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EnerTech adds Chair of the Board for the California Mobility Center to Mobility Advisory Board.

May 18th, 2021, Toronto, ON and Philadelphia, PA – EnerTech Capital is pleased to announce today that they have added Arlen Orchard, former CEO of Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) to their Mobility Advisory Board.

Arlen Orchard serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors for the California Mobility Center (CMC), a public-private consortium focused on accelerating innovation and commercialization of new clean mobility solutions, technologies, and business models. Headquartered in Sacramento, California, the CMC is creating an ecosystem of entrepreneurs, industry leaders, investors, and academics to build world class mobility solutions and companies.

Until October 2020, Orchard was Chief Executive Officer & General Manager of SMUD. As CEO, he led the sixth largest community-owned electric utility in the nation, serving a population of 1.5 million residents and managing a $1.7 billion budget. During his tenure, SMUD was nationally recognized as one of the most innovative and environmentally progressive electric utilities in the nation. Orchard became CEO in 2014, after serving as SMUD’s General Counsel since 2001.

He is the immediate past President of the California Municipal Utilities Association, has served on the board of directors and executive committee of the Large Public Power Council, and on the boards of directors of the American Public Power Association and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy. From 2017-2019, he served on the Alliance to Save Energy 50X50 Transportation Commission which was charged with envisioning regulatory, policy, infrastructure, and investment pathways to advance clean transportation transformation. He has also served on the boards of directors of numerous Sacramento nonprofit and economic development organizations.

He received a juris doctorate degree from the University of California, Davis School of Law, a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Nevada, Reno and attended UC Davis’ Graduate School of Management.

“We are excited to have Arlen join our board. His vision and strategy led to the creation of the California Mobility Center and SMUD’s success as a leading utility on innovation in the e-mobility space. We have been working with Arlen and SMUD since 2015 and he will provide us significant insight and knowledge that will be helpful as we roll out our mobility investment strategy.” said Wally Hunter, Managing Director, EnerTech Capital.


“I’ve had the great pleasure of working closely with Arlen in his former position as GM & CEO of SMUD. We have spent the past 3 years working together on the ideation, design, formation, and launch of the California Mobility Center. Under Arlen’s leadership, SMUD was known as one of the most forward-thinking utilities in the U.S. regarding their customer focus, environmental stewardship, technology innovation, and new business models. While EnerTech continues to work directly with SMUD on various innovation matters, now that Arlen has retired, we are very pleased to welcome him ‘to the EnerTech family’, so to speak” said Scott Ungerer, Founder & Managing Director, EnerTech Capital.


“I’m honored to have the opportunity to work with colleagues with a strong track record of advancing innovation and creating positive change in the energy and mobility industries. We’re on the brink of a mobility revolution and EnerTech is ideally positioned to identify, invest and partner with innovative companies to drive the new mobility future” said Arlen Orchard, Chair of the Board of Directors, CMC.


About EnerTech Capital

For over 20 years EnerTech’s fundamental focus has been investing and partnering with innovative companies driving change across the energy landscape; with a focus on Mobility, Industry 4.0, and Connected Customer. Since our founding in 1996, we have made 72 investments and have managed over $500 million in LP Capital Commitments. We have had an active role in building world class management teams who have created new lasting ways to use energy resources more efficiently and have been a part of building companies that have, and continue to, transform industries.


EnerTech has offices in Toronto, Philadelphia, Palm Beach Gardens, Boston, Montreal, and Sacramento.


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CONTACT: Wally Hunter: 416-363-8563 whunter@enertechcapital.com

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