Executive Management

Dr. Srini Godavarthy, an experienced lithium executive, joined Li-Metal as Chief Executive Officer in May 2023, bringing with him more than 20 years of commercial and operational experience, with a global leadership background in specialty chemicals and lithium battery materials. Prior to joining Li-Metal, Dr. Godavarthy held the role of SVP of Portfolio Management at PTT Global Chemical (“PTTGC”), a multi-billion dollar publicly listed chemical company, where he was responsible for the identification, acquisition, integration and divestiture of companies that supported PTTGC’s sustainability and growth strategy. Before joining PTTGC, Dr. Godavarthy led the lithium metals and specialty salts business at Albemarle Corp, where his team was responsible for the commercial and technology development efforts for lithium metal, solid-state electrolytes and lithium metal anodes. He holds a Bachelor of Technology in Chemical Engineering from the University of Madras, a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Oklahoma State University and an MBA in Finance from Colorado State University.

Maciej Jastrzebski joined Li-Metal in 2018 as co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. With 15 years of experience, Mr. Jastrzebski has worked in technology development, project engineering, IP protection and technology commercialization with Hatch Ltd., Barrick Gold Corporation, AuTec and Li-Metal. A natural innovator, Maciej is a named inventor on 15 patent families in a variety of fields and the author of a number of technical publications. Mr. Jastrzebski is a professional engineer and holds a Bachelor degree of Applied Science and a Master degree of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toronto.

Dean Frankel joined Li-Metal in 2021 as Chief Commercial Officer, bringing with him nine years of experience in the advanced battery industry as a business leader, consultant and market analyst. Prior to this, Mr. Frankel held various roles in the battery sector including business development at Solid Power, lead analyst for the energy storage research practice at Lux Research and sales and marketing at Voltaiq. He has supported due diligence for over US$7 billion in energy storage acquisitions and investments and he is a value-chain expert from raw materials to end-product applications. Mr. Frankel holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Energy & Environmental Systems from the University of Pennsylvania.

Carlos Pinglo holds the position of Chief Financial Officer at Li-Metal. He is an economist with over 25 years of senior management experience, working with both private and publicly listed companies in corporate finance, strategic planning, financial reporting, turnarounds and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining Li-Metal, Mr. Pinglo held a variety of roles in the metals and mining industry, including Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary at AbraSilver Resource Corp., the Chief Financial Officer at Adriana Resources Corp., Carpathian Gold Inc., First Bauxite Corp. and Medoro Resources, the Controller of both Silver Eagle Mines Inc. and Excellon Resources, and as a member of the board of directors at MinerosNacionales SA.

Keshav Kochhar joined Li-Metal in 2021 as General Manager, Operations and Capital Projects, overseeing the budget, managing buildouts, commissioning of new facilities and capital projects, planning and strategy and managing overall operations. Prior to this, Mr. Kochhar held the role of CEO and Co-Founder of Lacero Solutions, a cleantech firm focused on the safe destruction and recycling of airbags. Under Mr. Kochhar’s guidance, Lacero Solutions has safely destroyed 300,000 airbags and recovered 725,000 lbs of recyclable material to date. He has over eight years of industry experience working in various chemical industries, beginning his career as a field engineer at Howe Sound Pulp & Paper, where he was involved in identifying bottlenecks in the plant and increasing daily throughput. Following this role, Mr. Kochhar moved to PeroxyChem leading many safety and process improvement projects to help reduce production costs. He has led and been involved with design and execution of projects for various plant optimization initiatives totaling ~$15 million. Mr. Kochhar holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of British Columbia.