Board of Directors
The Rt Hon Lord Smith of Finsbury - Independent Chairman
Catherine May - Senior Independent Non-executive Director
Alice Cummings - Independent Non-executive Director
Professor Ian Barker - Independent Non-executive Director
Keith Harris - Non-executive Director and Arjun Infrastructure Partners' Representative
Peter Antolik - Non-executive Director and Arjun Infrastructure Partners' Representative
Charley Maher - Group Chief Executive Officer, South Staffordshire Plc
Elena was appointed South Staffs and Cambridge Water’s Managing Director in March 2025. Prior to joining, Elena worked for British Gas, leading one of the UK's largest engineering workforces. Earlier in her career she held leadership positions at Openreach and BT.
Elena is an executive leader for scale national service, engineering and operations business units. She has over 20 years of experience, transforming all aspects of service, financial performance, systems and process, as well as mobilising complex stakeholder groups. Her analytical and structured approach achieves step-change improvements in customer experience, people engagement, safety and financial results.
Caroline was appointed in 2020, having previously been responsible for our successful PR19 submission, developing a business plan which delivers for our customers and the environment. This saw us secure over £660m of funding for the period 2020-25.
Robert was appointed in June 2023, having started his career with the company in 1996. He has been responsible for delivering operational excellence in multiple front-line departments specialising in energy, water production and civil engineering.
With a long and diverse career in finance and leadership, Joanna joined South Staffs Water from Halma Plc, a FTSE 100 global group of life-saving technology companies, where she was Chief Financial Officer of the Environmental and Analysis sector.