Simon Gardiner

Simon has been General Counsel and Company Secretary of United Utilities since 2011. United Utilities purpose is ‘To provide great water and more for the North West’. It is the largest of the remaining listed UK water companies in a sector which has been the subject of a number of environmental issues and challenges in recent months. United Utilities employs c5,500 people directly with nearly twice as many working in its supply chain delivering for customers on its behalf.

He has overall responsibility for any legal, governance, security and compliance issues affecting United Utilities. United Utilities has won or been shortlisted on numerous reporting rewards over the years, including at the PwC Building Public Trust Awards and CGI/ICSA. Simon also leads the legal and company secretariat functions providing in-house capability such as: M&A, commercial and construction, environmental and property, data protection as well as a significant claims and debt recovery department for the 7.3 million population it serves, 200,000 of whom benefit from various support schemes. United Utilities is also the largest corporate landowner in the UK with an estate covering some 56,000 hectares, much of it catchment land in areas of outstanding natural beauty.

Simon is also responsible for IT security governance, including cyber, as well as physical security across the group. He also is the executive co-sponsor for the group’s employee-led gender equality network, of which he is a proud supporter. He previously led the supply chain function, including the launch of its new ‘United Supply Chain’ approach, promoting responsible sourcing principles as well as better integration of the supply chain in the group, mitigating risk, building resilience and ultimately driving better value for customers.

Simon completed a law conversion course having graduated from Cambridge University in Modern Languages. He joined United Utilities as head of group legal in 2002 from global engineering group GKN, having previously qualified as a solicitor at law firm Osborne Clarke. Simon is a vice-chair and Executive Co-lead on Competition law for the GC100, the association for the general counsel and company secretaries of companies in the UK FTSE 100.