The Board of energy company Pacific Hydro has appointed Michael Fuge as CEO, effective early July 2014.
Fuge, who takes over from Rob Grant, has 20 years of international experience in the energy sector. His career has focused on driving transformations in performance in the areas of growth, productivity, efficiency, safety and people engagement.
"This is an outstanding appointment. Michael has deep energy experience across exploration, production and distribution, having led large teams and complex, large-scale developments in New Zealand, as well as in diverse cultures including Oman and Brunei," said Garry Weaven, Chair of Pacific Hydro. "Pacific Hydro has diverse renewable energy sources across multiple geographies and as CEO, Michael will focus on realising the significant value potential of the company.
"The global outlook for the renewable energy sector is strong and Michael will selectively consider growth opportunities within an overall framework of operational excellence to deliver strong performance returns to investors."
Fuge joins Pacific Hydro from Genesis Energy Limited, New Zealand's largest energy retailer, where he was Chief Operating Officer since 2011. In this role he delivered a turnaround in safety performance and year-on-year profitability growth. He reinvigorated the retail energy arm to retain and grow market share across all sectors, servicing a base of more than 650,000 customers, and oversaw the delivery of the NZ$150 million Tekapo Hydro remediation project.
Prior to Genesis, Michael served as General Manager of Client Delivery at Gen-i Limited, a division of Telecom New Zealand. His experience includes international operations management, change management, planning, strategy and major project delivery at a senior level.
Originally from New Zealand, he joined Gen-i in 2008 from the Royal Dutch Shell Group. He spent a significant part of his career with Shell in senior management roles in the oil and gas industry in Europe, the Middle East and South East Asia, including roles as General Manager Operations Brunei and Transformation Manager for Petroleum Development in Oman.
