As it continues to recalibrate from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Van Nuys microturbine manufacturer Capstone Green Energy has picked its new leader.
Capstone – which builds a variety of electricity-generating microturbine units that run on numerous fuels, to both sell or rent – in March hired Vince Canino as president and chief executive. Canino was also brought on as a member of Capstone’s board of directors.
A headhunter ultimately led Capstone to Canino, whose resume bolsters many energy industry bonafides. He was most recently chief operating officer of ESS Inc., a long-duration energy storage firm in Oregon. He also was previously chief executive of Canadian HVAC manufacturer Smardt Chiller Group, a space Canino noted had “a big focus on energy efficiency.”
Canino says his familiarity with Capstone goes back to his Smardt Chiller days and that it was an exciting prospect to take the reins at Capstone.
“It was exciting in the sense that it was coming out of Chapter 11. It came out quite quickly, which is a good sign that it’s going to come out a lot cleaner,” he says. “If you fast-forwarded from when they first started, it’s one of the last microturbine businesses still going and it’s lasted over 30 years. To me, the technology is proven, and the exciting part of the challenge is how we take it to the next level.”
Capstone emerged from Chapter 11 on Dec. 7, less than three months after filing the prepackaged plan. The agreement had Goldman Sachs take on 37.5% of the company’s ownership in a debt-for-equity exchange that reduced Capstone’s debt from $53 million to $23 million. The company also emerged with $7 million in new money and was at the start of the year sitting on around $25 million in inventory ready to be offloaded.
Board member Bob Flexon took over as interim chief executive about five weeks before the bankruptcy filing. With Canino’s hiring, Flexon has shifted to non-executive chair of the board.
“Vince has extensive experience in the energy industry, much of which is in the markets we serve. His strong operational background and skill set in product innovation and driving down product costs make him the ideal candidate to lead our company into its next phase of growth and profitability,” Flexon said in a statement. “We are confident that under Vince’s leadership, Capstone will become a much-improved company.”
Problems Canino will have to solve include building trust with Capstone’s suppliers, moving more product in a timely manner and guiding the company to what Flexon says would be its first profit in at least two decades. Canino inherits a strong model to help build, which is Capstone’s energy-as-a-service offering – essentially, long-term rentals with maintenance of microgrid units to petroleum, agriculture and utility clients. In his time there, Canino says he has been developing protocols to promote stronger accountability and metrics across the departments.
“Those are some of the simple things. You’ve got to put operating disciplines in place so people make smart decisions and so you don’t use processes that are antiquated as well,” he adds. “This company’s been around for 30 years. There’s a number of people who have been around for 20. I was impressed with the tenure around here, but what comes with that is getting people who are used to doing things a certain way.” — ZANE HILL