Mark Wild to succeed the retiring John Morea as SGN CEO

John Morea will be retiring as SGN's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with effect from 12th August 2022, having held the role since 2008.

 

Mr Morea leaves SGN after a 42-year career in the energy sector. He started as a power engineer and progressed to managing SSE’s electricity distribution and transmission networks before switching to gas upon joining SGN.

 

Mark Wild has been appointed as his successor and will take up the post on 15th August. Most recently serving as CEO of Crossrail, he oversaw the successful opening of the Elizabeth line in central London. He moved to Crossrail in 2018 from Transport for London (TfL), where he was Managing Director for the London Underground.

 

A highly regarded leader, Mr Wild joined TfL in 2016 having previously resided in Australia, during which time he was special advisor to the Minister and Secretary of The State Government of Victoria. He was previously Chief Executive of Public Transport Victoria, the integrated transport authority based in Melbourne serving a population of some six million people. Before moving to Australia, he held several senior roles in the UK rail and power sectors. As well as having a background in engineering, Mr Wild has successfully managed large capital and maintenance programmes.

 

Nick Salmon, Chair of SGN, said: "We are delighted to be appointing Mark Wild as our new CEO. He brings extensive leadership and operational delivery experience at a time when SGN is entering a new phase of growth, as we look to help shape the UK’s energy future."

 

Mr Salmon added: "John [Morea] is a widely respected industry figure who has built an enduring reputation for SGN as a safety-first, sector-leading energy company which is the number one network for customer service. On behalf of the board, I would like to thank John for his service and achievements during his time with SGN and wish him well for the future."

 

Speaking about his appointment, Mr Wild said: "It’s incredibly exciting to be joining SGN as the company prepares to meet the net zero challenge through world-leading innovation and engineering excellence. I look forward to making sure we are best placed to do that while maintaining our essential round-the-clock service to keep millions of people safe and warm.”

 

Mr Morea reflects fondly on his time with SGN while also wishing his successor well.

 

He commented: "I’m extremely proud of what many thousands of my colleagues have achieved since SGN began life. We’ve had a great start but now it’s time for a new chapter, so I want to wish Mark every possible success and thank everyone I’ve worked with over the years."

 

SGN looks after the gas network in the south of England and across Scotland, while SGN Natural Gas operates the network in Northern Ireland.