Meet our Senior Management Team

Robert Groves: Chief Executive Officer, SmartestEnergy Limited

Robert is responsible for the management of SmartestEnergy’s 3.2GW 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.

Ryuichi Noyama: Chief Operating Officer, SmartestEnergy Limited

As Chief Operating Officer of SmartestEnergy, Ryuichi Noyama is responsible for the control functions (Risk, Finance, Compliance/Regulation). He is also serving role as Executive Director of SmartestEnergy Board.

As a member of SmartestEnergy's management, he is focused on the success of our colleagues and the joy of their achievements. In 1994 he joined Marubeni where he worked for almost 30 years! In 2007 Ryuichi Noyama joined SmartestEnergy where throughout the years he had multiple roles of Deputy VP Risk, Deputy VP Retail, VP Risk. In 2013 he started a role as Non-Executive Director of SmartestEnergy in which he worked in Tokyo as a counterpart of SmartestEnergy in Marubeni. In 2019 he started a new role as Chief Operating Officer for SmartestEnergy US and later in November, 2021 he began his current role as a Chief Operating Officer at SmartestEnergy Limited in London.

Rob Pringle: Chief Technology Officer, SmartestEnergy Limited

Rob joined SmartestEnergy in 2019 and has global responsibilities for all aspects of technology-enabled innovation and transformation and day-to-day IT operations for the organisation. He has over 25 years of experience in the energy industry across a range of business areas, including trading, risk management, energy retail and high availability IT infrastructures and services.

Before joining Smartest, Rob was with Shell’s New Energies division working on technology solutions to optimise small-scale power assets. Rob has also held senior leadership roles at Gazprom Marketing & Trading as Director of Global IT and Centrica Energy as Head of Architecture. He has been active in several industry association initiatives and was a co-founder of the European Energy Trading CIO Forum.

A graduate from Aston University, Rob holds a BSc in Business Administration and Computer Science and joined British Gas on graduation, following a year with them on industrial placement and being awarded a bursary.

James Graham: Vice President Sales, SmartestEnergy Limited

James joined SmartestEnergy in 2012 as a Business Development Manager after more than a decade’s experience working in the energy sector. In his current role, he is responsible for all customer-facing commercial activities and sales strategy and manages commercial teams across business development, account management, commercial, and marketing.

James provides insight-backed views on market opportunities and risks, defining how these could impact future growth, and has worked as part of the team defining our future product roadmap, translating into platform change and investment, resulting in the initiation of our most ambitious transformation project, as our product concepts evolve into products and we acquire new sales pipeline opportunities and actual growth.

His career in the energy industry has seen him hold senior roles with companies, including Reactive Technologies and Bergen Energi, and he is keen to continue to play a leadership role, getting involved as Smartest strives to become the benchmark for renewable energy suppliers. He wants to continue developing outside his core commercial experience and building a more robust general management skillset.

James studied at the University of Leeds, graduating with a BA(Hons) in International History and Politics. He enjoys living by the sea and has taken up cold water swimming, enjoying the exhilarating experience of swimming during the winter.

Hayley Thompson: Vice President Global Marketing, SmartestEnergy Ltd

Hayley joined SmartestEnergy in 2018 as Marketing Communications Manager before working as Head of Marketing Communications and Customer Experience and finally moving into her current role as Vice President of Global Marketing in 2022. She is responsible for the coordination and management of all marketing activity within SmartestEnergy globally, overseeing both our insights and marketing communications teams.

Hayley is experienced in leading high-achieving marketing teams, with demonstrated success working for leading companies spanning a range of industries from engineering and aviation to healthcare, education and now utilities.

She is a well-rounded marketing professional, skilled in digital strategy, branding, marketing management, corporate social responsibility, integrated marketing, public relations and crisis communications, with a bachelor's degree in Anthropology and Psychology from the University of North Carolina.

Zoe Spurgeon: Vice President Operations, SmartestEnergy Ltd

Zoe joined SmartestEnergy in 2021 as Vice President of Operations and is responsible for delivering operational excellence through leading, implementing and managing significant profit and loss business areas. Her key strengths include strategy setting and leading through to delivery, operational transformation and change, and excellent interpersonal and team development skills.

Zoe is focused on building a high-performing team, ensuring seamless service to our customers across the whole lifecycle whilst balancing financial performance and growth. She is the operational sponsor of the largest transformation programme SmartestEnergy has delivered, and places support for our customers' net zero journeys as a key priority.

She has wide-ranging experience in strategic, commercial, operational, and financial roles within the manufacturing, utility, and service sectors, having worked as Director of I&C Energy Supply at Centrica, I&C Energy Head of Operations at British Gas, and a range of leading roles at Thames Water. Outside work, Zoe enjoys baking, supporting the local rugby club where her two boys play, and is a mentor for the Women in Utilities Network, providing support and expertise to women in the utilities sector.

Claire Talbot: Vice President IT, SmartestEnergy Ltd

Claire joined SmartestEnergy in 2021 as Global Vice President of IT and is responsible for the design, development and implementation of our Enterprise information systems, software applications, and IT support and infrastructure systems. She is also responsible for SEL UK IT.

Claire provides leadership for the continued development of an innovative, robust and secure IT environment Global for SmartestEnergy. A mentor with long-standing ties to STEM and Women in Technology. Claire has financial acumen coupled with extensive experience in end-to-end IT project management, data migration and upgrades, transformational change, and IT operations.

Claire has accrued over 30 years of experience in IT-based roles across a range of industries, with her most recent roles as Director of IT at Clarks and SSE, Global CIO at Nisbets and IT Leader at NSF International. Her career started at Northampton University, where she studied a HND in Computer Science.

Richard Hamilton: Vice President Finance, SmartestEnergy Limited

Richard joined SmartestEnergy in 2021 as Vice President of Finance and is responsible for overseeing all financial-related matters in the company.

Before joining SmartestEnergy, Richard spent 9 years working at Gazprom Marketing & Trading in various senior finance roles.

Before his work in the energy sector, Richard started his career in the Financial Services industry with the US investment bank Morgan Stanley. He graduated from the University of Glasgow with a bachelor’s in Accounting with Finance and later gained his certification as a Charted Accountant from The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

Klaus Wiebauer: Vice President Portfolio Optimisation & Pricing, SmartestEnergy Ltd

Klaus joined SmartestEnergy in 2022 as Vice President of Portfolio Optimisation and Pricing and is responsible for optimizing SmartestEnergy's current portfolio by developing ideas, partnerships, and building new business.

With over 20 years of experience in the energy industry, Klaus is a strong business professional, skilled in risk management, financial modelling and strategic leadership. His career in the energy industry has seen him hold senior roles with companies, including TotalEnergies and EnBW, after having studied Mathematics at Heidelberg University.

Julia Byford-Smith: Head of Compliance and Regulation, SmartestEnergy Limited

Julia joined SmartestEnergy in 2010 as a Business Analyst before progressing to Industry Regulatory Risk Manager and finally into her current role as Head of Compliance and Regulation in 2019. She is responsible for ensuring the company complies with its regulatory obligations concerning Supply Licence Conditions, Industry Governance & Change, Financial Legislation with regard to trading in Wholesale Energy Markets, Data Privacy, Anti-Corruption and various other related legislation such as Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering, Competition Law and Modern Slavery.

Julia has worked in the energy industry for over 20 years. Her career has seen her hold roles with companies, including Eastern Electricity, Powergen, E.ON and Gemserv, with roles spanning Registration, Operations, Data Quality, Change Management and Industry Governance.

Outside work, Julia is a lead singer in a ukelele band, with experience as a semi-professional vocalist in the local rock music scene for over 25 years.

Mark Nixon: Vice President Trading, SmartestEnergy Ltd

Mark joined SmartestEnergy in 2008 and is responsible for managing SmartestEnergy's power, gas and renewable trading activities in Europe and providing market insight to inform and implement company strategy.

He has over 18 years of experience in the energy industry, working at RWE in analyst roles before moving to SmartestEnergy, where he has now worked for 14 years.

A graduate of the University of Bath, Mark holds a Masters in Mechanical Engineering, completing his master's project at Grenoble Institute of Technology.

Mike Stark: Vice President Risk, SmartestEnergy Limited

Mike Joined SmartestEnergy in 2023 as Vice President of Risk and is responsible for managing and overseeing all the financial and non-financial risks for the company.

Mike comes with over 25 years’ experience in highly regulated commodity trading and energy trading environments and has successfully led the Risk and Middle Office functions at both PetroChina and Chevron trading organisations, in addition to previous experience at Enron, Phibro and Shell, where Mike began his career in 1993.

Mike has a BA(Hons) in Business and Finance from London South Bank University and is a Fellow of the Institute of Risk Management (CFIRM).

Caroline Pear: Senior Vice President Global Human Resources, SmartestEnergy Limited

Caroline joined SmartestEnergy in 2023 as Senior Vice President of Global HR and is responsible for overseeing all people-related matters in the company.

Caroline comes with over 20 years’ experience in energy / financial services environments. Before joining SmartestEnergy Caroline spent half her career working in senior roles within the Energy industry (EDF) and the other half of her career working as a management consultant including Deloitte and most recently EY.

Caroline has a BSc.(Hons) in Psychology from Birmingham University and an MSc. in Business Psychology from Nottingham University Business School.