Leadership
Board of Directors
Nigel White
Chief Risk Officer, AtkinsRéalis
Nigel W.M. White is Chief Risk Officer at AtkinsRéalis. He joined the Company in August 2019, reporting directly to Ian L. Edwards, President and Chief Executive Officer, and is part of the Executive Committee. Based in London, United Kingdom (UK), he leads the Project Performance and Risk Oversight function that ensures delivery and execution across all the Company’s operational sectors.
Mr. White has over 30 years of experience in managing all aspects of civil, building, foundation, electrical and mechanical contracts in Hong Kong, UK and USA. Prior to joining AtkinsRéalis, he was Executive Director at Gammon Construction Limited in Hong Kong where he had responsibility for the company’s operations together with financial performance responsibilities, business growth strategy and business development.
He also spent over 20 years at Balfour Beatty in a variety of increasingly senior positions including Commercial Manager responsible for various projects. His early career was spent with Bucknall Austin and Partners – Chartered Quantity Surveyors and George Stubbings Limited, both in the UK.
Niklas Persson,
MD, Grid Integration, Hitachi Energy
Niklas Persson is the Managing Director of the Grid Integration Business Unit globally within Hitachi Energy.
He joined Hitachi ABB Power Grids’ predecessor in 1997 as an area sales manager for high voltage products in the Middle East, since then he has held several senior management positions with global responsibilities within the various businesses inside Power Grids. Directly prior to becoming Managing Director of Grid Integration, he was Head of the Company’s High Voltage Direct Current Business Unit.
Daniel Assandri,
Senior VP, Hitachi Energy
Daniel Assandri is currently Group Senior Vice President, responsible for Large Projects Business Development at Hitachi Energy, reporting to the President and CEO of Hitachi Energy, based in Zurich, Switzerland.
Daniel started his international career at Siemens in Germany and has held different senior management positions in Switzerland, Asia and Canada for ABB. Among others, he was Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of ABB Inc. in Canada, and member of the Executive Board of ABB in the Americas region. Daniel served also in China as Senior Vice President responsible for the Power Systems Division in North Asia, overseeing a significant expansion of the business portfolio in the region, and in Malaysia as Managing Director of the ABB Southeast Asia Power Generation Company, based in Kuala Lumpur.
Robert Alger
President – Lump-sum turnkey projects at AtkinsRéalis
Robert Alger is the President – Lump-sum turnkey projects at AtkinsRéalis
Throughout his career dedicated to engineering and construction, Robert has made a significant impact on the industry from his early days in infrastructure engineering to being CEO and Board Chairman of The Lane Construction Corporation, and now as President-Lump sum turnkey projects at AtkinsRéalis.
Robert joined AtkinsRéalis in 2020 as President of Major Projects. Initially, he was responsible for resolving several large, distressed lump-sum turnkey projects valued at over $20 billion. Taking a decisive lead, Robert managed four significant projects, navigating through complex issues to achieve successful outcomes. Additionally, Robert has effectively driven new business opportunities not only in AtkinsRéalis’ home market of Canada but also in the UK, the USA, and Australia.
Before joining AtkinsRéalis, Robert served as President of The Lane Construction Corporation from 2001 to 2019 and as Chairman of the Board from 1999 to 2020. Additionally, he held the roles of Chairman and Executive Director at ER Logix (Chicago) and Lane Power and Energy Solutions (Houston). His past board experience includes serving as Chairman and Executive Director of The Lane Construction Corporation (Connecticut), Independent Director at Surface Preparation Technologies (Pennsylvania), and Chairman and Independent Director at Kleinfelder, Inc. (San Diego).
Robert’s vision extends beyond building new business in civil infrastructure. In support of AtkinsRéalis’s goal to achieve net zero by 2030, he has led the charge in acquiring clean energy projects. AtkinsRéalis now has a significant pipeline in the industrial electric battery space, and it is ramping up to be certified to do construction on nuclear projects for AtkinsRéalis’ CANDU nuclear division which offers nuclear energy as a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels.
Adrian Griffin
Senior VP – Commercial & Risk, Resources, AtkinsRéalis
Adrian Griffin is currently Senior Vice President – Commercial at AtkinsRéalis for the USAAM sector, which includes engineering services in the US, Australia and Asia. This portfolio also includes mining and metallurgy, Linxon and the close out of several completed major projects.
Adrian started his international career at Kentz in South Africa, working on oil and gas, mining and power projects. He played a key role in the establishment and operation of a maintenance and shutdown business in Southern Africa and later led business development and operations activities in Scandinavia. He held senior commercial leadership roles on energy and infrastructure projects and business units in Europe, South East Asia and Australia before being appointed in 2007 to the global commercial leadership role, which included extensive Middle East operations. Adrian was involved in several M&A transactions, mainly in North America and serves as a director of a number of SNC Lavalin subsidiaries and joint venture companies.
Linxon Global Management Team
Stefan Reisacher
Chief Executive Officer
Stefan Reisacher is the Linxon’s Chief Executive Officer since September 2021; he previously led the company’s EMEA operations as Managing Director for the region.
Stefan’s background is in engineering; he has broad experience across the power industry, and held a number of senior roles at Alstom and, most recently, ABB before joining the Linxon senior management team in 2018. He is a graduate of the Technical University of Munich and holds an MBA from the University of Reading’s Henley Business School.
Hassan Merhi
Managing Director – Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa
Hassan joined Linxon from ABB and currently oversees the AMEA region, managing multiple offices and projects across various countries.
With a strong engineering background, Hassan has extensive experience in project execution within the EPC substation business. He has led and executed several multimillion-dollar projects during his tenure at the Global Engineering Center for Substations at ABB Switzerland. In 2018, he transitioned to the Linxon senior management team. Hassan is a graduate of the American University of Beirut (AUB) and holds a master’s degree from RWTH Aachen University in Germany.
Nicolas Sanloup
Managing Director Americas
Nicolas Sanloup leads Linxon America’s. Nicolas is an experienced leader in the Power Industry Business having held several executive roles in Europe, Asia, Latin America and North America throughout his 20+ years experiences. His diverse background including High Voltage product manufacturing (GIS, AIS, DTB, Capacitors), construction experience of large turnkey projects (HVDC, Offshore, Substations GIS/AIS, FACTS) and executive leadership roles for Siemens and Hitachi/ABB helps consolidating Linxon position in the America’s market.
Nicolas holds a Master degree specialized in Mechanical and Industrial Management from the Ecole Catholique Des Arts et Métiers in France and he is based out of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Angel Guijarro
Managing Director Europe
Angel leads our Europe hub. He joined Linxon from the former ABB EPC Group and is based in Madrid, Spain.
Mr. Guijarro brings more than 30 years of international executive experience in Oil&Gas, Power Generation and T&D, with deep understanding of global cultures and the energy sector. Prior to joining ABB in 2015 he has held various senior management positions throughout his career within EPC companies, where he was involved in all aspects of the project-construction business. He worked twenty-one years in Dragados (ACS Group), in 2003 he moved to Mexico as President and CEO of Dragados Industrial Mexico for over 7 years.
Angel holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from ICAI University, Spain; Master’s in Finance from ICADE Business School, Spain; General Management Program from IESE Business School, Spain.
Jean-Francois Vallee
Chief Finance Officer – Linxon
Jean-Francois joined Linxon from SNC-Lavalin, where since 2011, he held different roles within Corporate Finance and with the Hydro, Transmission and Distribution business units. Prior to joining SNC-Lavalin, he worked for a telecommunication company as well as for Pricewaterhouse Coopers, in Canada, Europe, USA and Africa, bringing 20 years of International experience to Linxon.
At Linxon, Jean-Francois heads the Accounting, Project Controls, Treasury and IT functions. Jean-Francois completed a Bachelor in Business Administration and second-cycle degree in Accounting from Laval University in Canada, and is a Canadian Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA).
Nicole Olsman
Chief Legal Officer & Sustainability
Nicole joined Linxon from the from SNC-Lavalin Infrastructure in Vancouver and is responsible for the legal, integrity and corporate secretarial functions. In her role, Nicole leads our team of in-house lawyers and contract managers.
Prior to joining the SNC-Lavalin family, Nicole was with AMEC (now Wood) as legal counsel and worked in Energy and Infrastructure at Canada’s largest law firm as an associate. She has a Bachelor of Environmental Studies from the University of Waterloo, a Masters of Science from the University of Oxford as well as a Juris Doctor from Queen’s University.
Kristina Holmstrom-Matses
Global Head of Communications
Kristina is responsible for all global communications and marketing communications at Linxon, covering internal and external content and channels. Kristina joined Linxon from ABB where she held several local and global Communication management roles, as well as positions within Human Resources management. She is based in Västerås, Sweden. Kristina is an experienced Communications Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the electrical and electronic manufacturing industry, holding skills in Marketing Management, International Project Management, Corporate Social Responsibility, Energy, and Crisis Communications. She has a Bachelor’s degree focused in Communication from Örebro university, Sweden.
Cathy Carolan
Global Head of Human Resources
Cathy is responsible for the global HR function, including recruitment, compensation, and benefits and learning and development. Cathy joined Linxon from SNC-Lavalin Middle East, where she held the role of HR director across a number of divisions within the business. In addition Cathy has chaired the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion network for the region. Based in Qatar, Cathy has previously worked in a variety of industries including Oil & Gas, Project Management Engineering service and consultancy across Middle East, UK, Ireland and Europe. She holds a Bachelors and Master’s Degree in HR Management and is a Chartered member of Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
Paolo Pozzi
Global Head of Supply Chain Management & Global Engineering Technology and Services
Paolo leads Linxon’s Global supply chain organization and the Global Engineering Technology and Service center located in Chennai – India.
He joined Linxon from ABB Switzerland at the time of Linxon’s initiation in 2018, and is based in Baden, Switzerland.
Paolo has extensive experience in project management and supply chain, having held various roles in ABB, first, in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and in Linxon, afterwards, such as Project Director of large projects,Managing Director of the Linxon office in Bahrain and Director of Operations for the global resource planning and project services.
Paolo holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Politecnico di Milano – Italy.
Markus Tritz
Global Quality Manager
Markus is responsible for maintaining our global management system and overseeing certification according to relevant standards.
He joined Linxon from the former ABB EPC Group and is based in Baden, Switzerland.
Markus brings more than 30 years of international executive experience in Power Generation EPC and Service, with deep understanding of global cultures and the energy sector. Prior to joining ABB in 2016 he has held various Quality management positions throughout his career within EPC companies, where he was involved in all aspects of the project execution business. He worked 12 years in KOCH Transporttechnik GmbH, Germany as Global Quality manager and as PQM in EPC Combined Cycle Power Plant projects. In 2007 he moved to Alstom Power Thermal Systems, Gas Turbines in Baden, Switzerland as project QM team lead and moved later to Alstom Power Thermal Services GT Product line.
Markus holds a master’s degree in material sciences from the University of Saarland, Germany and is a certified Quality manager DGQ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Qualität).
Craig Cummins
Global HSE Manager
Craig leads our Health Safety and Environment (HSE) Team and supports all functions from a HSE perspective. Craig holds a Level 6 Nebosh Diploma in Health and Safety. He joined Linxon from ABB Power Grids in the UK and has over 25 years of experience in a safety discipline, 15 years of which have been in the HV Electricity construction environment.
As a qualified Mechanical and Gas Engineer, specialising in Gas Distribution and Transmission Systems, Craig has worked for British Gas, Transco, and National Grid in both Gas and Electricity Divisions.