Carbon Engineering announces that Steve Oldham will take over as Carbon Engineering’s Chief Executive Officer starting February 5th, 2018. Adrian Corless has led the company since 2013, and is now enacting a succession plan put in place by CE’s Board of Directors, as the company transitions from recent technical achievements to the next, commercially-oriented, phase of growth. Steve Oldham brings an impressive track-record of technology commercialization to Carbon Engineering, having served in a succession of executive positions at MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates (MDA), one of Canada’s largest technology companies.
Also, to further CE’s transition from a technical development organization to an established commercial market leader, Denis Connor – who has served as Director since foundation in 2009 and Board Chair since March 2017 – is reverting to a Director role to allow CE Director Daniel Friedmann to assume the position of Board Chair. Denis, both as Director and Chair, has guided CE through an important stage of growth and will be working closely with Mr. Friedmann as he assumes Chair responsibilities.
Daniel Friedmann, Chair of CE’s board of directors, said, “Adrian’s leadership over the past four years has been pivotal in CE’s growth and progression from an R&D organization to one that is now ready to commercialize and enter the marketplace. On behalf of myself and the entire Board, I thank Adrian and Denis for their contributions, and congratulate them on leading the company through successful demonstrations of CE’s Direct Air Capture and AIR TO FUELS technologies. The board has worked with Adrian to implement a succession plan that results in Steve taking over in February 2018. With his depth of background and expertise in technology commercialization, we have utmost confidence in Steve’s ability to take CE’s technologies to market.”
“I’ve been working with the Board of Directors and our key investors to plan an orderly leadership transition, and am happy to be handing off duties to someone with Steve’s integrity, experience, and vision. CE’s team and mission are in good hands, and I’ll continue to support and advise CE for months to come as the company transitions to this important next stage,” said Adrian Corless.
Mr. Oldham said, “I’m impressed and inspired by CE’s mission and technology; the company has developed highly-scalable solutions to help cut greenhouse gas emissions, and to deliver the clean and affordable renewable fuels required for sustainable 21st century transportation. I’m excited by this opportunity to apply my expertise in technology commercialization to this important work, and I’m pleased to be taking over leadership of the world-class team that CE has assembled. This is a chance to make a big impact on the energy and climate issue, and to grow a highly successful Canadian clean energy company.”
Mr. Oldham continued, “With over eight years of development history now behind the Direct Air Capture and AIR TO FUELS technologies, CE is in a unique and opportune position to capitalize on the growing demand for clean fuels and emissions reductions. The next phase of our work will see us build and operate a validation plant showcasing our core technologies, and form the alliances required to secure our first commercial projects to take our product offering main stream.”
Steve Oldham is a graduate of the University of Birmingham in England. During a 20-year career at MDA, Steve has held senior executive positions in Divisional Management, Business Development and Strategy across Canada and the United States, encompassing both commercial and Government markets and a wide variety of technologies from medical robotics to large satellite programs.
