American Battery Metals retains ‘operational leader’ Andrés Meza as chief operating officer

American Battery Metals Corporation said it has welcomed ‘operational leader’ Andrés Meza, who will serve as the new chief operating officer.  The new hire is part of the company’s rebranding process, which also includes a name change to American Battery Technology Company (ABTC).  With a goal of rapid growth through the construction, commissioning, and continuous operations of its first lithium-ion battery recycling facility, the company noted it was of ‘critical’ importance to enlist the expertise of a Chief Operating Officer (COO) with direct hands-on experience both with the operations of manufacturing facilities.  READ: American Battery Metals appoints Doug Hamilton to Head of Policy ahead of company name change Following an extensive national search across a wide range of industries, ABTC selected Meza to lead the efforts and to accept these responsibilities. Holding an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering, Meza started his career at Georgia Pacific working as a process engineer at a paper mill where he later became a shift team leader. From there, Meza attended the Harvard Business School and obtained his MBA degree. After graduation, he went to work for Apple as a global supply manager and focused on the commissioning and scale-up of manufacturing facilities across Asia and the implementation of cost efficiencies throughout their supply chain. After four years at Apple, he went to work at the management consultancy firm McKinsey and Company as an engagement manager. Before arriving at American Battery, Meza was employed by private equity firm Transom Capital as the Vice President of Operations working with the firm’s portfolio of investment companies. "It is very rare to find an individual with this combination of skill sets," Ryan Melsert, chief technology officer at ABTC said in a statement. He continued: "Andrés has the ground level foundational understanding of fundamentals that comes from being a hands-on process engineer at a chemical plant, while having the field expertise from commissioning and optimizing high-volume semiconductor manufacturing facilities, while also having the operational leadership experiences from working at premier management consultancy and private equity firms, which together provide the exact set of skills that is needed to support the next stage of American Battery Technology Company's growth and to complement our current leadership team." Meza will play a key role in helping ABTC grow as it evolves into a mature and cross-functional manufacturing corporation. From product development to supply chain management, Meza will work across multiple industries to envision, construct, and implement effective strategies and processes. "Andrés brings years of experience that serve to contribute to the mission and progress of ABTC," said ABTC CEO Doug Cole. "His wealth of knowledge in proven organizational leadership and effective strategy implementation will strengthen our team as we cultivate, scale, and expand our business moving forward.” Contact the writer at georgia@proactiveinvestors.com Follow her on Twitter @MissInformd