Management team

Neal Barclay was appointed as Chief Executive in January 2018.

Neal joined Meridian in 2008 as their Chief Financial Officer. He then moved into the position of General Manager Markets and Production where he was responsible for generation asset management and wholesale trading. Neal held this position until April 2016 when he was appointed General Manager Retail, responsible for Meridian and Powershop New Zealand’s customer sales, service and operations.

Before joining Meridian, Neal held a number of general manager and finance roles during a 13-year career with Telecom New Zealand Limited. Neal has an accounting background and is a qualified chartered accountant.

Mike Roan was appointed Chief Financial Officer in April 2019. Mike and his team are responsible for the finance, strategy, risk and procurement functions at Meridian Energy. Before this appointment, Mike was General Manager of Wholesale, responsible for all wholesale market activities. He holds a Masters in Finance.

Mike originally joined Meridian in 2006 as a Strategy Analyst before moving into the wholesale side of the business in 2009 as Wholesale Markets Manager. Before joining Meridian, Mike was domiciled in the United States where he worked in a number of energy trading roles. He is a kiwi who, prior to the US, spent time working within the New Zealand electricity sector and banking.

Guy Waipara (Rongowhakaata) was appointed to General Manager of Development in December 2020. This includes managing environmental authorisations for current and future projects, and responsibility of Meridian's future renewable options and projects.

Guy has previously held roles as GM Generation and Natural Resources from Novermber 2017, GM Markets and Production from April 2016, and GM External Relations from August 2010. Guy has held roles at Meridian in offshore business development and setting company stategy. He has over 30 years' experience in the electricity sector and previously worked at Transpower New Zealand in roles responsible for transmission planning and network development.

Tania was appointed GM Generation in January 2022, having originally joined Meridian as Chief People Officer in 2019. Tania has strong experience in the electricity sector, including six years on the Leadership Team of Contact Energy in People and Health, Safety & Environment.

Tania also has a breadth of experience to share from running her own consulting business, leading people-related projects in the energy, science and research, manufacturing, retail, arts, financial services, non-profit and government sectors. A graduate of Victoria University, Tania started her career in the NZ Air Force.

Chris Ewers was appointed General Manager Wholesale in August 2019.

Chris joined Meridian when it was formed in 1999. He was initially tasked with setting up Meridian’s spot electricity trading function, before undertaking a number of roles managing Meridian’s relationship with Transpower. In 2008, he returned to manage the spot trading team and subsequently, following the merger of the generation control function, spent 6 years as the Energy Trading Manager.

Before being appointed as General Manager Wholesale, Chris’s more recent role has involved working on the strategy side of the wholesale business as Meridian’s Portfolio Manager. Prior to Meridian, Chris worked three years for ECNZ across a number of engineering and commercial disciplines. He has extensive industry experience through his interactions across various roles, forums and advisory groups over the last 23 years.

Lisa Hannifin was appointed as Chief Customer Officer in November 2019. As General Manager of Meridian’s retail business, Lisa's role includes accountability for the Meridian and Powershop customer brands and the operational retail functions of the Meridian Group.

She brings rich experience and insight from a number of customer roles in her career, including a decade in the New Zealand electricity market.

During this time Lisa led the Sales and Service teams for Meridian as Head of Business and Residential, where she developed a reputation for her ability to think laterally, create and implement strategy, and drive transformational change.

Lisa holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Management from Lincoln University.

Jason was appointed Chief People Officer in March 2022. During his 14-year tenure at Meridian, he has occupied a variety of senior and executive roles, most recently as CEO of Meridian Australia and Powershop Australia.

Prior to this, he was General Manager of the Office of Chief Executive, as well as General Counsel and Company Secretary.

Jason is a superb leader with considerable experience and a strong passion for Meridian. He is also a director of Meridian subsidiary, Dam Safety Intelligence Limited.

Bharat Ratanpal was appointed Chief Information Officer in March 2022. He has led Meridian's IT function since 2018. Bharat's appointment to the Executive team acknowledges the strategic importance of digital transformation to our business. Bharat has a weath of experience with previous roles as Head of Technology at Education Payroll, and 15 years at Vodafone New Zealand and its predecessor Telstra Clear. He not only has a wealth of expertise, he has demonstrated his ability to lead, partner and enable others to put customers at the heart of our business through our digital programme. Bharat holds an MBA from Massey University, New Zealand and a Bachelor of Engineering from Pune Univeristy, India. Bharat and his team are responsible for the information and communication platforms,tools and technologies that support Meridian's operations,as well as Meridian’s cyber security strategy and programme.

Claire Shaw was appointed GM Corporate Affairs and Sustainability in April 2020. Claire and her team are responsible for public relations strategy, sustaibility, external and internal communications at Meridian Energy. Before this appointment, Claire was Acting GM for Office of the Chief Executive, Corporate Communications Manager and held various communications roles at Meridian. Claire has also been a board member for Drive Electric.

Claire joined Meridian in 2009 after moving from a career in journalism in the UK and Ireland. Originally hailing from Yorkshire, Claire holds an Honours degree in English Literature from the University of Wales, Bangor.

Jason Woolley was appointed General Counsel and Company Secretary in April 2020. Jason and his team are responsible for legal, government relations and regulatory functions at Meridian Energy. Jason joined the Meridian legal team in 2011 as Senior Legal Counsel before taking up the Regulatory Affairs Manager's role and more recently Head of Affairs and Corporate Legal.

Prior to joining Meridian, Jason worked in both private law firm and in-house legal roles in Wellington, the UK and Australia. Jason holds both a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration and a Bachelor of Laws with Honours from Victoria University of Wellington.