Senior reshuffle at National Grid

Phil Swift is to step down as president of National Grid Electricity Distribution at the end of March after more than 30 years working for the distribution network operator.

He will be replaced by Cordi O’Hara, the current president of National Grid’s non-regulated business arm National Grid Ventures, who will take up the role on the first day of the RIIO ED2 price controls on 1 April.

Swift joined the company, which was then known as SWEB Energy, in 1992. He initially served as distribution team manager in Plymouth before taking on a series of further senior management roles.

After being appointed as operations director in 2013 for what had by then become Western Power Distribution (WPD), Swift led the development of the firm’s business plan for the RIIO ED1 price controls running from 2015 to 2023.

In November 2018, Swift was appointed as chief executive of WPD, which was acquired by National Grid in June 2021 and subsequently rebranded to National Grid Electricity Distribution.

Ben Wilson, chief strategy and external affairs officer for National Grid, will replace Cordi O’Hara as president of National Grid Ventures on an interim basis whilst also retaining his current group executive role.

National Grid has also announced the appointment of Carl Trowell to lead a new business unit tasked with delivering the company’s 17 major onshore transmission networks projects, which Ofgem confirmed in December would be covered by a new Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment regulatory framework.

The framework is being introduced to ensure the projects are all completed by 2030 to support the government’s target to deploying 50GW of offshore wind by the end of the current decade.

Once constructed, the projects will be operated by the existing electricity transmission unit, which will continue to be led by Alice Delahunty.

Trowell is coming to National Grid from the marine energy and infrastructure services company Acteon Group where he is chief executive. He spent the majority of his career working for the offshore oil drilling companies, fulfilling a number of roles at Schlumberger, before being joining Ensco (now Volaris) as chief executive.

Commenting on the various appointments, National Grid Group chief executive John Pettigrew, said: “These changes will further strengthen our existing operating model and underscore our commitment to help the government realise its net zero ambitions, as we continue to deliver on our vision to be at the heart of a clean, fair and affordable energy future.

“I’d like to thank Phil Swift for everything he has done to lead electricity distribution through its initial integration into National Grid, and am delighted to welcome Carl Trowell to the business at such an important time in the energy transition.”

Graeme Cooper, head of future markets at National Grid, is also leaving the company to become global solutions director at the engineering consultancy Jacobs.