Perth-based utility company SSE is set for a summer boardroom shake-up after confirming two of its long-standing non-executive directors were stepping down.
Non-executive director Thomas Thune Anderson will leave the group after six years in July to take up a new position as chairman with Danish-based DONG Energy.
The two companies have joint venture interests, most notably in the £1 billion Walney offshore wind farm off Cumbria, and their association means Mr Thune Anderson must stand down from SSE before being elected to his new role.
That will not take place until SSE’s summer AGM and DONG which is a significant player in the UK oil and gas market, with a total of 36 licences in the central North Sea and in waters West of Shetland has moved to elect Benny Loft as chairman on an interim basis.
“As SSE and DONG Energy have a partnership within wind energy Thomas Thune Andersen must resign from the board of directors of SSE, before he can be elected chairman of DONG Energy,” the Danish firm said yesterday.
“This takes place at the general meeting at SSE on July 17, after which Thomas Thune Andersen at the earliest possible date will be elected chairman of the board of directors of DONG Energy on an extraordinary general meeting.”
SSE chairman Lord Smith of Kelvin said the chairmanship of DONG represented a major opportunity for Mr Thune Anderson, who is also chairman of Lloyd’s Register Group and vice-chairman of the company behind Velux windows.
“It is a major company in his native Denmark and beyond and, sorry though I am that he will be leaving the board, where his contribution on a wide range of issues including safety is of such value, I fully support his decision to take up this significant opportunity and wish him well,” Lord Smith said.
SSE also confirmed that Lady Susan Rice, a non executive director of the Court of the Bank of England and managing director of Lloyds Banking Group Scotland, is leaving the board after more than 10 year’s service.
Lady Susan joined SSE as a non-executive director in 2003 and became senior independent director in 2007. She is chairman of the remuneration committee which consults on executive pay levels and a member of the nomination committee.
“I would like to thank Susan for everything she has done since she joined the Board of SSE,” Lord Smith said.
The changes will leave SSE’s board with four non-executive directors, two executive directors and Lord Smith as chairman.
The firm said it expected that an additional non-executive director would be appointed to the company’s governing body during the year.