The Board

The Thames Water Utilities Board comprises 15 directors, 12 of whom are non-executive, together with three executive directors, namely the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Between them, the directors have a wealth of management and financial experience, together with extensive specialist knowledge of the water industry and other regulated utilities.

Both the Board and Ofwat consider three of the directors to be independent non-executives.

The current members of The Board are listed below:

Chairman

  • Sir Peter Mason KBE, Chairman

    Sir Peter Mason KBE

    Sir Peter Mason was appointed Chairman of Thames Water Utilities in December 2006 and brings extensive experience in construction, and complex capital investment businesses.

    He retired as Chief Executive Officer of AMEC plc in September 2006 and was previously Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Balfour Beatty Limited.

    He is currently a Non-Executive Director of Acergy S.A., and BAE Systems plc and until October 2008 was a Board Member of the 2012 Olympic Delivery Authority.

Executive Directors

Non-Executive Directors


Luis Abraira

Luis became a non-executive director of Thames Water Utilities in January 2008. He is a partner of Santander Infrastructures - II and CEO of Santander Private Equity. He has had over 15 years experience working for the Santander Group, holding various senior positions including Head of Strategic Planning for the Asset Management and Insurance Division (2000-03) and Chief Investment Officer for Equities in Santander Asset Management with €12 billion of assets under management (1999). He holds a B.A. in Law, a B.A. in Economic Science and Business Studies from the University Pontificia Comillas (ICADE) in Madrid and an MBA from IESE in Barcelona.

Martin Baggs

Martin became a Non-Executive Director of Thames Water Utilities in December 2006. Until recently he was Managing Director of South East Water Limited, and he previously served as Operations and Assets Director at Southern Water. He managed the divestiture of South East Water from the Macquarie Capital Funds (Europe) Limited. He is currently a Divisional Director of Macquarie Investment Banking Funds and is also a Director of Wales & West Utilities Limited.

Martin is the Board nominated champion of health and safety.

Rosamund Blomfield-Smith

Rosamund became a non-executive director of Thames Water Utilities in February 2008. She is currently a non-executive director of British Empire Securities plc and The Engineering Business. Previously, as Director and Head of Corporate Finance of Arbuthnot Latham & Co, she built and ran a corporate finance operation which was profitable in its first year and as Joint head of the Utilities Team and Director of Corporate Finance for N. M. Rothschild & Sons she was responsible for the development and implementation of Rothschilds' utility privatisation, project finance and off-market M&A business worldwide. She has a BA Hons in Modern Studies (French, Italian, German and Politics).

Christopher Deacon

Christopher became a Non-Executive Director of Thames Water Utilities in December 2006. He brings extensive experience as a banker and consultant in infrastructure and project finance. He was the Commercial Director of London Underground in respect of the Tube PPP project and is currently a Non-Executive Director of various companies in the infrastructure marketplace.

Gordon Parsons

Gordon became a Non-Executive Director of Thames Water Utilities in February 2008. He is a Division Director for the Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund with responsibility for National Car Parks, Wightlink Shipping and Bristol Airport. He joined Macquarie from RWE Npower, where he was the Managing Director of Npower Business and a member of the Executive Team of RWE Npower Retail, Britain's largest electricity supplier.

Dipesh Shah

Dipesh became a non-executive director of Thames Water Utilities in October 2007. He is Chairman of HG Capital Renewable Power Partners LLP and of Jetion Holdings (which is AIM listed). Dipesh is also a Non-Executive Director of Babcock International Group plc, where he is Chairman of the Remuneration Committee, and he sits on the Franchise Board of Lloyds of London. He was the Chief Executive of various businesses in the BP Group and was Chairman of a European trade association for a number of years in the 1990s. He was a member of the Government's Renewable Energy Advisory Committee from 1994-2002.

Martin Stanley

Martin became a Director of Thames Water Utilities in December 2006. He is Chief Executive Officer of the Macquarie European Investment Fund LP and an Executive Director of Macquarie's Investment Banking Group. He chairs the boards of Energy Power Resources Limited, Arlanda Express, Macquarie Renewable Energy Limited and Wightlink Shipping Limited, is also a board member of NRE B.V. and was formerly a board member of South East Water Limited and Wales & West Utilities Limited. Before joining Macquarie in July 2004, he was a Director of TXU Europe Group plc.

Lincoln Webb

Lincoln originally became a Non-Executive Director of Thames Water Utilities in December 2006 and was reappointed in February 2008. He is the Vice-President of Private Placements for British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (bcIMC). The Private Placements group and has been involved in private equity and infrastructure investments since 1995.

Independent Non-Executive Directors


Stephen Box, Independent Non-Executive Director

Stephen became a Non-Executive Director of Thames Water Utilities in December 2006. He brings extensive experience in financial management. A former Finance Director of the National Grid plc, and Non-Executive Director of South East Water Limited, he is a Director of Michael Page International plc and Wales & West Utilities Limited.

Michael Pavia

Michael became a Non-Executive Director of Thames Water Utilities in December 2006. He brings extensive experience in management of regulated businesses. He was previously Group Finance Director of SEEBOARD Group and Chief Financial Officer of the London Electricity Group. He is currently a Non-Executive Director of British Nuclear Fuels plc and Telecom Plus plc and the Non-Executive Chairman of WHAM Energy plc.

Willem Smit

Willem is a Dutch national with extensive industrial and commercial experience. He became a Non-Executive Director of Thames Water Utilities in December 2006 and was previously Managing Director of TXU Europe and Commercial Director of Eon Benelux. He currently works in private equity and is a Director of Ampere Infrastructure Fund and Chairman of Voltere Capital Partners.

Willem is the Board nominated customer champion.