Meet the National Grid ESO Board

Fintan Slye

Chair of the NGESO Board

Fintan Slye is Director of the ESO.  Prior to this he was CEO of the EirGrid Group, where he oversaw a major change programme that included integrating renewables onto the Irish electricity grid and a new approach to public consultation and engagement.

Fintan is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineers Ireland. He holds a Masters in Engineering Science and an MBA from University College Dublin.

Hannah Nixon

Independent Non Executive Director

Hannah has extensive experience in economic regulation, most recently as Chief Executive Officer of the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR).

She has been a member of several advisory boards, including the Government Economics Service, the ORR advisory panel and water regulator Ofwat’s Future Regulation advisory panel.

Hannah currently sits on the board of the Channel Islands Competition and Regulatory Authority (CICRA).

Baroness Gillian Merron

Independent Non Executive Director

Baroness Merron of Lincoln is a Life Peer and Shadow Minister for Health and Social Care and the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Formerly Chief Executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, she was the MP for Lincoln between 1997 and 2010. During this time, Baroness Merron served in government as a Senior Whip, and as a Minister in the Health, International Development, and Transport Departments as well as in the Cabinet Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Paul Plummer

Independent Non Executive Director

Paul is an experienced business leader and strategic thinker now working as Professor of rail strategy at the University of Birmingham and a Non-Executive Director in the housing and energy sectors. Until recently he was CEO of the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) and Association of Train Operating Companies. Prior to that he was on the Board of Network Rail where responsibilities included the system operator activities. His earlier career spanned the regulated utilities as an economist and adviser working for governments, companies and regulators. 

Kayte O’Neill

Head of Markets

Kayte is Head of Markets for the ESO, accountable for developing markets to enable future operation of Great Britain’s electricity system on the path to net zero.

She joined National Grid PLC in 2002 and has held a wide variety of senior roles across the business, most recently as Head of Strategy and Regulation for the ESO. Prior to that she spent three years in Boston with National Grid’s US electricity distribution businesses.

Kayte holds a first class degree in Business Economics and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Program for Leadership Development.

Gregg Smith

Finance Director

Gregg joined National Grid ESO in April 2020 after 21 years with IMI PLC, a FTSE 250 engineering firm that he joined as a graduate following his degree in Business Economics at the University of Liverpool.

A qualified Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA and CGMA), Gregg progressed from Finance Manager, Finance Director, Regional Controller and Divisional Director of FP&A to Chief Financial Officer for IMI Critical Engineering Europe - Power and Nuclear.

He held several global roles across all three IMI divisions throughout his career and has lived in the USA, Spain and Switzerland.

John Linwood

Independent Non-Executive Director

John has extensive experience in digital transformations, delivering large scale software and IT infrastructure projects, and helping businesses adopt new technologies. Most recently he was Chief Technology Officer at Earth-I, a Satellite Earth observation company using Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to provide insights from satellite imagery.

Prior to Earth-I John was Executive Vice President at Wood Mackenzie, an energy research consultancy, spent 4 years as Chief Technology Officer at the BBC, 5 years as Senior Vice President at Yahoo and 11 years in senior roles within Microsoft.

He also holds a number of non-executive roles including Brooks Macdonald.

Regina Moran

Independent Non-Executive Director

Regina is an experienced CEO and Non-Executive Director. She is Senior Vice President of Global Delivery with Fujitsu. Formerly CEO of Fujitsu UK and Ireland, she has extensive experience in digital transformation across several different sectors. She has served as President of Engineers Ireland, a Non-Executive Director of EirGrid, the electric system operator on the Island of Ireland,  and as a Director of Vodafone Business.

Non-Board

Zoe Morrissey is National Grid ESO’s Legal Counsel and Company Secretary. She joined the business in 2012 and prior to that worked at Ofwat and in private practice.