Thierry Best appointed Chairman of the Board of EODev

EODev, a leader in solutions for the production of electricity from hydrogen and the industrial spin-off of the Energy Observer project launched by Victorien Erussard, is entering a new phase of development with the arrival of Thierry Best as President of the Board. Mr. Best, already a member of the Advisory Board in the start-up founded in 2019, succeeds Victorien Erussard who will devote himself full-time to the activities of Energy Observer, in particular the construction and launch of Energy Observer 2, the first large low-carbon cargo ship powered by liquid hydrogen. The Managing Director of EODev Jérémie Lagarrigue is confirmed in his role.

This decision by the Board comes as EODev pursues international development objectives, beyond the many distribution partnerships already established in different regions of the world. Today, GEH₂® electro-hydrogen power generators for land applications and REXH₂® for maritime and river applications are exclusively manufactured in France. One of Mr. Best's missions will therefore be to lead the acceleration of EODev's presence abroad, and to put in place both the strategy and the tools to achieve this quickly. He must also launch the industrialization of high-power generators, whose commercialization is planned for the second half of 2024.

Mr. Thierry Best has a very rich experience acquired in the field of industrial and commercial development, thanks to nearly 24 years spent within the Alstom group in various management positions, in France and in several countries, including China. In this context, he worked on hydrogen projects for heavy mobility applications and the production of low-carbon electricity, notably taking part in the development of hydrogen trains within the Alstom group. He was also one of France's Foreign Trade Advisors, and in 2021 joined a 2 billion euro investment fund specializing in hydrogen projects based in Switzerland, FiveT Hydrogen AG, which is interested in the technology as well as in production and distribution infrastructure.

It's now time for a new transition between Thierry Best and Victorien Erussard. If indeed the vision and the implication of Victorien in the creation of the company allowed the initial development of EODev, the acceleration phase requires the greatest attention. According to Victorien Erussard, "To carry EODev's ambitions further, higher, stronger, we needed a high-caliber professional who could devote himself totally to it, which my duties and Energy Observer projects no longer allow me to do. I'm proud of the path traveled over the past four years with the EODev teams led by Jérémie Lagarrigue and I am happy to be able to pass the torch to Thierry Best, whose contributions within our Advisory Board have proved invaluable. It goes without saying that I remain on the Board of Directors of EODev, and will continue to contribute to the success of EODev as much as possible."

Thierry Best shares Victorien's views. "I would like to take the opportunity given to me with my appointment as President of EODev to thank Victorien for bringing me into this formidable adventure carried by great talented teams, with expertise and humanity, in the forefront of which is Victorien himself. If I agreed to take up the challenges ahead of us, it is also because the foundations are solid, the architecture well designed and the walls well built. I take this opportunity to also thank Jérémie Lagarrigue, our Chief Executive Officer, and his teams with whom we will continue to work to accelerate the energy transition with ever greater strength and conviction. Everyone's future depends on it."