Served as a director
Suryavellan Energy
Company board, executive director
January 2020–present
Participates in capital and operating decisions as the serving CEO; this is executive, not independent, service.
Reza Wiraatmaja · Chief Executive Officer · Singapore / Southeast Asia
Questions that connect growth with continuing responsibility
My contribution to a board
I could help a board examine the obligations that sit behind a promising asset-growth proposal. My experience connects engineering work, commercial commitments, project delivery and ownership after commissioning. Those stages often appear in separate reports, even though a decision at one stage creates work and cost for another. I would ask how the proposal has accounted for the people who will operate the asset and the organisation whose property or business it depends on.
The fourteen-roof programme illustrates the contribution. The board did not need me to repeat that solar capacity was attractive. It needed a clear distinction between roofs that were ready, roofs requiring more preparation and opportunities the company should decline. Preserving that distinction changed the capital commitment and the delivery sequence. On another board I would seek the same clarity without assuming that the correct answer must be a smaller investment. A larger proposal may be well supported; the quality of the reasoning is what needs examination.
I also bring experience in reading operating evidence cautiously. A monitoring alert, an equipment fault and lost energy are connected concepts, but they are not interchangeable measures. Directors need enough detail to understand which conclusion management can support and which remains uncertain. I would be useful on an investment or operations committee where that distinction affects the next decision. I am not offering to chair an audit committee solely on the strength of running a company, nor to replace the qualified engineers and advisers whose work a board must be able to question intelligently.
Board and committee exposure
Presented to the Board or a committee
Suryavellan Energy
Invited project and portfolio-readiness discussions
2015–2019
Presented delivery proposals as project director without holding a seat on the company board.
Committee contribution
| Capacity | Committees |
|---|---|
| Ready to join | Capital investment and asset stewardship · Operations and technical capability |
Capacity and preferences
- Time available
- 18 days per year
- Current directorships
- 1
- Sectors
- Distributed infrastructure owners · Industrial asset services · Businesses with long-term host or customer obligations
- Company type
- Private or investor-backed asset business with a distinct chair and operating management
- Company stage
- Moving from project growth into a larger operating portfolio
The seat I am pursuing
The strongest fit would be a company whose growth is creating obligations that last beyond the initial transaction: an asset owner, an industrial-services group or a business working on customers’ property. I would look for a chair who wants directors to examine the assumptions behind commitments while allowing management to run the business. The company may be moving from a small number of projects into a portfolio that needs more consistent oversight. I would be less suited to a seat intended mainly to secure technical sign-off or introduce customers. Those expectations would misunderstand both my contribution and the responsibilities of the board.
Judgement in practice
Keeping the uncommitted roofs outside the growth number
The twenty-two-roof proposal carried a legitimate ambition to expand efficiently. After review, fourteen sites were ready, five needed further preparation and three were declined. It would have been easy to retain all twenty-two in a broad portfolio figure and explain the distinctions later. I asked for the committed group to be stated separately because equipment orders, delivery capacity and investor expectations could otherwise form around conditions the company did not control. In an external board discussion I would ask what practical commitments follow from a reported pipeline number. Directors should understand whether a project is a prospect, an approved investment or an operating asset before using the total to assess management’s progress. The question is not merely presentational; it determines which obligations the business has actually accepted.
Refusing to turn repaired equipment into an unsupported energy claim
The monitoring review identified thirty-one equipment issues, of which twenty-two had been corrected and nine awaited parts. A proposal to report recovered generation went beyond what the records could establish because the earlier baseline was not sufficiently reliable. I declined that claim while retaining the useful account of diagnosis and repairs. On a board I would ask management to connect a claimed benefit to the evidence that measures it. That should not become an excuse to withhold every operational conclusion until perfect data exists. We could still decide which faults needed attention and whether the diagnostic process was worth funding. The discipline was to use the evidence for the decisions it could support, without borrowing a stronger financial or production result for the presentation.
My first year on a board
I would begin by understanding how the company moves from an opportunity to an approved commitment, and from commissioning or completion into continuing operation. I would meet management through the chair’s agreed process, read a sample of proposals and follow one asset or service obligation into the subsequent operating review. The purpose would be to understand the company’s actual decision system before recommending another reporting format.
During the first year I would contribute to one priority chosen with the board, such as the clarity of investment assumptions or the review of a growing operating portfolio. I would ask management which assumptions have changed since approval and how those changes affect the next decision. I would avoid making myself an additional project manager or an informal approval point for technical work. A useful board contribution should strengthen the discussion between directors and executives, with responsibilities remaining clear when the questions become difficult.
Conflicts and their management
Suryavellan’s relationships include investors, building owners, industrial customers, equipment suppliers and service partners. A proposed appointment could create a conflict through any of those connections, even outside the solar industry. I would disclose relevant interests and review the proposed company’s relationships before deciding whether the role could work. Recusal is not an adequate answer if the overlap would repeatedly remove me from the board’s central business.
Eighteen days a year is an initial capacity indication, subject to employer consent and a realistic account of preparation, travel and exceptional work. It is not a promise to accept any schedule that fits a calendar. I would need to understand how the board handles an urgent investment, operating incident or leadership change, and review the commitment if my executive responsibilities changed. I would not use an appointment to promote Suryavellan’s services or obtain access to the other company’s projects.
My independence statement
I am an executive director of Suryavellan. Any proposed outside seat would need its own assessment of commercial connections, investor relationships and applicable independence requirements; this profile does not establish eligibility.
Governance learning and readiness
IICA Independent Directors’ Databank: Not yet registered
Indian Independent Directors’ Databank registration is not part of my current professional record. My present work is based in Singapore and Southeast Asia; an appointment elsewhere would require the relevant local review before acceptance.
- Board induction on capital approvals and shareholder responsibilities on appointment in 2020.
- Continuing chair-led review of investment assumptions and post-investment reporting.