Chris O'Shea
Chris O'Shea is a British businessman and the chief executive of Centrica.[1]
Career
In April 2020, O'Shea became the CEO of Centrica, having previously been finance director.[2]
From 2018 to 2022, O'Shea forewent annual bonuses of over £1 million citing the hardships faced by consumers during COVID-19 pandemic and then the international energy price crisis. In 2023, Centrica posted year-end profits of over £3 billion and O'Shea faced calls to forego his bonus again eventually settling for a severance package of over 4 million GBP. [3][4]
O'Shea attracted considerable controversy during his tenure at Centrica, primarily for his role as the main architect of the largest "fire, rehire" in British business history. He has also been accused of lying to a parliamentary committee regarding his knowledge of the impact of the restructuring at Centrica.[5]
References
- Pratley, Nils (June 11, 2020). "It took two tortuous years for Unilever to untangle the mess". The Guardian.
- Gosden, Emily (14 April 2020). "Centrica is passing the flame to Chris O'Shea". The Times (newspaper).
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64652142
- https://www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2023/june/unite-urges-centrica-shareholders-to-reject-ceo-s-obscene-bonus-at-agm/
- https://www.gmblondon.org.uk/news/british-gas-is-accused-of-lying-about-the-fire-and-rehire-notices