Contact Energy dances to a new tune

Wednesday 1st July 2009

Contact Energy has further reshuffled its senior management team, appointing ex-patriate Graham Cockroft to the new position of Chief Operating Officer.

Better known to Kiwis of a certain age as the bass player for early 80's new wavers The Netherworld Dancing Toys, Cockroft comes to Contact after 19 years with British Gas, in senior strategy, business development and operational roles around the globe.

The appointment reduces the number of direct reports to managing director David Baldwin to seven executives, as opposed to 10 at the time of the company's 2008 annual report. As a result of the changes, current GM, Wholesale, John Woods, becomes a direct report to Cockroft, while the current GM, Generation, Mark Trigg is leaving the company after 11 years.

Contact's chief financial officer Kim Josling moved to work for Contact's majority shareholder, Origin Energy, last year and is in the process of being replaced. A former GM, Corporate Affairs, Bruce Parkes and former GM, Strategic Marketing, Ian Scherger, have not been replaced.

Cockroft takes over responsibility for the operation of Contact’s wholesale and generation functions, including generation development. Most recently, Cockroft was Asset General Manager for BG Group based in Sāo Paulo, Brazil, with responsibility for BG’s activities in Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.

Operations under his management included BG’s gas wholesaling operation in Brazil which supplied Comgas, the largest gas distribution company in Brazil, with responsibility for 1100 employees as well as regional strategy and development.

“Graham has had an outstanding international career and we are extremely fortunate to have him back in New Zealand and in a strategically important role for Contact,” Baldwin said.

Cockroft started his career in investment banking and treasury. He holds bachelor and masters degrees in Commerce from the University of Otago, and a Master of Finance degree from the London Business School.

He has held directorships on various listed companies. While at Otago, he played bass for the Netherworld Dancing Toys, one of the more clean-cut acts in the alternative Flying Nun label's stable.

The band were perhaps best known for the song "For Today (I Remember Your Smile)", which made it to Number 3 on the New Zealand charts in 1985.

Businesswire.co.nz

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