15 Aug 2018

Electricity North West appoints two new non-executive directors

Electricity North West has announced today two major appointments to its board. Alistair Buchanan and Susan Cooklin both join as non-executive directors to bolster the company’s board skills and experience as it focuses on supporting the region’s consumers, businesses and energy producers in meeting the emerging challenge of decarbonising their energy.

With almost three decades in the industry, including 10 years as chief executive officer at energy regulator Ofgem, Alistair brings with him a wealth of experience across banking, regulatory and senior advisory mandates, and is a recognised leader in energy policy and regulation.

As managing director of route services at Network Rail, and a career spanning 30 years, Susan is an executive leader with extensive experience in protecting customers through digital and systems security expertise. Since 2011, Susan has also enjoyed two non-executive director and one non-executive chairman roles.

Peter Emery, chief executive officer at Electricity North West, commented: “Our industry is going through unprecedented change, with smart energy grids and emerging technologies driving the evolution to a smart, flexible energy system. To ensure we, and the North West, are positioned to respond to these technical and regulatory challenges, it was vital that we strengthened our board with highly experienced and respected leaders.

“With her background in leading digital transformation, Susan will provide a high level of insight into the cyber world, ensuring Electricity North West is able to harness the power and overcome the security challenges of new and emerging technology. As a top-ranked analyst and respected industry leader, Alistair will bring significant regulatory insight to the board to ensure we can deliver an energy system fit for the future.”