Robert Groves: Chief Executive Officer

Robert is responsible for the management of SmartestEnergy’s 3.3GW of aggregated generation capacity from distribution-connected generators, as well as the supply of electricity to large business consumers.

Robert began his energy career with Enron in 1997 and held senior commercial positions at EDF Trading and BHP Billiton, before joining SmartestEnergy in 2004 as Vice President Commercial. He became Chief Operating Officer in 2006 and was then appointed Chief Executive in 2011.

A former submarine engineer in the Royal Navy and Chartered Engineer, Robert has an MBA from London Business School, a BEng(Hons) in Mechanical Engineering and a Diploma in Nuclear Technology and Engineering.

Naoki Ito: Chief Operating Officer

Mr Ito joined SmartestEnergy as Vice President of Risk Management from Marubeni in 2012 and became Chief Operating Officer in 2016. In this role he has responsibility across functions including sales & marketing, trading, risk management, customer services, finance and HR.

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.

Dave Cockshott: Chief Commercial Officer

Dave joined SmartestEnergy in 2017 and is responsible for all commercial activity across retail supply, generation, trading and asset optimisation.

He has held director level roles with both “Big 6” and large energy consultants and he played a leading role in the development of flexible contracts in the industry.

Dave joined SmartestEnergy from Inenco Group where he was Chief Commercial Officer with board responsibility for client relationships.

Previous roles have included both I&C and latterly Domestic Market Director for npower, managing a team of over 1,400.

He has also worked for Utilyx and Northern Electric and Gas. He is a Member of the Institute of Directors.

Takafumi Shigemura: Deputy Chief Commercial Officer and Director

Takafumi Shigemura joined Marubeni Corporation in 2007 as Foreign Exchange & Financial Products Dept. and became General Manager of Power Generation Development Team in Domestic Power development department in 2013. He has 8 years of experience in IPP business in Japan, especially covering the renewable sectors: hydro, on-shore wind, off-shore wind, solar, biomass and geo-thermal, and also working for thermal power.

He then joined SmartestEnergy in April 2017 as Deputy Chief Commercial Officer, Director, this role covers all commercial activities and coordination work with shareholders.

He graduated from the Gakushuin University, with a Bachelor of Management (Economics) in 1996 and has over 10 years of experience in financial trading and the investment sector in Japan. He has worked in Marubeni Corporation for over 10 years.

Andy Cormie: Vice President I&C Supply

Andy joined the company as Head of New Product Delivery in 2012 before becoming Vice President, Customer Service & Operations in 2013 and taking up his current role in 2017.

He is responsible for all of SmartestEnergy’s I&C Supply commercial and operational activities including all related ‘route to market’ products and services.

Before SmartestEnergy he was a Senior Manager at Ofgem working on Distribution Network Policy and Assistant Director at DECC on Distributed Energy & Heat, having been involved in delivery of a range of energy policies, strategies and legislation across Government. He is a graduate in Marine Geography from the University of Wales Cardiff.

Simon Tucker: Vice President, Trading

Simon is responsible for SmartestEnergy’s wholesale market trading and hedging, route-to-market services, renewable and industry costs pricing/management, volume risk management and Energy Management Centre (EMC) activities.

He joined the company as a Senior Trader seven years ago before taking up his current role in April 2016.

Simon previously worked for Macquarie Group and Aquila Energy where he specialised in gas trading and in total has over 16 years’ energy trading experience.

He holds an MSc in Mathematics and Finance from Imperial College, London and a MEng in Aeronautical Engineering from Bristol University.

Robert Owens: Vice President, Smartest Asset Optimisation

Having occupied numerous commercial roles at SmartestEnergy since he joined as a founding member in 2001, Rob Owens was appointed to the role of Vice President DSM in 2015.

In this role Rob is responsible for developing our nascent flexibility business and exploring related opportunities.

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 Pöyry.

Louise Wapshare: Vice President, Finance

Louise is a key member of the senior management team and provides financial leadership across all aspects of the company’s operations. Her role also includes supporting potential merger & acquisition opportunities.

Louise joined SmartestEnergy in 2016 from Centrica where she had performed a number of roles, the most recent being Head of Finance for British Gas Home Repairs where key achievements had included successful delivery of a £2.8m accounting IT change project.

She began her career at London-based Brebner, Allen & Trapp after graduating in Accountancy and Economics from Reading University. Louise is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Certified Accountants and of the Chartered Institute of Management.

Carl Josson: Vice President, Risk

Carl has overall responsibility for SmartestEnergy’s risk management across sales and trading activities.

He took up the position after serving as Head of Risk Management and had joined SmartestEnergy in 2014 from a role as Head of Market Risk for Power, Emissions, Coal & Freight at E.ON Global Commodities.

Carl began his career in the energy industry in 2002 in a risk management position with D-Gas.

He has a PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of Kent at Canterbury and holds a degree in Theoretical Physics from the University of Ghent.

Iain Robertson – Vice President Renewables

Iain joined SmartestEnergy in 2008 as a Business Development Manager before becoming Generation Sales Manager and then taking up his current position in March 2017. Iain also established the company’s Glasgow office in 2011.

He leads SmartestEnergy’s Renewables Group, which is responsible for the end-to-end PPA journey of our generation customers as well as working with other stakeholders.

Iain’s previous industry experience includes roles in Energy Trading, Technical Services and Metering Services with ScottishPower. He has also served on the board of Scottish Renewables.

Iain has a BEng (Hons) in Environmental Engineering and a Postgraduate Diploma in Energy Systems & the Environment from the University of Strathclyde.

Sophie Taylor: Vice President IT & Business Change

Sophie provides the vision, leadership and day to day oversight of all SmartestEnergy’s Change and IT activities.

Her role includes responsibility for work to support the continued sustainable growth of the company within an integrated IT platform environment.

Sophie joined SmartestEnergy from International Financial Data Services (IFDS) where she was Director of Change Management. She has previously served as Head of Change Management for Legal & General and holds a BSc (Hons) Degree in Information Technology.

Hiroyuki Sawada: Chairman and Non-Executive Director

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 is currently General Manager of Marubeni’s European Power Division after serving as Chief Operating Officer at SmartestEnergy for over three years until March 2014.

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.

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.