Ascendant, the parent company of Belco, has appointed Mark Takahashi as chief financial officer and senior vice president.

The company’s former CFO, Christopher Coelho, resigned from the position last August but served as an advisor on regulatory matters until the end of the year.

Welcoming the new appointment, Walter Higgins, Ascendant Group president and CEO, said: “As Ascendant Group embarks on a period of change within our business and Bermuda’s energy and infrastructure fields, we are confident that Mark’s background will be an asset.

“He brings a wealth of experience in long-term planning for capital expenditures, corporate and project finance, treasury, internal controls, risk management, investor relations, pension fund management, financial reporting and business planning.”

Mr Takahashi, who was born in Hawaii, has more than 25 years of international experience in power industry finance, as well as a background in engineering.

He joins Ascendant from CLP Holdings Limited, Hong Kong, where he served as group director and CFO. Prior to this he was responsible for CLP Holdings’ Southeast Asia business as managing director of OneEnergy Limited, a joint venture of CLP Holdings and Mitsubishi Corporation.

CLP Holdings is one of the largest regional electric power companies in Asia with businesses in Hong Kong, China, India, Australia and Southeast Asia.

Mr Takahashi’s previous experience includes positions at Bechtel Enterprises and InterGen, primarily related to the development and financing of greenfield power projects in the US and Asia.

He started his career at Fluor Corporation, where he was a cost and scheduling engineer.