EnergyAustralia has recruited an industry leader for the newly-created position of Executive, Strategy and Corporate Affairs and announced the resignation of its current Chief Operating Officer, Liz Westcott.
Former Aurora Energy Chief Executive Officer, Rebecca Kardos, has been appointed to the Strategy and Corporate Affairs role where she will be responsible for strategy, customer assets, sustainability, government and regulatory affairs and communications, reporting to EnergyAustralia Managing Director, Mark Collette.
Mr Collette said the appointment would assist EnergyAustralia in undergoing its transition to net zero technologies.
“With the increasing pace of change in the energy sector, we are very pleased to have Rebecca join EnergyAustralia. Rebecca’s passion for customers and good customer outcomes amid the energy transition will help shape our strategy of making the energy transition simple for our customers,” Mr Collette said.
Ms Kardos has recently completed eight years as Chief Executive Officer at Aurora Energy, during which she successfully oversaw a period of rapid change in the energy market in Tasmania and nationally, while continuing to improve services for customers. Before joining Aurora Energy, Rebecca held the position of General Manager Retail at Synergy in Western Australia. Ms Kardos will join EnergyAustralia in early February 2023.
The resignation of EnergyAustralia’s current Chief Operating Officer, Liz Westcott, has also been confirmed.
“Liz has made a significant contribution to building capability across our business during a period of significant change,” Mr Collete said.
“Among the many highlights of Liz’s time as Chief Operating Officer are her leadership of the early closure of Yallourn, building a project execution capability that is now successfully constructing Tallawarra B and overseeing significant improvements in our safety performance. I thank her greatly for her contribution.
“Operations remains one of our most important leadership positions, and we have taken the opportunity to narrow the scope of the role to allow a more granular focus on the performance and reliability of EnergyAustralia’s largest assets, including Yallourn and Mt Piper.”
Ms Westcott will be superseded by CLP’s (EnergyAustralia’s parent company) Director of Fleet Management, Michael Hutchinson.
Mr Hutchinson will lead EnergyAustralia’s operations as interim Executive, Operations and Projects, until a permanent replacement is found.
“I am pleased that Michael will join us in December to complete a smooth transition while we undertake an internal and external search for a new Operations and Projects Executive,” Mr Collette said.
