Dive Brief:
- NextEra Energy announced on Monday that current chief financial officer Kirk Crews will assume a new role as the company's chief risk officer. Brian Bolster, formerly Goldman Sachs' head of natural resources in the Americas, will take Crews' place as CFO.
- NextEra Energy opted to expand its senior leadership team in response to growing energy demand, CEO John Ketchum said in a statement.
- Company leaders indicated in an April earnings call that they believe demand for renewable energy could triple over the next seven years in response to rising electricity demand from data centers and from electrification in other industrial sectors.
Dive Insight:
“Energy demand is expected to grow significantly,” Ketchum said in Monday's statement. “Expanding our senior leadership team positions NextEra Energy to lead the energy transition and capitalize on the substantial growth opportunities in front of us.”
Crews has held multiple roles at NextEra Energy over the past eight years, and so is uniquely qualified to fill the new position, Ketchum said. Meanwhile, Bolster, a 25-year veteran of Goldman Sachs, will assume Crews' former position as the company's CFO. Bolster had worked closely with NextEra Energy in his years with Goldman Sachs and already has a “strong familiarity” with the business and its team, Ketchum said.
“These changes further deepen our bench strength and provide a solid foundation to achieve our growth objectives moving forward,” Ketchum said.
Both Crews and Bolster will report directly to Ketchum.
NextEra executives indicated in April that the company expects to own more than 100 GW of generation capacity by the end of 2026. Subsidiary Florida Power & Light recently doubled its planned battery storage deployment, while development arm NextEra Energy Resources has seen increased demand for solar and energy storage projects from customers such as data centers and manufacturers looking to decarbonize their operations. Many of these customers, Ketchum said, have shared concerns about the availability of reliable power in the wake of rising demand.
“We believe renewables and storage are a key enabler to help meet this increased demand,” Ketchum said in April. “In fact, we believe the U.S. renewables and storage market opportunity has the potential to be three times bigger over the next seven years compared to the last seven.”
