Simon Virley re-joins KPMG as Partner Energy practice

After a long and honoured career in public service, Simon Virley is returning to KPMG as partner to support the firm’s Energy practice in the UK. Virley’s expertise in the market is expected to help KPMG's clients navigate the complexity of the industry and improve their bottom-line profitability.

Simon Virley started his career as Economic Advisor, first at the UK Government’s Department of Transport in 1991 and from 1993 at the HM Treasury, after which he was promoted to Head of HM Treasury’s Transport and Environmental Taxation department in 1998. Between 2000 and 2003, he worked as the Private Secretary to the Prime Minister (in Economic Affairs), before coming to be the Cabinet Office’s Director/Better Regulation Executive from 2003 for 2 years.

In 2005, he disrupted his long government services to become Director of Corporate Finance at KPMG, a company he left in 2008 to return to public life, focusing on sustainability and energy policy while working for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). At the DECC, he fulfilled a number of roles, with his last appointment as the Director General for Energy Markets and Infrastructure. Virley’s public services have granted him a CB (Companion of the Bath) for ‘Services to UK energy supply and energy security’ in the 2014 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Before being awarded an MSc. in Economics from London School of Economics (LSE), Virley completed an MA at the University of Oxford.

Returning to KPMG
Recently, Virley decided to re-join Big Four KPMG and has been appointment Partner in the firm’s Energy practice. Virley’s past experience in his various roles for the UK Government, particularly as Director for General of Energy Markets and Infrastructure, provide him key knowledge on advising in renewables, nuclear, oil and gas, shale, carbon capture and storage, and UK energy security issues.

In his new role, based in KPMG’s Energy Deal Advisory team, his knowledge of the UK energy market is expected to help KPMG’s clients on the implications of the UK’s market framework and how best to structure investments in energy infrastructure and generation. “We are extremely pleased to welcome Simon to our Energy team. His in-depth and current knowledge of the challenges facing the energy sector in the UK, and abroad, will be of significant value to our clients and compliment the skills of our current deal advisory team,” comments Sarah McNaught, Head of Energy and Resources at KPMG.