Board of directors
Biographies of non-executive and executive directors
Jeff Vander Linden (COO) and Nauman Babar (CFO)
Ian Pearson, Non-Executive Chairman
Ian is an experience Board director, with leading roles in several companies including EQTEC, where he has been non-executive Chairman since 2017. He is a non-executive director at Thames Water Utilities Limited, the UK’s largest water company. He is also Chairman of Quantum Exponential Group plc a company focused on quantum computing. Previously, Ian was a Senior Adviser to BAI Communications plc and Chairman of AIM-listed OVCT2, where he oversaw the company’s investment in a variety of renewable energy companies. Ian was a member of the UK Advisory Board of Big Four accountancy PwC. Between 2001 to 2010, he was a Minister in the UK Government, holding roles as Government Whip, Minister in Northern Ireland, Minister for Trade, Minister for Climate Change and the Environment, Science and Innovation Minister and Economic Secretary to the Treasury. He was elected as a Member of Parliament in 1994. He graduated from Balliol College, Oxford and has both a master’s degree and a doctorate in Industrial and Business Studies from the University of Warwick.
David Palumbo, Chief Executive Officer
David is an experienced investor, business leader and entrepreneur with over 20 years’ experience in private equity, venture capital and asset management. Since 2006, he has founded and co-founded several companies in a variety of industries including cleantech, digital technology and real estate. David joined EQTEC in 2018 as an investment and growth advisor and after restructuring the Company’s financial platform, he was asked by lead investors in 2019 to take on the role of CEO. Since then, he has focused EQTEC’s leadership team on establishing a growth platform through its R&D and engineering, its operations and scale capabilities and its financial management discipline. In addition to re-focusing EQTEC, David founded and remains the Managing Partner of Origen Capital LLP, a private investment firm representing family offices and private consortia in Europe, CIS and Latin America. He holds a BSc and a MSc in Electrical Engineering.
Nauman Babar, Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary
Nauman is a senior Finance professional with nearly 20 years of international experience in corporate finance, audit and Finance transformation, with a track record in private equity-backed businesses and high-growth ventures. He has worked predominantly within the Energy & Utilities sector, with a focus on renewables and cleantech. Nauman started his career at international accountancy PwC and gained further experience at Accenture, EY and Mott Macdonald. Prior to EQTEC, Nauman was Finance Director at Woodlands Energy Services in Bahrain. Nauman is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Essex. He joined EQTEC in July 2021.
Jeffrey Vander Linden, Chief Operating Officer
Jeff is a strategy and operations professional with 30 years’ experience implementing complex change and growth strategies across private- and public-sector organisations, from small start-ups to the world’s largest corporations. Prior to joining EQTEC in 2020, he led development and implementation of global operations and scale strategy at one of the world’s largest consumer products companies. Before that, he spent 16 years designing and delivering business strategy, process and technology transformation as a business consultant and programme director at PwC, IBM and Capgemini. His dozens of clients include NTT, NEC, AT&T, Motorola, BAE Systems and National Grid. Jeff spent 10 years living and working in Japan, with projects across Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. He has worked in the UK, Europe and India since 2001. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Social Studies (Economics, Politics, History, Philosophy) from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, USA.
Dr. Yoel Alemán, Chief Technology Officer
Yoel’s mechanical and chemical engineering career includes more than 20 years’ experience with gasification as his chosen specialism. He has designed, built and operated thermochemical conversion facilities of various sizes and capacities for a wide range of feedstocks, including commercial–scale plants to handle biomass and non-biomass feedstocks (including RDF). He is the author of all of EQTEC’s patents and the lead inventor of its proprietary technologies. He joined the Company in 2010, to rescue a project that was struggling at the Mostos, Vinos y Alcoholes, S.A. (Movialsa) agro-industrial facility in southern Spain. That initial, highly successful project, completed in 2011, established the platform for EQTEC’s proven technology capability. Dr Alemán has been an associated professor or researcher at three universities and earned a PhD in Chemical Engineering. Prior to his appointment to the EQTEC plc Board of Directors in 2019, he was Chief Technical Officer of EQTEC Iberia slu.
Thomas Quigley, Non-Executive Director
Tom is a business executive and investor, with a long career working at Board-level, as Managing Director, CFO or CIO. In addition to EQTEC, where he joined as a non-executive director in 2018, he is a non-executive director at Velocys plc, Hive Ethical UK Solar Limited and several other organisations. Prior to joining EQTEC, he was a director or managing director at Close Brothers Corporate Finance, ING Barings and Terra Firma Capital Partners. Tom has worked in real estate, financial services, healthcare and banking, and across a number of jurisdictions. He is a Chartered Accountant and started his career at Price Waterhouse in London, where he developed considerable financial and management experience.