New Ofgem directors announced

1 Feb 2021 05:15 PM

New Ofgem directors were yesterday announced.

Communications director

Ofgem has appointed Priya Brahmbhatt-Patel as director of communications.

Ms Brahmbhatt-Patel joined Ofgem at the end of January 2021 from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) where she has been interim director of communications since April 2020.

Prior to MHCLG, Ms Brahmbhatt-Patel was the deputy director of communications at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and has filled roles across Whitehall, including the Department for Transport, Home Office and Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Analysis and assurance director

Simon Wilde was appointed the new director of analysis and assurance and started his role in December 2020.

Mr Wilde previously worked as Ofgem’s senior financial adviser since 2018, leading the regulatory finance and investor relations teams.

Before joining Ofgem, Mr Wilde spent 26 years in investment banking, predominantly focused on the utilities, renewable energy and infrastructure sectors. In addition to his professional practice, Simon is a visiting lecturer and research fellow at Imperial College Business School and has held faculty positions in finance at the University of Bath and UWE Bristol.

Energy systems management and security director

The role of energy systems management and security director will be shared jointly by Charlotte Ramsay and Richard Smith in a job-share partnership.

Ms Ramsay most recently worked for National Grid, where she led the creation of a separate Electricity System Operator and secured investment decisions on National Grid's portfolio of electricity interconnectors. She spent several years at Ofgem, developing the "Cap and Floor" regime for interconnector investment and leading work on integrated transmission planning and regulation. Ms Ramsay begins the role at the end of March.

Mr Smith joins Ofgem from National Grid, where he most recently led the networks, market change, and commercial teams and sat on the executive team of the Energy System Operator. Mr Smith’s business portfolio also includes leading the creation of the first UK-wide Future Energy Scenarios energy system. Mr Smith will start in the role from early February.

E-Serve director

Ofgem has appointed Philippa Pickford, previously Ofgem’s regulatory director for retail, as the director of E-Serve. 

Ms Pickford has been at Ofgem for over a decade, leading on regulation of the Electricity System Operator and delivering legal separation of the Electricity System Operator within National Grid.

She has previously led Ofgem’s work relating to the evolving distribution system operator role; security of supply, wholesale market design, including the Capacity Market, wholesale market conduct and smart metering.

Ms Pickford takes up her new role from 1 February.

Chief data officer

Helen Crooks was appointed Ofgem’s first chief data officer and started in December 2020.

Ms Crooks’ previous roles include group customer data director at Tesco, head of information strategy and governance at Virgin Media and chief data officer for Lloyd’s of London, where she drove digital change into the traditional insurance market.

Outside Ofgem, Ms Crooks is Ambassador for AI and the Data Economy for Innovate UK. She has been recognised in both DATAIQ Top 100 and Women in Data global awards.

Retail director

Anna Rossington is the Interim Director of Retail from 1 February, following Philippa Pickford’s move to E-Serve.

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