Edinburgh's Simec Atlantis Energy unveils leadership shake-up

Scottish green energy operator Simec Atlantis Energy has announced a leadership shake-up.

Tim Cornelius has agreed to take up a new role as a senior adviser to the group and will resign his position as chief executive. Picture: Jon Savage

The Edinburgh-headquartered group, which is behind the groundbreaking MeyGen tidal project in the Moray Firth, among others, has appointed Graham Reid as its new chief executive, effective from January 18.

Tim Cornelius has agreed to take up a new role as a senior adviser to the group and will resign his position as chief executive from the same date.

Reid was most recently chief executive of RES Americas, and prior to that the boss of Arcadis Middle East, a member of Network Rail’s project delivery board for the London Bridge station project and earlier in his career was the UK managing director and an executive board member of Hyder Consulting.

Atlantis said that he would use his “considerable project management and delivery experience” to steer the group through the delivery phase of the Uskmouth Power Station conversion project in Wales, the build out of fuel production plants, the expansion of the MeyGen project and the development of further hydro asset opportunities.

In his new advisory position, Cornelius will continue to support the board and company on a range of matters, including ongoing relationship management with key stakeholders, customers and strategic partners.

Chairman John Neill said: “Tim is an exceptional entrepreneur and I can understand why he wants to take the next steps in his career.

“On behalf of the board I would like to thank Tim for his contribution to the company over the past 15 years and for agreeing to remain as a senior advisor to the board of directors and mentor to the leadership team.

“We are pleased that we will continue to benefit from his domain knowledge, experience and relationships built up over many years and I would like to wish Tim every success in his future endeavours.

He added: “The board conducted a very thorough, independent and rigorous recruitment process to select Graham. [He] is an experienced corporate leader with a proven track record of successful project management and delivery.

“His skills are very well suited to ensure the safe and timely delivery of our flagship projects which in turn will create value for our shareholders and stakeholders. I very much look forward to working with Graham in the period ahead.”

Outgoing chief executive Cornelius said: “For more than 15 years, Atlantis has been a huge part of my life and I owe our investors, stakeholders, staff, current and former directors and the chairman a debt of gratitude I will never be able to fully repay.

“I am delighted to continue my involvement with the company as we enter the next exciting phase of our journey – from origination to construction and commissioning.

“Now is the right time to introduce new skills into our leadership team to ensure that we have the right mix of experience in place to deliver on all of our flagship projects and Graham is highly credentialed and vastly experienced in project management and successful project delivery.”

Reid will receive an option award on joining, with further details to be unveiled in due course.

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