Finance chief takes helm at Affinity Water as Walsh steps down

Affinity Water’s chief finance officer, Stuart Ledger, (pictured) took the role of the company's interim chief executive on Thursday as Pauline Walsh stepped down with immediate effect.

In a regulatory news service announcement, Affinity confirmed its board will commence recruitment for a successor chief but has not set any specific timescale for a permanent appointment. It also noted the change of leadership did not presage any change of strategy for the business.

Affinity said: “Since Pauline joined the business three years ago, she has established clear priorities for future investment, initiated successful programmes to drive operational improvement and cultural change across the business and has established strong relationships with our key stakeholders. The business now needs to consolidate the work which Pauline has led so that it can build on these solid foundations and accelerate the pace of change whilst maintaining the focus on, and relationship with, our key stakeholders and communities.”

Walsh’s tenure has been marked by the elevation of the environment as a company priority, through measures that included putting priority on leakage and abstraction reduction.