OCU Group, the parent company of multi-utility specialists O’Connor Utilities and Instalcom, has strengthened its senior leadership team with a series of recent hires to support its ongoing growth ambitions.
The hires come after the appointment earlier this year of Michael Hughes as Group CEO and the announcement in August that it had been acquired by Triton Partners, one of Europe’s leading investment firms.
Stockport-based OCU is a specialist operating within regulated and non-regulated infrastructure markets, including in energy, rail, water and telecoms. It is a key partner to many of the UK’s leading power and telecoms providers on complex and significant infrastructure projects.
The leadership appointments include:
- David Snowball joined in August as Chief Financial Officer. In a 20-year career, David has previously held senior finance positions at EG Group and EMR along with roles at KPMG and Accenture
- Pinder Kang as Chief Strategy Officer. Pinder joins from energy giant SSE, where he was Director of Strategy and Business Development. He was also previously head of project development at Balfour Beatty
- Matthew Edwards has been appointed as Head of M&A. His role will include identifying and evaluating strategic acquisition targets to support OCU’s future growth. He was previously a Director at PwC in Manchester
- Mark Thornberry joins as Finance Director. Mark has previously held senior finance positions at high-profile businesses including EG Group, Matalan and financial services firm Together
Alongside these appointments, Clare-Louse Lipinski has joined OCU Group as Group Head of Safety, Health, Environment and Quality and Liam O’Sullivan has been appointed Power Operations Director at Instalcom.
Michael Hughes, Chief Executive Officer of OCU Group, said: “It’s an exciting time to be at OCU Group and I’m really pleased with the quality of the senior appointments we’ve made. The partnership with Triton, along with the investment it provides, has given the business fresh impetus. This is reflected in our rapid growth and the complex and crucial projects we’re working on up and down the country.
“We now look ahead with great confidence. Our specialisms continue to be highly prized by our clients across multiple sectors, meaning OCU will be playing a key role on the projects that shape the UK economy for years to come.”
Last month OCU announced it had become a significant shareholder in Leeds-based fibre-optic specialist InICT in a move that strengthens its capabilities and exposure to the fast-growing superfast broadband market.
Meanwhile, in August, OCU Group business Instalcom acquired Opals, a specialist in telecoms infrastructure services based in Peterborough.
