John Halsall formally took up his new role yesterday as Chief Executive Officer at South East Water, following regulatory approval.

John takes up the role at a critical moment for South East Water. He comes with a clear plan to improve day-to-day performance and rebuild trust with customers.

Since being announced as CEO-Designate on 22 June, John has spent time listening to colleagues and key stakeholders, understanding the operational challenges facing South East Water and assessing where the business needs to move faster. That period has reinforced the need for a reset in how the company delivers for customers.

On his first day as CEO, John is setting out three pledges for customers on what he wants to achieve in the first nine months. He is asking them to judge progress on:

• Fixing day to day performance
• Driving operational excellence
• Ensuring transparent and authentic engagement with customers, stakeholders and regulators.

Over the medium to long term, he will embed customer centricity in the organisation, transform the business by making it fit for the future, whilst delivering the largest ever investment programme in the company’s history.

South East Water is also continuing to strengthen its executive leadership capability. The company is bringing in new directors with successful backgrounds in utilities and regulated businesses, while retaining experienced executives with deep knowledge of the company and its operations.

Lisa Clement, Interim Chair of South East Water, said:

“I am delighted to confirm John Halsall has started as Chief Executive Officer of South East Water.

“John joins us at a critical moment for the company. Our customers deserve a safe, reliable water supply, and we must accelerate the improvements needed to deliver this.

“John brings more than 25 years of transformation and operational leadership experience across public and private sector infrastructure organisations. The Board is confident he can turn around performance and rebuild trust.

“We are also strengthening the executive leadership capability around John, bringing in new experience from utilities and regulated businesses while retaining the deep operational knowledge already within South East Water. This combination of fresh experience and continuity will support the company’s transformation.”

John Halsall, Chief Executive Officer of South East Water, said:

“South East Water has a clear task: to deliver a safe, reliable water supply to its customers.

“We know we have not done that well enough. Our customers, communities and stakeholders rightly expect better, and we need to show them that things are changing.

“Since being announced as CEO-Designate, I have spent time listening to colleagues and key stakeholders, understanding the operational challenges facing South East Water and assessing where the business needs to change. That period has reinforced the scale of the challenge, and the need for a reset in how the company delivers for customers.

“My immediate priority is to respond to customers’ concerns about their water service and deliver the short-term improvements we can make now, while strengthening resilience for the future.

“This transformation will not be easy, and people will rightly judge us by our actions, not our words. We need to show customers clear improvements and better service.

“The work of turning around South East Water starts now.”

John Halsall brings more than 25 years of transformation and operational leadership experience across public and private sector infrastructure organisations.

He has previously served as Chief Operating Officer at Pennon Group, where he was responsible for water and wastewater operations across South West Water, Bournemouth Water and Bristol Water. He has also held senior roles at Network Rail, including leading rail infrastructure in the South East of England, and spent 17 years at Thames Water in engineering, asset management, capital delivery and water services roles.