Centrica picks BG boss for global role

Centrica group marketing director Simon Waugh has been promoted to global marketing director and has stepped down as deputy managing director for British Gas.

Waugh will now be responsible for the North American markets, and will take charge of cross-group customer service and sales activities. His appointment is part of Centrica’s attempt to sell more products to its customers.

As global marketing director, he will be chief marketer for all the Centrica-owned brands, including One.Tel, British Gas and the Automobile Association. In North America, Waugh will oversee the roll-out of the Direct Energy brand, based in Toronto. In the US, Centrica owns the Energy America brand, which is being rebranded as Direct Energy.

A spokesman for the company says: “We do not see marketing within service companies as being just pure marketing. It is more a function covering the whole of the customer interface. Simon will have a much wider responsibility for contact with our customers – from marketing, advertising and sales, through to service.”

Waugh will continue to report to Centrica chief executive Sir Roy Gardner.

Waugh joined Centrica in 1997 as group director of marketing. Before joining Centrica he was managing director of Saga Services and has also worked at Lloyds TSB and American Express.