Former miner takes Kelda helm
John Napier, the executive chairman of Kelda, the owner of Yorkshire Water, yesterday split his dual roles and handed the chief executive's job to a former miner.
The decision by Mr Napier to take a back seat once more by resuming his role as non-executive chairman at Kelda also marks the end of efforts to restructure the group financially.
Kelda's new chief executive is Kevin Whiteman, a Welshman and one-time miner who rose through the ranks of British Coal and ended up running Frickley colliery in Yorkshire during the 1984 miners' strike. He joined Yorkshire Water in 1997 and has been managing director of the regulated utility business since March, 2000.
Mr Napier ousted Kelda's previous chief executive, Kevin Bond, in April, 2000 at the same time as unveiling plans to turn Yorkshire Water into a debt-financed mutual company owned by its customers. The proposal was vetoed by the water regulator Ofwat and subsequent attempts to restructure the group's balance sheet to cut its cost of borrowing have also failed.
Kelda also announced the resignation of its finance director, John O'Kane, who is leaving at the end of this month to become finance director of the property development and construction group Peterhouse. Other executive changes include the appointment to the board of Richard Schmidt, president of Kelda's US water business Aquarion.
Mr Napier said that with the completion of Kelda's disposal programme, which has turned it back into a water and waste business, it was now an appropriate time to separate the roles of chairman and chief executive.
The disposal programme was completed in May with the sale of Kelda's renewable energy division to the Bristol-based Energy Power Resources.
Although he has relinquished the executive chairman's role, Mr Napier is expected to remain with Kelda in a non-executive capacity for some time. He has recently bought a house in Halifax and is chairman of Yorkshire's rural affairs forum.
Kelda denied that Mr O'Kane's departure was triggered by the promotion of Mr Whiteman, saying that he had decided to seek a fresh challenge now that the disposal programme was complete.
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