Mike Dunckley appointed EMEA president for Leoch

tries including lithium, redox flow and nickel-metal hydride.

He is one of the founding members of the Hawker Batteries Group and also one of the developers of the firm’s pure lead business.

Dunckley is also a former business development director for Fiamm.

Gao heads up Hammond lab as director of R&D

ing as a PhD student at Iowa State University.

Battery industry veteran Mike Dunckley has joined Leoch to help spearhead the lead and lithium giant’s continued expansion in new and existing markets.

Dunckley, who was appointed EMEA president for Leoch as of April 1, told Energy Storage Journal he was looking forward to the challenge of helping strengthen Leoch’s global presence.

His appointment came just days after Leoch chairman and founder Dong Li announced the group planned to build a manufacturing plant in Mexico to ramp up its presence in the Americas ( see article elsewhere in our news pages ).

“The challenge now is to build the Leoch brand, its identity and its role to take advantage of the opportunities in existing and future markets,” said Dunckley, who will be based in Europe.

Dunckley has been brought in as a result of his 30-plus years knowledge of the battery industry and his deep understanding of a wide range of technologies, having worked in various chemis-

For the past 14 years he has been running his Catalyst Solutions consultancy, focused on advising companies on technology selection, business strategy and development in the energy storage and electric mobility markets.

Now he will draw on his experience to help drive what he said will be the next phase of development of Leoch’s $2 billion international business, with an increasing reach into the Americas, Europe and Asia.

The China-centred company has its corporate HQ in Singapore and a US HQ in Los Angeles, with an extensive sales team across North America.

In May 2021, the company bought Madrid-based distribution business Meibat — from which it launched its Leoch Iberia subsidiary.

Dunckley said: “One of the things that really interested me about Leoch is they are one of the few incumbent battery manufacturers that have their own lithium operation.

“So having lithium iron phosphate in addition to pure lead and a full range of different technologies and the ability to serve all the markets — gives Leoch all the components that are needed as we drive the next stages of growth forward.”

Hammond Group has formally announced the appointment of Enqin Gao as R&D director, who is also heading up the company’s E=(LAB)² research unit in Indiana.

Hammond confirmed the appointment on April 6, although Gao told Energy Storage Journal he took up the post last November.

Gao has more than three decades of management and R&D experience in the lead acid battery industry.

He has previously worked on the manufacturing side of the industry with Trojan Battery and Camel Group and has held a number of top industry posts during his career including chief engineer, product specialist and research chemist.

He received his MS in physical chemistry from Peking University and a BS in chemistry from Wuhan University. He also studied materials science and engineer-

Metair makes interim CEO, CFO appointments permanent

Interim CEO of batteries and auto components groups Metair Investments, Sjoerd Douwenga, has been appointed to the role permanently, the company said on May 31.

Interim CFO Anesh Jogia has also been appointed permanently. He will also work as executive director and a member of the firm’s investment committee.

Hammond president and CEO Terry Murphy said Gao was uniquely qualified to lead E=(LAB)², which was set up in 2015 to work with industry to improve battery charge acceptance and cycle life.

“Lead acid batteries are central to the growing demand for energy storage as the world transitions away from fossil fuels, but we have to continue innovating,” said Murphy.

“Enqin is a key addition to our R&D team as we help drive further innovations for the industry.”

Gao said Hammond’s technical assistance programs allow customers to treat the lab as an extension of their own.

“Using our state-of-the-art instruments, many of which our customers don’t have in their own labs, our engineers can perform TGA/DSC analysis, BET analysis, SEM and more on material evaluation and cell and battery tests.

“Our team is composed of experts from material science, battery research, design, manufacturing and testing with a total industry experience over 200 years.”

The interim appointments of Douwenga and Jogia were announced in March, following the resignation of then CEO Riaz Haffejee.

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