Michael French has been named as chief commercial officer, after joining from E.ON, while William Andrews Tipper will take the role as head of policy, having previously worked as head of policy for the sustainable farming incentive at Defra.
Mr French will join Viridor on 1 November after 14 years at E.ON, where he was responsible for global strategy as chief operating officer.
On his appointment, he said: “I am really looking forward to joining Viridor. The UK is changing rapidly as we move to a more sustainable society and Viridor is heading this charge with ambitious plans and a leading position.
“The current challenges in the market and the resulting opportunities presented to Viridor means that we are in for a very exciting few years and I am honoured to have been invited to join them for this journey.”
Viridor says that Mr French will drive Viridor’s growth strategy in energy from waste (EfW) and polymers reprocessing in his new role, in a move “aimed at boosting sustainable and profitable growth of these business areas”.
Kevin Bradshaw, Viridor’s chief executive, welcomed Mr French and added: “We have significant growth plans for the evolved Viridor Group, and we are implementing centres of excellence in our growth areas, starting with the commercial team where Michael will draw upon all of his invaluable experience to build a team that takes us to the next level in the sectors in which we operate.”
Policy
Viridor also announced the appointment of Mr Andrews Tipper as head of policy. The former head of policy for the Sustainable Farming Incentive at Defra, Mr Andrews Tipper will work with government and stakeholders to ensure the “right political and policy climate” to deliver Viridor’s ambitions to be a net-zero business by 2040 and climate-positive by 2045, the company says.
At Defra, Mr Andrews Tipper served under three different Secretaries of State and led a 20-strong team conducting trade negotiations with the EU for agri-food goods. Most recently he led policy development for one of the agricultural payment schemes replacing the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.
Mr Andrews Tipper said: “My time in Whitehall granted me a first-hand understanding of the need for government and industry to work in tandem and there is possibly no better example of this right now than the UK’s drive to net-zero. My role will be to ensure tighter collaboration with our key stakeholders as Viridor continues its transition to a climate positive business.”
Prior to his stint at Defra, Mr Andrews Tipper ran the natural environment programme for the Green Alliance, an environmental thinktank, from its creation in 2015 to his departure in 2018.
At Viridor, he will work under Tim Rotheray, the company’s director of environmental and social governance (ESG) and external affairs, who said: “William’s experience operating at the highest levels of politics will be a significant boost to realising Viridor’s lofty decarbonisation goals. We’re privileged to have him join our team as Head of Policy at an exciting time for the company as we ramp up our focus on ESG issues.”
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