Latest appointments: Welsh Water CEO, IoW president, WICS directors, Costain team
- Aug 31
- 2 min read
Welsh Water has appointed Roch Cheroux as its new chief executive. He will join the company on 6 October and take over from Peter Perry in the new year. Cheroux served as chief executive of Australia’s largest water utility, Sydney Water, between 2019 and March 2025. Welsh Water reported that, during his time there, Cheroux oversaw a four-and-a-half-fold increase in capital investment; customer complaints dropped significantly despite challenging operational circumstances such as Covid, bushfires, floods and drought; there was marked improvement in employee engagement and recordable health and safety incidents; and last year Sydney Water was named the most trusted utility company in Australia. Cheroux has over three decades' worth of experience in the international water industry. Perry plans to retire in Spring 2026.
MOSL chief executive Sarah McMath has been appointed as incoming president of the Institute of Water. She will take over from Pennon chief executive Susan Davy in September. McMath has also been awarded IWater Fellowship.
Scotland’s cabinet secretary for climate action and energy has appointed three new members to the WICS board, each for four-year terms until 2029.
Jo Aston is a chartered civil engineer with 21 years of water experience and 11 years in economic regulation. She is currently chair of NI Water.
Heather Reid is a meteorologist, former chair of the Institute of Physics in Scotland and current convenor of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority.
Morag Sheppard sits on the board of Environmental Standards Scotland and until 2022 was on the board of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission.
Costain has appointed Matt Bateman as water sector director. He will lead delivery of infrastructure programmes for water companies across the UK, including the AMP8 capital programmes for Northumbrian Water, United Utilities and Southern Water. Gerard Shore, who previously led Costain’s water sector, has been appointed to the new role of strategic programmes director for water, responsible for Costain’s position in the strategic resource options market.
Comments