International

New board members announced for British Water

Editor Water Today

British Water has announced the appointment of three non-executive board members who will take up their posts with the trade association in July

The new board members of British Water are:

  • Tania Flasck, director, Turner & Townsend

  • Dr Mark Fletcher, global water business leader, Arup

  • Mike Froom, director, Veolia Water Technologies

Flasck is an environmental professional with over 20 years’ experience, predominantly in the water sector. As a director of Turner & Townsend, she is currently head of central south region and head of utilities – UK infrastructure. Her formative years were spent commissioning and operating water and wastewater treatment facilities in the UK and USA, and she has been a vice president with Jacobs and MWH.

She said: “I am absolutely delighted and excited to be joining British Water at an important point in its evolution. Water is essential to life and I firmly believe that the British water sector has so much to offer with the high standards, innovative progress made and insights to share. I look forward to working with my fellow board members and being part of the collective voice that is British Water.”

Dr Fletcher is an international authority on urban resilience and was welcomed by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) as a new Fellow for 2019. He has worked on the City Water Resilience Approach, developed to help cities grow their capacity to both anticipate and mitigate water-related shocks and stresses, and is faculty leader for the Arup University - Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan Business School course, Resilience of Urban Systems.

He said: “I feel very proud to be able to join the board of British Water and support its work across the water sector. I am passionate about what we do and keen to ensure that British water engineers, scientists, planners, managers and companies play their part in developing increasingly more sustainable and resilient water management fit for the future.”

Froom has 35 years’ experience with the construction industry, initially working on major civil engineering projects, and has been dedicated to the water industry since joining Veolia Water Technologies over 25 years ago.

He said: "I am delighted to be joining the board of British Water and particularly looking forward to working with the other directors to support the significant contribution that British Water makes to the water sector on behalf of their members. British Water remains the leading trade representative body in the sector, but over the past couple of months it has demonstrated this position through its agility not only to adapt to current circumstances, but to enhance the communication between all stakeholders across the water sector at this critical time.

“Initiatives like the weekly Better Together calls have been invaluable to members and I am sure that the success of such initiatives will set the new norm for future engagement."

British Water chief executive Lila Thompson said: “I am delighted that Tania, Mark and Mike have agreed to take up positions on the British Water board of directors. They will bring unparalleled expertise and in-depth knowledge of the water industry, as well as fresh ideas and new approaches to support our work on behalf of members.

“British Water strives to be a dynamic, forward-looking organisation and our new appointees will be a key part of this continuing journey.”

In February, British Water committed to increasing the number of women in its board by ensuring that 30% of board members were female by 2025.

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