Sila, a next-generation battery materials company, announced Abbey Omokhodion as the company’s new Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Omokhodion is a seasoned executive who has held CFO roles at Fortune 100 companies including Intel and General Electric. She joins Sila after her last role as the CFO for The Programmable Solutions group at Intel Corporation.
Ms. Omokhodion comes to Sila with a deep industrial and automotive background, and expertise in building and scaling businesses for sustained profitable growth. Prior to holding three roles and spending more than six years at Intel Corporation, including a rotation in Manufacturing Operations, Ms. Omokhodion was at GE for nearly 10 years where her last role was CFO for Strategic Accounts in GE Lighting. At GE, she built the first Lighting-as-a-Service business, driving new business models and expanding the business footprint and commercial effectiveness. She also held other senior Finance leadership roles at GE’s Transportation business including Financial Planning and Analysis leader, as well as managing domestic and international service deals. Prior to GE, she worked at Ford Motor Company for 8 years in Finance roles with increasing responsibility from Manufacturing, to Marketing and Sales, Treasury, and Product development.
“Sila is at an inflection point. We’re transitioning from an R&D organization to a leading manufacturing company, and Abbey brings valuable experience that will be instrumental as we continue this charge,” said Gene Berdichevsky, co-founder and CEO of Sila. “Her strong industrial background and track record of success at Ford, GE, and most recently Intel, is significant as we work to make the United States a leader in the clean energy revolution.”
“What drew me to Sila is its focus on impactful technology, integrity, and clean energy transformation through manufacturing leadership,” said Ms. Omokhodion. “I’m excited to jump in and build upon Sila’s success and its unwavering commitment to execute against two challenging initiatives: scientific innovation and scaling that innovation.”
As Sila moves into a rapid scale and industrialization phase, Ms. Omokhodion will support the ramp-up of Sila’s production capacity, including production at Sila Moses Lake, the company’s first auto-scale manufacturing plant in Washington state. Ms. Omokhodion will help drive the next phase of Sila’s journey through continued financial oversight, structure, and operational rigor in financial processes, and strategic organizational leadership.
Ms. Omokhodion is taking over the role from Warren DeSouza, the company’s first CFO of nearly six years. As a young company, Mr. DeSouza was key in helping Sila deliver on its R&D promises and enter the commercial market. With decades of experience, Mr. DeSouza brought a steady hand and strategic perspective to Sila, helping the company navigate and raise funding, legitimize operations, and attract other talented leaders.
“We are very fortunate to have had Warren as our financial steward for so long as we matured as a company. He was an invaluable part of our being able to effectively raise the capital needed to move from pilot production to commercial production and now, commence the build-out of our Moses Lake plant. His expertise and leadership has helped set us up for long-term success, and for that we are very grateful,” added Berdichevsky.
Mr. DeSouza will remain at Sila for the next month as Ms. Omokhodion gets up to speed and will remain as an advisor for some time to ensure a smooth transition.
