People: UKBIC; Hall Brown
The UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC), the national battery manufacturing facility providing manufacturing scale-up and skills for the battery sector, has appointed Richard LeCain as its new chief technology officer (CTO).
LeCain will report into Sean Gilgunn, UKBIC’s Managing Director, and will sit on the executive team with responsibility for technical process design, product development and R&D activities across the business.
He has more than 20 years of experience working in the battery industry, having previously held technical and leadership positions at A123 Systems and Britishvolt, where he was director of cell and process engineering.
LeCain began his career in batteries at Lithium Iron Phosphate pioneer (LFP) A123 Systems in the US as a process engineer where he developed LFP cells in cylindrical and pouch formats for energy storage applications such as power tools, medical devices and automotives, eventually becoming the head of cell design for low voltage applications.
Most recently, he was director of cell development at US-based silicon anode company, GDI, where he worked on integrating 100% silicon anodes into lithium-ion cells for high energy density and fast charging applications.
He has worked in battery plants across the world transferring processes and designs from the lab into manufacturing.
Sean Gilgunn said: “We’re very excited with the appointment of Richard to the role of CTO. Richard’s vast expertise and experience will be hugely beneficial to our customers and employees alike, as our customers develop and refine their battery products as they move along their challenging scaleup journeys.”
LeCain, said: “UKBIC is a world class facility and I’m delighted to be joining them at this exciting time. I’m looking forward to helping companies with getting a foot on the scale-up ladder, as customers move from research and development through to volume manufacturing. From my previous engagement with UKBIC on the customer side with Britishvolt, I saw firsthand how well UKBIC could make cells and I’m excited to be part of that team now.”
Law firm Hall Brown has strengthened its Birmingham team with new hires.
Janine Hobday has been named senior associate and will head up Hall Brown’s office in the city, where she will be joined by solicitor Harriet Williams.
Senior partner Sam Hall said: “Both Janine and Harriet are extremely experienced in dealing with the sort of issues facing households right across the Midlands and we are convinced that they will enable us to continue the terrific impact which we have made so far.
“Although we are developing an in-house production line of young legal talent with our training contract scheme, we are also committed to bringing in the right new faces from outside to help us achieve our goal of being the best family law firm in Birmingham. In fact, we will be strengthening our ranks very soon and expect that further appointments in the coming months due to the kind of dynamic growth in casework which we have seen in our other offices.”
