EY announces Lee Downham as EY’s Market Segment Leader for Energy

EY has announced the appointment of Lee Downham as Market Segment Leader for Energy, with immediate effect. In his new role, Lee will lead a multi-disciplinary team of over 1,500 professionals, working across all of EY’s service lines, to support and work with clients as they navigate the challenges presented by the energy transition and ever-changing regulatory market. 

Previously, Lee was EY’s Global Mining & Metals Strategy and Transactions Leader. His experience includes all aspects of corporate transactions, and he has led complex, cross-border assignments with teams covering valuation, buy-side and sell-side diligence, public debt and equity offerings, bid defence strategies and infrastructure advisory.

Lee comments: “The energy and resources industries are being disrupted at a pace never experienced before. Decarbonisation, digitisation, cost pressures and security of supply on the back of geopolitical uncertainty are just some of the forces transforming the sector. Power and utilities, renewables, oil and gas, and mining and metals companies face a common challenge: how to navigate short-term commercial pressures with the need to position their businesses for a future that is rapidly changing.

“EY’s Energy team will play a strategic role in working with and supporting these businesses as they grapple with this disruption and progress their transition to a low carbon, more sustainable future. I am extremely proud and excited to be leading the team at this critical moment in the UK’s energy transition. Our multi-disciplinary team, spread across the whole of the UK, has deep sector knowledge and experience across energy generation, transmission, distribution and retail. We are ideally placed at the intersection of the sector to help drive purposeful change and growth for our clients.” 

Alison Kay, Managing Partner for Client Service at EY, UK & Ireland commented: “Lee has over twenty-years’ experience as a strategy and transactions Partner, advising on complex deals in the Energy sector, working with global clients.

“No other sector has an impact on business or consumers' daily lives, like the energy sector. From the role energy plays in helping to reduce carbon emissions, to powering the next wave of electric vehicles, it's never far from the news headlines.

“Under Lee’s leadership, the energy team will draw on the strengths and skills of our whole business, to offer our clients the support they need at a time when the sector is facing some of its biggest challenges. It's great to have Lee on board to lead the team at one of the most important periods in the sector’s history."