Vale Greg Thorpe, Executive Director Oakley Greenwood
Vale Greg Thorpe, Executive Director Oakley Greenwood | 9th January 2026Vale Greg Thorpe, Executive Director Oakley Greenwood
BEng (Electrical), Grad Dip Management
Oakley Greenwood is greatly saddened by the passing of Greg Thorpe, one of the company’s founders, long-time friend and colleague of two of the other founders and a great source of knowledge and guidance to all of us.
Greg was involved with the electricity sector from the time he joined the State Electricity Commission as a cadet electrical engineer in the early 1970s. He learned the business at the detailed level from the inside, eventually developing a great deal of expertise in the nexus of physics and business practice that determines reliability. He served as the assistant director or the National Electricity Code Administrator (NECA) in the very early days of the liberalisation, vertical unbundling and introduction of competition in the National Electricity Market.
He joined CRA International in 2001 which is where he met Jim Snow, Lance Hoch and Mike Thomas. When fallout from the global financial crisis led to the demise of CRAI in 2008, Greg joined with Jim and Lance in founding Oakley Greenwood. Here he led the firm’s work in wholesale market modelling and analysis, transmission system augmentation and related areas. In addition to his expertise in these areas he has served as an invaluable source of information on the rationale for, evolution of and strengths and weaknesses of the NEM’s energy-only market design – and the various adjustments to it that that have been undertaken to it at the Commonwealth and state levels.
Greg was also highly regarded as an Expert Witness, expert assistant to leading Judges and as a Mediator due to his specialist knowledge and often assisted the Courts, Tribunals and other relevant hearings. He held a Professional Certificate in Arbitration and Mediation and was on various key dispute resolution panels.
He shared this level of expertise globally as Australia’s national convenor of CIGRE’s Market Design Study Committee and its Large Disturbance Workshops, and was active in market design in Southeast Asia
For those of us who worked with Greg it was how he shared his knowledge and himself that will most be remembered and missed. Along with his incredible level of knowledge and expertise he brought warmth, humour and real personal regard to each of us. He was always willing to help, to mentor, to act as a sounding board and to help each of us puzzle through our work, and in many cases, our lives. He was also a highly valued Director of Oakley greenwood for some 17 years and his counsel was instrumental in the longevity of the business, one of his many legacies.
He will be missed – but even more so, remembered.
