Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water has announced that Alastair Lyons will retire as Chair at the end of this year and, after a comprehensive process involving both internal and external candidates, that Jane Hanson has been appointed as his successor with effect from 1st January 2025.
Alastair joined the Board as Chair in 2016 and has played a key role in guiding the company through two regulatory price reviews (PR19 and the current price review period PR24), the Covid pandemic, and appointing Peter Perry as Chief Executive (in 2020), whilst maintaining a robust financial foundation during a challenging period for the sector and credit ratings amongst the strongest in the sector.
Jane has been a non-executive director and Chair of the Audit Committee at Dŵr Cymru since 2021 and has over 30 years experience of working at Board level in FTSE 100, regulated, not-for-shareholder and charitable organisations. Jane is currently also a non-executive director at HM Treasury and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee at the Civil Aviation Authority and is an independent advisor to John Lewis PLC and an independent member of their Audit and Risk Committee. Jane previously held executive roles at major blue-chip and regulated entities including Aviva PLC and KPMG.
Alastair Lyons, Dŵr Cymru Chair, said:
“Jane’s substantial executive and non-executive experience, as well the knowledge of the water sector that she has gained in the past three years as a member of the Board, will be invaluable over the coming years. Dŵr Cymru plays a vital role in the lives of everyone that lives in Wales and the parts of England we serve, and our unique not-for-shareholder model allows our teams to focus solely on meeting the needs of our customers. There is much to be done to improve performance and deliver against customer expectations and Jane’s substantial experience and insight will help guide the company over the coming years. It has been a privilege to have been Chair of Dŵr Cymru and I would like to thank everyone in the business for their support and dedication.”
Jane Hanson added:
“I am delighted to be taking on the role of Chair at Dŵr Cymru at such a pivotal and challenging time for the company and the sector. Since joining the Board in January 2021, I have been consistently impressed by the dedication and commitment of everyone at Dŵr Cymru to do the right thing for our customers, our communities, and the environment. Maintaining this strong ethos while driving material performance improvement will be crucial in the coming months and years.”
Pete Perry, Chief Executive, added:
“Alastair has guided the company through one of the most challenging periods of the company’s existence, providing strong challenge to the Executive Team and ensuring that the company remains anchored to its core purpose to provide high quality and better value drinking water and environmental services, so as to enhance the well-being of our customers and the communities we serve, both now and for generations to come. I look forward to working with Jane as Chair as we start a new five-year investment period which will bring record investment to fund the improvements our customers expect.”
