SSE PLC
APPOINTMENT OF GROUP ENERGY AND COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR
The Board of SSE plc confirms that Martin Pibworth has been promoted to the newly created role of Group Energy and Commercial Director effective 1 November 2020. Martin has served on the Board of SSE since September 2017, most recently as Energy Director.
Martin will be accountable for identifying and delivering on growth opportunities across all of SSE's market businesses. He will be aided in this by the recent expansion of SSE's Energy Portfolio Management (EPMI) division, which now benefits from enhanced commercial analytics capability and market insights following the addition of SSE's Energy Economics and Markets Codes teams.
SSE Enterprise, led by Enterprise MD Neil Kirkby and comprising distributed energy including solar and storage, will now report into Martin.*
Martin will retain his existing responsibilities for SSE Renewables, SSE Thermal, EPMI and Energy Customer Solutions.
In addition, he will now have Group-level responsibility for driving commercial market risk activities for all SSE's non-networks businesses. Group level risk activities related to the wider company will continue to be overseen by the Finance Director, Gregor Alexander.
The promotion recognises Martin's strong contribution to the Group over many years and is a natural expansion of his previous role, bringing together a complementary group of market and customer-facing businesses under his leadership.
Richard Gillingwater CBE, Chairman of SSE plc, said:
"We are very pleased that Martin will be taking on this expanded remit which will see him drive growth and manage commercial risk across SSE's market businesses. He has made an outstanding contribution to the Board since he joined it three years ago, and has recently demonstrated the value he and the team bring to the business through SSE's success in offshore wind auctions and the value created from the recent Multifuel Energy transaction. He now has the opportunity to make an even greater impact in his new role."
Martin Pibworth, Group Energy and Commercial Director, said:
"I'm delighted to take on the new role, particularly with its focus on growth and risk management. SSE is uniquely positioned to lead the transition to net zero emissions, both in our core energy businesses and in emerging areas like distributed energy, and bringing these together as part of a single energy and commercial team will help us capitalise on the significant opportunities that lie ahead."
The Company confirms that no other disclosure needs to be made under Listing Rule 9.6.13R in respect of this appointment. Martin's remuneration on promotion will be consistent with SSE's Directors' Remuneration Policy, a summary of which can be found in SSE's 2020 Annual Report. Details of his remuneration package will be disclosed as normal within the Annual Report for 2021, due for publication in July.
Biographical note
Martin Pibworth is a History graduate from Magdalene College, Cambridge University. Before joining SSE, he worked in energy trading at Eastern Power and then at Total Gas Marketing. Martin joined SSE in 1998 as an energy trader, which was followed by a series of commercial roles before becoming Managing Director, Energy Portfolio Management, and a member of SSE's then Management Board, in 2012. In 2014, he was appointed Managing Director, Wholesale, and a member of SSE's Group Executive Committee, taking on responsibility for SSE's electricity generation assets and associated capital investment programme. Martin has overseen the development of SSE's diverse and flexible generation portfolio including its growing renewable fleet. He joined the Board in 2017 first as Wholesale Director and then as Energy Director and currently leads on SSE's renewables, thermal, customer and energy portfolio management businesses.
*A process to dispose of the Contracting and Rail business within SSE's Enterprise segment is currently ongoing.