Longstanding Snowy Hydro Limited executive, Roger Whitby, has been appointed Chief Operating Officer and mining executive John McGagh will join Snowy Hydro as the company’s inaugural Chief Digital Officer.
The Executive team appointments are in response to the retirements of current COO Ken Lister and Executive Officer, Information and Control Systems, Ian Cooke, who have both dedicated decades of their lives to Snowy Hydro.
Currently Executive Officer – Trading, Roger Whitby has extensive engineering and trading experience, marrying market experience with technical expertise and in-depth knowledge of Snowy Hydro’s unique operations.
“Roger is one of Snowy Hydro’s most accomplished Executives,” CEO Paul Broad said.
“His appointment as COO will bring together Snowy Hydro’s trading, water, environment and operations team to form a seamless link between the water under our management, our portfolio of generation assets and the National Electricity Market.
“Roger will oversee not only the operation, maintenance and capability of the iconic 4100 megawatt Snowy Scheme assets but also our three gas fired power stations – Laverton North (320MW) and Valley Power (300 MW) in Victoria and Colongra (667MW) in New South Wales – as well as our diesel peak generators in South Australia.
“The nature and geographical location of our portfolio of assets gives Snowy Hydro its competitive edge and I am confident in Roger’s ability to drive further improvements in our asset capability, responsiveness and reliability.”
Commencing in March 2016, experienced mining executive John McGagh will join the Snowy Hydro Executive team in the position of Chief Digital Officer. John has spent the past 30 years in a range of roles at Rio Tinto, the most recent of which was as Head of Innovation.
“He comes to Snowy with a global track record in technology and has been at the forefront of innovation in the mining sector particularly in big data and robotics,” Mr Broad said.
“John is a change agent and has runs on the board in terms of improving business performance with technology and innovation by building partnerships with the private sector and academia.
“I am excited to hear John’s vision and ambitions for our systems, processes and assets and how we can get more out of our business by further embracing change, automation and technology. John’s leadership and strategic skills will also be a welcome addition to the Snowy Hydro executive team.
“I pay tribute to both Ken Lister and Ian Cooke who have dedicated their lives and careers to Snowy Hydro, our iconic assets and our people. Along with Roger, Ken and Ian were part of the team that brought together the trading and generation companies to form Snowy Hydro Limited in the early 2000s.
“Ken and Ian are both recognised leaders in the Snowy Mountains community and I have no doubt they will continue to be strong contributors in the Cooma region.”