Natron Energy Announces Appointment of Wendell Brooks as Chief Executive Officer
Founder Colin Wessells to serve as Chief Technology and Product Officer
SANTA CLARA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Natron Energy, Inc. (“Natron” or “the Company”), a global leader in sodium-ion battery technology, today announced the appointment of Wendell Brooks as Chief Executive Officer. This appointment follows a transitional period during which Mr. Brooks served as Co-CEO along with Founder Colin Wessells, who will transition to the role of Chief Technology and Product Officer.
“I am honored to assume business leadership as Natron moves to fulfill the strong demand for our sodium-ion battery product,” said Wendell Brooks, Chief Executive Officer, Natron Energy. “Colin and I have a strong partnership and we are excited to bring new focus to customers and product development respectively. In 2024, we opened the first commercial-scale sodium-ion manufacturing facility in Holland, Michigan, we delivered proof of concept batteries for data center and artificial intelligence customers, and we announced plans for a giga-scale manufacturing facility in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. In 2025, we look forward to building on that momentum and delivering commercial-scale product to our customers.”
Wendell Brooks brings more than 30 years of experience leading emerging growth companies in the technology sector to his role with Natron Energy, having most recently served as President of Intel Capital from 2014 through 2020. In his role with Intel Capital, Brooks led a $4.5 billion venture portfolio, Intel’s internal new business incubation efforts, and Intel’s M&A group. He also served as a senior vice president at Intel, sitting on the twelve-member executive leadership team for the company. Prior to his time at Intel, Brooks was a partner at Allen & Company from 2007-2014, responsible for mergers and acquisition advisory work as well as early-stage capital raising in the technology and media industries. Wendell was a Managing Director and head of Salomon Smith Barney/Citigroup’s European TMT group prior to joining Allen & Company. Brooks has served on the boards of SambaNova Systems, Xsight Labs and Joby Aviation.
He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BS in Industrial & Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan.
“I am proud to welcome Wendell Brooks to Natron as our new CEO,” said Colin Wessells, Chief Technology and Product Officer, Natron Energy. “Over the past several months, Wendell and I have built a terrific partnership. 2025 will mark a critical year in Natron’s growth curve, and there is no better person than Wendell to lead Natron forward. I look forward to supporting Wendell and the rest of our Natron team as we redefine industrial power and grid energy storage with transformative sodium-ion battery products.”
Natron Founder Colin Wessells will assume the role of Chief Product Officer, in which he will be responsible for Natron’s success in developing the technology behind the Company’s industry-leading sodium-ion products and solutions. In this new role, Colin will leverage his visionary leadership and deep expertise in sodium-ion battery technology to drive the continued innovation of Natron’s product portfolio. Colin co-founded Natron in 2012 with two advisors as a spin out of his PhD thesis in the materials science department at Stanford University. Over the past twelve years, he has built Natron’s team while leading the company’s capital raises. Colin is a co-inventor on over forty issued patents related to Natron’s core technology and is a co-author of over twenty peer reviewed papers. Wessells holds PhD, MS, and BS degrees from Stanford in materials science and engineering.
Natron became the first company in the U.S. to achieve commercial-scale production of sodium-ion batteries in April 2024 at their Holland, Michigan facility, and most recently announced plans for a $1.4 billion gigawatt-scale sodium-ion manufacturing facility in North Carolina. The Company is focused on delivering its technology to the industrial data center market to address the energy storage needs and 24/7 power required to support the explosive growth of Artificial Intelligence. Beyond data centers, Natron aims to transform the way businesses use industrial power across a wide range of end markets, including industrial, EV fast charging, and utility, among others.
About Natron Energy
Natron Energy manufactures sodium-ion battery products based on a unique and patented Prussian blue electrode chemistry for a wide variety of industrial power applications ranging from critical backup power systems for AI data centers to EV fast charging and system hybridization. Natron’s mission is to transform critical power, industrial and grid energy storage markets by providing customers with batteries that offer higher power density, faster recharge, and a significantly longer cycle life than incumbent technologies. Natron’s safe, sustainable products are UL 1973 listed, are not susceptible to thermal runaway, and do not use conflict minerals. Learn more about Natron and its sodium-ion technology at Natron.energy.
Contacts
Natron Energy
Natron@icrinc.com
