Based on Douglas Jackson’s latest Utilities Leadership Index and H1 leadership movement review, one of the clearest shifts we are seeing is a move from standalone capability towards more connected leadership accountability.

Every quarter, we review leadership movement across Utilities, Energy, Water, Renewables and Infrastructure to understand where organisations are investing their leadership attention.

At the beginning of the year, demand was heavily focused on Technology, Digital and Data capability.

That made sense.

Organisations were investing in smart infrastructure, digital transformation, operational visibility and analytics capability but the latest data shows something more nuanced emerging.

Technology has not become less important, instead, it appears to be becoming part of a broader leadership requirement.

We are seeing stronger movement across:

• Executive leadership
• Operations
• Customer
• Commercial
• Asset and infrastructure leadership alongside continued Technology and Data investment.

The implication is significant, organisations appear to be hiring less for isolated capability and more for connected leadership.

Leaders who can bring together operational performance, customer trust, regulatory confidence and commercial growth.

The roles themselves illustrate the shift.

Technology leaders are increasingly connected to operational outcomes.

Commercial leaders are becoming more involved in affordability, transition and stakeholder management.

Customer outcomes are appearing across multiple functions rather than sitting solely within standalone customer teams.

For Boards, CEOs and Investors, that changes the hiring conversation.

The question is no longer simply:

“Who has done this role before?”

It may increasingly be:

“Who can successfully navigate the tensions our organisation will face over the next five years?”

The strongest leaders are increasingly required to operate across:

• Service and transformation
• Asset and customer
• Commercial ambition and regulatory confidence
• Innovation and operational resilience

For Boards and leadership teams, that suggests future hiring decisions may need to place greater weight on breadth of judgement, cross-functional leadership and the ability to balance commercial, operational, customer and regulatory demands.

From what we are seeing across the market, the organisations that recognise that shift earliest may be best positioned to succeed.

Some of the followng appointments and roles illustrate this shift.

• Ian Christie has joined Pennon Group as Chief Asset Officer
• Courtney Murray has moved into Director of Asset Management at National Grid,
• Kit Wilson has been appointed Chief Customer Officer at Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water,
• Ash Shukla has taken on the role of Group Head of Data and Analytics at Pennon Group and
• Emily Spearman has been appointed Director of Innovation at National Grid.

Taken together, these moves show how accountability is spreading across asset, customer, data and innovation leadership rather than sitting in isolated functional silos.

Holly Beeston
Utilities & Infrastructure Practice Lead, Douglas Jackson

Explore the latest Douglas Jackson Utilities Leadership Index for further insight into leadership movement, market trends and senior hiring activity across Utilities, Energy, Water and Infrastructure.