March 2006

E-Mail This Article Printer-Friendly Version

Shell Hydrogen has named Duncan MacLeod as its new vice president. He replaces Jeremy Bentham who has been appointed vice president for global business environment in Shell International. MacLeod is a 30-year Shell veteran, most recently as general manager for strategy and European business development at Shell Hydrogen.......Hydrogenics Corp., Mississauga, Ontario, has appointed John Werderman as its new vice president of business development. Previously, Werderman was president of ReliOn Inc., a fuel cell systems developer, and he has also worked for IBUS/Phoenix, Inc, a subsidiary of ultracapacitor developer Maxwell Technologies ..........Cleveland, OH-based HydroGen Corp., a developer of large phosphoric acid fuel cell power plants (H&FCL Oct. 05), has named three new members to its Board of Directors: John Freeh, president of Lockheed Martin Systems Management; Dr. Howard-Yana Shapiro, an internationally renowned researcher of sustainable agriculture and agroforestry as well as investor in that area; and Brian Bailys, principal of the Bailys Group, a consulting firm. In a separate announcement, the company said it has also appointed William F. Copeland as its new manager of manufacturing. Copeland previously was operations manager for American Video Glass Co., in charge of a 60-member production line making panel glass for flat-screen TV sets.........FuelCell Energy, Inc., manufacturer of molten carbonate fuel cell power plants, Danbury, CT announced that Dr. Hans Maru will step down as chief technology officer. Maru who spent 29 years with the company in various technical and management positions, will remain as a consultant to the company .........Southborough, MA based Protonex Technology Corp., a developer of small, light fuel cell systems, has hired two new executives: John J. Connolly was named chief financial officer and Michael McCarthy was named vice president for commercial business development. Connolly previously was CFO at geoVue, a provider of real estate location information and also at Robotic Vision Systems and Davox Corp. McCarthy held management and engineering positions at American Superconductor Corp., GE Osmonics, Stone & Webster Engineers and other firms.......VIASPACE Inc., a developer of fuel cell technologies, Pasadena, CA has named John N. Hatsopoulos to its board of directors. Hatsopoulos is CEO of American Distributed Generation Inc., Waltham, MA and he was co-founder of Thermo Electron Corp., a maker of analytical and monitoring equipment, also in Waltham.......Rentech, Inc., the Denver, CO-based developer of hydrocarbon-to-liquids technologies, has retained The Abraham Group, LLC, the Washington DC consulting firm founded by former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, to provide strategic advice and assistance to the company in its domestic coal-to-liquid activities. Separately, Rentech announced that Kevin M. Smith, the company's chief financial officer and executive vice president, resigned effective Feb. 11 after only 21 days on the job for personal reasons having to do with "certain family matters,” according to the announcement. Geoffrey S. Flagg will serve as interim principal financial officer until a new CFO is found...... Technology Transition Corp., the Washington, DC company that manages the National Hydrogen Association (NHA), has appointed Jerome Hinkle as a new vice president to provide policy and legislative affairs support. Hinkle previously worked for Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) as a Brookings Fellow on leave from the U.S. Energy Department.........Enova Systems, Torrance, CA, a developer of electric, hybrid and fuel cell digital power management systems, has named John Dexter as new director of planning and operations. Dexter has more than 36 years of experience in project management and systems engineering, working for the New York/New Jersey Port Authority and the Seattle Monorail System........James S. Sawyer, senior vice president and chief financial officer of industrial gas manufacturer Praxair, Inc., has joined the board of directors of Aspen Aerogels, Inc., Northborough, MA, a maker of nanotechnology aerogels with applications in fuel cell markets.