Electra Appoints Francois Perras as Chief Commercial Officer

Simon Wandke Appointed Chair of Advisory Board

Electra, a clean iron company with a solution to decarbonize iron and steelmaking, has appointed Francois Perras as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). Concurrently, Simon Wandke will transition from his role as the CCO to the Chair of Electra's Advisory Board and Advisor to the CEO.

Perras joins Electra with more than two decades at international steel giant ArcelorMittal, where he started his career as a metallurgist and ultimately ascended to become the President and CEO of ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada and leading the production of 2 million tonnes of steel. Most recently, Perras was CEO of Tergeo Minerals, a company focused on extracting magnesium and amorphous silica from mine tailings. Perras has extensive expertise in upstream agglomerated iron ores, direct-reduced ironmaking (DRI) and electric-arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking, and downstream markets and applications. He also has direct hands-on experience with the decarbonization approaches being considered by the iron and steel industry.

"The demand for Clean Iron and the urgency to decarbonize iron and steelmaking is growing at an unprecedented rate," said Sandeep Nijhawan, CEO and co-founder of Electra. "With Francois's expertise in EAF steelmaking and delivering successful global business strategies, Electra is well positioned to accelerate its commercialization strategy to build and operate ironmaking hubs with our strategic partners globally. I am excited about Simon’s new role to lead and expand Electra’s advisory board for our next growth phase and be a valued mentor to the executive team.”

"Electra has developed a truly novel way to produce cost-competitive, pure-metallic, clean iron using stranded ores at the mine and renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions and improve sustainability in the ore-to-steel value chain," said Francois Perras, CCO of Electra. "I am excited to be part of Electra's team, and I look forward to driving the significant business opportunity ahead of us and accelerating the iron and steel industry's decarbonization, sustainability, and circularity roadmap."

The company anticipates continued expansion of its leadership team to support its next growth phase.

About Electra

Electra, a clean iron company, is bending the trajectory of climate change by electrifying iron refining. On a mission to address decarbonization, sustainability, and circularity across the steel industry value chain, Electra's unique patented electrochemical system converts iron ore into iron metal through an electrochemical process operating at 140 degrees Fahrenheit, powered by clean, intermittent renewables to make emissions-free iron. Electra's products — pure green iron and other green feedstocks — remove gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions from steel production and other hard-to-abate industries, accelerating a return to a healthy carbon balance on earth.

The company is headquartered in Boulder, CO. To learn more about Electra's mission, visit: www.electra.earth.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231214122894/en/