Lillywhite's Verve swerve for Australian Renewable Fuels

Former Verve Energy chief executive John Lillywhite has been appointed chief executive of embattled biofuels player Australian Renewable Fuels Ltd.

Mr Lillywhite had served with Verve's predecessor, Western Power, for almost 20 years before he was selected to run the power spin-off, having previously served as general manager of generation and general manager of retail.

He leaves the company seven months into a five year contract, which was to pay around $350,000 per year.

Arfuels recently downgraded its earnings outlook for the year after making a loss last year of $3.5 million, in a sector which has seen a significant downturn in investor support.

Mr Lillywhite will be responsible for managing Arfuels' two biodiesel plants in South Australia and Western Australia, as well as the future development of the business across the nation.

The company said in a statement that Mr Lillywhite's appointment would help to achieve satisfactory biodiesel production levels and a profit for the shareholders.

The full text of a company announcement is pasted below

Top Energy Executive joins Australian Renewable Fuels as Chief Executive Officer - Australia

The Board of Australian Renewable Fuels Limited (ASX Code: ARW) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr John Lillywhite, to the new senior executive position of Chief Executive Officer - Australia.

Mr Lillywhite will be accountable for the successful management of the Company's Australian energy business which currently comprises biodiesel plants at Largs Bay, South Australia and Picton, Western Australia, and for the future development of the business in other Australian States.

His appointment is the first step in a major restructure planned by Arfuels to optimise returns to shareholders from its Australian operations and to expand the business into the larger and potentially more lucrative United States biofuels market.

Mr Lillywhite, who is recognised as one of Australia's leading energy executives, was previously founding Chief Executive of Verve Energy, Western Australia's major power generation company. Before that he was General Manager Generation, and earlier General Manager Retail, for Western Power.

His demonstrated ability to plan and lead change in the dynamic energy industry has earned him the respect of his industry colleagues throughout Australia. His move to Arfuels fulfils a desire to participate directly in the renewable energy field for which he has a strong passion and a long record of success.

John Lillywhite is a Commerce Graduate from the University of Western Australia, a Member of the Company Directors' Institute of Australia and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management. He holds a Graduate Diploma in Management (Marketing) from Curtin University, a Master of Business Administration from Monash University and has completed the Harvard Advanced Management Program.

He began his working life with Telecom Australia and held senior management positions in telecommunications in Australia and overseas before joining Western Power where his biggest challenge was to re-establish consumer confidence in, and the competitiveness of, the vital power generation business.

Australian Renewable Fuels, which was floated in 2005, now operates two biodiesel plants, each with a design capacity of 45 million litres of biodiesel a year. Achieving satisfactory biodiesel production levels and a profit for the shareholders is the number one priority of the Board and the appointment of John Lillywhite is one of the steps being taken to achieve that objective.