Thames Water has today announced the appointment of Sarah Bentley, currently Chief Customer Officer at Severn Trent, as its new Chief Executive Officer, starting this autumn.

During her time at Severn Trent, Sarah Bentley has been the chief customer officer responsible for customer retail and network operations, group technology and transformation. Prior to that she was managing director of Accenture’s digital business unit in the UK & Ireland, delivering digital transformation programmes to a range of large consumer-facing businesses.

Sarah Bentley joined Severn Trent plc in 2014 as chief customer officer and is a member of the executive committee. She leads both the consumer retail division and the wholesale network operations unit alongside her responsibilities as group CIO.

Commenting on her appointment, Ian Marchant, Thames Water’s interim executive chairman, said:

“Our board has conducted a thorough search to find the best candidate to fill this important role, and we’re delighted to have secured someone of Sarah’s calibre. Her natural ability to inspire and motivate customer-facing teams will ensure that our collective focus is always on delivering for our customers regardless of the circumstances we face, not least those we’re all experiencing today.

“Sarah has invaluable experience in the water sector and has demonstrated an outstanding ability to innovate and meet customer needs in a regulated environment. This is a critical time for the company, and alongside her passion for customers, Sarah is clearly the perfect person to lead our multi-billion pound investment programme and develop our longer term strategy to ensure a resilient water and waste service for generations to come.”

Ian Marchant will continue in his position as interim executive chairman until the new CEO takes up her new role in the autumn, at which point he will revert back to his role as chairman of Thames Water.

Among her achievements, Sarah Bentley has led the transformation of Severn Trent’s digital customer experience, as well as delivering a fundamental shift in the company’s leakage performance – leading to significant improvements in customer satisfaction.

She said:

“Firstly I want to thank everyone across the water and wastewater sector for their absolute dedication and service in these challenging times. I am delighted to be joining Thames Water, a business that clearly plays an essential role in London and the Thames Valley and which has such a strong sense of public value. I look forward to working with the team to deliver a service that delights our customers, create a company where our colleagues are proud to work and build a business that is recognised for making a positive contribution to the communities we serve and the environment around us.”

As Chief Executive of Thames, Sarah Bentley will receive an annual salary of £750k, together with other benefits. She will be able to participate in the company's existing annual bonus scheme up to a maximum of 120% of salary, and a long-term incentive plan with an annual award up to a maximum of 200% of salary.

The Thames Water long term incentive plan (LTIP) is a 3-year scheme and the first payment can be made in 2023 at the earliest. As she transitions to the Thames Water incentive scheme, it has been agreed to compensate her for surrendering her potential bonus, deferred bonuses and long-term incentives from Severn Trent.

Thames Water has estimated this as a maximum of c£3.1m, payable over the course of the next three financial years.

The variable pay elements will be dependent on achieving specified performance improvements in key areas including leakage, pollutions and customer service.