact it’s disingenuous to pretend you do. The desire to challenge yourself and learn new things is what’s important, be inquisitive. There’s nothing wrong with saying I don’t know but I’ll find out for you, otherwise you’ll end up getting caught out and people will lose trust in you.

• What are you currently reading or listening to that you’d recommend?
• I really enjoy my sports and from a leadership perspective I recently read The Captain Class by Sam Walker which tries to identify the traits behind captains of the most highly performing sports teams of all time. In terms of infrastructure related, given my STEM background I quite enjoy BBC Radio 4’s Inside Science podcast which often covers energy technologies such as Tidal, Small Modular Reactors and Battery storage as well as emerging tech. A shout out for Partnerships Bulletin as well which is great for keeping up to date for latest developments in Public Private Partnerships.