Board of Directors 

DB

Duncan Black - Chairman

Duncan was appointed Chair of the of the Board on 1 September 2021, following his return to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in October 2020. Duncan previously served as the Chief Financial Officer and an Executive Director of the Company from 2012-2015, and subsequently as a Non-Executive Director. He has been based in Asia for over 20 years working in the power and infrastructure sectors as a project developer, CFO, investment banker and fund manager.

Duncan’s previous roles have included Co-Head of Infrastructure Investment at Eastspring Investments (part of Prudential plc), Asia Head of Acquisitions at Deutsche Asset Management’s infrastructure funds management business, and CFO of CLP Holdings’ Australian electricity and gas utility business, now Energy Australia. Duncan is currently engaged in the asset management of renewable energy power projects in Asia for a leading impact fund manager. Duncan has a BEng (Hons) in Civil Engineering and a PhD in Fluid Dynamics, each from Imperial College, London.

GR

Graham Reid - CEO

Graham was appointed Chief Executive Officer on 18 January 2021. Under his leadership the company has undergone a significant transformation, streamlining operations, redefining its strategy, and aligning resources for growth. Graham has been instrumental in positioning the company to become an Independant Power Producer and one of the largest Battery Energy Storage System developers in the UK.

Prior to joining SAE, Graham was CEO of RES Americas, and prior to that CEO of Arcadis Middle East, earlier in his career was the UK Managing Director and an Executive Board member of Hyder Consulting plc. Graham has a BSc (Hons) in Civil Engineering from the University of Westminster and is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers

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Simon Hirst  - CFO

Simon was appointed Chief Financial Officer on 25 April 2022 and has been instrumental in refinancing the company debt, managing cash, maintaining external stakeholder relationships and ensuring strong corporate governance. In the seven years prior to his appointment as Chief Financial Officer, Simon was primarily responsible for all financial and commercial aspects of the MeyGen project including senior creditor compliance.

Prior to joining SAE in 2015, Simon gained international blue-chip corporate experience at several organisations including ExxonMobil, Pepsi Cola, Iron Mountain and international power generation company InterGen. Simon is a Chartered Management Accountant and holds a BSc (Hons) from Aston University.

JW

John Woodley - Non-executive director

John Woodley joined the Board on 22 September 2008. He was at that time co-head of the power and gas related commodity business for Europe and Asia at Morgan Stanley. He founded the very successful US electricity trading operations for Morgan Stanley in New York in 1994, having worked as a power plant operator and then as an industrial marketing engineer for electric utilities.

After ten years with Morgan Stanley in New York, John moved to London to help build the electricity and electricity-related energy business outside the US. John is now based in Switzerland and acted as a senior adviser to Morgan Stanley until Q1 2021. John has a BSc Eng (Elec) from Wits University, Johannesburg, an MBA from Valdosta State University and an MS in Finance from Georgia State University.