Our Board of Directors
The day-to-day running of Southern Water is led by an Executive Leadership Team, which reports to our Board of Directors.
Keith Lough
Chairman
Keith has extensive experience in the natural resources and energy sectors in both finance and leadership roles, including as finance director for British Energy plc between 2001 and 2004 during a period of major restructuring.
In addition, Keith served as non-executive chairman of Gulf Keystone Petroleum plc following a successful debt restructuring. Immediately prior to his appointment to the Board of Southern Water, Keith was a non-executive member of the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority (Ofgem), where he was chairman of the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee, having served on the board since 2012.
Keith holds an MA in economics and MSc in finance and is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
Keith holds non-executive directorships in a number of oil and gas companies, including at Rockhopper Exploration plc as non-executive Chairman, and at Hunting plc as Senior Independent Director.
Lawrence Gosden
Chief Executive Officer
Lawrence joined Southern Water in May 2020 and was appointed to the Board on 01 July 2022 when he was appointed CEO.
Lawrence brings significant experience to the Board having worked in the water sector for over 30 years. He has a track record for successful operational and capital programme delivery and a wealth of experience delivering major infrastructure programmes, asset management, customer service and operational transformation alongside the provision of impactful and inclusive strategic leadership.
Prior to his return to Southern Water, Lawrence spent 12 years at Thames Water in a variety of senior executive and leadership positions. Notably he was managing director for Wastewater and subsequently chief operating officer.
Lawrence gained a first-class honours degree in engineering before starting his career as a graduate at Southern Water.
Lawrence is a non-executive director at National Highways where, among other things, he chairs their health and safety committee.
Stuart Ledger
Chief Financial Officer
Stuart joined Southern Water as CFO on 3 January 2023.
He has held senior positions both inside and outside the water sector. Stuart was previously the CEO at Affinity Water and the CFO for Affinity for the four years prior to that. Stuart’s extensive experience in the industry also includes nine years at Thames Water as the CFO of the Retail business and as group financial controller. Prior to this, he was financial controller at Wolseley, following almost eight years at EDF Energy.
Stuart is a director of Landlord Tap Limited, which is a website that gives details to water companies of those responsible for paying water or wastewater charges for their tenanted properties. He is also a trustee of Rett UK, a charity supporting sufferers of Rett Syndrome, as well as their families and carers.
Mike Putnam
Independent non-executive director
Mike has over 25 years’ experience leading and managing multiple businesses across development and construction. He has since transitioned to a plural career with a portfolio of non-executive directorships.
Mike was president and CEO of Skanska UK between 2009 and 2017, responsible for a business with circa £1.8 billion revenues and 6,000 employees. Prior to this he was executive vice president and main board director from 2001, as well as working across the group as a non-executive director on some of the international boards.
He was a member of the Construction Leadership Council and Chair of the Green Construction Board, both of which were partnerships between government and industry developing the industry change and sustainability agendas. He was also a non-executive director of the Association of Consulting Engineers.
Mike is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of both the Institution of Civil Engineers and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Mike currently serves on the boards of Network Rail, The Programme Board of Transpennine Route Upgrade, Arcadis NV and Bazalgette (Tideway) Tunnel Ltd.
Dame Gillian Guy DBE
Independent non-executive director
Gillian joined the Board in November 2018.
Gillian is a lawyer and spent 11 years as chief executive officer of the London Borough of Ealing before becoming chief executive officer of Victim Support after which she became chief executive of Citizens Advice.
Gillian has previously served as a non-executive board member and chair of the Audit Committee of the National Audit Office, as a non-judicial member of the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, as chair of the UK Finance Consumer Advisory Group and as a member of the Banking Standards Board.
Gillian was awarded a CBE in the New Year’s Honours List in 2015 and was awarded a Damehood in the 2020 New Year’s Honours List for services to public and voluntary sectors.
Gillian is Independent Assessor to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Malcolm Cooper
Independent non-executive director
Malcolm joined the Board in December 2019 and was appointed as Chair of the Audit Committee.
Malcolm has extensive experience in the regulated utility sector, having worked for around 30 years at National Grid plc, British Gas plc and other companies. He was a member of the board of both National Grid Gas plc and National Grid Electricity Transmission plc.
Malcolm was previously a non-executive director of St William. He is also a past president of the Association of Corporate Treasurers and was a member of the Listing Authority Advisory Panel of the FCA.
Malcolm has a degree in Pure Mathematics and is both a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and the Association of Corporate Treasurers.
Malcolm is a non-executive director at: Morgan Sindall plc where he chairs the Audit Committee and the Responsible Business Committee; MORhomes plc where he is Senior Independent Director and chairs the credit committee; and the Custodian Property Income REIT plc where he chairs the Audit Committee. He is a non-executive director and chair of the Audit Committee of Local Pensions Partnership Ltd.
Christèle Delbé
Independent non-executive director
Christèle Delbé is a sustainable business director with more than 18 years pioneering strategic initiatives and shifting behaviour to unlock tangible commercial benefits across food, consumer goods, technology and non-profit sectors. She is an issues expert on responsible supply chains and consumption, carbon, waste, packaging and human rights.
Christèle was head of innovation and partnerships for Bonsucro, the global sustainability standard for sugarcane, where she shaped and secured £1.5 million in funding for seven multi-stakeholder impact programmes. She has also advised organisations including UNICEF, Solidaridad, RNIB, Producers Direct on developing strategic partnerships with the corporate sector. As Supply Chain Solutions Director at KSAPA, she is currently co-creating innovative solutions for smallholder led agriculture value chains with organisations including GPSNR, Reckitt Benckiser and Coca-Cola.
Previously, as head of sustainable innovation for the Vodafone Group, Christèle pioneered a £5 million B2B programme that sparked the creation of four mobile products for Unilever, Nestlé, Danone, Anglo American to address supply chain, community and water challenges across Africa and Asia. As group head of sustainability at Orange Group, Christèle spent seven years embedding global sustainability strategy, ethics and reporting frameworks into seven countries.
Kerensa Jennings
Independent non-executive director
Kerensa Jennings is an award-winning digital leader and adviser who has held senior leadership positions in the private, public and charitable sectors. Selected by Computer Weekly among the most influential tech leaders in the UK, she has served on a range of boards including commercial companies, social enterprises, charities and government committees.
A former director at the Royal Household where she was CEO of a Royal social enterprise based at Buckingham Palace, she was previously the BBC's Head of Strategic Delivery. Her remit as BT Group Director of Data Platforms is helping BT transform from Telco to Techco. Kerensa is also a professionally qualified executive coach and a bestselling author.
Her current portfolio includes chair at the Centre for the Acceleration of Social Technology (CAST) helping the social sector with digital, data and design; Trustee at Sir John Soane’s Museum; chair at techUK Local Digital Capital Index Working Group; visiting professor of Media, Strategy and Communications at University of Huddersfield; Fellow at RSA; and Advisory Board member at Digital Leaders and at Digital Boost.
Will Price
Non-executive director
Will joined the Board in September 2021.
Will joined Macquarie in 2007, and now heads the European Utilities team for Macquarie Asset Management.
Will has been involved in several utilities acquisitions including Wales & West Utilities, Thyssengas, Czech Grid Holding, EP Infrastructure, Viesgo, CEZ Romania, and Southern Water. Will currently serves as a director on the board of Southern Water, EP Infrastructure, and Czech Grid Holding.
Will has been involved in key asset management initiatives including regulatory resets and refinancings for several utility assets, a consensual restructuring of National Car Parks, separation and transition of EP Infrastructure and Czech Gas Networks, and the disposal of Viesgo.
Will has a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Politics from the University of Bristol in the UK. He also holds a Master of Finance from INSEAD business school in France.
Will currently serves as a non-executive director on the boards (and various wholly-owned subsidiaries) of National Gas in the UK, and EP Infrastructure and Czech Grid Holding in the Czech Republic.
Steve Fraser
Non-executive director
Steve has over 20 years’ experience of managing and transforming infrastructure businesses, latterly as COO and a main board director of the FTSE100 water and wastewater company United Utilities.
He has a degree in management studies and a Master’s in engineering management from UMIST and also holds a diploma in advanced management from Harvard University.
After leaving education, Steve trained in utilities operations working across water, electricity, and latterly high-pressure gas pipelines.
He became a director of Bethell Group, where he worked to establish them as a leading player in the energy services sector. This was prior to joining United Utilities in 2005 to run the global outsourcing division Energy and Contracting Services working across the UK, Europe and the Middle East.
Steve is the CEO at Cadent Gas, accountable for serving circa 11 million customers, across four gas distribution networks, as well as running the National Gas Emergency Number on behalf of all distribution networks.
Phil Swift
Non-executive director
Former President, National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED)/CEO Western Power Distribution (WPD).
Phil joined WPD (then SWEB) in 1992 after graduating as an engineer and following an apprenticeship in the aerospace industry.
In July 2013, Phil was appointed to the Board of WPD as Operations Director. In this role, he was responsible for the business’ network services, design, logistics and safety and training activities. In November 2018, Phil was appointed as Chief Executive.
In July 2020 Phil supported the sale process of WPD. This completed successfully in June 2021 with the acquisition by National Grid plc. WPD was renamed and rebranded in mid 2022.
Phil left NGED at the end of March 2023.
Neil Corrigall
Non-executive director
Neil currently serves as a non-executive director on the boards (and various subsidiaries) of Cadent Gas (UK’s largest gas distribution network) and Czech Grid Holdings (Czech Republic’s largest gas distribution network).
Neil joined the Board in November 2023.
Neil is an Operating Partner providing specialist support for Macquarie Asset Management’s investments in utility infrastructure businesses.
Previously, Neil held multiple leadership roles at Severn Trent Plc covering regulation, strategy, business development, M&A and corporate finance.
Most recently he had full P&L and operational accountability for the group’s diversified renewables division, Severn Trent Green Power, covering biomethane production from waste, onshore wind, solar and hydro power.
Before that, Neil was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company focusing on utilities, energy and infrastructure and at Coca-Cola as a strategy analyst.
He has an undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering and holds an MBA from London Business School.
Richard Manning
General Counsel & Company Secretary
Richard joined Southern Water in July 2018 as General Counsel and Company Secretary and now has overall responsibility for leading the Risk and Compliance directorate alongside his legal and governance roles. He is a member of the Executive Committee and the Executive Leadership Team.
He has held similar roles in a number of listed and private companies including GCap Media plc, JJB Sports plc and Waterstones, and brings a wide experience of legal and governance matters.
Richard holds a law degree and an MBA and is a qualified solicitor.