Southern Indiana Business Report
The Battery Innovation Center (BIC), a testing and evaluation lab for energy storage systems in WestGate at Crane Technology Park, has announced the selection of Les Alexander to serve as president and CEO.
Alexander comes to BIC with more than 25 years of executive leadership experience in the commercial and national security sectors, most recently serving as vice president of Government and Defense R&D at Navitas Systems an East Penn Company. Prior to starting his business career, he served the country for 12 years as an officer in the United States Navy rising to the level of lieutenant commander.
“Les is an experienced war fighter, a pioneer in the US battery industry, and a proven leader,” said Dave Roberts, chairman of the BIC. “I’ve admired his work in the industry for the past decade and am thrilled that he is joining our team at a time we need strategic leadership as we take the business to the next level.”
“It is truly an honor to lead the BIC team with the support of consistent board leadership to implement a shared vision for growth,” said Alexander. “The industry’s needs are changing, and BIC will continue to support the industry as – for example – workforce training & education, abuse testing, and dry room capacity continue as unmet needs.”
The leadership change comes at a time when BIC is expanding the scope and scale of its services to meet increased and varied industry demand. While BIC has experienced steady year-over-year growth over the last decade, industry demand for battery fabrication & engineering, testing, and education & training services has outpaced current lab capacity. For the last 24 months the BIC board of directors has been looking at options to evolve the business to ensure BIC remains a trusted partner of the US battery industry to accelerate product development, commercialization, and ensure workforce readiness.
“Our customers need BIC to grow with them and Les has the unique experience to expand and scale our offerings and capacity for this new era of US battery development and production,” said Paul Mitchell, co-founder & board director of the BIC.
“Les’ service record and decades of experience supplying batteries to global organizations, including the federal government, ensures that the BIC is positioned to support national security priorities,” said Colonel Chad Pittman, co-founder & board director of the BIC.
About Battery Innovation Center
The Battery Innovation Center (BIC) is a public-private partnership and not-for-profit organization based in the State of Indiana. BIC provides a range of prototyping, engineering services, testing & certification, and education & training offerings to more than 400 customers from industry, academia, and national defense organizations. Incubated and launched by Energy Systems Network (ESN) – a nonprofit based in Indianapolis with support from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation – the Battery Innovation Center provides both a virtual collaborative network of capabilities needed for development of next generation energy storage solutions as well as a state-of-the-art $15.6 million advanced energy research lab in southern Indiana. The BIC is also home to Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Battery Energy Storage Test lab (BEST). For more information, visit www.bicindiana.com.