Board of Directors
PolyFuel has a team of employees which collectively has 145 years of fuel cell experience. The PolyFuel executive management team has 27 years of collective fuel cell experience in design, engineering, manufacturing and business development.
In addition to the Board of Directors, the company has a Technical Advisory Board, which includes three members: Dr. John Appleby of Texas A&M; Dr. Anthony Kucernak, who is currently head of the Solid Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Research Group and Reader in Physical Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at Imperial College London and Dr. Robert Savinell of Case Western University. All three provide critical insight into the portable, automotive and stationary fuel cell applications and ensure that PolyFuel’s development activities are targeted to meet the overall fuel cell system requirements.
Robert Jecmen - US Non-Executive Chairman (aged 55)
Robert Jecmen worked for Intel Corp for 24 years before retiring in 2000. His most recent positions included vice president of Intel Architecture Group where he managed Intel’s Mobile Platform Group, which developed and marketed the building blocks and technologies for the laptop computer industry. Prior to that, Robert was vice president of Intel’s Technology and Manufacturing Group. In that capacity, he managed the silicon technology development and manufacturing proliferation for Intel’s flash memory business and several generations of their microprocessor product line. Presently, Robert is working as a private consultant and is a director of Ovonyx, Inc. Robert received a B.S. degree with highest honours in Ceramic Engineering from the University of Illinois and an M.S. degree in Material Science Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.
Jim Balcom - President and CEO (aged 46)
Jim Balcom joined PolyFuel in September 2002 from Chrysalix, the fuel cell venture capital firm, where he was Entrepreneur-in-Residence for approximately one year. Prior to Chrysalix, Jim spent four years with Sonigistix, a technology start-up in various VP positions developing and commercializing a flat panel speaker technology licensed from the University of British Columbia. Jim ultimately became President of the company and negotiated its sale to one of the audio industry’s larger players in 2001. Prior to Sonigistix, Jim spent four years with Ballard Power Systems in senior fuel cell development engineering and fuel cell manufacturing management positions. Previously, Jim spent several years in various operating and management positions with Ball Packaging and Stuart Plastics Recycling Ltd, as well as management consulting experience with Coopers and Lybrand and Touche Ross and Partners. Jim has a Systems Design Engineering Degree from the University of Waterloo in Canada, and an MBA from Harvard.
Graham Titcombe - Senior Independent Non-Executive Director (aged 62)
Graham has had a long association with fuel cells throughout his 42 year career at the FTSE-100 company, Johnson Matthey Plc (“JM”). He held various positions at JM and was appointed to the main board in 1990. He was Group Managing Director, responsible for the Precious Metals Division and the Colours and Coatings division as well as the JM board member responsible for technology when he retired in 2002. Graham’s outside directorships have included Ballard Power Systems, the World Fuel Cell Council, and Infast Group Plc where he is currently Chairman.
Harry Fitzgibbons - Non-Executive Chairman (aged 68)
Harry was a director of Hambros Bank from 1972 to 1983 with responsibility for United States corporate finance and for Hambros’ portfolio of international unquoted investments. He was instrumental in establishing Boston Hambro Capital Company and Hambros International Venture Fund, both of which were venture investors in the United States. In 1982 he started Hambros Advanced Technology Trust, a venture capital fund in the UK which was a founding shareholder in Vodafone. He established Top Technology Ventures in 1986 as a venture fund manager and it is now investing its fourth fund in early stage technology. Harry was educated at Harvard College and Trinity College, Oxford and is a graduate of Harvard Law School. After briefly practicing law in New York, he served as an officer with the United States Special Forces and with the Department of State, Washington, DC. Harry was a Non-Executive Director of Johnson Matthey from 1990 to 2002 and is currently a Non-Executive Director of Ceres Power and Conduit Ventures Limited.
David Berkowitz - US Non-Executive Director (aged 38)
David Berkowitz is a General Partner at Ventures West Capital where he leads the Cleantech practice. David started in the venture capital industry with Motorola New Enterprises in 1995 and joined Ventures West the following year. He is a director of 6N Silicon, Angstrom Power, CarboPur, SiXtron and SWITCH Materials. David earned a B.A.SC from Queen’s University and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
Rick Cooper - Vice President Business Development (aged 44)
Rick Cooper joined PolyFuel in November 2002. He is responsible for sales, marketing and other external relationships for PolyFuel. Previously, Rick was chief executive officer of the U.S. division of Xcellsis, a joint venture between Ballard Power Systems, Daimler Chrysler and Ford Motor Company. Whilst Rick was at Xcellis, the U.S. operations of Ballard / Xcellsis from one to 150 employees over a period of six years and raised more than $80 million while building a leading fuel cell product development team and facilities. He was a member of the California Fuel Cell Partnership steering committee. In addition, he has product development experience in the test equipment industry and battery R&D experience with Ballard starting in the early 1980s. Rick is a registered Professional Engineer in California and earned honors degrees in chemistry and mechanical engineering from the British Columbia Institute of Technology and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
Henry Voss - Vice President Engineering (aged 47)
Henry Voss joined PolyFuel in March 2003 and is responsible for the Company’s technology development at PolyFuel. Previously, Henry spent more than 12 years at Ballard Power Systems, most recently as Director, System Integration responsible for the next generation automotive fuel cell stack design. In his previous role as Director, Portable Power Products Henry initiated and led Ballard’s efforts developing portable fuel cell stacks and systems, culminating in the production release of the Nexa 1kW system, a hydrogen system for indoor applications. He holds over twenty U.S. patents in PEM fuel cell technology. Henry earned a masters degree in mechanical engineering, with a thesis in adaptive control systems, from the University of British Columbia.