Sherri Baker Joins Hyliion as Chief Financial Officer
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Hyliion Holdings Corp., a provider of electrified powertrain solutions for heavy-duty vehicles, announced Sherri Baker will join the company as chief financial officer, effective Feb. 8.
Baker served as chief financial officer for PGT Innovations, a publicly traded, national manufacturer of premium windows and doors since March 2019 before joining Hyliion.
“With extensive experience in senior financial leadership roles, Sherri has a proven track record of helping to drive profitable business growth and will play a critical role in Hyliion’s success,” Hyliion founder and CEO Thomas Healy said.
Van de Vere and Baker
She will succeed Greg Van de Vere, who will retire after serving nearly four years with Hyliion.
“I want to thank Greg for his dedication and immense contributions to Hyliion since early in the company’s founding,” Healy said. “Greg has been critical in shaping our business, from startup to public company, and has established a strong foundation for our future success. We wish him all the best in his retirement.”
In October, Hyliion completed its business combination with Tortoise Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company. That transaction put $560 million into Hyliion’s account and cleared the way for the combined company to be renamed Hyliion Holdings Corp. and its common stock to be listed as HYLN on the New York Stock Exchange Oct. 2, when it opened in the $40 range. As of Jan. 12, the stock was trading in the $17 range.
Hyliion’s switch from startup to publicly traded came as a study by Coyote Logistics found 81% of companies are more focused on sustainability now compared with three years ago, and to be successful, their supply chains must play an integral role in owning sustainable initiatives across their networks.
How can we control an unruly trucking tech stack and streamline fleet management practices? Host Seth Clevenger speaks with Ray Greer, CEO of Omnitracs, which acquired SmartDrive last year. Hear a snippet, above, and get the full program by going to RoadSigns.TTNews.com.
At the same time, Bloomberg News reported growing skepticism of the blank-check phenomenon in general as such deals have proliferated. Special purpose acquisition companies, commonly known as SPACs, are now getting scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which wants to ensure investors are receiving appropriate disclosures about insiders’ pay structures.
An SPAC is a company with no commercial operations that is formed strictly to raise capital through an initial public offering for the purpose of acquiring an existing company.
Baker joins Hyliion “at a truly exciting time for the company as we accelerate our commercialization strategy and scale the business,” Healy added.
On Jan. 7, Hyliion reported it received about $142 million in cash proceeds after the exercise of public warrants for about 12.5 million shares, priced at $11.50, of common stock. The warrants expired Dec. 30.
A warrant is a contract that gives the holder the right to purchase from the company a certain number of additional shares of common stock in the future at a certain price, according to the SEC.
Healy
One analyst called the proceeds of the exercise of the warrants a nice injection of capital, but the redemption of millions of shares at $11.50 apiece was not “necessarily” viewed positively by traders who had bought shares of HYLN for more.
Hyliion’s current products include a hybrid electric axle and a longhaul, fully electric powertrain, the Hypertruck Electric Range Extender, that uses a small natural-gas-fueled engine to charge the battery pack.
Meanwhile, Healy said over the next year, Hyliion will “explore additional technologies and business synergies that could range from improving our existing solutions, renewable natural gas expansion, hydrogen development, improved battery solutions, expanding our product portfolio and more.”
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