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The Center on Global Energy Policy is committed to independent and nonpartisan research that meets the high standards of academic integrity and quality at Columbia University.
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Former Group Chief Executive, Centrica PLC, Senior Independent Director, BT PLC
Iain Conn has over thirty-four years of executive experience in the energy sector, and for fifteen years, at public company board level.
Mr. Conn was group chief executive of Centrica plc, a Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 energy, services, and lower-carbon solutions company, from 2015 to 2020. He drove the strategy to reposition the company back towards the customer, and towards services and solutions built around energy, to enable the transition to a lower-carbon future, and drove significant improvements in underlying performance on costs, customer service, safety, digital capability and technology.
Prior to Centrica, Mr. Conn was an executive director of BP plc for ten years and CEO downstream from 2007-2014. He was at BP for twenty-nine years, and held a number of senior roles, including in oil refining and marketing, trading, midstream, petrochemicals, exploration and production, and the management of corporate functions.
Over his career, Mr. Conn has advised governments on energy and climate policy, and co-chaired the World Economic Forum System Initiative on the Future of Energy. He is a non-executive director and senior independent director of BT Group plc , Senior Advisor to Blackstone on energy, infrastructure and sustainability, and Senior Advisor to BCG on the energy transition. He serves on a number of company Boards and Advisory Boards. Mr. Conn is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Royal Society of Edinburgh, Institution of Chemical Engineers, and the City and Guilds of London Institute. Previously he served as a non-executive director and senior independent director of Rolls-Royce plc, on the governing body of Imperial College London, and was Chairman of the Advisory Board of Imperial College Business School.
Mr. Conn studied chemical engineering at Imperial College London. He is married with three children.
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