On Friday, October 20th, the Council of JSC "Augstsprieguma tīkls" (AST) in accordance with the recommendations of the nomination committee selected Rolands Irklis as the Chairman of the Board. It is planned that the Chairman of the Board will start his duties on December 7th, 2023.

Rolands Irklis's previous professional experience includes positions of  the Chairman and Council Member of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), as well as the position of the Auditor General at the State Audit Office of Republic of Latvia, additionally acting in the Agency for the Cooperation of European Energy Regulators (ACER) and the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER), as well as in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Mr. Irklis holds the degree of Executive Master of Business Administration program at the Riga Business School of Riga Technical University.

In the competition, Mr Irklis demonstrated an in-depth understanding of the energy sector and its issues in Latvia, as well as in the entire region, and can be characterized as an analytical and strategic professional in the energy sector.

"We are very pleased to have highly skilled professionals join the AST management team. Our priority remains the safe and stable operation of Latvia's energy system, as well as the sustainable management of strategically important energy supply assets for the country. The challenges of the following period include activities related to the synchronisation of the Baltic States with continental Europe, measures aimed at the efficiency of the capital company's operation and costs, operational compliance, its dynamic development and the modernization of corporate governance processes, which especially highlight the importance of the strong AST management team," informs Kaspars Āboliņš, Chairman of the AST Council.

A separate decision will still be made on the election of the AST Board Member in legal and compliance matters. An open competition for the positions of Chairman of the Board and Member of the Board (Legal and compliance) of the AST was announced on May 24, 2023, with an application deadline of June 13, 2023. By the set deadline, a total of 53 applications were received, of which 26 were submitted for the position of the Chairperson of the Board, while 27 were submitted for the vacant position of Board Member (Legal and compliance). The candidate selection process took place in four rounds in accordance with the evaluation criteria approved by the Nomination commission established by the AST Council, and as part of them, the following competencies were evaluated in depth: strategic vision, change management, results orientation, development orientation, team management, decision-making, and responsibility.