WindEurope chief Dickson stepping down after decade in role
Dickson has guided Europe’s wind industry through challenges as diverse as the pandemic and war in Ukraine during time in role, and now hopes to pass on 'spirit and dedication' of wind industry to English schoolchildren
WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson is stepping down from the role after a decade championing Europe’s wind power rollout and industry to become a school teacher in his native England.
Industry body WindEurope announced the news today, saying that its board of directors has initiated the process of finding his successor.
The board has established a nomination committee with the participation of select board members, including the chair and vice-chair, to find WindEurope’s new CEO. Dickson will remain in his role until he steps down in the second half of the year.
“I’m incredibly proud of the progress wind energy has made in Europe in the past 10 years,” said Dickson. “I thank everyone at WindEurope for their engagement and support and the many people who have helped take wind energy forward during my tenure.”
“Having spent most of my working life outside the UK, I look forward to going home and trying to put something back into the society I came from. But wind is a fantastic industry that it is a privilege to serve”.
In a separate LinkedIn post, Dickson highlighted that wind is now 20% of the electricity Europe consumes.
“It reduces people’s energy bills. It creates jobs in rural and coastal areas. It helps liberate us from Russian gas. It makes Europe more secure and competitive. It’s no surprise the vast majority of folk in Europe say they want more wind.”
“The spirit and dedication of the wind industry is an inspiration. I hope I can pass it on to the schoolchildren of England.”
Dickson studied at the University of Oxford before going to work for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, working from Madrid, London and Brussels from 1999-2008. After that, he joined French multinational Alstom, working as its vice-president of Global Public Affairs from Paris until 2015, when he joined WindEurope at its office in Brussels.
Since then, Dickson has helped guide Europe’s wind industry through the supply chain challenges unleashed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the energy crisis and economic challenges unleashed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He and WindEurope also successfully lobbied for the adoption in 2023 of the Wind Power Package, which outlined 15 immediate actions to strengthen the competitiveness of Europe’s wind supply chain.
Vestas CEO Henrik Andersen, who was elected as WindEurope chair in March, said: “On behalf of everyone in the Board of Directors, both past and present, I want to thank Giles for his tremendous contribution to not only WindEurope, but also the expansion of wind across Europe.”
“It is a testament to Giles’ passion for and dedication to the energy transition that he will now help ensure a smooth succession and leave a stronger WindEurope than when he arrived.”
“Europe is facing a generational challenge of becoming competitive and secure again, which wind energy plays a key role in, and I’m therefore very pleased we’ll have a wind energy champion like Giles to educate our future generations.”
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