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Week beginning March 24
- Dr Amanda Cahill has stepped down as CEO of The Next Economy but will remain a Board Director. Lizzie Webb, current COO and former Board Chair, has stepped into the CEO role.
Sophie Vorrath is appointed editor of Renew Economy, with Giles Parkinson becoming editor in chief. Sam Parkinson is appointed chief operating officer and Rachel Williamson becomes a full time staff member.
Week beginning March 17
Voyager Renewables, the Australian onshore wind, solar and battery offshoot of Danish giant Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, has officially opened its head office in Newcastle, New South Wales.
The all-Australian CIP subsidiary announced its “official launch” in November, unveiling a brand new website with a portfolio of three very early-stage projects in Victoria and New South Wales.
Amber-Jade Sanderson is appointed minister for energy, decarbonisation and manufacturing, in Western Australia. Rita Saffioti remains transport minister.
GridBeyond has appointed Chris O’Brien as its Australia managing director.
Mint Renewables has appointed Matthew Glass as its new head of projects.
Perth based Mid West Geothermal Power has re-appointed Mark Ballesteros and Rob Marshall as executive directors. Both were original founders of the company in 2019.
Jenny Aitchison has been appointed the new minister for roads and regional transport in the New South Wales Minns government.
Week beginning March 10
AEMO has created a new Policy and Corporate Affairs division to be led by Violette Mouchaileh, the former head of Reform Delivery. The new division will enable closer collaboration between strategic market reform and the engagement and communications functions. Nevenka Codevelle, EGM at AEMO Services, has resigned and will finish up at the end of June.
Curtin University has announced Jason McFarlane as the new Western Australian GreenTech Hub director, which will see him take a leading role in the state’s journey towards a more sustainable future.
Prayank Katiyar has taken up a new role as executive general manager – head of energy distribution, at Microgrid Power. Katiyar was previously the head of technical energy solutions at Ventia.
Energy efficiency company Ecovantage has a new CEO with the semi retirement of Bruce Easton after 18 years. Aaron Jenkins, head of commercial services and previosuly founder of an electrical services company steps into the role whilst Bruce moves to Exec Chair focusing on future business opportunities.
Ben Hutt is stepping down from his role at the helm of Evergen and as general manager of behind-the-meter solutions and sales group at Intellhub. Hutt spent six years helping to build Evergen into a global leader in behind the meter DER/CER orchestration and optimisation and transitioning the business into the Intellihub Group.
Maia Schweizer has been appointed chief transformation officer of Snowy Hydro. She is a former senior executive at Fortescue Future Industries, SunDrive and CEO of CleanCo.
Week beginning March 3
Angela Karl has been appointed to the board of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. Marianna O’Gorman has been re-appointed to the board and will assume the newly created position of Deputy Chair. Stephen McIntosh has also been re-appointed as a board member.
Andrew Lewis has been appointed Acting Chief Executive of the Australian Energy Market Commission. He previously held the position of Executive General Manager of the Consumer, Markets and Analytics.
Nicholas Wodzinski has moved from ChargeFox to be senior product manager, EVs, at Amber Electric.
Nick Aberle has moved on from the Clean Energy Council, where he was policy director and then head of campaigns, strategy and engagement.
Geoff Dutaillis has joined Planum Partners as senior advisor. He is a former CEO of Tilt Renewables.
Jimi Gatland has been appointed director of pro experience at OpenSolar. He previously worked at Next Green.
Week beginning February 24
Matthew Myers will lead AEMO’s Government & Stakeholder Division on an interim basis after the resignation of Rebecca Irwin.
Ampcontrol has appointed Murray Lyster to the role of executive general manager – customer experience and delivery.
Francis Vierboom has been appointed as chief executive officer of Rewiring Australia, after Dan Cass announced his resignation from the role. Cass, who co-founded Rewiring Australia four years ago, is stepping down to focus on new opportunities in policy and research.
Week beginning February 17
Benn Barr has announced that he will finish up as chief executive of the Australian Energy Market Commission on March 17, and “step back from all Commission policy deliberations effective immediately,” ahead of taking on a new role at Energy Queensland. The AEMC will run an internal process for an acting CEO before running an external search process for the new permanent chief.
The Albanese government has appointed James Cain as chair and non-executive director of the Snowy Hydro board, for a three-year term, commencing 1 March 2025. Cain replaces outgoing chair David Knox.
Mark Squires has joined RE-Alliance as community engagement manager, NSW.
Guy Chalkley, head of Endeavour Energy and a former CEO of Western Power, has been named as non executive chairman of Frontier Energy, following the decision of former premier Mark McGowan not to take the job.
Week beginning February 10
Paul Peters, founder and head of advisory company Novo, has been named as interim CEO of the NSW government’s Energy Security Corp.
Louis de Sambucy, the former head of Neoen Australia, has been appointed regional head in Europe.
The Renewable Energy Alliance said it has elected Anna Hancock as its new chair. Hancock is executive director at Pollination.
Dara Memarpouri has been appointed head of grid at Enervest.
Ben Cerini has been appointed Head of Energy Markets at Enervest. He was formerly at Firm Power.
Tim Pratt has been announced as vice president power products, Pacific Zone, at Schneider Electric, overseeing sustainable energy solutions and advancing customer and partner innovation.
AGL Energy‘s chief operating officer, Markus Brokhof, will retire with effect from 15 September 2025. As previously announced, Miles George steps in as chair of the board on Wednesday February 12, replacing Patricia McKenzie.
Dr Genevieve Simpson is starting a new position as General Manager Governance and Delivery, PoweringWA at Energy Policy WA.
Natalie Thompson has finished up at the Electric Vehicle Council where she was chief of staff and senior manager for policy.
Fortescue appointed Noel Quinn as a non executive director to its board.
RayGen has appointed Will Sommers, formerly of Allens and ACCC, as its senior legal counsel.
Week beginning February 3
Terry Stinson has retired as chairman and director of Carnegie Clean Energy. Anthony Shields, currently a non-executive director, will assume the role of non-executive chair.
Synergy says it has appointed Kurt Baker as Acting Chief Executive Officer.
Week beginning January 27
EV network operator ChargeFox says CEO John Sullivan has chosen to step down. He will remain with Chargefox until April 2025, to enable a transition to new leadership.
Alan Rai has joined Core Markets as head of its advisory team. Rai was previously with Someva Renewables and before that at Baringa.
NHOA Energy announced the “sudden passing” of its Australia head Ashley Mangano. “We are in disbelief,” the company said in a LinkedIn post. “It is a tremendous loss for our company and the industry.”
The Clean Energy Council says it has appointed former 2GB broadcaster Chris O’Keefe as its national spokesperson.
The Electric Vehicle Council has appointed Julie Delvecchio as its new chief executive officer. She replaced inaugural CEO, Behyad Jafari, and the interim CEO, Samantha Johnson.
Global oil giant Shell says it has appointed Machteld de Haan as its new head of its renewable energy operations. He will replace Huibert Vigeveno who leaves at the end of March.
Week beginning January 20
Jonathan Cole is leaving his role as CEO of offshore wind developer Corio Generation, the Macquarie-backed company announced this week. Cole will, from January 31, be replaced as CEO by Samuel Leopold, who has been chair of Corio since it was launched in 2022.
The SunCable board of directors has appointed Ryan Willemsen-Bell as group CEO. Willemsen-Bell joins SunCable from Origin Energy where he has spent the last 16 years working in senior roles, most recently as general manager of future fuels and carbon.
Australian electrolyser company Hysata has appointed Monique Conheady to its board of directors.
Week beginning January 13
Danish wind giant Vestas has named Jakob Wegge-Larsen as its new chief financial officer. Wegge-Larsen is expected to take up the CFO role in the second quarter after moving from logistics group DB Schenker.
Clean Energy Investor Group has appointed Allison Hawke as a new board director. Hawke is general manager of development at Atmos Renewables.
Shane Quinnell has joined WestWind Energy Australia as its new head of development for New South Wales and Queensland.
OpenSolar has shifted Maaike Gobel to the role of general manager – Asia. Sophie Wright has taken up the role as general manager – Australia and New Zealand.
Week beginning December 16
Ross De Rango says he is stepping down from his position as Head of Energy and Infrastructure at the Electric Vehicle Council to focus on a new business venture.
Shell‘s head of renewables in the Americas Amanda Dasch will leave the company to join Danish offshore wind giant Ørsted in January as head of its US operations.
Week beginning December 09
Kayne Munro has been appointed Applications Specialist – BESS at Pacific Energy, a market leader in the provision of sustainable distributed energy. He previously was the Project Delivery Lead – ESS at SolarEdge Energy Storage.
Hydro Tasmania has announced that Rachel Watson will take up the role of chief executive officer of the state government-owned utility on April 14, 2025. Watson is currently country manager for global renewable developer OX2 and was formerly CEO of Pacific Hydro and chair of the Clean Energy Council.
Week beginning December 02
Hans Martin Smith has decided to step down as Chief Financial Officer of Vestas by the end of 2024, a role he has held since 1 March 2022. Until a successor has been found, CFO responsibilities will be handled by Senior Vice President and Head of Group Financial Performance, Rasmus Gram.
Energy Network Australia (ENA) has welcomed two utility CEOs to its board at its Annual General Meeting. SA Power Networks CEO, Andrew Bills, and AusNet CEO, David Smales, were appointed to the Board in November 2024.
