HCICU 1/4W
Daniel Hennessy
Since 2015, our management team has completed 4 mergers with early- to late-stage sustainable industrial technology and infrastructure companies.
1 -4 -------BLBD, DSKE, ECOL, Canoo GOEV.
Pushing the sustainability angle.
Our strategy will be to identify, acquire and, after our initial business combination, build and grow, a U.S. sustainable industrial technology and infrastructure business. As an example, amongst other types of business activities, these types of companies develop or manufacture advanced mobility or renewable fuel technologies, they innovate on energy conservation or work to modernize the electrical grid, they combat pollution or find new applications for recycled materials, they develop technologies to conserve or treat water, or they work to reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels by generating renewable energy.
Our team is led by Daniel J. Hennessy, our Chairman and CEO, who is one of the longest tenured and most experienced SPAC sponsor executives. In September 2013, Mr. Hennessy became Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp., or Hennessy I, which merged with School Bus Holdings Inc., or SBH, in February 2015 and is now known as Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ: BLBD), and previously served as its Vice Chairman from September 2013 to April 2019. From April 2015 to February 2017, Mr. Hennessy served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. II, or Hennessy II, which merged with Daseke in February 2017 and is now known as Daseke, Inc. (NASDAQ: DSKE), and since February 2017, has served as its Vice Chairman. From January 2017 to October 2018, Mr. Hennessy served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. III, or Hennessy III, which merged with NRC Group Holdings, LLC, a global provider of comprehensive environmental, compliance and waste management services in October 2018. In November 2019, NRC Group Holdings Corp. merged with U.S. Ecology, Inc. (NASDAQ: ECOL) at an attractive premium to the then current stock price. From March 2019 to December 2020, Mr. Hennessy served as Chairman and CEO of Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. IV, or Hennessy IV, which in August 2020 entered into a definitive agreement for an initial business combination with Canoo Holdings Ltd that closed in December 2020 and is now known as Canoo, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOEV).
Jeffrey Immelt will be our lead independent director as of the date of this prospectus. Mr. Immelt currently serves as a Venture Partner on both the technology and healthcare investing teams at New Enterprise Associates (“NEA”). He currently serves on the board for several NEA portfolio companies in the healthcare, clean tech and technology sectors (including Desktop Metal, Inc. (NYSE: DM) and Formlabs) and has served as a director at Desktop Metal, Inc. since it became public via a SPAC merger in December 2020. We believe that having a member of our board of directors that has sold a business to a SPAC (in addition to our management team’s experience sponsoring SPACs) is unique and will make us an attractive business combination partner to target businesses. He previously served as Chairman and CEO of GE for 16 years
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In addition, Greg Ethridge, our President and Chief Operating Officer, served as President, Chief Operating Officer and director of Hennessy IV from March 2019 until its business combination with Canoo Holdings Ltd, which closed on December 21, 2020, and continues to serve as a director of the surviving company, Canoo, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOEV). He previously served as President of Matlin & Partners Acquisition Corporation, a SPAC which merged with U.S. Well Services, Inc. (NASDAQ: USWS) in November 2018, a growth- and technology-oriented oilfield service company focused exclusively on hydraulic fracturing using its patented Clean Fleet technology as the first fully electric, mobile well stimulation system reducing harmful emissions by 99% and generating operational cost savings on fuel of up to 80%.
Furthermore, Nicholas A. Petruska, our Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary since our formation, has served as the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of Hennessy IV since March 2019. Mr. Petruska held the same positions with Hennessy II and III, and a similar position with Hennessy I. Mr. Petruska led the transaction execution and due diligence assessments of School Bus Holdings (Blue Bird), Daseke, Inc., NRC Group and Canoo Holdings Ltd, for Hennessy I, II, III and IV. Prior to working with Hennessy I, Mr. Petruska was an investment professional with CHS Capital, a middle-market private equity firm.