USA: Deepwater Wind Announces Additions to Leadership Team

Deepwater Wind has announced additions to its leadership team as the company moves toward construction of its path-breaking Block Island Wind Farm and advances its plans for utility-scale offshore wind farms to power states along the East Coast.

Jeffrey Grybowski, who has led Deepwater Wind’s regulatory and business strategy as Chief Administrative Officer, has been named Chief Executive Officer. Grybowski has been responsible for the successful development of Deepwater Wind’s Block Island Wind Farm and has helped to guide the company’s overall business strategy since 2008.

Grybowski succeeds William M. Moore, who served as CEO from 2009 to 2012. Moore will join the company’s Board of Directors, where he will continue to provide strategic advice to the company’s management.

The company’s President, Chris van Beek, remains in his role, managing the construction and operational aspects of the company’s strategy. Paul Gaynor, a member of Deepwater Wind’s Board of Directors, has been elected Chairman of the Board of Directors. Gaynor is the Chief Executive Officer of First Wind, an investor in Deepwater Wind and one of the most successful developers and operators of wind energy facilities in the United States. Gaynor will continue to serve as CEO of First Wind.

“We’re thrilled that Chris, Jeff and Paul will lead Deepwater Wind as we move toward construction of the Block Island Wind Farm and take our larger, utility-scale projects to the next level of development in the coming year,” said Deepwater Wind principal owner Bryan Martin, Managing Director of D.E. Shaw Group. “Our momentum remains strong, and we’re grateful for all we’ve accomplished under Bill’s leadership. He remains one of the country’s wind-energy pioneers, and we welcome him to the Board of Directors.”

“We are very focused on building on the success of the Block Island Wind Farm as a stepping stone to building larger utility-scale projects, especially for New York and New England,” Grybowski said.

“Offshore wind represents the most abundant renewable resource for the coastal communities in the Northeast, and it will be a critical element of the energy future of states like Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey,” Gaynor said. “Deepwater Wind is setting the pace in this emerging U.S. industry.”

Grybowski, a Rhode Island native, has a background in corporate law, having practiced as a partner at Hinckley, Allen & Snyder in Providence, Rhode Island and previously at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City. He has also served as Chief of Staff to the Governor of the State of Rhode Island and is a graduate of Brown University and the University of North Carolina School of Law.

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Press release, November 15, 2012; Image: Deepwater Wind