NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blackstone (NYSE:BX) today announced the appointment of former Centrica CEO, Iain Conn, as a Senior Advisor for energy and sustainability investing. Conn will bring his deep knowledge of the energy sector, climate and sustainability to advise across the firm’s infrastructure and energy businesses.
Blackstone has a long history of acquiring, building and financing renewable and energy efficiency projects. In the past twelve months alone, Blackstone has made meaningful investments including Aypa (formerly known as NRstor), a battery energy storage pioneer, and Therma Holdings LLC, a leading provider of mechanical, electrical and energy efficiency services, among others; Iain’s appointment will help to further these efforts.
Commenting on the appointment, Sean Klimczak, Global Head of Blackstone Infrastructure Partners said: “Iain’s knowledge of the energy sector will be invaluable as we invest in infrastructure that supports the energy transition toward a more sustainable, decarbonized future. We look forward to benefiting from Iain’s insights, which will better the firm and improve our portfolio for our investors.”
David Foley, Global Head of Blackstone Energy Partners said: “I have known Iain for two decades and I look forward to working with him on private equity investment opportunities, particularly in the energy efficiency and retail electric sectors.”
Iain Conn, former Centrica CEO, said: “I am honored to advise Blackstone. They are already investing in the energy transition and demonstrating leadership in tackling climate change by committing to reduce carbon emissions by 15% across all new investments where the firm controls energy usage. I’m excited to see what the future holds for the firm and the Blackstone portfolio.”
Conn has over 34 years of executive experience in the energy sector, including 29 years with BP plc, latterly as CEO Downstream from 2007-2014. Most recently, from 2015-2020 he was Group Chief Executive of Centrica plc, a Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 energy, services and lower-carbon solutions company. Centrica, which included British Gas, had revenues of £30bn and over 25,000 employees. Conn drove the strategy to reposition the company back to being customer-centric and oriented towards services and solutions to enable the transition to a lower-carbon future.
A chemical engineer by training, Conn possesses a deep understanding of the energy sector built up over a lifetime in the industry, with a track record of strategy formulation and delivery, transactions and major projects, commercial innovation, and material turnarounds of large organizations often in the face of very significant challenges.
Over his career Iain has advised governments on energy and climate policy, and from 2017-2020 Iain Co-Chaired the World Economic Forum System Initiative on the Future of Energy. The System Initiative aimed to enable an effective transition to a more sustainable, affordable, secure and inclusive energy system by accelerating development of effective policies, private-sector action and public-private cooperation.
About Blackstone
Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $619 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.
