The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has named Iain Coucher as its preferred candidate to succeed Jonson Cox as chair of Ofwat.
Coucher is currently the chief executive of the Atomic Weapons Establishment and formerly of Network Rail between 2007 and 2010.
From 2018 to 2020 he was a non-executive director at Cadent. He also sat on the Rail Safety and Standards Board and was the chief executive of manufacturing group AWE between 2016 and 2020.
His appointment will be subject to a pre-appointment hearing and report by the Defra select committee. The scrutiny session will be public and the report will inform the final decision by secretary of state George Eustice.
Subject to approval, Coucher will take the post from 1 July. Cox has agreed to extend his tenure as chair until 30 June.
Ofwat is also in the process of recruiting a permanent chief executive after Rachel Fletcher stepped down last year. David Black has held the role of interim chief executive since April 2021. Cox was due to step down in October but had his tenure extended while the chief executive recruitment process was underway.
Cox was appointed non-executive chair of the regulator in 2012 after working for Yorkshire Water.