Anaergia announces new CEO as Benedek steps aside

Anaergia Inc., a Burlington, Ontario-based global renewable fuels producer, has announced the appointment of Brett Hodson as CEO, succeeding the company’s founder and chairman, Dr. Andrew Benedek as CEO, effective June 21.

Benedek will continue to serve as chairman of the company’s board of directors.

With a proven record of successfully leading growth companies and driving shareholder value, Hodson brings a wealth of relevant experience to his role at Anaergia. This experience spans a range of businesses and sectors, including building, managing and leading a portfolio of water, wastewater and energy infrastructure businesses. He also has deep expertise in wholesale product distribution, retail services, construction and manufacturing.

“I am thrilled to have joined Anaergia and to lead it during its next phase,” he says. “This company has enormous potential, and I am excited to have the opportunity to help build it into the world’s leading renewable fuel producer and developer while enhancing value for shareholders. The reason I chose to be a part of this company is because I firmly believe in Anaergia’s technical prowess to drive significant positive change for the environment while also meeting or exceeding the expectations of our shareholders.”

RELATED: Anaergia tapped to provide technology in California | Anaergia honored at Global Water Awards

Hodson was the president and CEO of Corix Infrastructure Inc., a Vancouver, British Columbia-based utility infrastructure company. Under his leadership, Corix grew by more than 10 times in an eight-year period, reaching more than $650 million in revenue and growing assets under management to over $1.5 billion. Corix subsequently was purchased by a large Canadian pension fund. Following his tenure at Corix, Hodson founded Vancouver-based Sunshine Pier Capital Inc., a consulting and private equity firm.

“Brett’s appointment represents a pivotal moment for our company as we chart our path for our next phase of growth,” Benedek says. “I am completely confident in handing over the senior leadership role in the company to him after having seen him build Corix into a highly profitable water and energy infrastructure company. With Brett Hodson and Andrew Spence, our CFO (chief financial officer), on board, we now have a new team with significant infrastructure development experience. As a team, we have agreed together to review all aspects of the business to align with Anaergia’s recently announced asset-light strategy and ensure that our financial targets are set correctly under this strategy going forward.”

Hodson has a master’s degree in business administration from the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario, a bachelor of arts in psychology and a certificate in liberal arts from Simon Fraser University.

“Andrew Benedek has done extraordinary work developing the world’s best waste-to-renewable energy technology platform, constructing leading facilities and cultivating a highly capable team,” says Frank McKenna, Anaergia director and chair of the company’s Governance Compensation and Nomination Committee. “One year ago, Andrew told the board that on his 80th birthday he would like to hand over the CEO position. We are proud to have found a truly capable person to take over from Andrew who will bring exceptional financial and strategic leadership skills to our company.”