Alexandru Chiriță,
Chief Executive Officer of Electrica
Listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange, Electrica serves more than four million consumers and operates the most extensive electricity distribution network in Romania. In recent years, however, its profile has begun to evolve. While electricity distribution and supply remain at the core of its business, the company’s strategy has expanded toward renewable energy generation, energy storage, and infrastructure digitalization, embracing a business model characteristic of the new generation of European energy companies.
This transformation began under far from favorable circumstances.
When Alexandru Chiriță assumed executive leadership of the company in 2022, the energy market was experiencing one of the most turbulent periods in recent decades. The energy crisis had triggered unprecedented volatility, legislative interventions followed one another in rapid succession, and pressure on suppliers and distribution operators had reached considerable levels. For most companies, the immediate priority was to stabilize operations and mitigate the impact of an unpredictable market. For Electrica, however, the challenge was broader. The company had to respond simultaneously to operational pressures, accelerate investments in its electricity networks, and define a long-term strategy capable of positioning it successfully within an industry undergoing profound transformation.
Alexandru Chiriță’s professional background helps explain this approach. Unlike many executives in the energy sector, his education is rooted in law. After nearly a decade in legal practice and consultancy, he entered the energy industry, where his expertise in corporate governance, compliance, and regulation converged with one of Romania’s leading energy companies.
At the same time, he continued to invest in his own professional development. He completed executive programs at the Yale School of Management, Saïd Business School – University of Oxford, and Henley Business School, focusing on strategy, corporate governance, leadership, and the impact of artificial intelligence on business. These academic pursuits complement the profile of an executive concerned not only with managing a utility company but also with understanding the structural transformations that will redefine the energy sector over the coming decade.
This combination of competencies has also influenced the direction of the Electrica Group. Rather than concentrating solely on managing its existing infrastructure, the company has expanded its strategy toward new sources of growth, investing in business segments that complement its traditional distribution and supply operations.
Over the past several years, this has become one of Electrica’s strategic priorities—not merely to finance individual projects, but to create the foundation for a transformation extending well beyond the typical management cycle. The first tangible results became evident both in the company’s financing structure and in the pace of investment that followed.
One of the clearest signals of this strategic direction came from the capital markets. In 2025, Electrica raised
€500 million through a record-breaking issuance of corporate green bonds by a non-financial company, listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. The significance of the transaction extended well beyond its financial value. In a sector where investment horizons often span ten or twenty years, the ability to attract capital under competitive conditions serves as a strong indicator of investor confidence in the company’s long-term development strategy.
The bond issuance complemented the company’s securing of a RON 3.1 billion syndicated loan and approximately €500 million in non-reimbursable European Union funding. Together, these financial resources significantly expanded Electrica’s investment capacity and created the conditions necessary to accelerate projects that, until recently, would have been difficult to sustain at a comparable pace.
Financing, however, was never an objective in itself. Rather, it became the instrument through which the company redefined its development model. Electrica no longer views renewable energy generation, energy storage, and electricity distribution as separate activities, but as interconnected components of a single energy ecosystem. In a system where electricity generation is becoming increasingly decentralized and consumers are progressively becoming producers themselves, investments in infrastructure, flexibility, and digitalization must be conceived as parts of an integrated strategy rather than as standalone projects.
This strategic vision also explains the objectives the company has set for the coming years. Electrica aims to develop a portfolio of 1 GW of renewable generation capacity and 1 GWh of energy storage. Projects already in operation or under development demonstrate that this strategy has entered its execution phase. The renewable energy portfolio has already exceeded 300 MW, while energy storage projects have advanced at a pace that has pushed planned capacity beyond the company’s original target.
At the same time, Electrica has continued investing in the business that remains its backbone: electricity distribution. The modernization of power grids, expansion of automation, and integration of digital systems are designed to prepare the infrastructure for an energy system in which electricity flows will become increasingly complex. In this context, digitalization is no longer simply an operational efficiency initiative—it has become a prerequisite for the functioning of tomorrow’s smart grids.
These developments have also been closely followed by investors. In recent years, Electrica’s shares have reached historic highs, during a period in which the market has increasingly differentiated companies capable of combining the stability traditionally associated with utilities with credible long-term growth prospects. While stock market performance cannot be attributed to a single decision, it nevertheless provides a meaningful indication of how investors assess the consistency of a company’s strategy and management’s ability to execute it successfully.
Today, Electrica is undergoing a profound transformation, and the company’s financial and operational results in recent years have reinforced its position within the Romanian energy market.
For Alexandru Chiriță, however, this represents only part of the equation. Equally important is an organization’s ability to anticipate change and cultivate the competencies that will matter ten or twenty years from now. In an industry where technology, digitalization, and new business models are rapidly reshaping the rules, leadership is no longer defined solely by managing the present—it is about preparing for the future.
“I believe that a leader’s responsibility does not end with the results they deliver. The true measure of leadership is the number of people you prepare to take the organization forward”, says Alexandru Chiriță.
With this philosophy in mind, Electrica launched “Shadow Volt” this year—an innovative internship program that gives young professionals direct exposure to the company’s decision-making process. For one month, participants work alongside the CEO, CFO, and Chief Business Development Officer, attending executive meetings, strategic discussions, and projects with a tangible impact on the company’s future. The initiative reflects the conviction that future leaders are not shaped exclusively in classrooms, but through direct exposure to the responsibility of decision-making.
In a sector where energy infrastructure is built to serve generations, the same philosophy appears to define Alexandru Chiriță’s understanding of leadership. Investments are measured not only in power grids, generation capacity, or capital raised, but also in the people who will carry this transformation forward. And perhaps the most enduring legacy of a leader lies not only in what they build during their tenure, but in what they leave behind by preparing the next generation to take up the baton.
