Utility Global Appoints Tetsuya Shioda as Senior Advisor and Japan Representative

Former Nippon Steel Executive to advance Utility's commercial growth and partnerships in Japan and Asia

HOUSTON, Oct. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Utility Global, Inc. ("Utility"), a global leader in economic industrial decarbonization, today announced the appointment of Mr. Tetsuya Shioda as Senior Advisor and Japan Representative. Shioda brings more than four decades of global steelmaking and green transformation expertise to Utility, further strengthening the company's position in decarbonizing solutions for hard-to-abate sectors in Japan and globally.

Shioda joins Utility following a distinguished 40-year career at Nippon Steel. With a background in geology with extensive technical and operational expertise, he held leadership roles spanning across ironmaking, operations management, energy optimization, raw material evaluations, green transformation, and global partnerships.

Throughout his career, Shioda has been deeply engaged in Nippon Steel's decarbonization initiatives, from Japan's early direct iron ore smelting reduction projects in the 1990s to more recent efforts evaluating hydrogen, low-carbon raw materials and fuels (Hot Briquetted Iron, biocarbon etc.), and carbon capture and sequestration technologies. His life-long work represents a cornerstone in accelerating the industry's transition toward sustainability. Shioda has close working relationships with leading global steelmakers and major raw material suppliers focused on green transformation initiatives.

"We are honored to welcome Mr. Shioda to Utility Global," said Parker Meeks, CEO of Utility Global. "His unmatched expertise in steelmaking operations, deep understanding of steel decarbonization pathways, and strong industry relationships across Asia will be invaluable as we expand upon the strong commercial traction our H2Gen^® solution already has in Japan, and the region." 

"I am excited to join Utility Global at this important stage in its global commercial growth," said Tetsuya Shioda. "Utility's innovative, electricity-free hydrogen production from water with a separate stream of highly concentrated CO₂, provides the most economic pathway for decarbonizing hard-to-abate industrial sectors like steel. I look forward to working with industry leaders and partners in Japan and Asia to help accelerate the transition to a competitive and sustainable future through Utility's H2GEN technology."

As Senior Advisor and Japan Representative, Shioda will support Utility's engagement with Japanese steel producers, industrial partners, and policymakers to advance cost-effective, electricity-free hydrogen solutions that enable hard-to-abate industries to achieve both economic competitiveness and deep carbon reductions. Shioda's role adds to Utility's strong global Advisor relationships, including Dr. Henrik Adam, former Tata Steel Europe and ThyssenKrupp Executive, who joined Utility earlier this year, also as an Advisor, based in Europe.

About Utility Global 

Utility pioneers clean solutions that power the economic energy transition for hard-to-abate industries such as steel, mobility, upstream oil & gas, refining, and chemicals. Utility's breakthrough H2Gen^® technology harnesses energy from industrial off-gases and various biogases to produce high-purity, low-to-negative carbon intensity hydrogen from water, without electricity, using its proprietary electrochemical process. H2Gen systems have been proven to provide the utmost operationally flexible and integrate seamlessly into existing infrastructure, enabling practical, cost-effective decarbonization.

H2Gen also produces a high-concentration CO₂ stream, simplifying and reducing the cost of carbon capture. Designed to be modular, scalable, and with the smallest hydrogen production footprint, H2Gen empowers customers to convert low-value inputs into high-value clean energy, fuels, or feedstocks. This helps heavy industries meet both business and sustainability goals. 

Utility is a portfolio company of Ara Partners, a private equity firm specializing in industrial decarbonization investments. For more information on Utility's solutions and services details, visit www.utilityglobal.com.

About Ara Partners

Ara Partners is a global private equity and infrastructure investment firm focused on industrial decarbonization. Founded in 2017, Ara Partners seeks to build and scale companies with significant decarbonization impact across the industrial and manufacturing, chemicals and materials, energy efficiency and green 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 capital commitments. As of June 30, 2025, Ara Partners had approximately $6.6 billion of assets under management.

For more information about Ara Partners, please visit www.arapartners.com.

SOURCE Utility