Edinburgh based water retailer Business Stream has appointed Douglas McLaren as its new Chief Operating Officer – he takes up his new position today.
McLaren joins the business with over 15 years’ experience in the retail utility sector and a breadth of operational, commercial and financial experience.
In a new role for the business, he will be tasked with overseeing customer service, operations, people and development, IT and the company’s change programme.
Prior to the appointment, McLaren was Chief Operating Office at competitor retailer, Castle Water, and before that was UK Operations Director for Scottish Power Energy Retail. A chartered accountant by trade, He began his career with PwC in Glasgow before spending two years working for PwC in Canada.
McLaren will report directly into Business Stream’s Chief Executive, Jo Dow, who commented:
“I’m delighted to welcome Douglas to Business Stream. His appointment will add a great deal of experience to the company and further bolster our senior leadership team as we enter the next phase of our ambitious growth strategy”.
Business Stream recently announced it had generated over £250 million in new contract wins in the two years since the English retail water market opened in April 2017.
The company also recently confirmed that its acquisition of the non-household customer base of Yorkshire Water Business Services and Three-Sixty will take effect this autumn. This latest deal will see the company manage an additional 140,000 customers and cement its position as one of the top three largest retailers in the UK water market.


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