Leadership
Board
With more than twenty years of experience, Laurence has been a Business leader and CEO in different business sectors from banking to consumer products to energy, chemicals and industrials, living in four different countries and leading businesses in over 30 countries.
Currently, Laurence is Chairman of Voltalia Renewables and a Non Executive Director and Chair of the Audit committee at Aperam stainless steel. She is also a Non Executive Director at SBM offshore and a Non Executive Director at Morgan Advanced Materials.
From 2007 – 2010, Laurence held the position of CEO of Castrol Industrial Lubricants and Services worldwide and from 2010 to 2013, Laurence was the CEO of Eoxis, a start-up producing power from wind parks and solar farms.
Laurence has a degree in Finance from Sup de Co Rouen- France, and an MBA from the University of Chicago (Booth) –USA from 1992.
Richard Charlton is Head of Infrastructure Equity for Africa and Pakistan at British International Investment (BII) (formerly CDC Group plc). He has more than fifteen years’experience in infrastructure in emerging markets, the last ten of which have been at BII; prior to this, he worked for PwC in the infrastructure and banking sectors.
Richard sits on a number of other boards and investment committees of BII investees in the power and ports sectors. Richard has lived and worked in the UK, Kenya, Malawi and India, holds an ACA from the ICAEW and Masters degrees from Cambridge and Oxford Universities
Birgit is a development bank professional and project finance specialist with 15 years of experience in the energy sector predominantly in Africa, structuring, arranging and portfolio managing IPPs.
At present, she is an Investment Director at Norfund’s Clean Energy Team.
Prior to joining Norfund in 2020, she has worked for several Development Finance Institutions (FMO, IFC, DEG) and has spent time and lived in many emerging markets.
Birgit has a master’s degree in economics with a focus on development from the University of Trier, Germany, and a post-graduate degree from the German Development Institute, Bonn, Germany.
Paul has more than 30 years of experience in power industries across the world. Prior to his appointment on the Globeleq Board, he served for nearly two years as Globeleq’s CEO. Before that, he founded and subsequently sold American Capital Energy & Infrastructure, a private equity group focused on global investments in energy infrastructure investments.
From 2002-2011, Paul served as the CEO of The AES Corporation, a 30,000-person global power company with assets in 30 countries.
Paul is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Prior to beginning his business career, he served as a line officer on a fast-attack nuclear submarine in the US Navy.
Paul currently sits on the boards of two publicly traded companies: Ingredion, Inc. (NYSE: INGR) and AquaVenture Holdings, Ltd. (NYSE: WAAS).
Eddy Njoroge is the former CEO of Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), where he spearheaded the transformation of the company from a parastatal to a publicly listed company.
From 2008 to 2012, he was the President of the Union of Producers and Distributors of Electric Power in Africa. He currently serves as Chairman of Telkom Kenya and of the Nairobi Securities Exchange and is a board member of CfC Stanbic Bank, Real Insurance Ltd and Proctor & Allan among other companies.
Diane Radley joined the Globeleq Board in July 2022. Previously she was a Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers in South Africa where she led the Transaction Services Group, advising on local and international listings and corporate transactions.
In 2001 she joined Allied Electronics Corporation Ltd. as their Chief Financial Officer, serving as a non-executive director at Altech, BTG, and later Omnia, and WIPhold.
In 2010, after a three-year term as Old Mutual South Africa’s Group Finance Director, she took over the reins at Old Mutual Investment Group as CEO until the end of 2016 responsible for the management oversight of all asset classes including infrastructure.
She currently serves on various global boards as a non-executive director.
Eivind Reiten is an economist and former member of the Norwegian government. He is currently advising the Norwegian and other governments on energy related issues.
For several years he served in the Norwegian government, latterly as Petroleum & Energy Minister, before serving as CEO of Norsk Hydro until 2009. He currently sits on the boards of Constructor Group, Enhanced Drilling and the Backe Group.
As Managing Director, Debt and Infrastructure for British International Investment (BII) (formerly CDC Group PLC), Holger has over 20 years of experience in development finance in Latin America, Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe across a broad range of industries.
Before his current role, he was with DEG, the German Development Finance Institution, where he was responsible for building DEG’s equity and mezzanine team and held various senior management positions. He previously worked as a commercial banker with Deutsche Bank.
Mike Scholey is the Chief Executive Officer of Globeleq having previously served for 3 years as the company’s Chief Financial Officer /Chief Operating Officer. He has worked in the power sector for 25 years and has developed, built, financed, led businesses, and operated projects on five continents, the last of which was the award-winning Rabai Power in Kenya. During his career, Mike has served as Division President of AES, Finance and Project Director of Aldwych, and CEO of Continental Wind Power at which he led the development and construction of the largest wind farm in Europe, the 600 MW Fantanele Cogealac windfarm in Romania, and oversaw the development, financial closing and construction of the award-winning 113 MW Boco Rock windfarm in Australia.
Executive Committee
Mike Scholey is the Chief Executive Officer of Globeleq having previously served for 3 years as the company’s Chief Financial Officer /Chief Operating Officer. He has worked in the power sector for 25 years and has developed, built, financed, led businesses, and operated projects on five continents, the last of which was the award-winning Rabai Power in Kenya. During his career, Mike has served as Division President of AES, Finance and Project Director of Aldwych, and CEO of Continental Wind Power at which he led the development and construction of the largest wind farm in Europe, the 600 MW Fantanele Cogealac windfarm in Romania, and oversaw the development, financial closing and construction of the award-winning 113 MW Boco Rock windfarm in Australia.
Ian Coxon is the Chief Financial Officer for Globeleq and leads the Finance team for all Globeleq and its entities. He has worked in the energy industry for more than 20 years, leading finance teams in North and South America, Europe, Australia and North Africa. Ian has experience across the full development cycle, from exploration and major capital projects through to operations working in a range of joint venture and other commercial arrangements. Prior to joining Globeleq, Ian has held senior finance roles at companies including BG Group and Royal Dutch Shell.
Jonathan joined Globeleq in 2010 and in 2020 was appointed Chief Development Officer (CDO) taking responsibility for origination and managing investments. Jonathan leads the growth of the business by ensuring its strategy results in successful outcomes.
Jonathan sourced and led Globeleq’s efforts to enter the renewable sector in South Africa its first 240MWs of wind and solar PV projects in the country. He led the step up to a majority equity stake in Azito. Most recently Jonathan led business development across Southern Africa where he has helped Globeleq advance its position in South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia.
During his leadership, he has helped to secure the Temane gas project and Cuamba solar project (both in Mozambique) and is working with the regional team to close the deals. Jonathan serves on Globeleq’s Executive Committee and Investment Committee.
Having previously worked for ABB Energy Ventures, Bear Stearns and InfraCo (of which he was a cofounder), Jonathan has more than 18 years of experience in the power, and other infrastructure sectors, working extensively across Africa, South-East Asia, India, Europe and parts of the Americas.
Marlise has more than 15 years’ experience in the African energy sector and has been with Globeleq since 2016, where she has been instrumental in significant deals and transactions for Globeleq (Brookfield acquisition, Temane gas-to-power, Cuamba PV solar and battery storage and the ongoing Mocuba acquisition). In her role as General Counsel, she is responsible for all aspects of legal, ethical and compliance issues and oversees the Company Secretariat. In addition to managing the legal function across the group, Marlise will continue to provide legal advice and support for all business transactions and contract negotiations.
Prior to joining Globeleq, she was Director and Co-Founder at Infrastream; in-house counsel at SolaireDirect (now Engie), and spent her early career in large corporate law firms in South Africa where she focused primarily on mergers and acquisitions. She has worked on projects in Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, Namibia, Eswatini, Uganda and Botswana.
Anne is an internationally experienced HR Leader, with 20 years of experience with leading multinationals. She has a values based leadership style, and track record for high performance in both well-established and start up business environments.
Her experience has covered roles accountable for business in Emerging Markets, Europe & USA, across diverse industries (Healthcare, Telecommunications and FMCG).
Her most recent role was with GlaxoSmithKline where she was the HR Business Leader for the Global Therapeutics Business, based out of the London HQ. Prior to that Anne held various HR leadership roles at GSK, including HR Business Leader for Africa and Export business (Middle East and Common Wealth of Independent States). She previously held senior HR roles at Vodafone UK and The Coca-Cola Company.
She brings expertise across a broad spectrum of HR Practices including in HR Strategy, People Leadership, Business Partnership, Talent Management, Diversity & Inclusion, Organisational Design, Rewards & Transformational Project Management
Gionata Visconti is Chief Operating Officer for Globeleq and leads the Group’s operational activities, supports strategic, in-country governance work and oversees the process of existing and future operational assets. Gionata has over 20 years of experience in the power generation and energy sector and came to Globeleq from ContourGlobal where he was responsible for a diversified asset fleet across various thermal and renewable technologies in Africa. He has also worked with Wartsila and Caterpillar. Originally from Italy, he has spent most of his career abroad having been based in Senegal, Namibia, Cameroon and Germany as well as many other short-term assignments across the world.