PEOPLE NEWS

Mike Judd

Stryten Energy unveiled a major shake-up of its leadership team on January 4 with a reformulation of ex-Johnson Controls senior management that had worked together in the previous decade.

Stryten president and COO Mike Judd will be promoted to succeed CEO Tim Vargo, who will become chairman. Judd who joined Exide Technologies in 2019 before it became Stryten had also spent 12 years in senior positions in Johnson Controls.

Both appointments are to take effect before the end of Stryten’s fiscal year on March 31.

Vargo, a former CEO and president of Exide Technologies, said Judd’s promotion to CEO was “the culmination of a succession plan the Stryten Energy board and I have developed over the last several years”.

“Mike is the right leader to take the reins of the business and achieve the company’s strategy for increased profitability and growth,” Vargo said.

Meanwhile, Petar Oklobdzija, CFO at separator manufacturer ENTEK, will join Stryten as executive VP and CFO effective February 1 to lead the company’s finance, accounting, treasury, information technology and strategic sourcing.

Before ENTEK Oklobdzija spent 18 years with Johnson Controls most latterly as VP and general manager Americas. He left the firm when it became Clarios after being bought by Brookfield Business Partners in May 2019.

Meanwhile, Dan Autey joined the company on January 3 as executive VP commercial. Autey had previously spent 19 years with Johnson Controls/Clarios most latterly as VP/GM aftermarket, US and Canada.

A further appointment has been the promotion of strategic sourcing VP Jeremy Furr to that of senior VP of strategic sourcing. This was confirmed in a LinkedIn post on January 3.

Incoming CEO Judd said Oklobdzija’s career in operations and finance in the automotive and battery industries would help the firm accelerate plans to expand in new and existing energy storage markets. Autey’s automotive and industrial battery expertise “will help strengthen our ability to serve our customers’ evolving energy needs”, Judd said.

Stryten arose from the creation of two standalone companies in 2020 — Stryten Manufacturing and Element Resources — following Atlas Holdings’ acquisition of lead battery manufacturer and recycler Exide Technologies’.

Stryten bought the vehicle power division of Galvion, a military equipment maker whose products included lithium batteries for onboard systems typically used in combat vehicles such as tanks, in 2021.

In January 2022, Stryten announced its move into vanadium following its acquisition of Storion Energy, a commercial spin-off from technology firm ITN Energy, which began its research into redox flow batteries in 2010.

That was followed in March 2022 by Stryten’s formation of two divisions — Motive Power and Essential Power — focused on developing and producing multiple battery technologies, including lead, for the energy storage market.

Tim Vargo

Registration is open for the next Battery Council International Convention + Power Mart, to be held in Louisville, Kentucky, on April 23-26.

The submission deadline for the prestigious annual Innovation Award and the 2023 Amplify Award — which recognizes a highly effective and toprated internal or external campaign, program or communication that serves to inform, educate and promote lead battery products, components, services or the industry as a whole — was February 3

Keynote convention speakers have yet to be confirmed, but the golf tournament, receptions, Women in the Global Battery Industry networking event and technical sessions have been listed as usual.

A Poster Research Showcase is being added to this year’s convention.

“Undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral level researchers and assistants are invited to submit posters that will bring forward scientific work on lead and other battery types,” BCI said.

“The showcase will support researchers in university, government and commercial settings in building awareness about the scientific opportunities, advancements and career objectives in today’s battery industry and to share cutting-edge science and technology across this critical industry.”

Friedrich Grupe

Friedrich Grupe has been promoted to chief executive officer at Digatron Power Electronics, effective January 1 and will be based in Aachen, North RhineWestphalia, Germany.

The firm is the central core of the larger Digatron group which has operations in Qingdao, China; Pune India (working through Ador Digatron); Milan, Italy; and Shelton, Connecticut, US; as well as its headquarters in Aachen.

Grupe, who is a wellknown and well liked figure in the battery community, says he is expecting great things in this coming year. “We’ve got an exciting range of existing products and a couple of new ones in the pipeline,” he says. “One of which we will be launching shortly.

“The market for high quality testing equipment is booming. We are also steadily moving into lithium battery formation equipment where we are developing work with Digatron Systems Italy which was set up in 2019.

“I see this as a time for ourselves and the wider group to grow internally and externally. We’ve just moved into our brand new R&D facility here in Aachen and we have recruited new staff here with more to come.”

Grupe’s appointment comes at a potentially pivotal moment in the wider Digatron.

Bjoern Stoll took over as new CEO of Digatron Power Electronics Inc in Connecticut on January 1 which will concentrate on expanding further into both the lead and lithium sides to the energy storage market.

Ador Digatron last year launched its Quench, product which is making steady inroads into DC fast chargers for EVs in India.

Grupe takes over from Holger Driesch who has taken a senior management position in Mangoldt an electrical engineering firm.

Grupe has been with Digatron for almost 14 years and started as a project manager in May 2009. He was appointed vice president for sales and marketing in October 2015 and vice president for product management in September 2019.

Digatron was set up by Rolf Beckers in 1968.

Ramesh Natarajan

The India Lead Zinc Development Association distinguished services award for 2022 was presented to Ramesh Natarajan, a lead battery industry veteran of more than 42 years on December 5.

The award was presented on the first day of the ILZDA’s International Conference on Lead and Lead Batteries by Sudhendu Sinha, director of India’s Niti Aayog policy think-tank.

Natarajan’s work in the industry began as a graduate trainee at the age of 20. He went on to hold senior managerial posts, design batteries for various applications as well as lead training programmes for quality management systems. He has also conducted technical training programs in Asia, the Middle East, South Africa and the UK.

Today, he is perhaps better known as an author — for his ‘batteries demystified’ books — the second of which was released during the conference.

Natarajan said he hope his books inspire ambitious young people with innovative ideas to enter the battery industry.

But he stressed that despite his foray into publishing, he wants to continue working with the lead batteries industry for many years to come.

EnerSys has appointed Tamara Morytko as a director, the company said on December 7. She joins the board with immediate effect for two years.

Morytko’s last worked as president of the pumps division at Flowserve, a US supplier of industrial and environmental machinery where EnerSys said she established a reputation as a supply chain subject matter expert.

Before that, Morytko spent two years as CEO of Norsk Titanium, a Norwegian aerospace and defence firm.

Previously Morytko spent seven years with oil services company Baker Hughes becoming Asia Pacific region president.

From 1996 until 2010, Morytko held a number of increasingly senior positions at aviation components manufacturer Pratt & Whitney.

Tamara Morytko

Pam O’Brien stepped down in December after seven years as vice president of operations at Battery Council International and almost 13 years with Smith Bucklin Corporation, the managing agents for BCI. She will be sorely missed.

Working initially with Mark Thorsby, then EVP for the council, Pam took their plans to enlarge the ambit of BCI’s operation seriously. She became a driving force in making BCI annual meetings worth attending (even if you didn’t play golf) and was one of the driving forces behind creating the Women in the Global Battery Industry.

Chris Pruitt, president of BCI, praised her for her “exemplary commitment and dedication to supporting the efforts of BCI to establish the Women in the Global Battery Industry, an organization of professionals, founded to promote and develop the growth of women in the battery industry.

“Her commitment to this program has exceeded that asked of her and demonstrates her full and complete dedication and passion to the industry as a whole, and to the industry’s goal of supporting the careers of women in the battery industry and STEM careers.”

Julie McClure, a BCI director and chair of MAC Engineering, said: “Over the past year, Pam has moved mountains to take the WGBI from a concept presented to the BCI board by a small group of BCI members and staff, to a fully-fledged and functional networking and professional collaboration group of industry women. “

Roger Miksad, EVP at Battery Council International paid tribute to working with her. “She was not just highly efficient and effective at what she was working on but also fun to be with,” he said.

“Whatever she did, she did well,” says Mike Halls, the editor-in-chief of Batteries International. “She had a fantastic ability to organize her loyal and dedicated staff. But what made her truly effective was that she could always see beyond the details and would immediately grasp the bigger picture.

“BCI and the wider lead battery community will miss her and owe her a huge debt of gratitude.”

Pam said she intended to enjoy taking a break from some of the hectic schedules of working at BCI. “I intend to chill out and have some time to myself, I’ve plans to learn French, teach myself how to play the guitar and play more golf,” she said.

Pam O’Brien

All-solid-state batteries developer Solid Power said on November 29 that CEO, board member and co-founder, Douglas Campbell, had decided to retire effective immediately.

David Jansen the company’s chair and president, has been appointed as interim CEO while the firm looks for a permanent replacement.

Solid Power independent director John Stephens said: “Since co-founding Solid Power in 2011, Doug has served as a passionate entrepreneur, beginning with the company’s earliest stages as a spin-off from the University of Colorado.”

Stephens said Campbell and the board had decided new leadership was needed “as we enter the next phase in our evolution and build on our momentum as a newly public company”.

Campbell said he planned to spend more time with his family and pursuing other interests while “continuing as a significant shareholder of the company for years to come and watching the growth and progress that I know the talented team at Solid Power will continue to make”.

Solid Power has partnerships with both BMW and Ford to jointly develop allsolid-state batteries.

Lead recycling group Gravita India was honoured by Rajasthan’s state government on December 23 for the company’s employment practices.

Gravita received the ‘President Trophy’ best employer award at a ceremony organized by the Employers’ Association of Rajasthan.

Rajasthan governor Kalraj Mishra and state industry minister Shakuntala Devi presented the award, which is given to recognize working conditions provided by companies including health, safety and skills development.

On September 17, Gravita was honoured by Rajasthan’s state government for the company’s services to the exports sector.

Gravita has 13 manufacturing facilities across Asia, Africa and Central America.

The company told Batteries International in June 2019 that it had started commercial production of lead in Ghana and Tanzania, with the aim of supplying European markets.

Volt Resources promoted Prashant Chintawar to become CEO on January 1. Chintawar joined the Australia-based company as battery metals senior adviser on September 1. He is a former director of global business development and sales for German chemicals conglomerate BASF.

Volt MD Trevor Matthews became financial and commercial executive director on the same day, while COO Justine MacDonald, who joined Volt in 2021 after 22 years in the African mining industry, will expand her involvement in the operation and advancement of the company’s graphite assets, Volt said.

Non-executive chairman Asimwe Kabunga said: “Since joining Volt, Prashant’s high-level industry experience and deep industry networks have shone through in the work he has done and the projects he has underway.”

On October 4, Volt said it had

Prashant Chintawar

formed a new business unit through which it is supplying graphite products for lead acid and lithium battery markets in the US.

The new unit, Volt Energy Materials, provides products including coated spheronized purified graphite (CSPG) for lithium ion batteries and graphite expander additives for negative electrodes for lead batteries.

Gianpaolo Giuliani has joined the Sunlight Group as commercial energy storage systems executive director, the company announced in a LinkedIn post on December 29.

Giuliani, a former global sales director of energy storage for GE, will lead a team focused on product management for Sunlight’s ESS high voltage portfolio and business development for global markets.

He brings over 15 years of experience in energy, management and renewable hybrid generation and, as of 2014, has specialized in renewables and energy storage.

Sunlight announced on December 8 it had agreed a deal to acquire a controlling stake in Germany-based batteries peer Triathlon Holding, in a move Sunlight said would create a lead and lithium powerhouse to increase the firms’ global sales in existing and new markets.

Highview Power has appointed Sandra Redding as general counsel, the company announced on November 23.

CEO Rupert Pearce said Redding’s experience would be a huge asset in expanding and transforming the company “from a category disruptor to global market leader”.

Redding has more than 20 years of international experience across a number of corporates in the energy sector, and in a wide range of cultural and political environments. She most recently served as general counsel for Seadrill and prior to that as general counsel of the Dubai government-owned Dragon Oil. She has also held several in-house legal positions within the RWE, Gaz de France and National Grid groups.

In May 2021, Highview announced it was developing up to 2GWh of long duration, liquid air energy storage projects across Spain for an estimated investment of around $1 billion.

The company is also embarking on an extensive programme to build renewable energy power stations on 19 sites across the UK by 2035.

Lara Papi Wilson

The Consortium for Battery Innovation has made two appointments to its staff in its Durham, North Carolina office in the US.

Alyssa McQuilling joined in December as a new research and innovation manager. She has over 10 years of research experience in energy storage, air quality, and advanced agriculture, and her scientific record includes peerreviewed publications and presentations on a wide range of topics.

Previously she oversaw the operation and commissioning of two energy storage systems at Southern Research in Birmingham, Alabama. She reports to Carl Telford who becomes senior research and innovation manager.

Lara Papi Wilson becomes the new communications manager. She has a diverse background in communications, public relations, marketing, and events across a wide variety of industries including environment, real estate and construction, government, military and defence, science, and technology.

Wilson has won national awards for marketing and event programs.

Meanwhile CBI is looking to appoint a research and innovation manager based in Brussels, Belgium. They will be responsible for managing government-funded project bids and running ongoing projects. They will report to Carl Telford.

Carl Telford Alyssa McQuilling

Tel: +44 (0) 7792 852 337 karen@batteriesinternational.com

+44 (0) 7977 016 918 editor@batteriesinternational.com

Jade Beevor +44 (0)1243 782 275 jade@batteriesinternational.com