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NEWS
October/November 2012 www.esb.ie/em
Launch of new ESB Corporate Strategy
AFTER A broad-ranging multi-month effort, the Board of ESB approved a new corporate strategy for ESB at its July Board meeting. This strategy was developed by an ESB Working Group with representatives from every business unit and following significant engagement with the Board, the GOU and ESB Senior Managers.
The new strategy lays out a vision for ESB through to the middle of the next decade. It restates the company’s commitment to the concept of ESB as a strong diversified Vertically Integrated Utility VIU – with strong Generation/Supply and Networks Businesses-that can compete and win in the radically new and uncertain world that has developed since the launch in 2008 of the Strategic Framework to 2020.
The strategy is based on equipping ESB to respond to three major forces that are set to shape our operating environment over the next decade:
- The creation of an All-Islands Generation and Supply Market which will transform ESB from a large player in an Ireland context to a smaller participant in a combined Irish-British market
- The decarbonisation of society and of the Power Industry by 2050 – driven by European and National Policy
- A challenging and uncertain economic environment at both the global and national level.
The strategy is organised around five priorities:
- World-Class Networks to meet the needs of our customers
- A Low-Carbon Generation and Supply Portfolio with sufficient scale
- A Transformed Cost Structure to meet competition and deliver value to our shareholders and customers
- Sustainable Innovation to enable ESB to capture opportunities
- An Engaged and Agile organisation to deliver a vibrant business that will ensure future success for ESB and its staff
Despite the uncertainty of the external environment, ESB’s new strategy lays out a roadmap for the company as a growing and dynamic firm with significant investment across a number of business areas between now and 2025.
Following its approval by the Board, the strategy was launched to ESB’s Senior Management Team on September 18th and 19th. Plans are in hand for a campaign to brief staff on the new strategy in their business units over the next few months.
Historic visit of UK Minister for Energy and Ambassador to ESB
SEPTEMBER 20TH saw the historic visit of Mr Ed Davey (UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change) to Head Office for discussions with ESB. Mr Davey was accompanied by Dominick Chilcott, the British Ambassador to Ireland, and senior officials from Britain’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) as well as UK Trade and Investment.
Discussions covered several areas of mutual interest including ESB’s existing power plant portfolio investment plans in Britain, the UK Government’s Electricity Markets Reform (EMR) initiative, efforts to increase trade and co-operation between the British and Irish energy sectors and learnings from ESB Network’s experiences in developing and deploying Smart Grids and Smart Metering.
This meeting builds on ESB’s efforts to prepare for the upcoming integration of the British and Irish electricity markets – efforts that have included the opening of a London office to help ensure that ESB perspectives have a voice at the table as British energy policy and regulatory policies are set.
The ESB delegation was led by John Shine, Deputy Chief Executive and also included Jerry O’Sullivan, MD ESB Networks Ltd; Paddy Hayes, Executive Director of ESB Generation and Wholesale Markets; John Mc-Sweeney, Head of Innovation; Peter O’Shea, Head of Regulatory Affairs and Corporate Strategy; Simon James, UK Government Relations Manager and Gareth Davis, Head of Corporate Strategy. Belinda Perry, Regulatory Affairs as well as ESB’s security and catering staff were also instrumental in ensuring that the visit went well.
Retirement of John Campion
ON JULY 27, 2012, after 34 years of service, John Campion, Executive Director, Sustainability and Human Resources, retired from ESB. On Thursday 13th September, John together with his family, joined his many ESB friends for a celebration of his career in the company.
Although born in Limerick and with connections to Laois (through his father’s family), John is very much a “Dub” and a proud Northsider to boot. He also has very strong links to Dingle, through his wife Anne, who hails from the town. A keen sports fan, John played both Gaelic football and soccer in his young days and later with ESB teams. He is a lifelong supporter of Leeds United and of the Dublin Football team. Today, John focuses on playing very fine golf, and has served as Captain of the ESB Golf Society and President in his own club (The Island) in recent years.
John joined ESB after a spell in CIE, the first company he joined after graduating as a Civil Engineer from UCD in 1974. His first role in ESB was in the Civil Works Department, working on the Shannon-bridge Station. In 1982 John moved from Hydro Division to work on the Moneypoint site.
His first experience of HR work came in 1985 when he was appointed into an Industrial Relations Officer role. From here on, John never looked back, developing the unique skills that have enabled him to make such a contribution to ESB. Arising from the organisational changes at the time, John was appointed in August 1987, to the first ‘Personnel Officer’ position in Dublin Region. During this period John also had three stints on Consultancy in Georgia, The Czech Republic and Belarus.
In February 1994 as part of a major reorganisation John was appointed as HR manager in Power Generation, also that year he completed the MSc in Management Practice with IMI/TCD with first place in the class. Following the Cost and Competitiveness Review (CCR), John led a very strong team to deliver a remarkable series of agreements for the Generation business to greatly improve company competitiveness and cost effectiveness.
He spread his wings even further in October 1998 when he took on the challenge of moving to Manager, Northern Region in Sligo where he spent 12 months in a totally new environment for him, subsequently taking on the same role in Dublin Region, working from Leopards-town Road. With the restructuring of the Networks business John was appointed Head of Networks Projects in 2000.
In November 2002 John was appointed Executive Director, HR and Corporate Affairs, a position he held for 6 years until appointed as Executive Director, Sustainability following the ground breaking ‘Strategy 2020’ in 2008. Again, John’s contribution was immense. Starting with almost a blank sheet but with hugely ambitious targets, John brought about an amazing change to the DNA of ESB, mobilising energy and commitment from all quarters and culminating in ESB achieving national recognition for our efforts.
Since 2009 John has been working as Executive Director Sustainability and HR, and has led the company through the transformational PIP negotiations and agreement, delivering a groundbreaking agreement designed to ensure ESB’s future viability.
Making the presentation to John, before family, friends and many colleagues past and present, Chief Executive Pat O’Doherty, expressed his deep respect and appreciation for John as a colleague and friend. In his response John thanked his colleagues who, over the years, had worked with him to build ESB into the successful company it is today. He thanked his family for their unstinting support and wished his colleagues and friends, current and retired, well for the future.
We wish John, Anne, Louise and Valerie many years of happiness and enjoyment.
