The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) is pleased to announce the appointment of two new directors to its Board of Directors.
AEMO Chairman Drew Clarke AO welcomed Mr Nino Ficca and Ms Anne Nolan to the Board, noting their combined industry and public policy experience.
“We are fortunate to have two respected industry leaders join us and to have their skills add to the depth of knowledge on the the Board at a time where the independent market and power system operator continues to play a critical role in shaping Australia’s energy future,” said Mr Clarke.
The appointments of Mr Ficca and Ms Nolan follow an extensive national search, with shortlisted candidates reviewed by both AEMO’s Nomination Board Committee and the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Energy Council Selection Panel (Selection Panel). AEMO’s Members must then approve the shortlisted candidates proposed by the Selection Panel, with approved candidates appointed in accordance with the COAG Energy Council Protocol.
“The calibre of the new Board members joining us instils me with great confidence that together with AEMO’s Executive Leadership Team, we will advance and implement solutions to enable safe, secure, reliable and affordable energy supply to Australians for many generations to come,” said Mr Clarke.
About Nino Ficca
As the Managing Director AusNet Services Limited and its predecessor, SP AusNet, since 2001, Mr Nino Ficca has extensive senior experience in strategic and operational roles within the energy sector, including the National Electricity Market and the gas markets.
In his current role, he successfully led the company during almost two decades of rapid change and significant challenges, including acquisitions and restructures. By background, Mr Ficca is an electrical engineer, with a deep understanding of energy transmission and distribution grids and their importance in maintaining secure, reliable and high performing systems and in underpinning effective markets.
He is the immediate past chairman of the Energy Networks Association, and a past chair of CIGRE Australia.
In addition to several companies in the AusNet Services group, Mr Ficca is also a non-executive director of the Transurban Queensland Group.
About Anne Nolan
Ms Anne Nolan is a former senior public servant with the State of Western Australia and was also the inaugural chief executive of the Independent Market Operator for the Western Australian Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM).
Ms Nolan has had a distinguished career with the Western Australian public service, leading two government departments, as Director General of the Department of Finance and before that of the Department of State Development. The State Development role included working closely with large resource companies such as Chevron, Shell, BHP, Rio Tinto and Woodside in their large capital investment projects in Western Australia. Prior to that she served as the Deputy Director General, Cabinet and Policy Division in the Department of Premier and Cabinet.
Ms Nolan has been at the forefront of energy reform in Western Australia for most of the last two decades. As Chief Executive of the Office of Energy from 2002 – 2006, Ms Nolan was responsible for driving the reform agenda that saw the introduction of a competitive electricity market in the WEM and an independent third-party network access regime and the disaggregation of Western Power.
Ms Nolan is currently non-executive director on the Fremantle Port Authority, the University of Western Australia Business School and the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra.