PEOPLE NEWS

Randolph takes over as CEO of Ecobat

Pictured (from left): Randolph, Berend and Paredes

Marcus Randolph has been appointed president and CEO of international lead battery recycler Ecobat, the company announced on March 17.

Randolph, who will continue as chairman of Ecobat’s board, succeeded Jimmy Herring — who Ecobat said was no longer with the company effective March 16.

Randolph said: “I want to thank Jimmy for his years of service and dedication to Ecobat. He led a significant transformation of the company, including the 2019 restructuring of Ecobat, rebranding of the company and creation of a new leadership team.”

Before Ecobat, Randolph was executive chairman of Boart Longyear, a Salt Lake City company and the world’s largest supplier of drilling services and drilling equipment to the minerals industries.

Randolph has also held several leadership posts with BHP Billiton in Australia.

Separately, Ecobat announced on April 11 that Scott Paredes had been appointed as vice president of treasury.

Paredes previously spent four years as vice president and treasurer at Southwire, the world’s second largest privately owned wire and cable manufacturer in the world.

Meanwhile, Chelsey Berend has been promoted to Ecobat’s director of global marketing and communications, the company said on April 13.

Berend joined Ecobat in January 2022 as chief of staff, working with the company’s executive committee.

Tesvolt appoints Koecke as CFO

German battery storage systems specialist Tesvolt has appointed Philipp Koecke as chief financial officer, the company announced on April 4. Koecke will join the firm at the start of May.

Koecke spent a number of years as an investment manager at a technologyoriented investment company before heading the finance department at Solarworld for 15 years. In addition Koecke was also on the boards of the company’s US subsidiaries.

Tesvolt co-founder and MD Daniel Hannemann said Koecke “has already closely supported growth in other companies… at the same time, Philipp knows the market of our key business areas very well".

Tesvolt specializes in lithium battery storage systems for commerce and industry. The company uses high-performance battery cells from Samsung SDI at its gigafactory in Wittenberg, Germany.

Philipp Koecke

New global role for Fantoni at Digatron

Auto industry veteran Marcello Fantoni has been appointed head of global sales and marketing for battery testing and formation group Digatron, the company announced on February 18.

Fantoni, who holds the combined role within the group of general manager of Italy-based Digatron Systems, has more than 20 years of experience in the global automotive industry with Fiat Chrysler — and has worked in several senior positions.

He entered the energy storage industry in 2015, leading the international sales and marketing operation of a primary industrial group active in engineering lead battery assembly equipment and lithium ion cell assembly machinery solutions, in addition to selling power electronics formation solutions.

Digatron founder and chairman Rolf Beckers said: “Marcello is an outstanding appointment and demonstrates Digatron’s commitment for future growth with a strategy to expand the business from the traditional battery laboratory to the plethora of opportunities arising from the EV electrification process for lithium cell manufacturing and testing — and now for our latest technology venture into manufacturing DC fast-charging infrastructure.”

Rolf Beckers (above, right) with Marcello Fantoni

Ayer chosen as new CEO at H&V

Battery separator manufacturer Hollingsworth & Vose announced on April 5 that COO Josh Ayer had been chosen to succeed Val Hollingsworth as the company’s CEO.

Hollingsworth is stepping down after 24 years in the post — and after more than 40 years with the company — but will continue as chair of H&V’s board.

Ayer joined H&V in 2009 as vice president and managing director for the Asia Pacific region, following 10 years at General Electric.

In 2015, Ayer became president of the engine and industrial filtration division, taking on the position of vice president and managing director of H&V’s Americas region in 2020.

Val Hollingsworth is a sixth-generation member of the Hollingsworth family. He first joined the company in 1976, working as a night shift supervisor and a production and plant manager.

Hollingsworth became president in 1997 and CEO in the following year. During this time, H&V expanded from a mainly regional US business into a global company with 13 R&D and manufacturing facilities across three continents.

“We are delighted to be able to turn to Josh to lead H&V in our next chapter of growth and development,” Hollingsworth said.

“He has been an outstanding leader in his years at H&V and will do a great job as CEO. H&V has had several non-Hollingsworth family CEOs in its long history, and we are proud that there are seventh-generation members of our family working for H&V.”

Gridtential appoints Tim Ellis to advisory board

Lead-acid battery expert Tim Ellis has joined Silicon Joule battery maker Gridtential’s technical advisory board in what the firm said on January 18 was ‘a real coup’.

He will advise the firm on the roll-out of the company’s Silicon Joule battery technology, which is approaching commercial production with manufacturing partners, Gridtential said.

Ellis is the former president of RSR Technologies, the R&D unit of Ecobat. Before that he was director of materials research at Kulicke & Soffa, the semiconductor packaging and electronic assembly firm.

He has written dozens of scientific papers across metallurgy, semiconductor packaging technology, leadacid battery materials, energy storage and recycling, and holds more than 20 US patents.

“If we’re to decarbonize, we need a way to efficiently produce millions of longlasting, high-power batteries,” said Ellis.

“Lead batteries offer the scale — they are low cost, highly recyclable and can be produced in today’s battery factories. Now, with Silicon Joule technology, they are lighter and more powerful. It can unlock new applications for lead batteries and accelerate the shift to renewable energy.”

“It’s a real coup to have him join our team,” said CEO John Barton. “His combination of experience in semiconductor and lead battery materials is the perfect match for Gridtential as we partner battery manufacturers to bring Silicon Joule to market.”

Gridtential is one of the more than 100 members of the Consortium for Battery Innovation.

In February 2021, the CBI supported a project between Gridtential and the battery research and testing firm Electric Applications Incorporated, which sought to develop ‘plug and play’ solar-powered energy storage systems specifically for behind-the-meter storage applications.

Tim Ellis

Latest additions to BCI’s Quarter Century Club

Top left to right: Hal Hawk, BCI board director and committee chairman, welcoming Doug Bornas, MAC Engineering; Andy Bush, International Lead Association; Mark Kelley, Crown Battery Bottom left to right: Norbert Maleschitz, East Penn; Antonio Munoz, Acumuladores Duncan, Peter Stanislawczyk, East Penn

Sunlight Group appoints new board members, discusses global leadership plans

Sunlight’s Xanthi facility and new board members, from left: Gordon Riske, Michel Govaert and Peter Lamp

Lead and lithium battery firm the Sunlight Group said on March 14 it was bolstering the international experience of its board with new appointments, as the Greece-based company aims to become “a true global leader” in the energy storage sector.

Gordon Riske has been named as chairman and independent non-executive director.

Also joining the board as independent non-executive directors are Michel Govaert, who will also head the company’s audit committee, and Peter Lamp, who will head the new technology and innovation committee.

Riske is a former CEO of the Kion Group, a German multinational manufacturer of materials handling equipment and the incumbent CEO of GRBR Services.

Sunlight said Riske had in-depth knowledge of original equipment manufacturers and a wealth of expertise in sectors including high-performance energy systems.

Govaert, who is a nonexecutive director and former group CFO at AOC & ChemicaInvest, started his career at Philips Electronics and has worked as partner at professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal.

Sunlight said Govaert’s experience would be invaluable in Sunlight’s corporate transformation to a global tech company.

Lamp, who is head of BMW Group Battery Cell Technology and the associated worldwide R&D network, was set to join Sunlight’s board in May.

He has more than 30 years’ experience in cuttingedge R&D work in the energy sector, Sunlight said.

Sunlight Group CEO Lampros Bisalas said the new board members all have a strong track record of driving growth and operational excellence.

In 2021, Sunlight announced the initial rollout of a €560 million ($615 million) five-year investment plan to expand the capacity of lead acid and lithium ion energy storage products.

Investments include upgrades to the company’s facilities in the US, Italy, and Greece. Sunlight said its main manufacturing unit in Xanthi, Greece, would become the world’s largest facility for industrial, motive, lead batteries.

German testing lab EBL joins CBI

Germany-based lead battery testing company EBL became the latest member of the Consortium for Battery Innovation on January 27, the company announced.

EBL, which was founded in June 2021 by joint managing directors Benjamin Gebhardt and Martin Müller, started construction of its independent lab testing facility at Holungen, in the central German federal state of Thuringia, in March.

The company said it expects to start operations at the facility in the middle of 2022.

Gebhardt and Müller said EBL will offer electrical and mechanical testing of lead acid batteries, supported by follow-up evaluation and expert assessment of test results.

Doe Run achieves work safety milestone

Doe Run said on February 15 the lead miner and recycler had achieved 25 consecutive years worked at its Sweetwater Mill near Boss, Missouri, with no lost-time incidents.

Mill superintendent Gary Skaggs said: “Achieving 25 years with no lost time is a huge feat in an industrial setting.

“Our employees are responsible for overseeing heavy, complex equipment that crushes ore rock and separates lead, copper and zinc from waste rock.

“Their commitment to closely following safety protocols and watching out for each other has enabled them to work safely day after day, year after year.”

Doe Run said the company integrates a safety mindset into everything it does.

Meanwhile, Doe Run’s other three mills have also achieved safety milestones with no lost-time incidents over the past year. They are Brushy Creek Mill (16 years), Buick Mill (11 years) and Fletcher Mill (eight years). In addition, the Sweetwater Mine surface team has reached 18 years with no lost time.

Doe Run Company wins 2022 BCI Amplify Award

Battery Council International announced on May 3 that the Doe Run Company had been awarded the 2022 BCI Amplify Award for communications excellence.

This is the first year BCI has presented the award, in recognition of the lead battery industry’s most innovative and effective marketing and communications campaigns that promote the value of the industry.

Doe Run, headquartered in St Louis, Missouri, is a privately held natural resources company and a global provider of lead, copper and zinc concentrates and a lead battery recycler.

The award recognizes Doe Run’s recent communications campaign to inform state legislators about the positive impact of Missouri’s lead industry.

The campaign — We Are Doe Run — included an in-person Doe Run Day at the Missouri State Capitol in early 2020, where company leaders and employees staffed informational booths and engaged in oneon-one and small group meetings with key legislators and state governor, Mike Parson, to discuss issues facing the industry.

“We are thrilled to win this award and promote Missouri’s lead battery industry,” said Tammy Stankey, director of communications and community relations at The Doe Run Company.

“Our state ranks second in the US for the economic contribution of the industry. Missouri is truly a hub for the circular economy of lead battery energy storage. Our efforts aim to ensure that our state officials are aware of the valuable jobs and services our industry provides.”

Donna Snyder, vice president of marketing and advertising at East Penn Manufacturing, and chair of the BCI marketing committee, said: “The purpose of this award is to encourage innovative and creative thinking in the industry and serves to engage more company and individual outreach from BCI member companies.

“I’m delighted that the Doe Run Company has earned recognition for their work that effectively communicates the value of lead batteries and their innovative, essential, sustainable and safe attributes.”

Supporting materials for Doe Run’s campaign included: • An easy-to-digest fact sheet providing an overview of the lead battery industry’s economic contribution to Missouri. • A brochure that reinforced Doe Run’s contribution to jobs, the economy, sustainable mining and metal production, and the important role lead batteries play in everyday life. • On-site displays prominently highlighting key stats and the breadth of

Doe Run’s economic impact throughout the state. • An invitation to legislators to attend a group meeting with Doe Run.

Redwood’s 'JB' Straubel receives Shep Wolsky Battery Innovator Award

The co-founder and CEO of Nevada-based Redwood Materials, Jeffrey Brian Straubel — best known as ‘JB’ — was presented with the Shep Wolsky Battery Innovator Award during the International Battery Seminar in Florida on March 29.

Straubel joined the Orlando conference remotely for the announcement of the award, which he received in acknowledgement of his lifetime achievements to date.

Before founding Redwood, Straubel spent 15 years at Tesla as co-founder and CTO, where he led cell design, supply chain and led the company’s first gigafactory concept.

He also had a direct role in both R&D, team building and operational expansion from prototype cars through to mass production and gigawatthour-scale.

The battery innovator award is presented annually in memory of Wolsky, who died in November 2017 at the age of 91. He showed exception brilliance from a young age and notwithstanding the intervention of the Second World War, obtained his PhD aged just 21.

He was known as a grandee of all chemistries within the battery industry making the award ceremony all the more significant.

Wolsky founded the seminar on his retirement and ran the event for 32 years, before selling it to Cambridge Enertech.

EUROBAT joins Global Battery Alliance

EUROBAT, the association of European automotive and industrial battery manufacturers, said on March 16 it had joined the Global Battery Alliance.

GBA is a public-private collaboration platform, founded in 2017 at the World Economic Forum, to help establish a sustainable battery value chain by 2030.

EUROBAT executive director, Rene Schroeder, said both organizations “shared goals of circularity, environmental protection and sustainable development.

“With the new Batteries Regulation, the future EU policy framework for batteries, it becomes even more important to have the voice of the EU battery industry heard at this important and global platform, while actively contributing towards the higher goal,” Schroeder said.

Schroeder: “shared goals of circularity”

Saft appoints Cedric Duclos as new CEO

ESS Tech appoints Gast to board

French batteries company Saft said on April 21 that Cedric Duclos had been appointed CEO effective April 11.

Duclos succeeded Ghislain Lescuyer, who Saft said had decided to retire after 10 years as a member of the company’s supervisory board and seven years as CEO — during which he oversaw the sale of Saft to French oil giant Total (now TotalEnergies) in 2016.

Duclos, a French and American dual citizen, joins Saft from another TotalEnergies subsidiary — Hutchinson — where he spent nearly 25 years. His most recent position was based in Michigan, where he was president and CEO of Hutchinson’s Fluid Management Systems business.

Saft said Duclos has a track record of achievements in highly technical markets, mostly in the automotive sector and in aerospace, defence and energy — and specializing in thermal and battery management, smart plant automation and electric and autonomous vehicle technologies.

Last December, TotalEnergies announced the launch of the largest battery-based energy storage facility in France. Saft designed and assembled the battery containers for the 61MW/61MWh site at the Flandres Center in Dunkirk.

Cedric Duclos

Grant to kickstart EU batteries academy

The European Union formally launched the European Battery Alliance Academy on February 24, with a €10 million ($11 million) grant to train up thousands of workers for Europe’s expanding battery sector.

The funding will be provided through the European Institute of Innovation and Technology to help bridge what the institute said was a “growing skills gap” across the battery value chain.

Academy training programmes will benefit from the grant. Training includes online seminars and in-person workshops designed to “reskill and upskill” workers — who will go on to be part Europe’s future battery-cells manufacturing industry.

The academy initiative was launched after EU leaders were warned of a “growing skills shortage” facing Europe’s battery manufacturing industry during a ministerial-level summit of the EBA in 2021.

EU innovation and research commissioner Mariya Gabriel said: “Transformative innovation must be met with skills and education for a new era.

“The EBA Academy will equip thousands of workers and learners with the skills needed by innovative companies and start-ups to grow and scaleup to become global tech champions. In addition, it will invest in the innovation ecosystem underpinning the European battery supply chain, with training platforms, centers, and curricula ready to meet the demands for a more competitive Europe.”

Claudia Gast

Claudia Gast has joined the board of US-based iron flow battery storage firm ESS Tech, the company announced on February 17.

Gast is the chief financial officer and board member of Global Technology Acquisition Corp and cofounder of investment firm Greentrail Capital.

She replaces Shirley Speakman of Cycle Capital, who joined the board in 2017 and is leaving to return to early-stage company investing.

ESS chief executive officer Eric Dresselhuys said Gast’s background in finance and operations management across multiple industries would “add depth and expertise to the company’s governance structure as we accelerate production and deployment on a global scale”.

In January, ESS said it would be deploying its technology in the US state of Oregon under an agreement to test and demonstrate frequency response, contingency reserve, voltage and VAR (voltamp reactance) support, demand response and resource optimization.

The company will supply its 3MWh Energy Center system — it expects it to come online later this year — under a deal with the state’s energy company, Portland General Electric.