- FFI has announced the appointment of Michael Gunner as its head of Northern Australian business
- Gunner was till recently the chief minister of NT and exited politics in July 2022
- He will join FFI from November 2022 and responsible for exploring ‘job-creating’ project opportunities in renewables and green hydrogen
Australian green hydrogen company Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) will have former Chief Minister (CM) of Northern Territory (NT) Michael Gunner joining the team to lead the company’s new Northern Australia team to explore ‘job-creating’ project opportunities.
“We see enormous potential in the Northern Territory, with abundant wind and solar energy, and a community enthusiastic to embrace renewable energy and the employment intensive industries that come with it,” said Fortescue Chair and Founder, Australian billionaire philanthropist Dr Andrew Forrest AO. “It is people like Michael Gunner who will help us ensure that our ambitions become a reality.”
Gunner was the CM of NT from 2016 till May 2022 and bid adieu to politics in July 2022. He will join FFI in Darwin as head of Northern Australia in November 2022.
NT government has a target to achieve 50% renewable energy electricity consumption by 2030 and is hence accelerating several such projects. The biggest of them all is Sun Cable’s 20 GW solar power plant that carries an investment from Forrest too (see Investment Milestone For Sun Cable Project).
“Territorians are keen for the renewable energy sector to take off and the employment intensive industries that renewables need,” said Gunner. “Leading the FFI Northern Australia team means delivering world changing, economy building projects, acting with the pace an emergency demands to create local jobs, build partnerships with First Nations people, and make the green energy that reduces our reliance on fossil fuels.”
Gunner’s selection is another high-level appointment announced by FFI as the company spreads its green hydrogen business globally. It follows the appointment of former President and CEO of GE Europe, Dr Mark Hutchinson as the CEO of FFI. Previously the company secured Reserve Bank of Australia’s Deputy Governor Dr Guy Debelle as its CFO (see Australia’s FFI Announces Leadership Reshuffle).
