Ovo has appointed Georgia Berry, the former special adviser to Prime Minister Theresa May, as chief of staff.
Berry joins the firm in the newly created role which will see her serve under chief executive and founder Stephen Fitzpatrick.
She was most recently a special advisor to the PM with responsibility for the development of policy across energy in particular, including generation mix, the wider UK energy network and retail market reforms.
She left her post at Number 10 in July this year, one of a number of May’s inner circle to have done so in the wake of the PM’s disastrous snap general election campaign.
This will not be Berry’s maiden appointment within an energy firm however, having previously served as head of corporate responsibility at Centrica.
“I’m excited about working with Stephen to develop growth strategies for the wider business that will harness the opportunities presented by emerging technologies. Future changes, including the development of in-home battery storage, electric vehicles and smart controls, present the opportunity to provide everybody with abundant, clean and fairly-priced energy,” Berry said.
Ovo said her appointment came at a “crucial point” for the company as it looked to evolve from a pure play energy retailer into a “multiservice energy technology company”, with electric vehicle adoption a key component.
“Ovo is fast transitioning to position itself at the vanguard of companies developing future-facing smart energy services and systems,” it said.
In recent months Ovo has been particularly acquisitive in order to bolt on expertise in new markets. It acquired smart grid developer VCharge in February, and then EV infrastructure firms ChargedEV and Indra Renewable Technologies earlier this month.
Fitzpatrick said he was delighted to welcome Berry to the company, adding that she was to play a “vital role” in shaping the company’s future strategy in creating a “democratised and decarbonised future energy system”.
“Her deep understanding of the impact digitisation is having on our industry, coupled with her passion for sustainability issues, will prove invaluable as we seek to harness the disruptive power of technology to make energy better for everyone,” he said.