My Legal Life – Nicole Iseppi – ENGIE – Lawyer Monthly | Legal News Magazine

My Legal Life – Nicole Iseppi – ENGIE

 It is very rare to come across a professional who in their career to date has had such a depth of unique, high calibre and leading international energy infrastructure experience as our next interviewee, and she says she “still has a lot more she would like to be part of, contribute too and achieve, within the international business and energy sector.”

Lawyer Monthly hears from Nicole Iseppi, currently the Associate Director of Strategy, Economic Development & Communications for Global Centralised Generation at ENGIE. Nicole talks about the progression of how legal skills are now being viewed in being able to add additional value within companies,  discusses the first steps of her legal career, and how through great opportunity, they led her to some of the best experiences of her life.

 

Can you talk LM through the beginning of your legal career, what inspired you to become a lawyer and pushed you to pursue this life?

I am originally from Melbourne, Australia, and have been extremely fortunate to always have strong mentors in my life who have inspired me early on to work hard and “if a job was worth doing, it was worth doing properly.” My parents instilled in me that if you are fortunate to have access to a good education and the chance to be exposed to a variety of opportunities, you also have a responsibility to do something useful with such knowledge and experiences, and return the favour by giving back positively in some way to society.

It all started from the time I was working as a trainee lawyer at Freehills (Melbourne) in the Projects & Energy Group, where I was exposed from day one to this world of “energy infrastructure and finance,” and as the saying goes, the rest is history. I have worked in such sector ever since, around the globe, including having the opportunity to live and work in cities such as Tokyo, Abu Dhabi and Dubai as a senior female professional. It has been this pure passion for the work itself, and having a deep enjoyment of constantly being intellectually challenged & playing a role in contributing to the business acumen and direction of a company, that has led me to take this career path for the past 15+ years and never look back; whilst also at the same time undertaking work that adds value back to society by doing something that assists to bring energy access and energy security to various communities around the globe.

 

What would you say have been the top experiences in your legal career to date?

I have been extremely fortunate to date, to have had the wonderful and very rewarding experience (both professionally and personally) of working within two great international companies within my career. That is, JBIC and ENGIE. Having the opportunity to act as an adviser to JBIC’s senior management on many of their high profile energy related transactions, plus acting as the adviser to establish and implement on behalf of the Japanese Ministry of Finance and JBIC – the Japan Carbon Finance Ltd (a new financial institution) and also being the first female foreigner to ever work directly as an adviser within JBIC during my time in Tokyo – created an important milestone in my career.

After my 6+years of being based in Tokyo, during which I had such a unique opportunity to work within the international Project Finance department of JBIC and be part of something extremely special, I wanted to become even more actively involved in the long-term development of energy projects and therefore joined ENGIE at the start of 2010, and since then have had the great privilege and reward of being part of the team at ENGIE and holding the following senior legal and commercial positions:

 

  • Associate Director – Strategy, Economic Development and Communications for ENGIE’s global Centralised Generation business (Jan 2016 – present); and
  • Global Team Leader for ENGIE’s Structured Network for Financing Agreements (covering the regions Asia, Australia, Middle East, Africa, Latin America, North America, UK and Turkey) (2013 to mid-2016);
  • Deputy General Counsel and Head of Finance Legal for ENGIE’s SAMEA (South Asia, Middle East and Africa) region (Feb 2010 – April 2016);
  • Part of the core team within ENGIE to assist ENGIE’s CEO (Isabelle Kocher) in the implementation of the global solar Terrawatt Initiative (TWI) launched out of COP21 and TWI’s global ‘Solar Energy Standardisation Initiative’ (February 2016 – present).

 

What has been the best decision you have made so far in your legal life?

 The decision to join ENGIE at the beginning of 2010 has been, and continues to be, one of the best professional and personal decisions I have ever made. It allowed me to not only become part of an innovative and dynamic group of people who come from multiple disciplines & backgrounds, but also the opportunity to be actively involved in both (i) the initial planning to the post-construction and operation phase of energy projects across multiple continents and (ii) the strategic formulation, as we move through this current energy transition phase the global energy sector is experiencing, providing me with an amazing intellectual reward and sense of contribution.

Due to the exciting work environment ENGIE promotes and inspires in its employees, there is always great energy and enthusiasm in the office, which makes it an absolute pleasure to come to work each day. In light of this, I aim to constantly add value and contribute to the team, in order to assist in the achievement of ENGIE’s objectives.

 

What are the most recent roles and tasks you have been involved in at ENGIE?

 Since the beginning of 2016 I have been applying my skills and industry knowledge as part of ENGIE’s global centralised generation strategy team. Centralised generation is an essential part of both ENGIE’s portfolio of assets and the global energy sector. In working through the energy revolution that is currently transforming our global energy markets, we collaborate with our fellow colleagues within ENGIE – across all our different regions of activities – to achieve further successes in our united pursuit of ENGIE, continuing to be a leader in tomorrow’s energy world. It is extremely rewarding to apply my skills and experience (which have also originated from my legal career) to such a strategic & commercial role and collaborate with my colleagues, so to create additional value for the benefit of ENGIE and the energy sector we are all active participants in.

As a result of my past legal and strategic experiences, this year it has also been very exciting to be given the opportunity to be part of the core team in assisting Isabelle Kocher (as Chairperson of TWI and also as our inspiring CEO of ENGIE), in the implementation of the global solar Terrawatt Initiative (TWI) and TWI’s global ‘Solar Energy Standardisation Initiative’.

TWI was launched during COP21 in November 2015 as a global independent non-profit organisation that aims to promote the acceleration of solar development. In June this year, together with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), TWI has launched the ‘Solar Energy Standardisation Initiative’, which aims at standardising contracts to streamline the global development and finance of solar projects to assist in meeting the objectives and quotas the governments around the world set via ‘The Sustainable Development Goals’ and the ‘Paris Agreement’.

There is a strong political call for our economies to deliver more sustainable growth, to more people, and to recognise that universal energy access and energy security are critical to the shared prosperity and future of our planet. The energy sector is at the centre of this revolution in the making, in particular solar, because of its ability to provide clean and affordable energy. The energy sector now has to deliver the many socio-economic benefits of affordable renewable energies at the scale required by these two political landmark decisions, and hence TWI aims to animate a high level public and private dialogue at a global level, to bring all core stakeholders together (from funding sources to energy companies and equipment manufacturers) in an open, innovative and collaborative environment, to work out exactly how we can all best define and implement such a global market for solar power.

 

If you hadn’t chosen the energy sector, what kind of professional world would you have worked in?

Looking back over my career to date, I can say that I’ve had the fortunate opportunity to spend the whole of my career within the energy sector, which has provided me with a very strong base to develop a wide range of commercial, legal, financial and strategic skills and know-how. I’ve always enjoyed being intellectually challenged and working to assist in constantly adding value to the company and therefore, as we now work through the energy revolution that is currently transforming our global energy markets, it is extremely motivating to work for a company such as ENGIE that has been proactive in developing a plan in steering us through this energy revolution period. I am excited as to how I can further professionally contribute to the future of our global energy sector and the opportunities that may lie ahead.

 

As a long-standing and reputable voice in the energy-legal sector, what advice do you have for lawyers who want to pursue this path?

The best piece of advice I can offer to other professionals in the legal and energy sector is : “Make sure you explore different things during your career; discover what your true passion and interests are, and then once you have found your areas of focus within work, dig deep. It is this passion that will drive your ability to work hard and have the determination to achieve and make positive contributions. Gather all of your courage and believe in yourself. Back yourself to achieve and make sure you have a good support network around you and most of all, make the best of every opportunity.

 

Can you detail some other past achievements throughout your legal life which you are most proud of?

 – Being appointed to act as the Global Team Leader for ENGIE’s Structured Network on Financing Agreements for ENGIE’s international energy finance practice;

– Acting as a senior adviser to ENGIE for execution of its first ever project bond transaction in the global finance sector (that is the Shuweihat S2 Project Bond Refinancing in Abu Dhabi, UAE); and

– Being invited as a guest speaker at various global finance & infrastructure conferences, including regularly as a member of the Global Power Panel of experts for the International Bar Association, where we have the opportunity to share our industry knowledge with professional peers and collaborate – for the future success of this sector.

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