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This week brings news that former Ofgem chief executive Alistair Buchanan has been named as the new chair of Electricity North West (ENW) while Mike Porter is joining Northumbrian Water as chief financial officer.
Buchanan, who has been a non-executive at ENW since 2018, will take up his role in October following the departure of John Roberts, who has served as chair for six years.
As well as 10 years leading Ofgem, Buchanan’s resume includes UK chairman of power and utilities at KPMG and as an analyst he was head of research at banks in the UK and US.
ENW chief executive, Peter Emery, said: “I’m delighted to announce that Alistair is to be our new chairman and I thank John Roberts for his commitment to the role over the past six years. During John’s chairmanship, we have seen significantly improved levels of both reliability and customer service, and the launch of the organisation’s flagship ‘Leading the North West to zero carbon’ strategy.”
Emery added that Buchanan’s experience will be invaluable as the company and wider sector works towards the low carbon transition.
Buchanan said: “The pandemic has proven just how much we all depend on electricity for our schools, hospitals and to allow millions to work from home. Electricity North West plays a key role in society, in reaching net zero and in the green recovery through its investment and I want to see them go from strength to strength.”
Meanwhile, Northumbrian Water announced Mike Porter will join the company as chief financial officer following the departure of Chris Johns earlier this year.
Porter has worked as chief financial officer at engineering group NG Bailey Group since 2015 and was previously group financial controller at United Utilities where he also worked on customer retail and capital programmes during his 15 years with the company.
He said: “I’m delighted to have joined Northumbrian Water at what is an exciting time for the company. I’m looking forward to help make a real positive difference for all our stakeholders and the organisation going forward.”
Heidi Mottram, chief executive of Northumbrian, said: “Mike brings a wealth of experience to our executive leadership team, and we are really excited about working with him as we move into a new regulatory period. His appointment brings expertise that will prove invaluable as we look to deliver even better services for our customers – at a lower price.”
Chris Johns had been with Northumbrian since 2013 and moved to Yorkshire in April to fill the role previously held by chief executive Liz Barber.
Earlier this week saw a flurry of change at Pennon with a new chief executive and chair appointed following the sale of Viridor.
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