July 2004

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The board of directors of Ballard Power Systems has appointed John Sheridan as its new non-executive chairman of the board, effective immediately. Sheridan, the former president and CEO of Bell Canada, has been a Ballard director since 2001. The board also named Firoz Rasul chairman emeritus in recognition of his 15 years as chief executive and chairman with the company. Rasul will continue to serve Ballard as a special advisor, and also as chairman of the California Fuel Cell Partnership and the Canadian Hydrogen Highway

Bernard S. Baker, intenationally renowned fuel cell expert and founder of Energy Research Corp., now known as FuelCell Energy, Danbury, CT, died after a brief illness, reported the New Milford, CT “Spectrum” in late June. Baker was 67. Before starting Energy Research Corp., Baker was director of basic sciences at the Institute of Gas Technology, Chicago, IL, and before that, he was a senior scientist at Lockheed Aircraft Corp.’s Missiles and Space Division, according to the obituary

The Washington, DC-based U.S. Fuel Cell Council has re-elected George Earle to his third one-year term as the organization’s president, the group announced. Earle is director of hydrogen infrastructure for Plug Power, Inc., Latham, NY., a developer of PEM-based on-site energy systems

Fuel Cells Canada has announced that its president and CEO, Ron Britton, is retiring for personal reasons. Dr. Britton will continue his work until a successor is named. The organization has initiated a search for a new CEO

Eatontown, NJ-based Millennium Cell, Inc., a developer of hydrogen storage and delivery technology, has appointed Alicemary Leach as its director of government affairs. She replaces Edward Gerety who came on board only recently (H&FCL June 04) and who now resigned to pursue other interests, the company said. Ms. Leach has extensive government affairs experience, most recently as a lead lobbyist for the Mortgage Bankers Association. The company also announced two promotions: John D. Giolli, until now the corporate controlller and principal accounting officer has been named vice president finance and acting chief financial officer. And George C. Zalepa, director of human resources, has been named vice president administration.