OMV, Veolia and Egis announce new leadership roles

European energy groups have announced several senior leadership appointments across key companies in the sector.

OMV is set to confirm the appointment of Emma Delaney as chairwoman of the board and chief executive, effective 1 September 2026. 

Delaney, currently an executive vice president at bp, would succeed Alfred Stern on an initial three-year term, with an option to extend by a further two years. The board is also expected to consider a two-year extension of CFO Reinhard Florey’s mandate at the same meeting.

Veolia has appointed Richard Kirkman as CEO for Northern Europe and Group Head of Growth and Innovation, effective 2 April 2026. Kirkman will also lead the UK business and join the group executive committee, overseeing operations across six countries and a multi-billion-euro regional portfolio spanning water, waste, and energy services.

Elsewhere, engineering firm Egis has named Afshan Rasheed as Head of Environment for its UK operations. She will lead a dedicated environmental consultancy practice embedded across the company’s energy, water and transport projects, as Egis looks to strengthen its environmental delivery capability across infrastructure programmes.

Emma Delaney

Emma Delaney, an Irish citizen, is an accomplished energy expert, said OMV, and long-time member of bp’s top management with three decades of relevant professional experience.

In her current position as executive vice president at one of the three global businesses of bp, she is responsible for an organisation with more than 50,000 employees in around 50 countries, spanning fuels and biofuels, industrial and automotive lubricant production, as well as aviation fuels and e-mobility. 

Lutz Feldmann, Chairman of the Supervisory Board and the Presidential and Nomination Committee, said: “Emma Delaney is an outstanding and highly qualified CEO candidate. She meets all prerequisites to lead OMV successfully, building on her extensive industry and management experience.”

Richard Kirkman

According to Veolia, Richard Kirkman knows the UK well, having spent 26 years leading the building and operation of key infrastructure for Veolia in the UK between 1995 and 2020. 

Most recently, Kirkman was CEO of Veolia in Australia & New Zealand based in Sydney and managed the transformation of the zone which doubled in size over five years. Kirkman led Veolia’s Pacific operations responsible for AUD4 billion ($2.8 billion) in revenue, 7,000 people and 350 operational sites. 

Kirkman said: “Environmental security is essential for public and private entities across the zone and our innovative solutions are primed to support economic growth with sustainable sovereignty.”

Taking over from Kirkman is Chief Operating Officer Resource Recovery, Craig Barker, who has been with Veolia group for more than 17 years in Australia, with a strong focus on diverting waste from landfill through recycling, resource recovery and energy from waste. 

Barker said: “I am humbled to be given this leadership role as our Australian and New Zealand businesses gather momentum. With the region’s circular economy accelerating, it will create new opportunities for Veolia to serve our Australian and New Zealand customers and those visionary businesses poised to play a key role in the future.”

In his new role, Kirkman will oversee operations across the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland and the Netherlands which provide services to industrial, municipal and commercial clients. This zone comprises almost 20,000 people and £4 billion ($5.4 billion) in revenue, with operations and combined operations across water, waste and energy. 

Kirkman will also head up growth and innovation at Veolia Group level, helping accelerate organic growth and new innovative offerings worldwide, and he also joins Veolia Group’s Executive Committee. 

Gavin Graveson, outgoing Senior Vice-President, Northern Europe and CEO, UK at Veolia has been appointed CEO of the Group’s Asia Pacific Zone effective from 2 April 2026. He will continue as a member of the Group Executive Committee. 

Afshan Rasheed

Global engineering firm Egis has appointed Afshan Rasheed as Head of Environment to lead its dedicated environmental consultancy practice.

The service will sit alongside Egis’s existing energy, water and transport teams, bringing specialist environmental capability, including environmental impact assessment (EIA) and environmental services, to the full lifecycle of the firm’s infrastructure and engineering projects.

Based between York and London, Rasheed brings more than 25 years of experience in the environmental sector. She has held senior leadership roles at major engineering consultancies and built a reputation for developing high-performing teams, integrating environmental expertise at scale, and enabling the next generation of sector talent. 

In her new role, Rasheed will lead the growth of Egis’s environment services across the UK. Her team will provide environmental support across the firm’s major project portfolio, ensuring sustainability considerations are integrated from the earliest stages of project planning through to delivery.

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Rasheed is widely recognised as a mentor and leader within the industry. She won the Mentor of the Year award at the Women in Green Business Awards 2024, with particular recognition for her work supporting apprentices and professionals returning to work after career breaks. Her approach to talent development will be central to how Egis continues to build its environment team in the years ahead.

Joanne Moran, director of Water, Environment, Energy Transition and Nuclear, UK & Ireland, said: “This is a significant step for Egis in the UK. There is growing demand from clients for environmental expertise that is fully integrated with engineering and infrastructure delivery, not bolted on at the end. 

“Afshan has spent her career doing exactly that and her leadership will be central to how we grow this capability. The green skills shortage is real, and we want Egis to be part of the answer.”

Rasheed added: “Leading Egis’s environment capability in the UK felt like the natural next step in my career. The focus now is on growing the team in the UK so we can better support the increasing demand for environmental expertise across projects. With the green skills market facing a shortage of experienced professionals, there is a real opportunity to bring talented people into the sector and build the capability needed for the years ahead.”