Meet the board

Colin Skellett is a scientist and engineer by training and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He has worked largely in the water industry and was appointed chief executive in 1988. He took the company through privatisation, creating a business that consistently delivers the highest environmental and customer service performance within the industry.

He has had non-executive roles in rail, travel and international infrastructure businesses, served on the board of the South West Regional Development Agency and is involved with a number of charities. Colin was also chair of the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership from 2011 until the beginning of 2016.

Colin was awarded an OBE for services to business and WaterAid in the 2012 Queen's Birthday Honours and has Honorary Doctorates in Engineering from the Universities of the West of England and Bristol.

A civil engineer turned economist, Andy is a Chartered Director and Fellow of the Institute of Directors with more than 25 years' experience in the water sector. Andy was previously managing director of Wessex Water’s regulated water and sewerage business from 2016 and director of regulation and customer services from 2012.

Andy was appointed to the board of Wessex Water Services Limited in August 2012. He is also co-chair of Wessex Water's joint venture billing company, Pelican Business Services, and chair of Wessex WaterAid, which has raised more than £1.5m for the charity over the past 10 years.

John is the Chief Operating Officer for Wessex Water with overall responsibility for meeting the needs of our customers through sustainable operations and engineering. John joined Wessex Water in 2006 after a varied career in the oil, gas, aviation, defence and water industry sectors. John has over 20 years’ experience in empowering and leading large teams to deliver award winning services with a proven record of creating a positive inclusive team culture, supporting people development and providing strong commercial growth.

John’s appointment as Health and Safety Board Director in March 2021 recognises his experience, collaborative ethos and commitment to continuously improve throughout Wessex Water and the wider industry.

Appointed to the board of Wessex Water Services Limited in June 2020, John is a director of the Wessex Water Services Pension Trustee board and a member of the Environment and Public Value Committee.

John is a Trustee of Futura Learning Partnership, a partnership of schools which span the Bristol, Keynsham, Bath and Clevedon areas that are working together to provide high quality educational experience and life skills for all students in their care.

Ruth is the Chief Compliance Officer and Group General Counsel for Wessex Water. Ruth joined Wessex Water in 2016 after a legal career in London and Bristol specialising in competition law issues across a broad range of sectors and clients. Ruth has wide experience of legal and governance matters and overall responsibility for the group services and compliance issues.

Ruth was appointed to the board of Wessex Water Services Limited in September 2022. Ruth is also Board member of the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership.

Jim has a background in technology and services, working with a number of early-stage technology companies as both an investor and mentor. In his executive career Jim was the chief operating officer at Logica PLC having previously worked for GEC-Marconi and the Plessey Company PLC.

Appointed to the board of Wessex Water Services Limited in June 2019, he became the senior independent director in November 2020. Jim is a member of the nominations, remuneration and audit committees.

Jim is the chairman of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and chairman of the SS Great Britain Trust. He is also vice-president of Catch22, a social business he helped create in 2008.

Previously chairman of Parsons Brinckerhoff (Europe) and chairman of Azzurri Communications, Jim also chaired the Senate at the University of East London and was a member of the government’s Senior Salaries Review Board.

Kate has extensive experience of energy and transport infrastructure in both the public and private sectors, as well as the economic regulatory environment. Building on her corporate finance background, Kate has worked on structuring and funding investment in large scale, complex, projects in a variety of senior roles.

Kate began her career with S G Warburg (subsequently UBS), before moving to Goldman Sachs, later becoming Director, Corporate Finance at the Department of Transport. She was a member of HM Treasury’s Major Projects Review Group.

Appointed to the board of Wessex Water Services Limited in June 2019, Kate was appointed chair of the audit and risk committee in August 2020. She is also a member of the remuneration, nomination, and environmental and public value committees.

Kate is currently the Senior Independent Director at Mutual Energy and a trustee of the British Science Association having previously been a NED at Ansaldo STS S.p.A. (now Hitachi Rail STS). She is actively involved in economic and corporate finance consulting including being a senior adviser at Cambridge Economics Policy Associates.

Tim’s career began in broadcasting at the BBC where he was Editor of Newsnight, Panorama, and Head of Current Affairs Programmes, and then went on to executive roles at Channel 5 and Channel 4 TV.  Tim has held several senior roles across a variety of commercial, regulated and consumer sectors.

Appointed to the board of Wessex Water Services Limited in January 2020, Tim is a member of the audit and risk and nomination committees.  He is also a member of the Futures Panel.

Tim was previously the Chair of the Consumers Association (Which?).  He also was a non-executive member of the Ofcom board from 2008 to 2015.  Tim was also the Principal of St Anne’s College at the University of Oxford from 2004-2016.  Tim is currently the Chief Executive of the Nuffield Foundation.

Kevin has extensive experience in the banking and finance sectors having spent four decades working for Barclays Bank in senior leadership roles in the UK and overseas. Kevin retired from Barclays Bank in 2020 and his last role was as CEO and board member of Barclays European subsidiary as well as being a member of the Barclays Bank PLC executive committee.

Appointed to the board of Wessex Water Services Limited in January 2021, Kevin is a member of the audit and risk, remuneration and nomination committee.

Kevin was previously a non-executive director of Which? Ltd, the Business Growth Fund and served as a trustee director of the Barclays Pension Fund.

Dame Fiona Reynolds DBE was Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge from 2012 until 2021. She came to the college from the National Trust, where she was Director-General from 2001-2012. Before the Trust, she was Director of the Women’s Unit in the Cabinet Office (1998-2000), Director of the Council for the Protection of Rural England (now Campaign to Protect Rural England) from 1987-98 and Secretary to the Council for National Parks (now Campaign to Protect National Parks) from 1980-87.

Fiona holds a number of other non-Executive roles. She is Chair of the National Audit Office, the International National Trusts Organisation, the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England, Cambridge University’s Botanic Garden and its Bennett Institute for Public Policy. She is Vice-Chair of the Royal Agricultural University’s Governing Council, and a Trustee of the Grosvenor Estate and the charity Green Alliance. Her book The Fight for Beauty was published in 2016.

Francis has been managing director of YTL Corporation Berhad, Malaysia, since 1988 and was appointed as executive chairman in June 2018. He was appointed to the board of Wessex Water Services Limited in May 2002 and chairs the nomination committee.

He has been managing director of YTL Power since October 1996 when he was appointed to the board as an executive director. Since June 2018 he has been the executive chairman of YTL Power. Under his stewardship, YTL Corporation Berhad Group has grown from a single listed company into a global integrated infrastructure developer encompassing multiple listed entities including YTL Corporation Berhad, YTL Power International Berhad, Malayan Cement Berhad, YTL Hospitality REIT, and Starhill Global REIT.

He is a founder member of the Malaysia Business Council, a member of Malaysia's Capital Markets Advisory Council and independent non-executive director of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited.

In 1997 Francis was conferred the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia for his services to the nation which carries the title “Tan Sri”. In 2019 he was awarded the Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution in strengthening UK-Malaysia bilateral relations.

Hong is the managing director of YTL Power International Berhad, parent company of Wessex Water. He has been an executive director of YTL Corporation Berhad, Malaysia since 1985 and spearheads the group’s investments in utilities, infrastructure and building of the fourth generation (4G) network businesses. He is also managing director of the YTL Group’s flagship construction company and a telecommunications company.

He has been a director of Wessex Water Services Limited since May 2002, a member of the nomination committee and also chairs the remuneration committee. He is a trustee of YTL Foundation.

Mark is executive director responsible for the YTL hotels and resorts division. He was appointed to the board of Wessex Water Services Limited in July 2003 and is a member of the remuneration committee. He joined the YTL Group in 1989 and serves on the board of YTL Corporation Berhad, YTL Power International Berhad, YTL Land & Development Berhad, and YTL Cement Berhad.

He is also an executive director and chief executive officer of Pintar Projek Sdn Bhd, the manager of YTL Hospitality REIT. He graduated from King's College, University of London with an LLB (Hons) and was subsequently called to the bar at Gray's Inn, London in 1988. He became a fellow of King's College London in July 2014.

A graduate of Oxford University with a Master of Engineering in engineering science, Hann also sits on the board of YTL PowerSeraya Pte Limited in Singapore and is the President Director of Tanjung Jati Power Company in Indonesia.

Hann is executive director of YTL Power Generation Sdn Bhd and leads the new business and investments arm of YTL Power International Berhad. Hann led the team that set up Geneco, now Singapore’s second largest energy retailer, and is looking at partnerships through digital initiatives and technology.

He has been a director of Wessex Water Services Limited since August 2012.

With more than 30 years’ experience in the city, David has an in-depth knowledge of corporate finance and corporate governance. He has held directorships in a wide variety of sectors including engineering, construction, retail and investment management. David was previously the Deputy Chairman of the British Library and is currently Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Maudsley Charity.

David assisted YTL Corporation with its acquisition of Wessex Water in 2002 and since then has been a director of Wessex Water Services Limited. David formerly chaired the audit and risk committee and is also a director of Wessex Water Limited, the holding company for Wessex Water Services, and YTL Land and Property Limited.