Electricity North West has announced the appointment of Ian Smyth as Chief Executive Officer.
Joining from UKPN, the south east’s DNO, Smyth succeeds Peter Emery, who announced earlier this month that he wished to step down.
Smyth, a 25 year veteran of power, gas and water utilities in the UK and overseas, will take up the post later this year. Emery will remain in post until the transition is completed.
He currently leads UK Power Networks Services, UKPN’s commercial division. It provides infrastructure services to Britain’s biggest organisations, working with grid-edge technologies in the last mile of power infrastructure.
Before UKPN, Smyth was Navigant’s EMEA managing director, and a consultant with Ernst & Young. He holds degrees in philosophy, psychology, statistics and artificial intelligence.
ENW chair Alistair Buchanan said of the appointment: “The board believes that Ian is a great fit for Electricity North West and is well qualified to lead the business into ED2, its next business plan phase, leading and facilitating the switch of the North West to a low carbon economy in an efficient and cost effective manner.
Praising Emery’s achievements, Buchanan credited the departing boss for improving safety, reliability, customer satisfaction and efficiency at ENW.
He hailed Emery’s tenure as “evidenced in the successful CLASS and Smart Street technologies, and reflected in its ED2 business plan submission, which builds upon the company’s commitment to stakeholder engagement”.
Sion Jones, chief operating officer of Equitix, ENW’s lead shareholder, welcomed Smyth to the DNO.
“With Ian’s leadership the company will continue to strive to improve its performance and provide the best possible service to our customers and stakeholders in the North West and ensure we continue to provide the highest standards of reliability and safety,” Jones commented.
