senior management team

Our senior management team has a wealth of industry experience and capabilities.

Together it is responsible for developing and implementing the strategy which delivers a market-leading service for our customers and meets shareholder expectations and future ambitions.

The strength of the senior leadership team is regularly reviewed to ensure we have the right mix of skills to meet our objectives.

The SmartestEnergy senior management team consists of:

Takashi Fujinaga: Chairman and Non-Executive Director

Mr Fujinaga, a graduate of the University of Tokyo who began his career with Marubeni in 1989, has worked in its Overseas Power Project Department III for the past five years and is currently general manager. 

In his role as Chairman and Non-Executive Director of SmartestEnergy, he is responsible for coordinating the activities of the Company through the Directors and the Board. 

Hiroshi Tachigami: Non-Executive Director

Mr Tachigami graduated from the University of Tokyo and has worked for Marubeni for the past 21 years.

He is President of Marubeni Europower which provides a comprehensive project development capability for the corporation in Europe.

Ryuichi Noyama: Non-Executive Director

Mr Noyama was previously Vice President Risk Management at SmartestEnergy before returning to Marubeni in 2012.

After graduating in economics from Kyoto University in 1994 and working with Marubeni for 12 years, Mr Noyama joined SmartestEnergy in 2007 and moved to the company’s Ipswich office to help set up the Retail business.

Robert Groves: Chief Executive Officer

An MBA graduate from London Business School and a Chartered Mechanical Engineer, Robert joined SmartestEnergy as Vice President Commercial in 2004.

Robert had previously held a number of senior positions in metals and energy trading with Enron, Électricité de France (EDF) Trading and BHP Billiton.

As CEO, he is responsible for strategic issues to identify and implement the next phase of SmartestEnergy’s growth.

Hiroyuki Sawada: Chief Operating Officer

Hiroyuki Sawada has over 20 years of experience in the energy sector and has held a number of high-level positions in the wider Marubeni Corporation.  He began his career as an accountant in the Infrastructure and Energy Projects Division.

As COO, Mr Sawada is responsible for all day to day operations of SmartestEnergy.

James Clarke: Vice President, Trading

James Clarke is responsible for wholesale market trading and hedging, route to market, customer service, volume risk management and the Energy Management Centre.

An Economics graduate with a Masters in Political Economy, James joined the company’s commercial team in 2003 after four years at TXU Energy Trading in a number of analytical and project roles. 
 

Simon Little: Vice President, IT

Simon Little is responsible for the company’s strategy, new product deployment, ongoing support, and shareholder liaison in relation to IT.

Simon joined SmartestEnergy as Systems Accounting Manager in 2007 following a number of senior IT management positions with large multi-site companies. He is a Chartered Management Accountant. 

Robert Owens: Vice President, Commercial

Rob Owens was appointed to his role in 2010 after nine years with SmartestEnergy.

Prior to joining the company, Rob held a number of senior analyst positions and also worked on power price projections and commercial modelling of power plants for IIex Consultants, now Pöyry.

Naoki Ito: Vice President, Risk Management

Mr Ito joined SmartestEnergy from Marubeni in 2012. He graduated from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1993 and has worked in the Domestic Power Project Department of Marubeni for 10 years, engaging in Retail and Consolidation business in Japan.