Heliogen Appoints David Crane and Paddy Padmanathan to its Board Post Business Combination with Athena Technology

Heliogen, Inc., announced that David Crane and Paddy Padmanathan have been nominated to join Heliogen’s Board of Directors upon closing of the Company’s business combination with Athena Technology Acquisition Corp.

“We are pleased to nominate David and Paddy to join Heliogen’s post-combination Board,” said Bill Gross, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Heliogen. “Both David and Paddy bring exceptional experience in the renewable energy sector, and extensive knowledge and expertise in scaling innovative technologies to transform the way we produce and consume energy. Their additions complement our Board’s skills and experiences, and we are confident they will provide valuable perspectives as we continue to execute our strategy and scale our technology to decarbonize the energy and industrial sectors.”

Mr. Crane has been the CEO at Climate Real Impact Solutions, a family of climate/sustainability-focused special purpose acquisition corporations, since August 2020. Previously, Mr. Crane was CEO of NRG from 2003 to 2015, leading the company from chapter 11 to the Fortune 200.

Mr. Crane pioneered the yieldco asset class with the IPO of NRG Yield in July 2013.

Mr. Crane also led NRG to the forefront of next-generation clean energy development through large scale initiatives in utility scale renewables (now Clearway), residential solar, post-combustion carbon capture (Petra Nova) and DC fast charging (EVGO). Prior to NRG, Mr. Crane was first COO and then CEO of International Power Plc, a UK-domiciled FTSE-100 company from 2000 to 2003.