Albuquerque, New Mexico – April 20, 2022 – Pajarito Powder, a leading global provider of electrocatalysts for the hydrogen economy, announced today that Olaf Conrad, PhD, has joined the company as chief technology officer (CTO) of engineering at its headquarters in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
The role is a new position created around Conrad’s extensive experience in electrocatalysts and scaling manufacturing operations. Pajarito Powder President and CTO Barr Zulevi, PhD, will assume the new title of president and CTO of research & development.
Conrad will focus on scaling up production of Pajarito Powder’s fuel cell catalyst products, including the company’s proprietary Engineered Catalyst Support and precious metal catalysts.
“Connected as this industry is, I have followed the amazing development of Pajarito Powder over the past couple of years,” Conrad said. “I am humbled to become part of the success story and look forward to ramping up our electrocatalyst manufacturing to meet the growing needs of the green-hydrogen industry.”
Conrad joins Pajarito Powder after an extensive career creating and managing startups addressing a wide range of electrochemistry. He most recently served as managing director of Jenabatteries GmbH in Jena, Germany, where he grew the staff from five to 35 employees and increased the company’s value to a quarter of a billion dollars in five years.
Prior to Jenabatteries, Conrad oversaw all technology at Schmid Energy Systems GmbH. Earlier, as director of HySA, the Catalyst Competence Centre at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, he implemented a five-year business plan to build and grow a National Centre of Competence co-hosted by the university and the National Minerals Technology Council of South Africa to add higher-order value to the nation’s precious mineral extractive industries.
Conrad was also head of fuel cells at Next Energy EWE-Research Centre for Energy Technology, CTO at Ceram Polymerik and development director and head of future technologies at CMR Fuel Cells.
“We are extremely fortunate to add Dr. Conrad to the team,” said Pajarito Powder CEO and Chairman Thomas J. Stephenson. “His skills and expansive startup experience add an additional layer of expertise and maturity to the Pajarito Powder team.”
About Pajarito Powder
Based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, Pajarito Powder, LLC is a world leader in the development and commercialization of advanced electrocatalysts for fuel cells and electrolyzers. Pajarito Powder manufactures a range of catalyst products using its own intellectual property as well as intellectual property licensed from the University of New Mexico, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique. Pajarito Powder is a venture-backed startup funded by Hyundai Motor Company, Verge Fund, Omphalos Venture Partners, and other private investors.
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