Kieth Redfearn

EMEA & India T&D Regional General Manager, GE

Keith Redfearn is the EMEA & India Regional GM for the Transmission & Distribution business within GE Energy. The T&D business provides integrated Smart Grid solutions and reliable power delivery to electric utilities, as well as supporting the oil & gas and telecom sectors. Keith has become GE’s Smart Grid champion for the region, regularly representing GE at meetings with the EU Commission to discuss Smart Grid technology and implementation policy. He is also frequently invited to industry conferences as a keynote speaker or discussion panel mediator. Born in Newcastle in 1964, Keith was educated in the region and obtained a B.S. degree in electrical & electronic engineering from the University of Huddersfield, and an M.S. degree in computing from the University of Northumbria. Keith began his career at Rolls-Royce Industrial Power Group (IPG) and quickly rose through the ranks, culminating with the lead technical role for the implementation of the distributed control system (DCS) for Keadby Power station in the UK. This was the EU’s first combined cycle power plant with Gas Turbines supplied by GE. Moving North of the border to Scotland in 1997, Redfearn joined a small startup company named ASCADA that had developed ground breaking DMS (Distribution Management Systems) technology; 18 months later the company was acquired by GE. Starting as a Senior SCADA consultant, he soon became a technology expert, and in recognition of his strong commercial skills a number of key Product Management /Marketing and Commercial Management roles followed. With an extensive knowledge of the European Electricity Infrastructure and the technologies deployed in the Transmission and Distribution Network, Keith has the depth to cover the most complex technical discussions. His real talent, however, is the ability to make these concepts come alive and be easily understandable to those with far less knowledge and technical expertise.