Following a competitive recruitment and selection process, the Strategic Panel is delighted to announce the appointment of the independent Chair, the two independent members, and a customer representative of the new Code Change Committee. The appointments follow the announcement of the trading party members earlier in January and mark the formation of the new committee. The recruitment process for the second customer body member is still ongoing.
Following the changes to market governance, the Code Change Committee will take direction from the newly formed Strategic Panel and recommend changes to market rules that reflect the Strategic Panel’s priorities for the market and for the benefit of non-household water customers.
In announcing the Chair and independent members, Trisha McAuley, Chair of the new Strategic Panel, said:
“I am delighted with both the quality of the response from trading parties and with the calibre of the range of independent candidates who put themselves forward for the Committee and expressed a desire and commitment to make a significant contribution to the non-household water market, in order to achieve the best outcomes for its customers. I am confident that we have a highly capable and extremely knowledgeable committee, who together provide a number of years’ senior leadership experience of operating in the market; bring Board-level skills and strategic experience; and a tangible customer focus and desire to drive real change.”
The new Code Change Committee will formally take effect from 1 March 2022. The Code Change Committee will meet for the first time on 29 March. Summaries of the newly appointed Chair and members' biographies are below. Committee members’ full biographies are also available on the Code Change Committee members page.
As MOSL is providing the secretariat for the Strategic Panel, we ask that if you have any questions, please email
Code Change Committee Independent Chair
Anthony Pygram
Anthony has extensive regulatory and leadership experience, having worked in a variety of roles at two economic regulators, at a regulator of a profession, and in Whitehall. His previous roles include Director of Conduct and Enforcement at Ofgem and Inquiry Director at the Competition Commission (now part of the Competition and Markets Authority). Anthony has also worked in Whitehall, in areas including competition policy and nuclear non-proliferation policy. He is also a Lay Member, and Alternate Chair, of the Regulatory Board of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.
Independent Members
Dr Ulrike Hotopp
Ulrike is an economist with more than 25 years of experience in government, academia and the private sector. Whilst in the civil service she took on the roles of Deputy Director for Strategic Analysis in BEIS, regulation as lead for the analytical team in the Better Regulation Executive and was the Chief Economist of Defra. Ulrike is the founder and CEO of LIVE, an economic consultancy that evaluates policies for Government Departments such as Defra, the DIT, FCDO and BEIS, and provides economic advice on natural capital, including to the water industry, and business cases for large investments. Ulrike is also a reader for Economic Policy Analysis at the University of Kent, a member of the Competition and Markets Authority’s merger panel and the Enforcement Decision Panel of the energy regulator Ofgem. She is currently a Council Member of the Society for Professional Economists.
Michael O’Connor
Mike has had a varied career and held numerous CEO and senior leadership posts in both the public and voluntary sectors. His voluntary sector roles included StepChange, the UK’s largest debt advice organisation; Consumer Focus, an organisation that helps consumers get a fair deal, the Olympic Lottery Distributor and the Millennium Commission where Mike was responsible for a £4 billion investment programme covering major public infrastructure projects. Mike was also CEO of Consumers International, an international federation of consumer bodies, that campaigns for consumers’ rights across the world.
Prior to this Mike held senior positions in the Department of Health, HM Treasury and Cabinet Office and he was the Private Secretary to two Ministers for Health. Mike is currently a member of the Advertising Standards Authority Advertising Advisory Committee, Vice Chair of the London Irish Centre Charity and a Trustee of Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation.
Customer Representative
Christina Blackwell (Senior Policy Manager, CCW)
Christina leads the Business Retail Market Team at CCW, developing policy based on evidence from both industry complaints and those received by CCW, customer research, and direct contact with businesses and their representative organisations. Prior to this, Christina worked for Severn Trent Water and Ofwat. She was a member of the industry regulator’s Competition Team that helped oversee the introduction of the first stage of retail competition in the water sector in 2005. Through her extensive knowledge of the retail market and evidence of business customers’ experience, Christina will play a key role in the drive to deliver a market that benefits all business customers.
Trading party representatives
Wholesaler Members
- Michael Rathbone (Market Strategy Manager, Severn Trent Water)
- Paul Stelfox (Head of Business Market Services, United Utilities)
Retailer Members
- Claire Yeates (Strategy Director, Waterscan)
- Matthew Glover (Head of Wholesaler Management, Wave Utilities)
Affiliate members
The Code Change Committee also has non-voting affiliate members which include representatives from Ofwat and MOSL:
- Dan Mason (Associate Director - Business Retail - Policy and Outcomes, Ofwat)
- Sarah McMath (CEO, MOSL)
