SSE has announced that Stephen Wheeler is to be appointed as Managing Director, SSE Renewables, following Jim Smith’s decision to step down from his role and retire in April 2022.Stephen Wheeler is currently Managing Director of SSE Thermal and was previously Managing Director of SSE Ireland, and prior to this, General Manager (Ireland) of SSE Renewables. He was part of the management team of Airtricity before SSE acquired it in 2008. Before joining Airtricity, he spent over 10 years working with ABB and Siemens internationally. Stephen is a graduate of Electrical Engineering at University College Dublin, with an MBA from the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, and a past Chairman of Wind Energy Ireland (WEI). Stephen will become part of the SSE Group Executive Committee and will report to Board Director Martin Pibworth, Group Energy and Commercial Director. He will take up his role in January 2022.