Two new independent non-executive directors with wide experience of business have been appointed to the board of Bath-based Wessex Water Services.
Kate Mingay and Jim McKenna join the existing group of independent non-executive directors at Wessex Water Services, the business running Wessex Water group’s regulated water and sewerage operations. 
The group said Kate, pictured right, would bring extensive knowledge and experience of energy and transport infrastructure, in both the public and private sectors, as well as the economic regulatory environment. She has worked on structuring and funding investment in large-scale, complex projects in a variety of senior roles.
She was a member of the Treasury’s Major Projects Review Group, which involves expert scrutiny of major government projects. As a corporate finance specialist, she is not only well versed in the complexities of corporate finance, but how that knowledge may assist strategic decision-making.
She is the senior independent non-executive director of Belfast-based energy group Mutual Energy a non-executive director of Italian rail system engineering company Ansaldo STS SpA, now Hitachi Rail STS.
Jim, pictured below, has a background in technology services and now works with a number of early-stage technology companies as both an investor and mentor. In his executive career, he was the chief operating officer at Reading-based multinational IT consultancy Logica, having previously worked for UK electronics giants GEC-Marconi and Plessey.
He has also previously been chairman of multinational engineering and design firm Parsons Brinkerhoff (Europe) and chairman of mobile phone group Azzurri Communications, he also chaired the senate at the University of East London and was a member of the government’s Senior Salaries Review Body.
He currently chairs the SS Great Britain Trust in Bristol and is vice-president of Catch22, a London-based social business focused on excluded pupils, prisoner rehabilitation work, apprenticeships and training, that he helped create in 2008 and chaired until early 2019.
He is passionate about the importance of access to education and the opportunity it gives people to change and transform their lives. 
Wessex Water chairman Francis Yeoh said: “Our independent non-executive directors play a pivotal role in the governance, strategy and delivery of our services. We are pleased to have a group of outstanding directors and are delighted to welcome Kate and Jim as new non-executives.
“They bring a wide range of experience and expertise, coupled with a track record of operating at the highest levels in both private and public services.
“Their talents will be put to good use as we navigate the fast changing political and economic landscape, taking on new challenges and creating innovative opportunities so we can continue to deliver excellence for our customers, communities and the environment across the Wessex Water region.”
Wessex Water Services board is made up of three executive directors, including group chief executive Colin Skellett, and nine non-executive directors. Four of the non-executive directors are members of the Yeoh family, which runs Wessex’s Malaysian parent company YTL.
Wessex Water serves 2.8m customers across an area of the South West stretching from Dorset, Somerset and Bristol to most of Wiltshire and parts of Gloucestershire and Hampshire.
The regulated part of the business employs around 2,000 people.
