Group executive committee

Alistair joined SSE in 1997, and possesses a detailed knowledge of the operations of each business area having held a number of senior roles throughout the Company.

Prior to joining the Board in 2002 as Energy Supply Director, Alistair was Director of Corporate Finance and Business Development. In 2010, he became Generation and Supply Director, before Deputy Chief Executive in 2012, then Chief Executive in 2013.

As Chief Executive, Alistair is responsible for leading the Group Executive Committee and for ensuring the delivery of strategy as agreed by the Board.

Gregor is a Chartered Accountant. He joined SSE in 1990 and since this time has worked in various finance roles within the Company, including Treasury and Tax, prior to joining the Board as Finance Director in 2002.

During his career Gregor has been instrumental in a number of the major transactions and investments which define the Group. His extensive and long-standing knowledge of financial markets and experience of shareholder views, has supported the development of SSE's financial strategy, and purpose to create value for shareholders and society.

Martin joined SSE in 1998 as an energy trader, becoming Managing Director, Energy Portfolio Management, and a member of SSE's then Management Board in 2012. In 2014, he was appointed Managing Director, Wholesale, and a member of SSE's Executive Committee.

Martin became Wholesale Director and a member of the SSE plc Board in September 2017. Martin is responsible for energy portfolio management, electricity generation, gas production, gas storage, and energy supply and related services for industrial and commercial customers.

Sally joined SSE in 1997 as a chartered accountant working in the Corporate Finance team. Through this role, which included responsibility for long term financial modelling of the SSE Group, she developed a good knowledge of the Group’s diverse operations and the UK energy industry.

In 2007, Sally became Director of Investor Relations and Analysis allowing her to develop extensive experience of the shareholder and financial analyst community, and through associated engagement has a detailed understanding of relevant investor views. Sally was appointed to the joint role of Company Secretary and Director of Investor Relations in December 2014.

Chris joined SSE in November 2020 from Arriva, where he has been Managing Director – UK Trains since 2014. Chris led Arriva to several key contract awards, including the London Overground franchise and delivered significant increases in customer satisfaction and other performance measures.

He began his career at Railtrack in 1996 and following a period as an official in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, joined the Go-Ahead Group, where he was Director of Operations, Thames Trains and Managing Director for the Southern rail franchise. In 2013, Chris spent a three-year term as a non-executive Director for the water regulator, Ofwat, and in 2017 was appointed chair of the industry body, the Rail Delivery Group.

Since November 2018, Jim Smith has been leading SSE Renewables, which brings the together the development and operation of all SSE’s renewables assets under a dedicated management team.

Jim joined SSE in 1988 and has held a wealth of development, production and management roles within large scale power generation and transmission as well as renewables. Jim has also held roles in Energy Portfolio Management and was responsible for SSE’s generation, gas storage and E&P assets too. He was previously the Managing Director of Renewable Development, responsible for the development and construction of onshore and offshore wind power projects.

Rob has been SSE’s Managing Director of Transmission since April 2019. Prior to this Rob was SSE’s Managing Director Corporate and Business Services covering Legal, Regulation, Compliance, Safety and Large Capital Projects Services across the Group.

Rob joined Southern Electric in 1997 and held various managerial roles within the Regulation Group including SSE’s Director of Regulation and Managing Director, Regulation and Strategy. In July 2006 he was appointed as a Board Director of Scotia Gas Networks plc. Prior to that Rob worked as an economist with the Office of Electricity Regulation.

Liz is a barrister who joined SSE in 2002 as part of the acquisition of Neos Networks. Since joining SSE, Liz has held a variety of legal and commercial roles within a number of different SSE group companies which provided a good overview of core operational challenges.

As Group General Counsel she is responsible corporate functions including legal, regulation, compliance, data protection, large capital projects and energy economics. Liz also chairs the SSE Large Capital Projects Committee, is an Executive Committee member of the GC100 and is a non-executive director at Sohonet. Liz was appointed to her current role in SSE in March 2019, joining the SSE Executive Committee.

John is strongly committed to talent development, employee engagement and SSE being a responsible employer.  He is passionate about people development and actively supports the progress of young people through SSE’s talent pipeline programmes, as Chair of the Career Ready Advisory Board in Scotland and as an ambassador for Developing the Young Workforce. He is a member of the board of the Scottish Leadership Group and a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD.

He believes in transparent measurement and reporting of people data. This has led SSE to measure and report on the value of its human capital, its return on training and its return on inclusion. This analysis has allowed informed approaches to be taken to develop a longer term deliver plan, targets and strategy in these key areas.

John has worked in a broad range of senior management roles in the Energy and Water Sectors and has experience of working in both the UK and in the US.

Sam Peacock joined SSE in 2011 and heads up SSE’s Corporate Affairs and Strategy teams.  He has responsibility for government relations, policy development, employee communications, external affairs, corporate brand and project communications.

He is also responsible for developing SSE’s Group Strategy, reporting to the Group Executive Committee and Board. Previous to joining SSE, Sam headed up government affairs at Ofgem and worked at leading communications agency Edelman, as well as in Parliament and in Government. He joined SSE’s Group Executive Committee in 2020.