Centrica appoints new chief executive

Iain Conn joins Centrica as chief executive effective 1 January 2015.

Conn will also join the Centrica board, succeeding Sam Laidlaw who will retire from the board on 31 December 2014.

Conn will also become chairman of the executive and disclosure committees and a member of the corporate responsibility committee.

Conn will join from BP where he has been chief executive, downstream, at BP’s refining and marketing division for the past seven years.

At BP, he is responsible for running BP's customer-facing activities in the fuels, lubricants and petrochemicals sectors. This involves all manufacturing, supply, optimization and marketing activities in support of both business and retail customers and includes shaping one of the world’s leading retail businesses, with 18,000 service stations in 70 countries, serving an estimated 12 million customers every day.

Conn has been a board member of BP since 2004 and has previously held a number of senior roles throughout the business including in trading, exploration and production, and management of corporate functions such as safety and human resources.