Guido Dalessi, CEO of Dutch long-duration electricity storage company Elestor, will step down from his role at the end of 2024. Hylke van Bennekom, Chief Operations Officer (COO), will take over the reins as the new CEO on January 1, 2025.
“I am leaving Elestor in the knowledge that the company I helped create is in safe hands. I will stay on as a shareholder but will hand over the reins to my colleague Hylke van Bennekom, then maximise my contribution to the energy transition as a non-executive supervisory board member and active advisor to small and large companies,” says Dalessi.
Guido Dalessi, a physics graduate (1986), joined Elestor in May 2015 as both an executive and investor. He began his career in R&D of laser-based measuring equipment and, in 1996, joined a startup developing optical disc production equipment.
As Director of Sales & Marketing, he led international business expansion, built a global sales and service network, and managed branch offices in Singapore and Los Angeles.
In 2004, the company was acquired by Singulus Technologies AG, and Guido Dalessi was promoted to Executive Vice President.
Two years later, following the acquisition of its main competitor, he was appointed CEO and oversaw the merger into Singulus Mastering BV. Under his eight-year leadership, the company became the global market and technology leader in its field.
Wiebrand Kout, Elestor’s founder and CTO, adds, “When Guido joined and invested in Elestor back in 2015, he brought a much-needed business focus to complement my scientific thinking.”
“Under his inspiring leadership, we built a company that aims to become a cornerstone of a new, clean and robust energy system that is destined to deliver clean air, green jobs and economic growth in the years and decades ahead. I am immensely grateful for everything he’s done.”
Meet the new CEO of Elestor!
Hylke van Bennekom joined Elestor in April 2021 to help the company move to large-scale production and is also one of the investors.
With a background in Industrial Business and Administration, he started at Tempress Systems in 2007. There, he helped the company grow from a small player in the semiconductor market to a leader in making products for solar and semiconductor industries.
He also gained extensive experience working internationally, setting up production sites in Europe and Asia, handling M&As, and managing changes in fast-growing companies.
After completing his MBA in 2018, van Bennekom helped split up and privatise the different parts of the Tempress Group, which were then sold as separate companies in 2020.
“Guido and I have not only worked well together for years, but we’ve also cooperated closely for some time to ensure a smooth handover. I am honoured to take over the baton and ready to hit the ground running,” says van Bennekom.
Brief about Elestor
Elestor BV has developed an innovative hydrogen flow battery for large-scale electricity storage. By using low-cost, abundant, and eco-friendly materials, along with a patented design, it significantly reduces storage costs.
This technology supports Long Duration Electricity Storage (LDES), helping drive the energy transition. In the future, it could replace gas-fired power plants on a large scale and become as important for LDES as lithium-ion batteries are for electric vehicles.
In 2022, Elestor secured €30M in a Series A funding round led by Equinor and joined by Vopak, Invest-NL, and Somerset Capital Partners.
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