General Fusion Inc. is promoting from within its own ranks following the departure of its CEO last week.
The B.C. clean energy company revealed July 7 chief financial officer Greg Twinney has replaced Christofer Mowry as CEO effective immediately after the latter’s resignation.
Mowry had led the company after being hired externally since 2017. Twinney, the former CFO of Vancouver-based Hootsuite Inc., joined in 2020.
The changes in top leadership come as General Fusion ramps up its commercialization efforts for its fusion power technology.
It recently closed a funding round to the tune of US$130 million, bringing its total haul from investors to US$300 million.
A month prior to the close of that fall funding round, General Fusion began relocating its headquarters from Burnaby to Richmond after signing an agreement with Vancouver International Airport to lease a 60,000-square-foot facility on airport property.
The new facility on Sea Island is hosting General Fusion’s corporate offices, as well as many of its engineering labs, and is now serving as the primary site for development of its fusion technology.
Meanwhile, a prototype fusion power facility, which is expected to be operational by 2025, was previously announced to be under development at the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority’s Culham campus in southern England.
Mowry’s departure comes during a year of significant change in executive leadership within the province’s tech sector.
January alone saw two of B.C.’s $1-billion unicorns replace their CEOs (GeoComply Solutions Inc. and Zymeworks Inc.), while another replaced its CFO (Themis Solutions Inc., better known as Clio).
Stephanie Hollingshead, CEO of Vancouver-based Tech and People (TAP) Network, told BIV at the time that the recent burst of C-suite shuffles was unusual for the province’s tech scene.
A 2021 TAP survey found respondents' average planned headcount growth for last year was 37%, “which is really high,” she said.
“You think about all the additional hiring needed in a sector that’s growing, and that plays out in additional executive roles as well.”
