Management Team

Helen Tarnoy, Founder & Managing Director

After working in general management for the start-up operation of a British engineering company in Central and Eastern Europe, Helen worked for a number of years as a researcher and business consultant before joining The AES Corporation in 1997. There she led business development efforts in Central and Eastern Europe and subsequently Africa, including the financing of the successful Songas project in Tanzania. Helen subsequently spent two years as Director General of the Cameroon integrated utility, Sonel, with a workforce of 3500 people and a turnover of some $180m. Helen is a BA and MA arts graduate from Oxford University.

Mark Fitzpatrick, Founder & Executive Director

Following an early career in power engineering, design and construction, Mark joined The AES Corporation in 1984. From then until 2003 he led early greenfield and acquisition efforts in the US, followed by expansion into the UK, the rest of Europe, central Asia and Africa and growing the London-based organisation from 2 people in 1990 to over 5000 in 2002. Mark completed his career at AES as Executive Vice President of the Corporation and Chief Operating Officer for Latin America, where he was responsible for restructuring the company's businesses and achieving profitability in an $8bn workout. Mark is a mechanical engineer by training and has a BSME and an MSME from Purdue University.

Neil Hopkins, Finance Director

Neil worked for Ernst & Young until 1995 when he joined the AES Corporation. During his 13 years at AES, he worked in London as the Regional Finance Director. Neil has assisted in greenfield projects and acquisitions in Europe and throughout Africa including Cameroon, Nigeria and South Africa, providing advice on project specific tax structuring, project financing and general accounting issues. In addition, Neil was responsible for overseeing the financial reporting for businesses across Europe, Middle East and Africa. During that period Neil also spent two years in the US as Vice-President, Financial Planning & Analysis, where he formed a new FP&A function for AES. Neil has a law degree from Southampton University and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.

Peter Barrett, Engineering Director

Peter began his career as an electrical engineer with GEC Turbine Generators Ltd, and subsequently worked with ABB Power and Toshiba International. In 1991 he joined The AES Corporation in London and from mid 1993 spent over two years in China as the Senior Project Engineer and Project Director, which included working as the technical expert on the 2100MW coal-fired Yangcheng project. After returning to England in 1995, Peter led the development of many successful AES projects, including the 363MW clean coal power plant refurbishment at Fifoots Point and the 600MW Maritza East 1 greenfield lignite-fired power plant in Bulgaria. Peter has a BSc in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College (University of London).

Bob Chestnutt, Project Director

Bob began his career as a Mechanical Engineer with the Northern Ireland Electricity Service (NIES) in power plant operations gaining experience of coal, oil and gas turbine technology. Following the acquisition by AES, together with Tractebel, of two of NIES's plants in 1992, Bob was one of a small team responsible for refinancing this acquisition on the London Capital Markets. After 9 years in Northern Ireland, Bob joined AES in 1995 as a Project Director based in London involved both in development and in operations support throughout Africa and Europe. Bob successfully participated in most aspects of project development and financial structuring in developing markets. Bob has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ulster and an MBA from the Ulster Business School.

Crispin Holliday, Project Director

Having spent 5 years in maintenance, project and management roles at BASF chemical plants in the UK, Crispin spent a further 4 years with BASF in Germany planning and developing power plants and energy supply solutions for new and existing facilities, mostly in Asia but also in Europe. After gaining an MBA at INSEAD in France, Crispin joined AES in a business development role in London, working on bids for projects in Senegal and Nigeria before spending two years in Cameroon as Director of planning and development for the integrated national utility, Sonel, culminating in the successful development of the 85MW Limbe HFO plant. Crispin is a Chartered Engineer and has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Nottingham University.

Christian Wright, Project Director

Christian joined Aldwych following 10 years focused primarily on developing and operating power projects in Africa. For 5 years, he was the Country Director for the Bujagali Hydro development project in Uganda. Christian then became the Director of Communications for Cameroon's integrated utility, Sonel, after which he spent 3 years heading up External Affairs and Strategy for AES covering Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Christian holds a BA in Economics and Politics from Mary Washington University and a MA in International Relations from Cambridge University where he focused on East Africa's foreign investment climate.