Meet our executive team
Our directors are responsible for ensuring our long-term success through determining our strategic direction and objectives and effectively overseeing them.
Executive Directors
Phil Swift
Phil joined WPD in 1992 (at that time SWEB) following experience in the aerospace industry and after his graduation as an engineer. After serving as a distribution Team Manager in Plymouth, a number of further senior management roles followed in metering and operational delivery. These Network Services Manager roles for WPD’s South West region in 2002 and West Midlands region in 2011. This latter position followed WPD’s acquisition of Central Networks operations where Phil served as a senior member of the transition team responsible for introducing WPD structures, processes and procedures into the Midlands. His work included Trade Union consultations and negotiations to establish one set of terms and conditions.
More recently, he has led the team responsible for the overall delivery of WPD’s ‘Well Justified Business Plan’ to Ofgem as part of the RIIO-ED1 process, and in July 2013, he was appointed to the Board of WPD as Operations Director. In this role he was responsible for the business’s network services, design and development, logistics and safety and training activities. In November 2018 he was appointed as Chief Executive.
Ian Williams
Ian joined the company in 1991 as a graduate management trainee. He has held the roles of operations financial controller and following the successful integration of Hyder became Management Accounting Manager. In 2001 he became the WPD group head of internal audit and led the implementation of the Sarbanes Oxley Act. In 2006 he was seconded to the role of Treasurer. After successful refinancing of the WPD bank facilities and the additional long term debt financing of South Wales and South West including WPD’s first Index Linked issuance, he went back to the audit role. Prior to the Midlands acquisition he reverted back to the role of Treasurer in order to undertake the required refinancing of both the long term debt and bank facilities, he was then appointed full time into the Treasury role for the WPD Group.
In February 2015 he was appointed as Resources and External Affairs Director, with responsibilities include HR, Payroll & Pensions, Corporate Communications and Regulation. In April 2018 he was appointed to the role of Group Finance Director.
Alison Sleightholm
Alison joined Western Power Distribution (then SWEB) on graduation, in 1985 and has had a number of engineering roles across the business.
As WPD’s Regulation and Government Affairs Manager she has played a leading role in regulatory price reviews and the development of WPD’s business plan and stakeholder engagement programme. She also was heavily involved in the acquisition and integration of both South Wales and more recently the Midlands distribution networks into WPD.
On April 1 2018 Alison became WPD’s Resources and External Affairs Director.
Alison has a BSc in Electrical Engineering from Southampton University and is a Chartered Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.
Graham Halladay
Graham is the Operations Director for Western Power Distribution. He has responsibility for managing the distribution of electricity to eight million customers across the largest distribution network in the UK.
He joined Western Power Distribution (then SWEB) in 1983 as an apprentice. Graham has undertaken numerous operational and senior management roles within the business. The most recent being Network Services Manager DSO, responsible for the company’s transition from a Distribution Network Operator (DNO) to Distribution System Operator (DSO), dealing with internal business system change and external engagement with Ofgem, BEIS and the wider industry.
Non-Executive Directors
Anthony Cardew
Anthony has served as a Non-Executive Director on each of the Boards of WPD’s four Distribution Network Operating companies since March 23, 2017 and is the chairman of the Cardew Group, a strategic financial and corporate communications agency based in London, England which he launched in 1991.
Anthony was educated at Marlborough College and spent his early career as a journalist and financial correspondent. Anthony is one of the most respected and trusted figures in financial communication. During more than three decades of City experience, he has advised numerous businesses and organisations on a wide range of issues encompassing M&A activity, IPOs, demergers, capital raising, corporate restructuring and crisis management. His clients have included some of the most prominent companies in the world.
Maurice Fletcher
Maurice has served as a Non-Executive Director on each of the Boards of WPD’s four Distribution Network Operating companies since October 31, 2011.
Following graduation from the London School of Economics his career has included working for a number of Electricity companies - Eastern Electricity, Norweb, SWEB and WPD. He had a variety of roles at operational, senior managerial and Executive Director levels across a range of activities including training and development, human resources, customer relations, external affairs and pensions management.
Following the privatisation of the UK Electricity sector, Maurice was a lead player in the restructuring of pay, terms and conditions and the associated rationalisation of working practices. He also was a key member of WPD’s executive team involved in the acquisition of Hyder and its subsequent restructuring, followed by the successful integration of the South Wales electricity distribution business.
Following his retirement, Maurice has continued to undertake consultancy and charitable work for a range of organisations.