Mr. Thomas M. Stepien , has served as our President and as a Class I director since May 2025, and additionally as our Chief Executive Officer since January 2026. Mr. Stepien served as Chief Executive Officer of South 8 Technologies from August 2023 to March 2025, where he led the commercialization of a novel liquefied gas electrolyte for lithium-ion batteries. Prior to that, from December 2020 to July 2023, he was an Operating Partner of KCK Group, a private equity firm focused on industrial technologies. He also co-founded Primus Power, a long-duration stationary battery storage company, in April 2009. From October 1995 to March 2009, he held several leadership roles at Applied Materials, including Vice President and General Manager of the Mainstream Technology Solutions division, Chief Marketing Officer of Applied Global Services and Vice President, Operations of the Transistor Systems division. Mr. Stepien currently serves on the boards of directors of Primus Power and Euro Manganese (TSX-V and ASX: EMN), a supplier of battery materials to the electric vehicle industry. Mr. Stepien holds a B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a co-inventor on 11 U.S. and international battery patents. We believe Mr. Stepien is qualified to serve on our board of directors due to the perspective he brings as our Chief Executive Officer and President, his strong business leadership, technical expertise, and extensive experience in the battery and energy storage industries.