In addition to his energy sector experience with Eon, Bird will bring knowledge of a range of sectors when he joins Co-operative Energy. He has previously worked in the transport, retail, telecoms and health industries and has been a non-executive commissioner at the Police Complaints Commission since 2014.
The chief executive postiion at Co-operative energy is an entirely new role, created to reflect the growing significance of the company within its umberalla organisation, Midcounties Co-operative.
Bird will officially take up his post on 24 April. Responding to his appointment, he said he was delighted to be joining the company.
“The opportunity to create something different to the rest of the energy market, underpinned by a core set of values, is incredibly appealing, as is working with the other businesses under the Midcounties umbrella,” he commented.
Ben Reid, group chief executive of Midcounties Co-operative, added: “Co-operative Energy has seen outstanding growth over the past couple of years. It is clear we need to strengthen our team and increase our capacity for further growth.” The board is therefore “very pleased to have been able to attract such a high calibre industry expert such as David Bird to this new post”.
Over the last year, Co-operative energy has grown to serve over 400,000 UK energy customers. In December last year it absorbed 160,000 customer from GB Energy Supply when it went out of busienss.