Calisen appoints Gary Adams as Water Operations Director

Calisen has appointed Gary Adams as Operations Director for Water, its second senior hire in quick succession.

Adams joins from Northumbrian Water, where he led a £160 million metering programme and managed a 220-strong field and office-based team. He will lead operations for Calisen's water unit as the business expands.

The appointment comes as the UK water sector faces the prospect of sweeping regulatory change. The Government's proposed Clean Water Bill would combine the functions of Ofwat, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the Environment Agency and Natural England under a single regulator, in what Calisen called the biggest shake-up in the sector for decades.

Calisen is best known as a smart meter provider in the UK energy market, with around 16 million meters in operation, including about 40% of all smart energy meters in UK homes. The group has worked in metering modernisation for more than a decade and employs about 1,500 people across offices in Manchester, Market Harborough, London, Wigan and Portsmouth.

Adams brings more than 20 years of experience across regulated utilities, technology and large-scale transformation programmes. At Northumbrian Water, he was responsible for end-to-end metering operations, smart technology deployment and community engagement.

His arrival follows the recent appointment of Dr Diane Bitzel as Chief Technology Officer. Bitzel previously served as Chief Digital and Information Officer at Vodafone, extending a run of senior hires as Calisen builds out its leadership team.

Water expansion

The move signals a push to strengthen Calisen's position in water metering as utilities prepare for tighter scrutiny of leakage, supply resilience and customer consumption. Smart water meters are increasingly seen as a tool to identify network losses and give households and businesses better information on usage.

Pressure on the sector is mounting. Water companies are under growing scrutiny over leaks, infrastructure performance and long-term supply, while ministers have signalled a broader reset of oversight arrangements.

Catherine O'Kelly, Chief Executive Officer of Calisen, linked the appointment to those wider pressures.

"Gary's appointment comes at a pivotal moment for the water sector. With demand predicted to outstrip supply in the 2050s in the UK - and shortfalls forewarned for the mid-2030s - it is vital we radically reduce the billions of litres of water lost to leaks every year. Smart metering is central to that challenge, enabling water companies to detect leakage, optimise networks, and engage customers in reducing consumption. Gary's experience leading one of the most complex metering transformation programmes in the UK water sector is exactly what we need as we step up to play our part in solving this critical national issue," said O'Kelly.

Adams said the industry was entering a period of operational and regulatory change that would require utilities and suppliers to rethink how programmes are delivered.

"The water sector is on the cusp of its largest regulatory and structural reform in a generation, and Calisen is laying the foundations to play a leading role in that shift. Having spent much of my career at the intersection of utilities, technology and large-scale operational change, I have seen first-hand how transformative the right infrastructure and data capabilities can be for customers and communities. Delivering against the sector's evolving expectations requires more than installing meters. It requires integrated operational models, strong programme governance and the ability to convert data into actionable outcomes. Calisen has the scale, financial strength and technical capability to support water companies through this transition, and I am excited to join a business with the ambition to make a real difference," said Adams.

Sector reform

The proposed regulatory overhaul could reshape procurement, compliance and reporting across the industry. Companies serving the water sector are watching closely for signs of how a single-regulator model might change decision-making and the pace of investment in network monitoring, metering and other forms of infrastructure oversight.

Calisen has been broadening its reach beyond its core energy metering base. It has launched its first international business in Germany and has positioned itself around the digitalisation of utility infrastructure in both energy and water.

Adams's appointment adds direct experience of delivering a large metering transformation programme within a regulated water company. That background is likely to matter as utilities face pressure to modernise ageing systems while responding to a changing regulatory framework and rising expectations around efficiency and resilience.

At Northumbrian Water, he oversaw a programme spanning metering operations, smart technology deployment and community engagement, while managing a workforce of 220.