Verdant Power Selects Chairman and New Board Members as it Transitions from a Family-backed Firm to an Institutionally Backed Enterprise
New Directors Join the Board under a New Chairman as it Focuses on Global Commercialization
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / March 4, 2021 / As Verdant Power advances from an early-stage venture to a growth stage firm, the Company has appointed a new Chairman and four additional members to its Board of Directors. The individuals bring wide ranging and diverse senior level experience to Verdant Power. They will contribute to the Company’s ongoing development and execution of its efforts to further its vision for the future and support the Company’s management’s execution of it.
In addition, Verdant Power has announced the appointment of Chief Executive Officer and Director John T. Banigan to succeed Joe Klein as Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors. The Company commended and thanked Mr. Klein for his 11 years Board service, which saw the Company’s development to its current state. Mr. Klein has agreed to continue to serve as a Director of the Company. Mr. Banigan commented that: “The addition of our new Board members will meaningfully contribute to Verdant Power’s plan to install up to 2,000 megawatts of marine renewable energy around the world within this decade. We thank our critical employees-who together have worked so hard to bring the Company to this stage of development and their support to our Board to date. We are confident that the Verdant Power team track record of working well with the Verdant Power Board in contributing to addressing the critical challenges of global climate change will continue.”
The four new Board members and new Chairman are the following:
John T. Banigan – Chairman and CEO of Verdant Power has an international financial services and management background in Latin America, Asia, and the U.S. He has demonstrated client relationship and risk and asset management skills, as well as, diverse business unit and regional management capabilities plus strategic planning, project analysis, and negotiation experience. He has held senior management positions at HSBC and Chemical Bank (JPMorgan Chase), is a member of Japanese Equity Long Short Partners and was formerly a director of Trophy Property GP Ltd., a US$ 1.0 billion investor in large scale, multi-use prime city developments in China. John was additionally Chairman of Sustainable Forest Holdings Ltd, a Hong Kong-based publicly listed timber products and sustainable forest management firm operating in China, Russia, and Brazil; and a founder of three U.S.- and Asia-based merchant banks: GlobalNet Venture Partners, Buckingham Partners, and BAII (Asia) Ltd. He is a graduate of Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University – B.S., International Economics.
Sue Barr – Chairs the UK’s Marine Energy Council (MEC) and has more than 20 years’ experience in the offshore wind, wave, and tidal industries in the U.S., Canada, China, Japan, and France. Sue is additionally a board member of each Marine Energy Wales, Pembrokeshire Coastal Forum, Marine Power Systems, and Cambrian Offshore. She was recently announced as the winner of a prestigious new industry award launched by Ocean Energy Europe in recognition of her contribution to the ocean energy sector. Her efforts have had an important bearing on efforts to convince the UK government to introduce revenue support, including ministerial meetings, a joint parliamentary letter, and a new economic blueprint for the sector. Sue also has advised and supported UK government ministries on both the first offshore wind arrays and the first marine energy projects, driving marine renewable industry policy both at home and abroad. MEC devised and promoted the concept of ‘Innovative Power Purchase Agreements’ and changes to the ‘Contract for Difference’ auction rounds, which was endorsed in a recent UK Parliament Committee report. Sue earned a BSc in Marine Science and an MSc in Environmental Management.
Dean Corren – Chief Technology Officer of Verdant Power since 2003 has more than 35 years of experience in the fields of energy research and systems design. At Verdant Power he has been responsible for all system research conducted from theory to model tests and full-scale prototypes. As the inventor and ongoing innovator of the Company’s tidal power technology systems, Dean has successfully led the advancement of Verdant Power’s industry leading Free Flow System to a NASA/DOE- based technology readiness level (TRL) 8. He brings significant technology leadership and shared knowledge and value to the Board as the Company addresses its global product scaling and commercialization efforts in the immediate future. Dean was a Research Scientist for the New York University Department of Applied Science. He has served four terms in the Vermont House of Representatives and chaired the Burlington Electric Commission. He has an M.S. in Energy Science from NYU and a BA from Middlebury College.
William D. Rogers – Retired in 2019 and since then has managed his own investment company and advisory practice (CCE Advisory, LLC and CCE Investments LLC). He advises three large Private Equity firms on operational issues for energy and utility clients. From 2015 to 2019, Bill was EVP and CFO of CenterPoint Energy for five years. CenterPoint serves over seven million electric gas customers through regulated operations in ten states and unregulated operations in almost forty states and has an equity market value of approximately $14 billion. Responsibilities included strategic planning and business development, accounting, treasury, risk management, tax, business development, and investor relations. Prior to CenterPoint Energy, Bill was vice president and treasurer at American Water Works Company, Inc., the largest investor-owned U.S. water, and wastewater utility. Previously, he served as chief financial officer for NV Energy, Inc., an investor-owned utility headquartered in Las Vegas. Before joining NV Energy, he was a managing director in capital markets for Merrill Lynch and prior to that served in a similar role at JPMorgan Chase in New York. He holds an MBA from The Fuqua School of Business and an MBA from Duke University. Bill also is a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Military Academy with a bachelor’s degree in engineering and economics.
Marc T. Stewart – Most recently was CFO for a leading renewable energy company whereby he raised capital to support the construction of solar and energy storage facilities utilizing multiple financing structures and capital sources, including private equity, tax equity, and debt. He has extensive experience working in close partnership with shareholders, boards, CEOs, and executive leadership teams on a broad range of strategic and operational initiatives. Marc has led deal teams in executing successful capital raising initiatives for large international (corporate and project financings) as well as private equity scale-up companies, successfully executing on over $10 billion in debt and equity financings. Marc was the CFO for InterGen, a leading privately-owned international energy company specializing in the development, ownership and operation of power generation and related energy infrastructure assets. Marc contributed to the growth of the company from a start-up to a complex multibillion dollar international energy company. He began his career at PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Marc is a graduate of the University of Richmond E. Claiborne Robins School of Business.
About Verdant Power, Inc.
Verdant Power is a leader in the global marine renewable energy industry, developing systems that deliver clean power from tidal and river currents. Through its initiatives worldwide, the Company has developed industry-leading capabilities in design, system demonstration and operation, tidal and river power resource assessment, and environmental monitoring. It is dedicated to delivering the highest quality marine renewable energy technologies and services at the lowest possible cost. Learn more at www.verdantpower.com
Contact:
Trey Taylor, Verdant Power
703-528-6445, ttaylor@verdantpower.com
SOURCE: Verdant Power, Inc.
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