Name: Andrew Spence
Previous Title: CFO at Aria Energy
New Title: CFO at Anaergia
“Over my years in the renewable energy space, I have followed Anaergia’s evolution and trajectory and been impressed with their deep commitment to combatting climate change, their remarkable platform of waste-to-renewable energy technologies, and their expansion strategies," Spence said in a statement.
Spence served as CFO for Aria Energy from February 2016 until September 2021, according to his LinkedIn profile, departing after assisting with Aria’s merger with Archaea. The newly formed company subsequently went public, and BP acquired Archaea in a $4.1 billion sale that closed in December.
Prior to that, Spence served as CFO at Ameresco for 13 years — at a time when the renewable energy and engineering services company's revenues grew from less than $25 million to $728 million, according to Anaergia.
He joins Ontario-based Anaergia at a time when the company is struggling to derive revenue from some recent investments in built, owned and operated facilities. In May, Anaergia's Rialto Bioenergy Facility subsidiary in California filed for bankruptcy, seeking more time to pay off its debts as waste feedstock volumes are slow to ramp up at the anaerobic digestion site.
The company has said it still sees growth opportunities ahead. Last week, it announced a partnership to expand pre-processing and codigestion capabilities at a facility run by the wastewater utility of Monterey County, California.
On the company's first quarter earnings call, founder and CEO Andrew Benedek announced a new "capital-light" strategy that would see Anaergia take on equity partners for each planned facility going forward. Benedek also announced pending executive changes at the company, including the hiring of a new CFO and chief auditor. Hani Kaissi served as the CFO on a temporary basis since mid-April and will continue in his role as chief development officer at Anaergia. This came when Paula Myson resigned from the CFO role after starting the job last October.
In Monday's press release, the company touted Spence's experience leading teams that "fostered continuous growth and performance for the benefit of all stakeholders at successful renewable energy companies."
“With Andrew joining our team, Anaergia will be better positioned to scale-up our operations as we capitalize on opportunities around the world,” Benedek said in a statement.
