Hydrodec CEO Ellis quits amid management shake-up

Hydrodec’s chief executive, Chris Ellis, has left because a family member is ill in a move that coincides with a wider management shake-up at the company.

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Ellis, who has run the clean tech oil re-refining company since December 2015, will hand over to chairman Colin Moynihan, who will continue as chairman and become interim CEO.

Moynihan will head the group while the board reviews the senior management team. The Conservative peer ran Consort Resources and was executive chairman of Clipper Windpower Europe before joining Hydrodec in 2012.

In a further rejig at the top of the company, Hydrodec said David Dinwoodie would join the board immediately as interim chief financial officer.

Dinwoodie runs the family office of Andrew Black, Hydrodec’s largest shareholder and a non-executive director, and will split his time between Hydrodec and other companies Black invests in. He will join Mary Archer, the wife of novelist Jeffrey Archer, on the board.

The company’s former head of corporate and legal affairs, Michael Preen, has returned as corporate and governance officer.

Black, the co-founder of Betfair who invests in tech businesses, has provided Hydrodec with an extra £0.5m of working capital in addition to an existing £7.2m facility.

Moynihan said: "On behalf of the board and the company, I would like to thank Chris for all his hard work over the past six years, initially as CFO and latterly as CEO, in which he drove the turnaround of the business to achieve the company's first positive annual EBITDA contribution in 2017, and to wish him and his family the very best for the future.”

Ellis will be available to support the board on a non-retained basis to help with a smooth transition.