Ørsted appoints seasoned CFO, internal execution head as COO

Danish clean energy giant Ørsted A/S (CPH:ORSTED) on Tuesday said it has appointed new chief financial and chief operating officers, who will take over from interim holders of the roles on April 1, 2024.

The company announced the management change and a search for new capabilities to lead the finance and operations functions in November 2023 in response to a challenging business environment.

Ørsted’s next chief financial officer (CFO) will be Trond Westlie, who has experience as CFO at companies such as AP Moller-Maersk, VEON and Telenor. He is currently chair of the board at Norwegian industrial investment company Arendals Fossekompani and board member at Norwegian multinational maritime company Wilhelmsen group.

The position of chief operational officer (COO) will be assumed by Patrick Harnett, who is currently Head of European Execution Programmes at Ørsted and leads the project development and construction of Hornsea 3, which is set to become the single largest offshore wind farm globally. Having joined Ørsted in 2016, he was also Senior Programme Director for Hornsea 2.

Thomas Thune Andersen, Chair of Ørsted’s Board of Directors, said the appointments will “bring strong international financial skills and execution skills to the Group Executive Team and support the successful implementation of the strategy plan" that was announced on February 7, 2024.

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!