South East Water has today announced John Halsall as Chief Executive Officer (CEO)-Designate, effective immediately.
Subject to regulatory approvals, he will succeed David Hinton. David Hinton, who had previously announced his resignation, will leave the business after a period of handover.
Halsall brings over 35 years of operational and executive leadership experience, having spent his career working in public and private sector infrastructure organisations including South West Water, Network Rail and Thames Water. John served on the Board of South West Water, was COO at Pennon Group, and an Executive member of Network Rail, where he ran rail infrastructure in the South East of England.
He has extensive experience of delivering transformation programmes while directing operations, asset management, capital delivery, and setting strategic direction to drive strong performance.
Interim Chair of South East Water, Lisa Clement, said:
“I am delighted to welcome John Halsall as CEO-Designate. South East Water faces significant challenges, and customers, communities and stakeholders rightly expect better. John brings a strong track record of delivering transformation programmes, operational leadership and a clear commitment to transparency and improvement across different industries.
“Over the coming weeks, we will be working closely with our regulators to ensure that all necessary approvals are in place for the succession to CEO. The Board is confident John will bring the energy, direction and focus needed to accelerate progress and deliver the reliable service our customers deserve.
“At the same time, we would like to thank David Hinton for his long service and commitment to South East Water over the past 25 years and wish him the very best for the future.”
John Halsall, CEO-Designate, commented:
“Subject to necessary regulatory approvals, I am looking forward to leading South East Water at a critical point in the company’s history, when customers and communities are rightly demanding a much more reliable and efficient water supply.
“My priorities are clear: responding to customers’ immediate concerns around their water service - delivering immediately on the short term improvements we can make both today and over the coming weeks and months.
“In the longer term I am excited by the opportunity to deliver the company’s largest ever investment programme of £2.1 billion. I see this investment as a vital step to underpinning the provision of the public water supply, improving reliability and resilience in the south east.
“In parallel, I want to see business performance transformed and am committed to modernising South East Water through smarter technology to meet future drinking water supply requirements across our network.
“I look forward to working with our customers, community partners, regulators and colleagues to rebuild trust in South East Water, drive the improvements the business needs to deliver and make the changes people want to see.”
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