Annoucement on the Appointment of the new PNG Power Managing Director
I am pleased to announce that PNG Power now has a duly appointed Managing Director, Mr Flagon B Bekker, who was appointed by the National Executive Council, following a thorough and compressive recruitment process facilitated by Kumul Consolidated Holdings and vetted by the PNG Power Board.
We welcome Flagon B Bekker, 49 years, to the PNG Power team from Perth, Western Australia. Mr Bekker holds a degree in Electrical Engineering as well as an MBA from Cranfield School of Management, UK. Mr Bekker has over 20 years Energy and Industrial Sectors’ experience, across four (4) global regions including key emerging growth markets such as the Middle East, North Africa/Turkey and Sub-Saharan Africa. He comes to PNG Power with broad Power Sector value chain. He has enjoyed global career making contributions at senior management level before moving to board-level management & sectoral consulting roles with leading regional champions and global industrial multinationals.
Before joining General Electric (GE) he started his career as an engineer for his Bursar Sponsor company, an international Iron & Steel company operating in Southern Africa. Despite enjoying the heavy engineering experience gained during this period, his formative years really started in 1999 when he joined General Electric in their power division, then GE Power Systems, based out of London in the United Kingdom as a Gas Turbine Mechanical Field Engineer. He spent the next few years in Europe, the USA and the Middle East in various technical, commercial & leadership roles including a 2-year, fast-track GE Corporate Commercial Leadership Program on rotation in 4 of the conglomerate’s large businesses working on challenging growth orientated strategy advisory projects.
Flagon spent the next few years after GE in Executive Leadership positions across the Energy and Power-Sector Value chains. Business challenges included cross-sector diversification of an Industrial Services business, acquisition integration in a fast-growing Power-Sector Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) acquisition and the establishment and stabilization of a new business unit in the Middle East. During the time in this fast-growing emerging market, he was first exposed to renewable energy asset Operations & Maintenance on 50MW, 24/7 Utility-Scale Concentrated Solar Technologies. In addition, his experience base extends to Gas Turbine Services in Thermal Power Assets as well as Sector level consulting.
Until recently, he was the Senior Power-Sector Consulting Adviser to a major Strategic Investor in the Middle East.In this capacity he worked on Energy Sector Reform in partnership with an incumbent, vertically integrated state-owned power utility with annual revenues in excess of US$10Bn.
Ultimately targeting an asset base totalling US$80Bn which included Generation, Transmission & Distribution; reform activities centered around technical partnerships, joint ventures & alliances to localize key technology value chains, creating skills & job-growth for the people of the region while delivering operating efficiency & asset utilization improvements for the Utility and its stakeholders.
In response to the appointment, Flagon said: “I want to thank the Chairman and the Board of PNG Power for the opportunity and look forward to their continued support & commitment as we focus on the challenges and opportunities facing PPL. I am excited to start working with all stakeholders including customers, employees, investors & supply chain partners as we commit to work together to meet the expectations of the people of Papua New Guinea.”
I also take this time to acknowledge and sincerely thank Mr Douglas Mageo for his resilient and stupendous leadership during his tenure as Acting Chief Executive Officer, since August 2019, for holding up our organization and keeping our people healthy and safe, especially during this period of the global pandemic, amongst ongoing challenges.
Flagon will join the PNG Power Team in the National Office in Port Moresby in September 2020.
I ask the staff and management of PNG Power Limited to accord Flagon all the support he needs to drive this Company forward in this challenging times.
Peter Nupiri
Chairman, PNG Power Board of Directors
