NZTC Chief Executive Myrtle Dawes Honoured with OBE

Myrtle Dawes, Chief Executive of the Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC), has been appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the King’s Birthday Honours 2026, recognising her Services to Energy and Technology.

Myrtle joined NZTC in 2019 as Solution Centre Director before being announced as CEO in April 2023, taking up the role that July. A Chartered Chemical Engineer with a Masters from Imperial College, she began her career as an offshore engineer for BP three decades ago, going on to lead engineering, project management, technology and digital transformation roles across the energy sector in the UK and overseas.

The honour comes as Myrtle leads NZTC through its next chapter. Since its launch in 2016, the NZTC has helped accelerate more than 130 startups and commercialise over 70 technologies, securing over £270 million in industry funding along the way. NZTC is now evolving by shifting its emphasis from early-stage demonstration to getting proven technologies deployed at scale across real assets.

Beyond NZTC, Myrtle serves as a non-executive board member of FirstGroup and and is an advisory board member for the Association of Black and Minority Engineers. She previously served as a governor of the University of Lincoln and on the UK Board of the Institute of Chemical Engineers and a board member at the Centre for Process Innovation. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineers and an Honorary Fellow of the Association of Project Managers.