- Strengthens Engineering and Operations leadership
- New independent Board appointments
- Grants incentive stock options to incoming directors, employees and consultants
TORONTO — Following its listing of common shares on June 30, 2021, Next Hydrogen Solutions Inc. (the “Company” or “Next Hydrogen“) (TSXV: NXH), a designer and manufacturer of hydrogen electrolyzers, is pleased to provide an update on the progress of its corporate initiatives, the addition of highly experienced operational leadership and Board members, and announces the grant of incentive stock options.
“We have spent significant time on organizational design and attracted a world class product delivery team and an impressive and impactful Board of Directors,” said Raveel Afzaal, President and CEO of Next Hydrogen. “Our people, coupled with our strong balance sheet, will ensure that Next Hydrogen has the infrastructure in place to address the growing requirement to decarbonize transportation and industrial sectors using green hydrogen.”
Key Additions to Operational Leadership
The Company has seen significant growth in its employee and contractor base, which has expanded from 13 in 2020 to 33 currently, and recently complemented its technology and product development leadership with the following exceptional hires:
- James Davies, VP of Engineering, has 20 years’ experience working with hydrogen systems at Doosan Fuel Cell America, Inc. (formerly UTC Power) and holds a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering and an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business.
- Jim Franchville, VP of Manufacturing, has over 30 years’ experience in senior operations, lean supply chain and manufacturing, having worked at such companies as GE Healthcare, Delphi Automotive, National Oilwell Varco and Cessna Aircraft Company.
- Shane Day, VP of Operations and founder of CleanFuel Systems Inc. (acquired by Next Hydrogen), has over 25 years’ experience with hydrogen systems integration, operations and service.
Appointments to Board of Directors
Next Hydrogen is also pleased to announce the addition of four new independent members to the Board of Directors:
- Susan Uthayakumar is Schneider Electric’s President Global Sustainability Business Division. Previously she was Canada Country President and has had numerous roles in strategy, M&A and sales leadership at Schneider and McCain Foods Ltd. Ms. Uthayakumar has an Executive MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Master of Accounting (MAcc) and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Waterloo. Susan holds the CA and CPA designations.
- Michael Pyle is the CEO of Exchange Income Corporation. Mr. Pyle holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (Economics) and an MBA (Finance) from the University of Manitoba and served in positions of increasing seniority culminating as President of The Arctic Glacier Income Fund (and its predecessor, The Arctic Group Inc.) from 1998 to 2002. Mr. Pyle is currently a director of CentrePort Canada Inc. and a director of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Football Club.
- Jens Peter Clausen is VP, Engineering – Data Center Advanced Technology Innovation (ATI) for Google. Previously, Mr. Clausen held executive roles in manufacturing, engineering, and operations at Tesla, LEGO Group and Zymergen. Notably, he co-creating the manufacturing network strategy at LEGO, and built the manufacturing at Tesla’s Gigafactory 1. Mr. Clausen holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering with a Diploma in Leadership from Aarhus University. He also holds a Master’s degree in MMT Innovation and Technology from Aalborg University.
- Anthony Guglielmin recently retired as SVP and CFO of Ballard Power Systems, a global leader in clean energy fuel cell products and solutions. Mr. Guglielmin previously served as CFO of the public-private partnership Canada Line Rapid Transit Inc. and held senior management roles in treasury, investor relations, corporate development and strategic planning at Finning International and BC Hydro. Mr. Guglielmin holds a BA in Economics and Political Science, an MBA from McGill University and holds the CFA designation. He serves on the Board of Westport Fuel Systems, Information Services Corporation, and a number of private and not-for-profit organizations. Anthony was awarded the Business in Vancouver 2017 CFO of the year in the Transformation Agent category.
Stock Options Grant
In order to effectively attract and motivate incoming talent, Next Hydrogen has granted 831,626 stock options to certain directors, employees and consultants of the Company, in accordance with its stock option plan. Each stock option is exercisable for one common share of the Company at an exercise price of $7.41 per share, which is the closing price on July 16, 2021. The options will vest over a period of four years, with a quarter vesting after each completed year.
About Next Hydrogen
Founded in 2007, Next Hydrogen is a designer and manufacturer of electrolyzers that use water and electricity as inputs to generate clean hydrogen for use as an energy source. Next Hydrogen’s unique cell design architecture supported by 38 patents enables high current density operations and superior dynamic response to efficiently convert intermittent renewable electricity into green hydrogen on an infrastructure scale. Following successful pilots, Next Hydrogen is scaling up its technology to deliver commercial solutions to decarbonize transportation and industrial sectors.
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