Chair of London Hydro Board Announces CEO’s Retirement

The Chair of the London Hydro Board of Directors, Connie Graham, wishes to share with you the bittersweet announcement about the retirement of our long-serving CEO, Dr. Vinay Sharma. Dr. Sharma has worked a total of 26 years at London Hydro, leading the company for the last 15 years. Vinay will be retiring this August.

“Throughout this time, I have had the incredible fortune of having worked with talented people in the electrical utility sector and London Hydro. All throughout my career, I have worked with many professionals who have been my teachers, friends, and family. Thank you for teaching, helping and supporting me throughout my career. I am fortunate to have been part of the London Hydro team during the profound transformation of the electrical utility sector in Ontario.” said Vinay Sharma.

“Vinay has accomplished a great deal at London Hydro over his tenure and it will be difficult to find a replacement to carry on his legacy.” said Connie Graham, Board Chair. “We’re pleased to announce that Boyden Ontario Inc. has been selected as the executive search firm to support our Board as they recruit London Hydro’s next President and CEO. Boyden, a highly experienced search firm with significant experience in utility leadership recruitment, was the successful firm in a selection process that took place over the winter. Boyden’s experience, approach, and resources will be an asset to London Hydro during the search. Over the next number of months, the Boyden team will work closely with London Hydro’s CEO selection committee, made up of members of our Board of Directors, to recruit high-quality candidates for the role.”

During his tenure as CEO, Vinay has overseen a period of unprecedented transformation, technology advancement, and steered the corporation through the challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Vinay’s leadership was evident during these challenging times by keeping the employees engaged, ensuring that they knew that they were cared for. During that time, that also was his approach with Londoners as London Hydro doubled its contribution to the Low-Income Energy Assistance Program to ensure there were more funds available for customers that were financially impacted by the pandemic.

Vinay’s leadership, business management, engineering skills, and people-oriented approach have fostered a strong corporate culture that has helped London Hydro become a leader in technology development, grid automation, innovative customer service tools, and many smart applications for commercial and industrial customers.

In his message to London Hydro’s employees, Vinay said “It has been an honour and a privilege to serve as London Hydro’s CEO since 2009, and I am immensely proud of what we've achieved together. The challenges we faced, successes and failures, the safety milestones we celebrated – they are all woven into the fabric of our collective success. London Hydro isn't just a utility company to me; rather, it's a family of dedicated individuals committed to powering our community. To the linemen/women, cable crews, designers, engineers, IT professionals, accountants, and visionary leaders who make up this organization, thank you for your unwavering dedication. I have had an enjoyable ride on your proverbial “coattails”. Today, London Hydro is a utility with more than $300M in asset rate base with a market value of over $500M and it has provided annualized Shareholder growth of 4.5% during his tenure.

Dr. Sharma and London Hydro have accomplished numerous groundbreaking milestones, often exceeding the demands of a dynamic industry and winning several industry awards:

• Improved safety and reliability by rebuilding the grid and converting old systems to 27.6kV standard; installed a flex network for the downtown businesses to improve reliability.
• London Hydro was the first LDC in Ontario to use powerline carrier technology to enhance grid visibility and control.
• Reduced system losses by 25% and hardened the system for increased weather response through 4kV conversion.
• Partnered to develop Canada’s first large-scale, community net-zero, net metering and a microgrid.
• Led the development of the Green Button Standard technologies and applications and is the founding member of the Green Button Alliance. London Hydro was the first utility to implement Ontario’s Green Button Standard.
• Successfully rolled out the provincial smart meter initiative, and championed the Smart Meter Purchasing Consortium with over 60 utilities participating.
• Strong collaboration with the City of London on several projects including Bus Rapid Transit, Energy Conservation initiatives, and Climate Change Action initiative.

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Background Information on Dr. Vinay Sharma

• Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering
• Professional Engineer accreditation in Ontario and Alberta
• Ph. D. from University of Saskatchewan
• MBA from the University of Regina
• Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering
• Chartered Director

For more information, contact:

Nancy Hutton
Director, Public Relations, Corporate Communications

(519) 661-5800 ext. 5797

Cell (519) 639-777