Ikaheimonen will sit on the Board and be Chairman of the Audit & Finance Committee. He is an experienced executive and non-executive director at both public and private companies with a wealth of expertise in the oil and gas and oilfield services sectors, as per the press release.

During the past 30 years, Ikaheimonen has held senior leadership positions at a number of leading operators including Royal Dutch Shell, Transocean Plc, the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor. He is at present the CFO/CCO and Executive Director at Genel Energy Plc, as nonexecutive Chairman of Lamor Corporation, a leading provider of environmental and oil spill response services, and as Senior Independent Director at Independent Oil & Gas Plc, a gas development specialist.

He has previously served Ahlstrom Plc, a global materials manufacturer and Vantage International Plc, both companies as a non-executive director and Chairman of the Audit Committee, as well as Transocean Partners LLC as the Chairman.

Ikaheimonen obtained a Master of Law degree from the University of Turku in Finland and joined Shell in 1990, eventually becoming Regional CFO for Africa in 2007. In 2009, he joined Seadrill Plc, a leading offshore drilling company and having joined Transocean Plc in 2012, he led a major restructuring exercise and a $1.5bn IPO of Transocean Partners. Since joining UK listed Genel Energy Plc in 2017, he has driven a major turnaround of the business.  

“I am joining Averda at a very exciting time for the business, as it looks to build on recent expansion and take advantage of the opportunities presented by a growing global population and increasing levels of urbanisation. I look forward to working closely with the rest of the Board in support of Averda’s ambition to provide the highest levels of responsible waste management throughout the emerging world,” Esa Ikaheimonen commented.   

Malek Sukkar, CEO of Averda, said, “Esa’s expertise in running companies with global operations will be invaluable as we continue to grow our geographic footprint in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. In addition to our geographic expansion, we are increasing the breadth of our service offering by moving into more technically challenging types of waste, such as those found in the natural resources sector. Esa has an understanding of the oil and gas industries that will be invaluable in this regard. We look forward to welcoming Esa onto Averda’s Board and working closely with him as we continue to grow the business.”