Voya Energy Establishes Strategic Advisory Board, Strengthening Leadership at the Intersection of Critical Energy Infrastructure and the Electric Technology Stack
Nine accomplished founders, operators, and industry leaders join Voya as the company advances metal fuels technology for a fast-evolving energy landscape
HAYWARD, Calif., April 14, 2026 — Voya Energy today announced the formation of its Strategic Advisory Board, welcoming nine distinguished leaders from across energy, infrastructure, advanced materials, industrial operations, defense, and company building. The new board strengthens Voya’s leadership bench as the company advances its mission to deploy reliable, clean, affordable electricity through a new category of power systems based on metal fuels.
As the electric technology stack expands across modern industry, mobility, compute, and critical infrastructure, the energy landscape is being reshaped by demand for power systems that are more resilient, more flexible, and faster to deploy. Voya is developing metal fuels technology as a new category of energy generation and storage infrastructure designed to deliver reliable, rapidly deployable power beyond the limitations of traditional grid systems.
“Voya is building for a world that needs dramatically more power, delivered with greater speed, flexibility, and resilience,” said Richard Wang, Co-Founder and CEO of Voya Energy. “We are honored to welcome this extraordinary group of advisors. Their experience spans the industries, systems, and technologies that will define the next era of energy infrastructure, and their insight will help us sharpen our strategy, strengthen our technology, and accelerate our path to impact.”
The inaugural Voya Energy Strategic Advisory Board includes:
Brian Janous, Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Cloverleaf Infrastructure; Former VP of Energy, Microsoft. Brian brings more than 20 years of experience across electricity, infrastructure, and data centers. Before founding Cloverleaf, he served as Vice President of Energy at Microsoft, where he led the company’s global data center energy strategy and execution of more than 15 gigawatts of renewable energy power purchase agreements. He brings Voya valuable perspective on large-scale energy strategy, infrastructure development, commercialization, and the demanding energy needs of hyperscale data centers as the electric technology stack expands.
Dorian West, Independent Startup Advisor; former EVP and Co-founder of Electric Hydrogen. Dorian brings more than 25 years of engineering leadership experience building complex technology products and scaling high-performing technical teams. He was most recently the EVP of Engineering at Electric Hydrogen, and earlier in his career spent many years at Tesla leading engineering teams working on the original Roadster through the Semi. His background gives Voya strong perspective on engineering execution, product development, and the disciplined scale-up of breakthrough energy technologies as the market demands more resilient, flexible, and rapidly deployable power systems.
Gene Berdichevsky, CEO and Co-founder of Sila Nanotechnologies. Gene brings deep experience building breakthrough battery and materials technologies. At Sila, he drove the invention and commercialization of the Si/C silicon anode for Li-ion batteries and brought it to gigascale production. Before founding Sila, he was an early Tesla engineer and tech lead on the Roadster battery program. He brings Voya valuable perspective on technical leadership, product innovation, and building enduring energy technology companies capable of creating entirely new categories.
Gervais Jacques, CEO of 5N Plus and former Managing Director at Rio Tinto. Gervais brings more than 30 years of leadership experience across advanced materials, metals, and large-scale industrial operations. His career includes leading thousands of employees across multiple countries and building deep firsthand knowledge of how metals are produced, managed, and commercialized at industrial scale. He brings Voya an important perspective on scaling metal fuels technology, executing in complex industrial markets, and building long-term value in energy-related sectors.
Haig Buchakjian, Former Chief Transformation Officer and EVP Operations at Brixmor Property Group. Haig brings extensive experience across commercial real estate operations, large-scale property portfolios, and organizational transformation. At Brixmor, he led operational performance and transformation across a large, publicly-traded, national retail real estate platform. His background offers Voya an owner-operator perspective on how real estate platforms evaluate on-site energy strategy, procurement, and implementation, along with a deep understanding of how these decisions are executed at scale across the commercial real estate sector.
James Rainey, retired U.S. Army General and former Commander of Army Futures Command. James brings decades of leadership in strategy, innovation, and large-scale mission execution. His experience includes helping shape how the modern military delivers resilient power to the front lines and how critical technologies move through large federal institutions. He brings Voya a distinctive perspective on mission-driven energy innovation, government engagement, resilience, and long-term capability building.
Mathew Sachs, Chief Strategy Officer at CPower Energy, recently acquired by NRG. Mathew brings more than 15 years of experience building and scaling distributed energy businesses through strategic investment, partnerships, and organic growth. His leadership experience spans roles at CPower, National Grid Ventures, KRoad DG, and Yingli Green Energy. He brings Voya a strong perspective on energy markets, commercial strategy, and scaling resilient power solutions in a fast-evolving energy landscape.
Peter Reinhardt, Co-founder and CEO of Charm Industrial. Peter brings significant experience building and scaling category-defining technology companies. Before leading Charm, he co-founded and led Segment through rapid growth and acquisition by Twilio. At Charm, he has led the development of novel carbon removal and fossil-free industrial solutions. His experience gives Voya valuable perspective on company building, commercialization, and translating ambitious technical ideas into scalable businesses that can become critical layers of the future electric technology stack.
Sheldon Kimber, Founder and CEO of Intersect Power, acquired by Google. Sheldon has built his career at the intersection of energy, infrastructure, and financial markets. Under his leadership, Intersect grew into one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in North America, with $15 billion in infrastructure developed, built, and operated, and 10.8 GW expected to be in construction or operation by late 2028. Earlier in his career, he served as Chief Operating Officer at Recurrent Energy and held roles at Calpine, Goldman Sachs, and Accenture. He brings Voya valuable perspectives on capital formation, execution, and meeting the growing power needs of data centers and other large loads.
Together, the board reflects the multidisciplinary expertise required to build a new energy company in a market increasingly shaped by load growth, electrification, energy resilience, and infrastructure bottlenecks. Voya believes this combination of technical, strategic, industrial, and commercial leadership will help advance metal fuels as a critical layer of the future electric technology stack and support the next generation of resilient energy infrastructure.
About Voya Energy
Voya Energy is pioneering a transformative approach to energy generation based on metal fuels — a breakthrough class of abundant, energy-dense, and recyclable materials capable of storing and releasing immense amounts of energy cleanly, safely, and affordably. The company is developing a radical new energy delivery system designed to rapidly deploy reliable, clean, affordable electricity anywhere on Earth, free from the limitations of traditional grid infrastructure.
Media Contact
Evelyne McCleland, VP Marketing & Communications
media@voya.energy
