Season 4 - Ep. 12 | Putting Sustainability Talk into Action with former Enel CEO Francesco Starace

What does it take to transform a small regional traditional energy provider into a global renewable energy powerhouse? In today’s episode, Hoda and Simon are joined by the Chair of the Governance Board for Sustainable Energy for All and former Enel CEO Francesco Starace, who led the transformation of Enel from its start in electric generation in Italy to become a world leader in all renewable technologies, including wind, solar, hydroelectric, and geothermal, operating in 30 markets. Francesco shares his insights into how he scaled the business, while keeping everyone’s focus on their north star of purpose and vision. He also talks about how Enel used a three-year-out timeline to make key decisions on strategic investments and how he uses technology and digital transformation to better serve customers.

We'll also hear from Rich Fields, a Managing Director in our Boston office, who will outline how boards can leverage the transformational impact of AI while being mindful of the significant risks.

Four things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. How to scale a business while maintaining purpose and vision
   
   
2. How to prepare your CEO successor to continue an organizational transformation
   
   
3. How technology, AI, and Gen-AI are transforming the energy sector
   
   
4. The top leadership characteristics needed to spearhead a sustainability agenda in your organization

If you enjoyed this episode, you might also like these Redefiners episodes:

• Daring to Build a More Sustainable World with Kate Brandt and Sophia Mendelsohn
  
  
• Leadership Lounge: What do top-performing teams have in common?
  
  
• Transforming the Energy Sector with Baker Hughes CEO Lorenzo Simonelli
  
  
• Doing Well by Doing Good: Feike Sijbesma, CEO Emeritus of Royal DSM, on the Power of Bold Change
  
  
• Feeding the World and Protecting the Planet with Yara International CEO Svein Tore Holsether

Francesco Starace
Chair of the Governance Board of Sustainable Energy for All and former Enel CEO

Francesco Starace is a Partner at EQT where he provides senior insight to support the infrastructure business line’s investment activity, portfolio companies and strategic initiatives.

With a career in the energy sector spanning four decades, Francesco brings experience from senior leadership positions, advisory boards, NGOs, and public policy. As CEO of Enel, he was instrumental in driving the company’s efforts to phase out fossil-fueled energy production and invest in digital technologies, transforming it into one of the world’s largest renewable energy producers and the largest system of digitized electricity distribution grids.

He is Chair of the Science Based Target initiative, of the Board of the UN’s Sustainable Energy for All, a member of the Rockefeller Commission to End Energy Poverty and served two terms as a member of the Board of Directors of the UN’s Global Compact, from 2015 to 2021.