– USA, OH – Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: BW) today announced the appointment of Philip Moeller, Rebecca Stahl and Joseph Tato to its Board as independent directors, alongside CEO Kenneth Young joining the Board as Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer Henry Bartoli as Board member.
This change reflects a well-planned transition and strategic shift to accelerate growth within B&W in light of improved operational stability.
In connection with this transition, Matthew Avril (former Chairman), Cynthia Dubin, Brian Kahn, Bryant Riley and Kenneth Siegel have retired from the Board.
As a result of the transition, the new Board is comprised of six members, with four serving as independent directors, including current Director Alan Howe becoming Lead Independent Director.
“Our announcement today marks a moment of significant transition for B&W, highlighting the Company’s recent refinancing and improved operational stability,” said former Chairman Matthew Avril. “I would like to express my appreciation to the retiring directors for their tireless efforts and guidance to the Company over the last few years, overseeing the resolution of a wide range of complex financial and operational issues. The new Board has industry depth and expertise to help guide B&W through its next phase.”
Kenneth Young, CEO and Chairman, said: “B&W is on an exciting path forward as we work to execute on our growth strategy, including expanding our global sales team, pursuing strategic investments in new technologies, and capitalizing on a robust global pipeline within our new Renewable, Environmental and Thermal segments. The new directors have strong and successful backgrounds across each of these segments and are well experienced in global growth initiatives. We greatly appreciate the efforts of the previous Board and their support during the past several years as we focused on reducing losses on our EPC projects and refinancing our debt, as well as their willingness to be available to support the Board transition. Our recent organizational re-alignment and re-branding efforts reflect our mission to provide solutions to our customers around the world while providing proven, industry-leading technologies. With our financial position now strengthened, reconstituting the Board is a logical next step as we focus on our long-term growth opportunities.”
Bryant Riley, former B&W board member as well as Chairman and Co-CEO of B. Riley Financial Inc., added: “B&W’s recent turnaround success has solidified our confidence in the Company’s operational stability and growth trajectory. We have the utmost confidence in the skillset of the Company’s management and new directors as B&W enters the next phase of its corporate evolution.”
Brian Kahn, departing B&W board member added “Kenny and his team have done a tremendous job moving the Company past the costly legacy fixed-price EPC projects, restructuring B&W as a whole, and extending the Company’s financing out two years. The incoming board members bring skillsets, relationships, and overall experience that are well-suited to accelerate the advancement of B&W in renewable energy, environmental, and thermal technologies, which we believe will collectively drive shareholder value over the next several years.”
About Henry Bartoli
Henry E. Bartoli is the Chief Strategy Officer of Babcock & Wilcox. Bartoli is a seasoned executive with more than 35 years of experience in the global power industry, and more recently served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Hitachi Power Systems America, LTD from 2004 to 2014. From 2002 to 2004, Bartoli was Executive Vice President of The Shaw Group, after serving in a number of senior leadership roles at Foster Wheeler Ltd. from 1992 to 2002, including Group Executive and Corporate Senior Vice President, Energy Equipment Group, and Group Executive and Corporate Vice President and Group Executive, Foster Wheeler Power Systems Group. From 1971 to 1992, he served in a number of positions of increasing importance at Burns and Roe Enterprises, Inc. Bartoli also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Fermilab, United States’ premier particle physics laboratory owned by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Bartoli earned a B.A. in mechanical engineering from Rutgers University and an M.S. in mechanical engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
About Philip Moeller
Philip Moeller serves as EVP, Business Operations Group and Regulatory Affairs at the Edison Electric Institute, which is an association that represents all of the nation’s investor-owned electric companies. Within the role, Moeller oversees issues impacting the future structure of the electric power industry, new rules in evolving competitive markets, and strategic areas of energy supply, environmental and regulatory issues, among others. Prior to joining EEI in 2016, Moeller served as a Commissioner on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from 2006 – 2015. Earlier in his career, Moeller headed the Washington, D.C., office of Alliant Energy Corporation, served as a Senior Legislative Assistant for Energy Policy to U.S. Senator Slade Gorton, and as the Staff Coordinator of the Washington State Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee in Olympia, Washington.
Moeller received his B.A. in Political Science from Stanford University.
About Rebecca Stahl
Rebecca Stahl currently serves as the CFO of The Association for Manufacturing Technology, an organization that represents and promotes U.S.-based manufacturing technology and its members and holds 25 years of experience in finance and accounting. Prior to AMT, Rebecca held the CFO position at Lightbridge Communications Corporation from 2008 – 2015, a multinational wireless engineering company, and was awarded the Private Company CFO of the Year Award from Northern Virginia Technology Council in 2015. Earlier in her career, Stahl also held roles at BT Infonet, the Walt Disney Company and Arthur Anderson.
Stahl received her B.S. in Accounting from The Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at the University of California Los Angeles. She is also a certified public accountant.
About Joseph Tato
Joseph Tato is a partner at Covington & Burling, LLP, one of the world’s leading regulatory practices. Tato regularly represents project sponsors, equity investors, financial institutions, and governments in the development and financing of power, oil and gas, LNG, renewables, water, mining, and other infrastructure projects in the U.S., Africa, Latin America, and Europe. Prior to that, Tato held positions as Partner, Chair of Projects and Infrastructure, and Co-Chair of Energy Sector at DLA Piper, LLP and worked at LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, LLP, holding positions of Partner, Chair of Global Project Finance and Chair of Africa Practice.
Tato earned his B.A. from Columbia College, M.A. from Columbia University and J.D. from New York University School of Law.
About Kenneth Young
Kenneth Young has served as CEO of Babcock & Wilcox since November 2018 and Chairman since September 2020, has more than 30 years of operational, executive and director experience, primarily within the energy, communications and finance industries, on a global basis. He currently serves as President of B. Riley Financial, Inc., and CEO for B. Riley Principal Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of B. Riley Financial.
Before joining B. Riley, he held executive leadership positions with Lightbridge Communications Corporation, which was the largest independent telecom construction and services company in the world and a recognized leader in providing network services. Initially serving as President and Chief Operating Officer of the Americas for LCC, he was named President and CEO in 2008, serving in that position until he led the company’s sale in 2015. Under his leadership, LCC’s revenues grew more than 200 percent and the company expanded its geographical presence into more than 50 countries. Prior to joining LCC, Young was Chief Marketing and Operations Officer with Liberty Media’s TruePosition and held various senior executive positions with multiple corporations, including Cingular Wireless, SBC Wireless, Southwestern Bell Telephone and AT&T as part of his 16-year tenure within the now-combined AT&T Corporation.
Young holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Graceland University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Southern Illinois. Young has previously served on seven public company boards and is currently a member of the Board of Directors for Sonim Technologies NASDAQ: (SONM) and B. Riley Principal Merger Corp. II NYSE: (BMRG).
About B&W Enterprises
Headquartered in Akron, Ohio, Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises is a global leader in energy and environmental technologies and services for the power and industrial markets.
For more information: https://www.babcock.com/
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