- Dr. Eddie O’Connor, Founder and Chief Executive
- Sir Roy Gardner, Chairman
- Brendan Halligan, Non-Executive Director
- John Lavery, Non-Executive Director
- Fintan Whelan, Co-founder and Corporate Finance Director
- Torben Andersen, Executive Director and CEO, Onshore
- Andy Kinsella, Executive Director and CEO, Offshore
- Mark Brown, Non-Executive Director
- Chuck Watson, Non-Executive Director
- Eimear Cahalin, Chief Accounting Officer and Company Secretary
- Dr Liming Wang, Non-Executive Director
Dr. Eddie O’Connor – Founder and Chief Executive
In February 2008, Eddie set up Mainstream Renewable Power.
He founded Airtricity Holdings Ltd in 1997 and was Chief Executive until 2008. Airtricity moved to a leading global position in renewable energy between 2000 and 2008. In October 2007, Airtricity announced that it was selling its North American business unit (Airtricity North America) to E.on for approximately $1.4bn (€995m). The remainder of the company was sold to Scottish and Southern Energy in January 2008.
Eddie brought forward the concept of the European Offshore Supergrid. This vision and activity will, when built, guarantee European energy self sufficiency as well as producing carbon free electricity.
He holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering and a Masters in Industrial Engineering and has a doctorate in Business Administration from the International Management Centres, Europe. In June 2008, Eddie was conferred with an honorary Doctorate of Science from University College Dublin (UCD). In 2011, Eddie received an honorary Doctorate from Dublin City University (DCU).
In 2003, Eddie was named World Energy Policy Leader by Scientific American magazine. In September 2009, he was presented with the first ever Leadership award at the annual Ernst & Young Global Renewable Energy Awards. Earlier this year, Eddie was also named by Oilprice.com as one of the five most influential figures in the US clean energy sector.
Eddie is President of the Friends of the Supergrid.
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Sir Roy Gardner – Chairman
Sir Roy Gardner was appointed to the Board of Mainstream Renewable Power in June 2008. Subsequently, in February 2011, he was appointed Chairman of Mainstream. He is Chairman of Compass Group PLC, a Director of Willis Group Holdings Limited and a Senior Advisor at Credit Suisse. In addition, he is President of the Energy Institute, Chairman of the Apprenticeship Ambassadors Network and Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Energy Futures Lab, Imperial College London. Prior to these appointments he was Chief Executive of Centrica plc.
Sir Roy was Managing Director of GEC Marconi Limited and was appointed to the Board of GEC in 1994. Prior to that he was Chief Operating Officer of Northern Telecom Europe Limited, previous to which he was Managing Director of STC Communications Systems and a member of the Board of STC plc. Sir Roy began his career at the British Aircraft Corporation where he worked in the Commercial Aircraft Division.
On 1st January 2000 Sir Roy was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Manchester United plc, and assumed the role of Non-Executive Chairman on 31st March 2002 until 6th June 2005. He was a Non-Executive Director of Laporte plc from December 1996 until the company’s takeover in April 2001.
Sir Roy is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants, the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Royal Society of Arts. He is also a Companion of the Institute of Management. Sir Roy was knighted in 2002 for services to the Gas and Electricity Industries.
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Brendan Halligan – Non- Executive Director
Brendan trained as an economist, graduating with a Masters Degree from University College Dublin, Ireland, in 1964. He subsequently worked in the public and private sectors as an economist before entering politics.
In 1967 he became General Secretary of the Irish Labour Party. While in that post, the Prime Minister appointed him a member of the Senate in 1973. He was elected a member of Dáil Éireann (the Irish House of Representatives) in 1976 and later became a member of the European Parliament (1983/84) where he specialised in economic affairs and energy policy. He retired as General Secretary of the labour Party in 1980 to become an economics lecturer and subsequently he set up a public affairs consultancy, which he manages.
In 1985, the government appointed him as Chairman of the Irish Peat Development Authority, a state company responsible for the commercial exploitation of the country’s peat resources. He held office until 1995.
He founded the Institute of European Affairs in 1990, an independent think tank of which he is currently the Chairman. In 2007, Brendan was appointed Chairman of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, a state agency which is charged with promoting the production and use of sustainable energy in Ireland and reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions. He has acted as a public affairs consultant to Irish and multi-national firms for the past twenty five years.
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John Lavery – Non-Executive Director
John Lavery has 26 years experience in the legal business having qualified as a solicitor in 1980. He set up his own practice and is now the Chairman of Lavery Kirby Gilmartin, a medium sized practice specialising in company, property and commercial law. He was a co- founder of Airtricity with Dr Eddie O’Connor and was its Company Secretary from incorporation until February 2008. He specialises in advising start-up companies and has advised on a number of significant fundraisings and merger and acquisition transactions, as a lawyer. He advised Airtricity on its wind farm development onshore and offshore in Ireland and its fundraising activity from incorporation.
He holds a Bachelor of Civil Law from University College Dublin and he is admitted to the New York State Bar. He is Honorary Legal Adviser to the Irish Sailing Association.
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Fintan Whelan – Co-founder and Corporate Finance Director
Fintan co-founded Mainstream Renewable Power in February 2008. He is Corporate Finance Director where his role includes creating a direct opportunity for investors seeking exposure to the construction and long-term operations phases of Mainstream’s three offshore wind projects in the North Sea totalling over 7.5GW.
Previously, Fintan spent eight years as Corporate Finance Manager for Airtricity in a similar role where he raised in excess of €1bn in project and corporate debt to fund the company’s rapid development and build programme. In January 2008, Airtricity sold its European business to Scottish and Southern Energy and its North American business to E.on in a deal totalling some €1.8bn.
Fintan qualified with a Commerce degree from University College Dublin in 1978. He is a Fellow of the Association of Certified Accountants (FCCA) and in 1996 received an MBS in Finance from UCD’s Smurfit School.
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Torben Andersen – Executive Director and CEO, Onshore
Torben is located in the Dublin office and has been with Mainstream since early 2008 when the company started. Torben is responsible for all global onshore operations in Mainstream Renewable Power. This includes North America, with offices in Chicago and Toronto, the South American operation in Santiago, Chile and the activities in South Africa. Activities include onshore wind energy projects as well as solar energy development projects in selected regions.
Torben has a track record as a developer and a dealmaker in Airtricity where he worked for six years prior to joining Mainstream. Torben was responsible for securing a portfolio of 2,000MW of offshore wind projects in Ireland, the UK, The Netherlands and Germany during this period and established development teams in these locations. One of these offshore projects, the Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm (500MW) located in the UK, was secured and consented under Torben’s management. Torben was also responsible for all onshore wind energy development activities in Ireland and Northern Ireland within Airtricity for a while.
Torben holds a degree in Economics and Business Administration. He held several international positions as a Danish Army Officer prior to moving to Ireland.
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Andy Kinsella – Executive Director and CEO, Offshore
Andy has over 24 years experience in the global electricity sector in senior management positions with ESB, ESBI, Siemens and GE.
Before joining Mainstream, he was a member of ESB Power Generation’s Senior Management Team from which he resigned as Head of Strategy and Sustainability.
Prior to this, Andy was an Executive Director of ESB International where he had operational responsibility for ESBI’s global Engineering & Facility Management businesses. These businesses employed over 900 staff. In 2004 he completed projects in over 40 countries and operated over 5,000MW of independent generation plant outside of Ireland. The businesses provide a wide variety of consultancy, construction, project management, facility management, engineering and investment services to the Electricity Supply Industry globally.
Andy has also been a member of the Management Board of Siemens Ireland where he had operational responsibility for Siemens Power Generation, Transmission & Distribution, Transportation and Industry businesses in Ireland. He also spent five years with GE, based in Schnectady, New York, as a Project Director delivering large scale capital projects internationally in North America, the Middle East and Asia.
Andy is a graduate of University College Dublin (B.Eng. Electrical, Hons.), Trinity College Dublin (Dip. PM, Distinction) and Harvard Business School (Advanced Management Programme).
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Mark Brown – Non-Executive Director
Mark Brown was appointed to the Board of Mainstream Renewable Power in August 2008 and is a Managing Director within the Commodities Principal Investments business at Barclays Capital. Based in London, he is responsible for making equity investments in businesses such as renewables.
Mark joined Barclays Capital in July 1998 from Dresdner Kleinwort Benson where he was a member of the structured finance group. Prior to that, he was part of the structured finance group at Rabobank.
He graduated from The City University with a first class degree in Actuarial Science.
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Chuck Watson – Non-Executive Director
Chuck Watson is Co-founder and former Chairman of Eagle Energy Partners, a Houston-based energy marketer established in 2003 which focuses on the purchase, distribution and sale of natural gas, coal and electric power. Chuck was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Houston-based Dynegy Inc., an asset based, integrated energy provider. He founded NGC Corp., Dynegy’s predecessor, in 1985 and served as Chairman and CEO until his departure in May of 2002. Chuck worked at Conoco following his Oklahoma State University graduation in 1972 until his departure in 1985. He is also Chairman of Wincrest Ventures, a venture capital company he founded in 1994.
Chuck was educated in business and economics at Oklahoma State University. He served as Governor, Trustee and Chairman of the OSU Foundation, was inducted into the OSU Alumni Hall of Fame in 1997, and in 2001, following his commencement address, received OSU’s highest honour of the Henry G. Bennett Award. Also in 2001, Chuck was inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame and was named "Master Entrepreneur" by Ernst & Young. In 2005, Chuck was named Chairman of the Sigma Chi Foundation.
Chuck has served on the Boards of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA), Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA), Edison Electric Institute (EEI), Natural Gas Council (NGC) and is currently on the Board of Baker Hughes, Baylor College of Medicine, Shona Energy Company, Angeleno Group, Mainstream Renewable Power and EDFT – North America, the managing partner and governing body of Eagle Energy Partners. He is also a Senior Advisor to the EDF Group in North America. In 1996 Chuck co-founded Caldwell Watson Real Estate Group and was a Principal. He was Chairman of the 2004 Houston Super Bowl XXXVIII Host Committee and is also a minority owner of the Houston Texans NFL football team and the Houston Aeros ice hockey team.
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Eimear Cahalin – Chief Accounting Officer and Company Secretary
Before joining Mainstream at the start of 2009, Eimear spent 13 years in the financial services industry. Most recently she was Head of Finance at Structured Credit Company in Dublin. Prior to that, having worked for Arthur Andersen in Dublin and London, she spent 10 years working in the City of London for Deutsche Bank and RBS Financial Markets. Eimear specialised in financial management of global operations teams for investment banking businesses and project management of related IT initiatives. Eimear is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.
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Dr Liming Wang – Non-Executive Director
Born and brought up in China, Dr Wang worked for six and a half years (as a Deputy Division Director from 1986) for the Ministry of Commerce of PR China in Beijing following his primary degree obtained in 1982. In 1989, he completed an International MBA course in Sheffield Hallam University as a visiting student. He was subsequently awarded a visiting studentship from Queen’s University Belfast and, after completing his PhD in Economics, became a teaching and research fellow at Queen’s in 1995. From 2000, he worked as a Senior Research Fellow and Head of the China Unit, which is primarily involved in managing the expansion and development of Queen’s links with China in teaching, research and joint programmes.
Dr Wang was appointed at the beginning of 2006 to establish and run the Irish Institute for Chinese Studies at UCD. He was also appointed as Director of UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland.
Outside of UCD, Dr Wang is the Chairman of the Association for Chinese Studies in Ireland, the Secretary General of the Chinese Economic Association in Europe and a Board Director of the Institute of International Trade of Ireland. He has been a Visiting Professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (2002-2004) and Anhui Normal University since 2003. He has also been a member of International Editorial Board for Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies since 2003. Dr Wang joined the Board of Mainstream Renewable Power in November 2011.
