Team – Lekela Power

Chris Antonopoulos

Chief Executive Officer

Chris has extensive experience in developing power and infrastructure projects in Africa, having overseen initiatives valued at more than $4 billion combined. He was appointed as CEO of Lekela in March 2015 by the board.

Before joining Lekela, Chris spent eight years as Group Vice President at Bombardier Transportation, one of the largest rail-equipment manufacturing and servicing industry companies in the world. Based in Berlin, he was responsible for close to $10 billion in global sales and business development.

Swiss-born, Chris has been active in the energy and infrastructure industry since 1987 in sales and business development positions, including senior management positions at ABB, the leading global electrical engineering group. During an 11-year spell at the company, his roles included Business Area President for ABB Equity Ventures, Regional VP for Asia Pacific and Regional VP of Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Mikael Karlsson

Chairman

Mikael is Co-Head of the Energy team at Actis. He has 25 years of experience in developing, investing and operating power businesses, mostly in the emerging markets. Mikael joined Actis in 2012 as a Partner and became Co-Head of Energy in 2015. He was previously CEO of Globeleq and played a key role in Fund 1’s initial investments in 2002/03. Before joining Globeleq, Mikael had a long career with ABB Energy Ventures, where he held positions as global head of project development, head of Asia Pacific and head of Europe, Middle East and Africa as well as chair of the Investment Committee.

Mikael holds a Masters in Science degree in Industrial Engineering and Management from Linkoping Institute of Technology in Sweden and an MBA from the University of Massachusetts in the U.S.

Femi Akinrebiyo

Femi Akinrebiyo, a Nigerian national, is a Principal Investment Officer with International Finance Corporation (“IFC”), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. He has been with IFC since 2006 and has over 20 years of principal investment and project management experience.

Femi has played leading roles in structuring and investing over a billion dollars for IFC in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Most recently, Femi led the implementation of the Joint World Bank Group (“WBG”) Energy Business Plan for Nigeria, a WBG initiative supporting the Federal Government of Nigeria to accelerate implementation of power sector reforms, attract private investment, and fast-track key projects to financial close.

Femi’s background includes working for ExxonMobil as a Project Engineer and other multinational companies, including Philips Projects and Spar Aerospace.

He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, Illinois, USA.

Peter Giller

Mr Giller has over 35 years of experience in the international power industry.

From 2000 to 2002, he was chief executive of International Power, a FTSE-100 company. Previously, he was president of ABB Energy Ventures, responsible for the global development, ownership and operation of power plants, including in the United States, Latin America, Asia and Africa. He was a non-executive director of Globeleq Africa until its sale in 2015.

Peter holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering and a Masters degree in Business Administration.

Bart Doyle

Bart is Chief Operations Officer of Mainstream, having overall responsibility for the Group’s project development, construction and operational activities.

Previously Bart was employed by Airtricity, a global renewable energy company, where he led the construction of a large number of windfarms on the island of Ireland and was involved in the development and construction of Airtricity wind projects in Scotland and the United States.

Before moving into the renewable sector, Bart worked with PM Group, a world-class engineering and project management company; and with Schlumberger Oilfield Services.

Bart graduated as an Electronic and Electrical Engineer from Trinity College Dublin and holds an MBA from University College Dublin

Suman Babbar

Suman Babbar has been actively engaged with the infrastructure sector and project finance over the last four decades, including in his early career being a founding member of the National Thermal Power Corporation in India before joining the World Bank in a number of senior positions.

For nearly a decade he managed the Project Finance and Guarantees program which supported mobilization of private capital for infrastructure using the World Bank guarantees. He has had operational involvement in more than thirty countries across all regions, where he was extensively involved in the energy sector and the IPP program for the World Bank.

More recently he has been advising regional energy teams, supported Independent Evaluation Group and Operation Policy teams for the World Bank as well as being a senior advisor to Actis and being a non-exec director on a number of Boards

Sjef Klijberg

Sjef Klijberg has over 7 years’ experience in the financial services industry, working with clients on financial reporting, treasury management and international business restructuring.

Sjef started his career in financial management with roles at ATC Group and Intertrust Group. He currently works for Alter Domus, where he has spent over 3 years as a Finance Manager. He is responsible for a team of financial experts in the Private Equity & Corporates team and has managed a diverse portfolio of clients, including listed multinational companies, private equity funds and individuals.

Sjef holds a bachelor’s degree in International Business from Hanze University, Groningen, and is studying for a Master’s in management at Nyenrode Business University.

Rick Van de Weerd

Rick Van de Weerd has almost 10 years of experience within the financial services industry in the Netherlands. His expertise lies in Private Equity, Multinational corporations and oil & gas companies.

Rick started his professional career with PwC in Rotterdam and worked for more than 5 years with Intertrust Group in Amsterdam. There, he attained the positions of Senior Company Lawyer and Commercial Executive, with a strong focus on North American Private Equity firms. Currently, Rick is a Director at Alter Domus in the firm’s office in the Netherlands, having joined in January 2018.

Rick holds a LL.M Master’s Degree in Tax Law from the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Chris Antonopoulos

Chief Executive Officer

Chris Ford

Chief Operating Officer

Chris joined the Lekela team in September 2016, serving as a member of the Executive Committee. He is actively engaged in developing and implementing Lekela’s strategy, leading construction and asset management across our portfolio in Africa.

With 20 years of experience in the energy sector, Chris has held numerous senior roles across the industry. He most recently spent 10 years with Globeleq, living and working in Tanzania where he was Head of Asset Management with responsibility for the commercial and technical performance of its Africa wide operating businesses and for managing the Songas power project.

Adam Hughes

General Counsel

Adam brings a wealth of experience in the energy sector across Africa. In his career to date, he has seen how emerging markets across the continent have become a hotbed for renewable energy as they look to diversify from fossil fuels and support their economic growth through sustainable power.

In February 2016, he joined Lekela as general counsel where he is responsible for all legal and compliance issues. Adam also serves as a member of the Lekela Executive Committee and is a director on operating subsidiary boards throughout the group. Before that, he spent more than seven years at Globeleq as the company’s senior lawyer for Africa.

In his career to date, Adam has advised on the development of greenfield projects and acquisitions, which included the Azito Expansion Project in Cote d’Ivoire, the acquisition of over 300MW in Cameroon and Globeleq’s South African wind and solar projects.

Prior to Globeleq, Adam spent seven years at Clifford Chance, working in three continents with a strong focus on energy and infrastructure in emerging markets.

Michael Parsons

Chief Financial Officer

Michael joined Lekela as CFO in May 2018, with responsibility for all financial matters for the group. Michael also serves as a member of the Lekela Executive Committee and is a director on operating subsidiary boards throughout the group.

With over 20 years of wide-ranging experience, Michael has held a variety of senior head office financial and accounting roles throughout his career and has particular expertise within the energy sector, in both Africa and Central America.

Prior to Lekela, Michael had been Director of Finance for Globeleq, responsible for managing the finance function, and working across Africa to establish new businesses and strategic projects as well as overseeing existing operations. He previously held positions at Actis, CDC Group, Close Brothers and NatWest UK.

Mikael Schoultz

Vice President of Business Development for Sub-Saharan Africa

Mikael Joined Lekela in March 2016 and is responsible for all of the company’s business development activity in Sub-Saharan Africa. That involves identifying and analysing opportunities in different markets for wind and solar projects.

His background in energy investments and project financing is well matched to his current role, having spent the past 25 years in private equity and project and structured financing of infrastructure and energy projects. Mikael came to Lekela from Sustainable Technologies Fund in Stockholm, where he was investment director and partner since 2013. Before that, he spent six years as a partner at Platina Energy Partners LLP, one Europe’s leading renewable energy managers.

At Platina he was responsible for deal sourcing, project financing and fundraising. Prior to that, Mikael held senior positions in project and structured corporate finance with Citigroup, GE Capital, ABN AMRO Bank and ABB Financial Services.

Romina Floris

Vice President of Human Resources

Romina joined Lekela in August 2019 and oversees all Human Resources across the UK and African operations. She provides professional HR advice with a focus on talent and performance management, succession planning and employee engagement.

As a member of the Lekela's Executive Committee, she will also contribute to the company’s growth strategy.

Romina has a proven track record in Human Resources, with 20 years of experience working for organisations across Europe, Middle East and Africa. Prior to joining Lekela, Romina spent the past five years at Globeleq, having previously worked for the Fiat Group, Panduit and Bio-Rad Laboratories. Romina is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Jennifer Boca

Head of Environmental, Social and Governance

Jennifer joined Lekela in October 2015 and is responsible for providing oversight for all of Lekela’s projects across Africa, to ensure they are delivered to the highest standards.

In her role, she engages with the community and ensures the company conducts its business conforming to the highest standards of integrity. She also leads the company’s ESG due diligence on projects.

Jennifer has more than 15 years’ experience working in the areas of environmental and sustainability, consulting for a wide range of public and private sector clients including the World Bank, Development Finance Institutions, commercial banks and project developers.

Bernard Kiernan

Head of Project Finance

Bernard joined Lekela in August 2018 as Head of Project Finance and is responsible for the financial structuring of all business development investments and will manage all project finance arrangements.

Bernard has over 15 years’ experience in infrastructure and energy, holding a variety of investment roles throughout his career. He has worked in the African energy sector for over 10 years, and has closed multiple complex projects, including 850MW of renewable energy projects in South Africa.

Prior to joining Lekela, Bernard was Investment Director at GreenWish Partners, responsible for business development in Africa. Before this, he was responsible for Mainstream Renewable Power’s commercial activities in Africa and the Middle East and was a key participant in the creation of Lekela.