Team & Leadership - Achates Power

David Crompton

President & CEO
Fabien Redon

Executive Vice President & Chief Technical Officer
Laurence Fromm

Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer
Carol Mottershead

Vice President, Finance and Administration
Christopher (CJ) Kalebjian

Vice President, Performance and Development
Dnyanesh Sapkal

Vice President, Engineering

Board of Directors

Dr. John Wall | Retired Chief Technology Officer, Cummins

David Crompton | President and CEO, Achates Power, Inc.

Hal Harvey | CEO, Energy Innovation

Chris Onan | Walton Enterprises

Mark Van Den Berg | Managing Director, OGCI Climate Investments

Leading the world through development and commercial adoption of emerging powertrain technologies

David Crompton serves as the President and CEO of Achates Power. Crompton joined Achates Power in 2019 after a 28-year career at Cummins, Inc., where he served as president of both the Engine Business and Power Systems business. His experience in the powertrain industry includes work in Commercial and Recreational Marine, Construction, Agriculture, Mining, Rail, Defense, Oil & Gas and, Power Generation businesses. Crompton brings a keen understanding of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in the development and commercial adoption of emerging powertrain technologies. Most recently Crompton served as an independent director at Agility Fuel Systems, and currently serves on the board of Panduit. While at Cummins, Crompton ran Quality and New Product Development and led Cummins’ overall business in Mexico, Central and South America. He also served on the Board of Directors of eight Cummins joint venture companies with the following partners: Tata, Dong Feng, Foton, Kamaz, Komatsu, Brunswick/Mercury Marine, and Westport Innovations in China, Japan, India, Russia, and the United States. Crompton graduated from Williams College with a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies and completed the Advanced Management Program at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Playing an integral role in modernizing transportation technology programs through the Opposed-Piston Engine

Fabien Redon joined Achates Power in 2009. As the CTO, he is responsible for the technical direction of the company. Redon has vast experience in powertrain development and has been integral for many of the technology programs and development in the company as the vice president for development, and performance and emissions. His many contributions include leading the work that unlocked the opposed-piston engine combustion system, allowing for demonstrable superior performance when compared to four-stroke engines. Before joining Achates Power, Redon was a lead development engineer for General Motors Corporation, where he oversaw the vehicle development of the 4.5L Duramax engine for the U.S. light-duty truck market. Earlier in his career, Redon was an advanced development and application engineer for Detroit Diesel Corporation working on advanced engines and with Freightliner. Redon earned a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Florida Institute of Technology, a Master of Engineering in automotive engineering from the University of Michigan and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, San Diego.

Managing business development, intellectual property, and marketing and advocacy for Achates Power

Laurence Fromm joined Achates Power in 2004 as the market-facing executive of the company’s founding team. While managing the business development, government relations and marketing for Achates Power, Fromm leads engagements with leading engine, commercial vehicle and passenger vehicle manufacturers around the globe. Prior to Achates Power, Fromm served as CEO of Chaos Telecom, a venture-backed, early-stage company, where he helped create the company’s first product — licensed embedded software for digital subscriber line modems. Prior to Chaos Telecom, Fromm was the vice president of Widcomm, Inc. (sold to Broadcom Corporation), where he managed development of the Bluetooth LAN access point and developed the company’s channel program in Europe, North America and Asia. Previously, Fromm was part of the executive team at Dialogic as the company grew to $400M in annual revenue, went public and was purchased by Intel Corporation. Fromm earned a Bachelor of Science, summa cum laude, in computer engineering from the University of Michigan and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Leading the finance and administration functions that drive the Achates Power business

Carol Mottershead joined Achates Power in 2014 to lead the Finance and Administration functions, responsible for HR, payroll, accounting, pricing, revenue and cash flow performance and administration. Mottershead has extensive experience in financial reporting and leadership, as well as directing government contracts and reporting. She was previously controller at Trofholz Technologies, Inc., responsible for payroll, procurement, pricing, budgeting and forecasting, accounting and administration. While at Trofholz, she developed revenue and cash flow forecasting tools and worked collaboratively to manage compliance with Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) and contract budgets. Prior positions include senior finance roles at Purple Communications (formerly Hands on Video Relay Services & Goamerica, Inc.) and NIC Conquest, Inc, NIC Technologies, Inc. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from San Jose State University.

Charging the Achates Power ACE program for the world’s strongest military

Christopher (CJ) Kalebjian, Vice President of Performance and Development joined Achates Power in 2011 as a senior development engineer in the performance and emissions department. His contributions included analysis, controls development, calibration, and testing of the company’s opposed-piston, two-stroke engine. Some key areas of focus were on developing a strategy to achieve very low emissions levels and high exhaust temperatures for catalyst light-off; which fed into a base emissions calibration offering significant improvement in fuel economy for a light duty engine platform. Moving forward he became the Chief Engineer and Program Manager for Achates Power’s military business. The initial military project’s success led to the Advanced Combat Engine program, which is currently under development. To date this project’s success put the engine on the path to change the powertrain landscape for the military. Now as Vice President of Performance and Development, Kalebjian is responsible for the development and demonstration of all engine programs. Prior to Achates Power, Kalebjian spent more than five years as a diesel calibration engineer at General Motors where he oversaw performance, drivability and emissions for the current and future GM diesel pick-up platforms—including the Duramax engine used in U.S. light-duty trucks. Before that, he worked as a systems application engineer for Visteon Corporation, a leading global automotive supplier. Kalebjian began his career at Ford Motor Company as a product design engineer responsible for developing innovative throttle bodies for several different engines. He received a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Cornell University’s Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

Leading design, analysis and mechanical development of the Achates Power Opposed-Piston and Two-Stroke Engine hardware

Dnyanesh Sapkal joined Achates Power in October 2013 as vice president of engineering. In this role, he is responsible for the overall design, analysis and mechanical development of the Achates Power opposed-piston, two-stroke engine hardware. He also manages a team of engineers to ensure the product design robustness by utilizing modern analytical tools and demonstrating results through dynamometer testing. Sapkal has 27 years of light-, medium- and heavy-duty powertrain design experience, along with 17 years of experience in diesel and gasoline engine design, and he most recently worked as the department manager of commercial engines and advanced applications design at FEV Inc. in Auburn Hills, Michigan. While there, he managed the teams responsible for design and development of various powertrains including gasoline, diesel and dual-fuel engines as well as automotive hybrid transmissions and wind turbine gearboxes. His tenure at FEV also included positions as a supervisor and senior lead engineer. Prior, Sapkal was the senior design and release engineer at Ford Motor Co., where he was responsible for design and development of the automatic transmission servo–hydraulics components. He began his career as an engineering manager at Mahindra in Mumbai, India where he oversaw the design and development of medium-duty diesel engines and also led various product development teams in the powertrain engineering department. Sapkal is a Six Sigma Green Belt and received his Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Mumbai, where he graduated with honors. Sapkal has also undergone a comprehensive management and leadership training program at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore & Ahmedabad.

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