Veolia names Richard Kirkman as Northern Europe chief
Richard Kirkman has been appointed Chief Executive Officer for Northern Europe at Veolia and will also become Chief Executive Officer of its UK business.
He will oversee operations across the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland and the Netherlands, while also taking on a group-level role as Head of Growth and Innovation and a seat on Veolia's Executive Committee.
Kirkman returns to a region where he spent 26 years with the company between 1995 and 2020, working on UK infrastructure projects. Most recently, he led Veolia's Australia and New Zealand business from Sydney, overseeing a division that doubled in size over five years.
In that role, he was responsible for AUD $4 billion in revenue, 7,000 employees and 350 operational sites. His new Northern Europe remit covers a larger business, with almost 20,000 employees and GBP £4 billion in revenue across water, waste and energy services for industrial, municipal and commercial clients.
The appointment is part of a wider management reshuffle at the environmental services group. Gavin Graveson, the outgoing Senior Vice-President for Northern Europe and Chief Executive Officer of Veolia's UK business, has been named Chief Executive Officer of the group's Asia Pacific zone and will remain on the Executive Committee.
Regional shift
The change gives Veolia a Northern Europe leader with deep experience in both the UK and international operations. It also brings back an executive who previously led the development of energy recovery facilities, recycling plants, water treatment assets, plastic recycling and composting operations in the UK.
Kirkman trained as an engineer and holds a doctorate in Infrastructure for the Circular Economy. His background includes work on reuse, recycling and decarbonisation projects across European and Pacific markets.
He will now apply that experience across one of Veolia's larger regional businesses. Northern Europe combines mature utility and waste operations with a broad customer base spanning local authorities, industrial groups and commercial clients.
The additional group role extends Kirkman's remit beyond the region. As Head of Growth and Innovation, he will support organic growth and new service development across the wider company.
Broader reorganisation
The leadership changes come as Veolia moves into what it described as a new phase of its GreenUp strategic programme. The latest appointments are intended to strengthen the global organisation as it pursues further growth, innovation and international development while maintaining operational performance.
Veolia is one of the world's largest environmental services providers, with activities in water, waste and local energy. The group had 215,000 employees across five continents and generated revenue of €44.4 billion in 2025.
Its scale in core public services remains significant. In 2025, Veolia supplied drinking water to 110 million people, sanitation services to 97 million people, produced 45 million megawatt hours of energy and treated 64 million tonnes of waste.
The Northern Europe business Kirkman will now lead represents a substantial share of that network. The region includes the UK market, where Veolia has long operated in local authority waste contracts, energy recovery and industrial services, alongside operations in several other established European markets.
Kirkman said the handover builds on work already carried out in the region under his predecessor.
"I am looking forward to building on the excellence that Gavin and the team have delivered across Northern Europe and supporting my colleagues as we work to complete our GreenUp ambitions. Environmental security is essential for public and private entities across the zone, and our innovative solutions are well placed to support economic growth with sustainable sovereignty," said Richard Kirkman, Chief Executive Officer for Northern Europe at Veolia.