New CFO and Executive Changes

ADMIN

Mon, Apr 28 2025 08:30 am

Meridian Energy has appointed Mandy Simpson as its new Chief Financial Officer, effective 1 September 2025.

Mandy brings a depth of executive experience across finance, operations and technology, both in the UK and in New Zealand. This includes CFO roles for the State Services Commission, IT consultancy Fronde Systems and management and accounting roles at Audit New Zealand and Deloitte. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and holds a Master of Law with Honours from Cambridge University.

Mandy has deep capital markets expertise, including four years as Chief Operating Officer at NZX and operations and investigative roles at the London Stock Exchange.

Most recently Mandy has been General Manager, Strategy, Delivery and Innovation at Z Energy and has been part of that company’s Leadership Team since 2019.

Meridian’s incoming CEO Mike Roan says he is delighted to be welcoming someone of Mandy’s calibre to the company’s Executive Team.

“Mandy has proven leadership capability and a great mix of strong finance skills and broader operational and technology experience. She also has a strong record delivering organisation change and technology transformation.”

As CFO, Mandy will have responsibility for Finance, Risk, Treasury, Investor Relations and Procurement. Given her 1 September start date and Mike Roan’s transition to CEO, Meridian Group Financial Controller Helen Peters has been appointed Acting CFO.

In other Executive changes, the company has created a new role of General Manager, Strategy and Portfolio, elevating Strategy to the Executive team and combining it with the Financial Trading and Portfolio Management functions of the Wholesale team.

The role of General Manager, Wholesale will be disestablished, and Chris Ewers will initially act in the role of General Manager, Strategy and Portfolio. Once recruitment for that role is completed, Chris will take up a new position as Electricity Security Manager, reporting to General Manager, Generation Tania Palmer. The Wholesale Operations function of the Wholesale team also becomes part of the Generation team.

Mike Roan says these changes will enhance collaboration at a time when it’s vital that we have teams working closely together to create long-term value and opportunity.

“Our industry is going through reasonably substantial change, and what I wanted was one of our most capable people focused in on security of supply as we navigate the next few years. Chris has steered us through some turbulent times in the wholesale electricity market and he will bring an enormous amount of industry experience and expertise to his new role.”