Altaaqa Global announce new Chief Commercial Officer
Altaaqa Global, a provider of large-scale temporary power services, has appointed energy industry veteran, Julian Ford as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), effective July 1, 2015. As the company's CCO, Ford's remit is to ensure that Altaaqa Global achieves revenue growth targets and overall commercial success, and to facilitate the formulation and implementation of innovative global commercial strategies.
Ford's career in the industry started at the time when the concept of power plants on a rental basis was just gaining ground. He had a hand in introducing the concept of power project rental to governments of developing economies, which allowed them to hire power capacity to address short term energy issues during times of hydropower shortage or other generation or transmission issues.
Ford was instrumental in taking the rental power concept to different regions across the globe, including Middle East and Africa, South America, East Asia and South Asia. "My vision then," he said, "was for the rental power market to develop beyond its traditional local markets and become a truly global business. We started in the Middle East and East Africa and quickly expanded our operations in other regions of the world."
A true visionary, Ford led the way for the development of the gas-fueled temporary power equipment market in the mid-2000s. "At that time," explained Ford, "diesel costs were rapidly rising, and it was imperative to diversify the product offering and capitalize on the growth of natural gas reserves." With keen interest in markets where gas reserves were not vast enough to be commercially developed, Ford pioneered a new business model that allowed countries to monetize their "˜stranded gas' reserves to generate useful low-cost electricity for the national grid.
Ford welcomes the challenge of his new role, as he recognizes the continuous evolution of the rental power industry. "The role of temporary power has evolved from being a local, short-term, transactional activity to a major global project-based industry," said Ford, and added that it is no longer uncommon to see power plants of 100 MW and up being rented on a longer-term basis. "Our objective is to create a highly skilled, motivated and experienced, world-class, power projects team. My vision is for Altaaqa Global to lead the evolution of the industry, and to be recognized as the premier source of innovative technical solutions and the highest level of customer service and support."
