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Verdagy Welcomes Eric Olsen and Vikas Gupta to its Board

These appointments demonstrate the green hydrogen startup’s growth trajectory as it expands its operations and commercial activities.

Verdagy, a pioneer in advanced alkaline water electrolysis electrolyzer technologies for large-scale industrial applications, today announced new appointments to its Board of Directors. Aliaxis’ CEO Eric Olsen and Shell Ventures’ Partner Vikas Gupta are joining the Verdagy board during a period of rapid growth, as the company deploys its innovative technology in response to the Department of Energy’s goal of $2/kg of levelized cost of hydrogen by 2026.

I am pleased that these two experienced, global leaders are joining Verdagy’s board. Both Eric and Vikas have deep knowledge in the global transition to clean energy, and their perspectives will be valuable as we commercialize and scale our technology.”

Marty Neese, CEO, Verdagy

Marty Neese

CEO, Verdagy

“The urgency to reduce carbon emissions is clear. Hydrogen has immense potential as a substitute for fossil fuels in the global energy mix as we strive to reach the UN’s 2050 net-zero target. It offers many advantages in a wide number of sectors whose electricity needs cannot be met by wind and solar alone. Verdagy is a trailblazer in using green hydrogen to decarbonize heavy industries and I am honored to join Verdagy’s Board at this exciting time. We have the chance to make a significant impact in the world,” said Eric Olsen, CEO, Aliaxis.

“Scaling up the production of green hydrogen will be pivotal to help industries reduce carbon emissions. I am honored to join Verdagy’s board to accelerate their development, scale up their activities and decarbonize industries,” said Vikas Gupta, Partner at Shell Ventures.

Earlier this month, Verdagy closed a $73-million Series B fund raise co-led by Temasek and Shell Ventures. The new funding is enabling Verdagy to accelerate the launch and commercialization of its eDynamic® 20 megawatt (MW) electrolyzer module, which will serve as the fundamental unit to build future systems at the 200 MW scale and larger.

An American and French citizen, Eric Olsen is currently CEO of Aliaxis, a global leader in fluid management solutions for building, infrastructure, industrial and agriculture applications. Prior to Aliaxis, he ran consultancy firm 1757. From 2015 to 2017, he was the CEO of LafargeHolcim, the newly created Group where he ensured the successful merger of Lafarge and Holcim. He joined the Lafarge Group in 1999 and was a member of its Executive Committee from 2007 to 2015 (serving as EVP, Organization and Human Resources from 2007 to 2012, and as EVP in charge of Operations from 2012 to 2015).

Eric Olsen is a Board Member of DS Smith, a leader in sustainable packaging, of Fortera, a start-up company in low carbon cement, a member of the Technical and Strategic Advisory Committee of Breakthrough Energy Ventures Europe, as well as a corporate advisor for Temasek. He is a business graduate from the University of Colorado, Boulder and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). He holds a Master of Business Administration from HEC international business school in Paris, France.

Vikas Gupta is currently a Partner at Shell Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Shell plc, where he co-chairs the power investment vertical and focuses on identifying new technologies and business models in the power, mobility and industrial space.

With over 20-years of experience in management consulting, investment management, business development, and product management, Vikas has focused his efforts on the climate tech space in the past decade. Before joining Shell Ventures, Vikas led strategic marketing and corporate development at First Solar where he led several venture investments, divestures and M&A deals. He has led Product Management at several solar companies such as Schott Solar, Innovalight (acquired by Dupont) & Solaria, as well as business development at Oorja Protonics a direct methanol fuel cell company and was an Associate at Chrysalix Energy Management, a hydrogen tech venture capital firm. Vikas also functioned as a Director at Silver Oak Partners (acquired by CGI), an operations focused management consulting firm and a Program Manager at Paraform (acquired by Nikon), a 3D design and Product Lifecycle Management software company.

Vikas has an MBA in Finance from University of British Columbia and spent a semester at the Rotterdam School of Management. In addition, he has an MS from the University of Cincinnati, a B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in Materials Science & Engineering. He is also a joint inventor for two US patents.

These appointments further demonstrate the green hydrogen startup’s growth trajectory as it expands its operations to satisfy the rapid expansion of its commercial activities.

Verdagy is rising to the challenge to accelerate the green hydrogen economy and decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors such as steel and ammonia production. The management team has a successful track record in scaling climate technologies from megawatts to gigawatts and they are committed to achieving the same at Verdagy.”

Vikas Gupta

Partner at Shell Ventures
Yara is taking the lead on driving the use of electrolyzers in the ammonia and fertilizer industry. We see a strong need for cost competitive, clean hydrogen to be able to decarbonize and drive the movement towards a more environmentally friendly industry. Electrolysers is a technology requiring a lot of innovation and product development. We are really impressed by how Verdagy is taking on this challenge and want to take part in this adventure. The world needs them.”

Stian Nygaard

Investment Director in Yara Growth Ventures
Verdagy’s potential to demonstrate high-current density over a wide dynamic range across large-area cells led us to incubate and write the first check into the company in early 2020. Since then, the team has made significant progress in validating key performance and cost targets, getting them closer to building out a green hydrogen economy.”

Rajesh Swaminathan

Partner, Khosla Ventures
We are focused on building an entire renewable hydrogen ecosystem in California to achieve our climate goals - including the crucial step of manufacturing electrolyzers. Verdagy’s decision to expand their footprint here reflects California’s unique strength in creating new markets, enabling the creation of clean energy jobs while solving our most existential challenges with the technology of the future.”

Dee Dee Myers

Senior Advisor to Governor Newsom and Director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development
We are more than doubling down in this round on Verdagy, we are witnessing how they have gone from a valuable technology to a defensible business.”

Anil Achyuta

Managing Director at TDK Ventures
Verdagy is rising to the challenge to accelerate the green hydrogen economy and decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors such as steel and ammonia production. The management team has a successful track record in scaling climate technologies from megawatts to gigawatts and they are committed to achieving the same at Verdagy.”

Vikas Gupta

Partner at Shell Ventures
Yara is taking the lead on driving the use of electrolyzers in the ammonia and fertilizer industry. We see a strong need for cost competitive, clean hydrogen to be able to decarbonize and drive the movement towards a more environmentally friendly industry. Electrolysers is a technology requiring a lot of innovation and product development. We are really impressed by how Verdagy is taking on this challenge and want to take part in this adventure. The world needs them.”

Stian Nygaard

Investment Director in Yara Growth Ventures
Verdagy’s potential to demonstrate high-current density over a wide dynamic range across large-area cells led us to incubate and write the first check into the company in early 2020. Since then, the team has made significant progress in validating key performance and cost targets, getting them closer to building out a green hydrogen economy.”

Rajesh Swaminathan

Partner, Khosla Ventures
We are focused on building an entire renewable hydrogen ecosystem in California to achieve our climate goals - including the crucial step of manufacturing electrolyzers. Verdagy’s decision to expand their footprint here reflects California’s unique strength in creating new markets, enabling the creation of clean energy jobs while solving our most existential challenges with the technology of the future.”

Dee Dee Myers

Senior Advisor to Governor Newsom and Director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development
We are more than doubling down in this round on Verdagy, we are witnessing how they have gone from a valuable technology to a defensible business.”

Anil Achyuta

Managing Director at TDK Ventures
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