UTILITY ANNOUNCES PARKER MEEKS AS NEW CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Meeks' initial focus includes driving active commercialization phase for Utility's leading clean hydrogen production technology, profitably transitioning heavy-industry across a strong global pipeline
HOUSTON, Feb. 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Utility, a leader in affordable, reliable and clean hydrogen solutions that drive profitable energy transition for hard-to-abate industries worldwide, today announced Parker Meeks will take the helm as CEO to drive the company's rapid global commercialization of its H2Gen® systems, effective immediately.
Meeks brings a proven track record of driving strategic growth, operational performance and technology commercialization across a range of global industries and business environments, including traditional energy, energy transition, infrastructure and mobility.
With the company's technology and customer demonstration phase successfully completed, Meeks will spearhead the rapid commercialization and global deployment of new H2Gen systems. He will leverage his extensive expertise in both technology commercialization and several of Utility's high potential markets, including hydrogen supply to mobility, data centers and heavy industry.
Prior to joining Utility, Meeks served as CEO of Hyzon, where he successfully led the development and commercialization of cutting-edge hydrogen fuel cell system technology. He has also held leadership positions overseeing businesses with significant P&L responsibility under private equity ownership focusing on technology and high-growth initiatives. Meeks also spent over a decade in management consulting primarily to the global energy and infrastructure sectors, including as a Partner at McKinsey & Company and as the Managing Partner of McKinsey's Houston office.
"I am thrilled to join Utility at an exciting inflection point in the company's trajectory, as we transition our economic hydrogen production solution from its successful demonstration phase to commercial deployment," Meeks said. "Utility's technology solution has proven itself in hard-to-abate environments such as steel plant operations, and industry-leading customers are actively engaging across end markets on a global scale due to Utility's clear advantages." According to Meeks, "Utility's scalable, modular technology uniquely offers flexibility across geographies and end markets with a common product solution, fundamental profitability, and strong investor support."
Solidly backed by Ara Partners, a global private equity and infrastructure investment firm with approximately $6.3 billion of assets under management - alongside several other strategic investors - Utility is well positioned to ramp up commercialization and continue its growth, which Meeks will aptly guide the company through.
Cory Steffek, partner at Ara Partners, commented, "Bringing Parker Meeks on board is a game-changer for Utility. With a rare blend of strategic vision, operational expertise, industry relationships and a track record of scaling emerging technologies, Meeks is exactly the leader needed to take Utility to full-scale commercialization. His ability to navigate complex markets, secure key partnerships, and execute at speed will be instrumental in driving the company's next phase of critical growth."
The Houston native takes the leadership baton from previous CEO, Claus Nussgruber, who will remain as strategic advisor to Meeks, ensuring a smooth transition. "The Board of Directors thanks Claus for his leadership over the past three years," said Steffek. "His efforts were instrumental in demonstrating Utility's breakthrough technology at a customer steel plant, securing funding from industry leaders such as ArcelorMittal, and expanding the company's global position."
As CEO since mid-2021, Nussgruber oversaw significant technical and operational advancements, derisking the technology with a series of breakthrough milestones, including delivering the first plant ever to successfully produce hydrogen directly from blast furnace gas in the hard-to-decarbonize steel industry. Under his leadership, Utility built a highly capable team and developed a strong global customer pipeline across several markets, most notably steel and biogas to hydrogen, including the recent ArcelorMittal funding and GH EnA Project Development announcements. Utility has consistently delivered on its operational and product milestones, a track record the company expects to continue and expand to commercial delivery under Meeks' leadership.
Utility Global, Inc. (www.utilityglobal.com) is a portfolio company of Ara Partners (www.arapartners.com), a private equity firm specializing in industrial decarbonization investments.
About Utility
Utility is a Houston, Texas-based off-gas-to-value company built specifically to enable affordable decarbonization of hard-to-abate sectors like mobility, steel and others. Utility's H2Gen® system, built on the proprietary eXERO™ gas production technology, needs no electricity to utilize the remaining electrochemical energy contained in a wide range of dilute off-gases to produce high-purity clean hydrogen from water.
Utility's H2Gen systems are highly scalable, modular, smaller in size and compatible with existing industrial processes and assets. H2Gen minimizes balance of plant, increases operational flexibility and offers attractive benefits in total cost of ownership. Utility helps companies in hard-to-abate industries meet sustainability and business goals by reducing emissions, energy use and waste profitably. Utility turns the environmental challenges of off-gases into competitive advantages as onsite energy, fuel or feedstock.
About Ara Partners
Founded in 2017, Ara Partners is a global private equity and infrastructure firm dedicated to decarbonizing the industrial economy. Ara seeks to build, scale, and optimize companies with significant decarbonization impact across the industrial and manufacturing, chemicals and materials, energy efficiency and fuels, and food and agriculture sectors. The company operates from offices in Houston, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Dublin. Ara Partners closed its third private equity fund in December 2023 with over $2.8 billion in new capital commitments. As of September 2024, Ara Partners had approximately $6.3 billion of assets under management.
For more information about Ara Partners, please visit www.arapartners.com.
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SOURCE Utility
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