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Ian Marchant will step down as chair of Thames Water after two terms, the company has announced.
Marchant, who joined in 2018 guided the company through difficult transition years, including acting as executive chair following the abrupt departure of chief executive Steve Robertson in 2019. He was appointed interim executive until Sarah Bentley joined as chief executive in 2020.
Marchant was appointed in January 2018 to undertake a review of the business and its governance, which included adding more independent directors to the board.
Prior to Marchant joining, the company had been issued ultimatums from Ofwat on transparency, board structure and proactive customer engagement.
After Thames’ former owner, Australian investment bank Macquarie, sold its last shares, Marchant scrapped shareholder dividends to pump much-needed investment into infrastructure. He also deferred executive bonuses to get performance back on track and linked remuneration as such.
Under him the organisation closed its offshore financing company and holding company in the Cayman Islands and began its eight-year turnaround.
Marchant will step down following the company’s full year results in July.
Bentley told Utility Week she anticipates new board members will be added under the next chair to challenge and support the management team.
She said of Marchant’s time: “He’s put in a massive shift. Being a chair of a turnaround is huge, and having to step in as chief executive is not something that any chairman expects to do when they take on the role.
“He’s been amazing at helping me come in, being supportive but constructively challenging in terms of building the turnaround.”
She said the search was on for his replacement to continue to drive progress on the company’s turnaround plan.
Prior to Thames, Marchant was chief executive of SSE until 2013. He has held non-executive roles at Infinis, Linknode, Nova Innovation, and hydrogen technology firm Logan Energy.
He is currently non-executive director at Aggreko as well as director of start-up investment and advisory group Dunelm Energy. Marchant is also president of the Royal Zoological Society Scotland and founded a climate justice campaign for Malawi.
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