Barry Hayward, former head of internal audit at Wessex Water, has been appointed as water2business’ new chief operating officer.

He takes over the reins from Lynne Stephens, who is retiring after a 38-year career in the water industry. Lynne Stephens has held the COO role at water2business since July 2017 and was previously head of credit management at Pelican Business Services, the joint billing venture between Bristol Water and Wessex Water.

During his 17 years in the industry Barry Hayward has covered various roles in commercial finance, developer services, engineering, operational customer contact and auditing, making him well-placed to lead water2business’ day-to-day and strategic long-term operations.

The new role makes him responsible for ensuring day-to-day operations at water2business run smoothly and that business customers always receive the highest standard of service.

Since the water retail market opened in April 2017 water2business has achieved substantial commercial growth, winning national contracts with customers across multiple sectors and delivering savings for them with tailored water and wastewater management plans.

The company has also been praised for its customer service and in June 2018, it was revealed as having the lowest number of customer complaints of any large water retailer in the industry.