About Us
Board of Directors
The Board of Directors at the end of the year 2010/11 comprised the Chairman, three Executive Directors and three Non-executive Directors. All three Non-executive Directors are considered to be independent as none of the relationships or circumstances set out in paragraph A.3.1 of the Combined Code apply to them. They are also considered to have the appropriate skills, experience in their respective disciplines and personality to bring independent and objective judgement to the Board’s deliberations. Their biographies below demonstrate a broad range of business and financial experience. Gerard Connell is the Senior Independent Non-executive Director. His duties include the annual evaluation of the performance of the Chairman, deputising for the Chairman when necessary and being available as an additional point of contact on the Board for shareholders. Gerard is also chairman of the Audit Committee and in accordance with the Combined Code’s principles relating to audit committee membership he has recent and relevant financial experience (as recently he was group finance director of Wincanton Plc). Martin Angle is also a member of the Audit Committee and he has relevant financial experience as set out in his biography. There is a clear division of responsibilities between the roles of Chairman and the Chief Executives of South West Water and Viridor as recorded in the descriptions of the roles approved by the Board. All Directors are subject to re-election when they have held office for three years but at the 2011 Annual General Meeting, regardless of whether the Director has held office for three years, each Director will stand for re-election reflecting the new provision in the updated Code.
Kenneth George Harvey CBE, BSc
Chairman
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Nomination (Chairman)
Appointed on 1 March 1997. Ken was formerly chairman and chief executive of Norweb Plc. He was chairman of National Grid Holdings in 1995 and was previously deputy chairman of London Electricity and earlier its engineering director. He has also been chairman of a number of limited and private equity funded companies. Currently he is the senior independent non-executive director of National Grid Plc.
Christopher Loughlin BSc Hons, MICE, CEng, MBA
Chief Executive, South West Water
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Sustainability (formerly Corporate Responsibility)
Executive
Appointed on 1 August 2006. Chris was previously chief operating officer with Lloyd’s Register and earlier in his career was an executive director of British Nuclear Fuels Plc and executive chairman of Magnox Electric Plc. He was also a senior diplomat in the British Embassy, Tokyo, working in both the consulting and contracting sectors. Chris started his career as a chartered engineer and subsequently held a number of senior positions with British Nuclear Fuels. He has been chairman of Water UK since 1 April 2008 and since the yearend has been appointed a nonexecutive director of the Cornwall Local Enterprise Partnership.
Colin Irwin John Hamilton Drummond MA, MBA, LTCL, CCMI
Chief Executive, Viridor
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Sustainability (formerly Corporate Responsibility)
Executive
Appointed on 1 April 1992. Prior to joining the Company Colin was a divisional chief executive of Coats Viyella, having previously been corporate development director of Renold plc, a strategy consultant with the Boston Consulting Group and an official of the Bank of England. He is chairman of the Government’s Living with Environmental Change Business Advisory Board; of UKTI’s Environmental Sector Advisory Group; and of the Environmental Sustainability Knowledge Transfer Network. He is a senior visiting research fellow in Earth Sciences at Oxford University; and a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Water Conservators
David Jeremy Dupont MA, MBA
Group Director of Finance
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Appointed on 2 March 2002. David was formerly regulatory and finance director of South West Water Limited, having joined Pennon Group Plc (then South West Water Plc) in 1992 as strategic planning manager. Previously he held business planning and development roles with Gateway Corporation. He is a member of the CBI Environmental Affairs Committee and the CBI South West Regional Council.
Martin David Angle BSc Hons, FCA
Non-executive Director
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Audit
Sustainability (formerly Corporate Responsibility)
Nomination
Remuneration (Chairman)
Appointed on 1 December 2008. Martin currently holds nonexecutive directorships with Savills plc, OAO Severstal, Shuaa Capital PSC and The National Exhibition Centre where he is Chairman. In addition he sits on the Advisory Board of the Warwick Business School and the Board of the FIA Foundation. Formerly he held senior positions with Terra Firma Capital Partners and various of its portfolio companies, including the executive chairmanship of Waste Recycling Group Limited. Before that he was the group finance director of TI Group plc and held a number of senior investment banking positions with SG Warburg & Co Ltd, Morgan Stanley and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson.
Gerard Dominic Connell MA
Senior Independent Non-executive Director
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Audit (Chairman)
Sustainability (formerly Corporate Responsibility)
Nomination
Remuneration
Appointed on 1 October 2003. Until last year Gerard was group finance director of Wincanton Plc. Previously he was a director of Hill Samuel and a managing director of Bankers Trust having trained originally at Price Waterhouse. He has held other corporate finance and business development positions in the City and in industry. He is also a governor of King’s College School, Wimbledon.
Dinah Alison Nichols CB, BA Hons
Non-executive Director
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Audit
Sustainability (formerly Corporate Responsibility) (Chairman)
Nomination
Remuneration
Appointed on 12 June 2003. Dinah was formerly Director General Environment at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and previously held various senior appointments within Government, including being head of the water directorate during the period of water privatisation. She is also a Crown Estate Counsellor, a nonexecutive director of Shires Smaller Companies Plc and a director of several charitable trusts.
Kenneth David Woodier, Solicitor, CMA, DMS, CPE Law
Group General Counsel & Company Secretary
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Appointed company secretary to the Board in March 1998. Ken was formerly the head of group legal services at Pennon Group Plc (then South West Water Plc) from February 1990. Previously he held senior legal positions with H.P. Bulmer (Holdings) Plc, Investors in Industry Plc (3i) and Severn Trent Water.