EY CEO Outlook: Delivering what matters with Sara Venning, Northern Ireland Water

Sara Venning was appointed CEO of Northern Irish Water in 2014. A love of hard work, solving problems, and improving systems and processes attracted Sara to an industry that is ‘always on’, such as a public utility. It is a sector with its own unique challenges, and Sara thrives on finding a way through them.  

These challenges include competing for funding from the same pot that education and healthcare also draw from, finding a solution to Northern Ireland’s above-average water wastage, and the pressure of reaching net zero status.  

 They also discuss: 

 How Sara fell in love with improving processes and driving efficiencies at a young age while working in the family business.  

• Weathering the ‘big freeze’ of 2010 and dealing with the fallout of less-than-optimum customer communications at the time.  
• Why STEM subjects are still attracting such low levels of female students.  
• The challenge of trying to convince householders to use less water.  
• As Northern Ireland’s biggest user of energy, how the company plans to reach net zero in terms of energy-use by 2030.