ZT

Failed

Zimmer Energy Transition Acquisition Corp.

Raised
$300M
CIK
1849408
SPAC Ticker
ZTAQU
Focus
Energy, Renewable Energy, Sustainability, Industrial, Infrastructure
External link: SEC Filings

SPAC Team

Leadership

Stuart J. Zimmer serves as our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board.

Mr. Zimmer has served as the Portfolio Manager and Chief Executive Officer of Zimmer, which is the investment manager of ZP Utility Fund, L.P., ZP Offshore Utility Fund, Ltd. and the Zimmer Entity (collectively, the “Utility Fund”) since Zimmer’s inception in 2012. From 1997 – 2012 Mr. Zimmer served as Portfolio Manager to the predecessor investment manager of the Utility Fund. In 1991, he joined Steinhardt Partners, whose Founder and Managing Partner, Michael Steinhardt, is generally recognized as an influential pioneer in the hedge fund industry. At Steinhardt, Mr. Zimmer was a research analyst with a focus on energy investments, including electric and gas utilities. His experience at Steinhardt also included trading of equities, fixed income, options, currencies, and derivatives. In 1993, Mr. Zimmer left Steinhardt Partners to start a utility hedge fund sponsored by Commodities Corp., where he was responsible for conducting fundamental research on electric and gas utilities. Mr. Zimmer graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College with Honors in Mathematics.

We believe Mr. Zimmer’s extensive experience as a portfolio manager of energy and infrastructure companies and expertise in analyzing companies and opportunities regardless of industry qualify him to serve on our board of directors.

Jonathan Cohen serves as our Chief Financial Officer and director.

Mr. Cohen has over 23 years of experience in the finance industry and has spent the last 13 years covering U.S. utilities, independent power producers, renewable energy and clean technology companies. Mr. Cohen is head of the Clean Energy Group at Zimmer. Prior to joining Zimmer, from January 2018 to July 2019, Mr. Cohen was the Chief Financial Officer at Lancium, a technology company that designs software and solutions for responsive loads. He previously served as an Investment Analyst at Millennium Partners, a global investment management firm, from September 2014 to November 2017, and as an Analyst at ISI Group, LLC from 2011 to 2014. Prior to that time, he was an Analyst at Morgan Stanley from June 2009 to September 2011. Mr. Cohen has also held Investment Banking and Equity Research positions at Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Lazard, and Citi, both in the U.S. and in Australia. Mr. Cohen holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

We believe Mr. Cohen’s strong background in finance and experience analyzing power markets and renewable energy and clean-technology companies qualify him to serve on our board of directors.

William F. Sloan serves as our President.

Mr. Sloan joined Zimmer in 2017 as a Managing Director and Head of M&A, Strategy and Corporate Development. He is currently a board member of Carrick Holdings, a non-life legacy reinsurance company, and Sequentis Reinsurance LTD, a class 3A Bermuda reinsurance company. Prior to joining Zimmer, Mr. Sloan was a senior investment banker with JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he advised corporate clients on mergers, acquisitions, new business formations and capital raising. Mr. Sloan began his career in public accounting at Ernst & Young and received his CPA designation in the State of Virginia. Mr. Sloan graduated from the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University with a BSM in Finance and Accounting.

Kimberly M. Blank is a nominee for our board of directors.

Ms. Blank has over fifteen years of experience as a management consultant, serving clients in a variety of industries including media, financial services, education, and private equity. Since 2006, she has worked as an Alumni Consultant for McKinsey & Company, working for nonprofit institutions and on internal projects. Ms. Blank has also worked as a private equity investor at E.M. Warburg Pincus and Co. She currently serves as the Chairperson of the Education Committee of the Representative Town Meeting (“RTM”) for Greenwich, Connecticut, and has been an elected representative to the RTM since 2008. An active community volunteer, Ms. Blank has served on the boards of multiple Greenwich PTAs, the Greenwich Chapter of the American Red Cross, Families for Greenwich Hospital, the Red Ribbon Foundation, and the Putnam Indian Field School. She has also worked as a fundraising volunteer for Harvard College, PEN America, and Carnegie Hall. Ms. Blank has an A.B. summa cum laude from Harvard College and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

We believe Ms. Blank’s experience as a management consultant across various industries qualifies her to serve on our board of directors.

Paul J. Evanson is a nominee for our board of directors.

Mr. Evanson has spent almost his entire career as an executive in the corporate world, primarily in the electric utility industry. From March 2013 to January 2018, Mr. Evanson served on the board of directors of American Water Works Company, Inc., including as the chair of the compensation committee of such board of directors. From 2003 to 2011, Mr. Evanson served as Chief Executive Officer, President and Chair of Allegheny Energy, Inc. (AYE), a regulated utility that served four mid-Atlantic states and had an unregulated generating company. From 1992 to 2003, Mr. Evanson served as President of Florida Power and Light, the largest utility in the state of Florida, and as a member of the board of directors of its public holding company, now known as NextEra. During this time, Mr. Evanson was a trustee of the North American Electricity Reliability Council, which was responsible for the reliability of the entire U.S. electric network and as Chair of the Florida Reliability Coordinating Council, which was responsible for the reliability of the Florida network. Mr. Evanson has a B.B.A. degree, magna cum laude, from St. John’s University, a J.D. degree, cum laude, from Columbia Law School, and an LL.M. degree from New York University School of Law. He was also awarded an honorary D.C.S. degree from St. John’s University.

We believe Mr. Evanson’s extensive experience serving on the boards of directors of public companies in the electrical power industry, particularly as an independent director, qualifies him to serve on our board of directors.

Benjamin M. Fink is a nominee for our board of directors.

Mr. Fink served as Executive Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation from November 2018 until August 2019. Prior to that time, Mr. Fink served as Senior Vice President beginning in February 2017 and previously served as Vice President, Finance and Assistant Treasurer since May 2013, having joined Anadarko in 2007. During his time at Anadarko, Mr. Fink also served as Chairman of the Board of the general partner of Western Gas Equity Partners, LP and the general partner of Western Gas Holdings, LP from November 2018 until August 2019. He served as President of the general partner of Western Gas Equity Partners, LP and the general partner of Western Gas Holdings, LP from May 2017 to November 2018 and as Chief Executive Officer from May 2017 to December 2018. In addition, he served as a director of the general partner of Western Gas Equity Partners, LP and the general partner of Western Gas Holdings, LP from February 2017 to August 2019. He previously served as President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of the general partner of Western Gas Equity Partners, LP and the general partner of Western Gas Holdings, LP from February 2017 to May 2017, and as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the general partner of Western Gas Equity Partners, LP from its formation in September 2012 to February 2017, and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the general partner of Western Gas Holdings, LP since May 2009. Prior to joining Anadarko, Mr. Fink served as an independent financial consultant to the company in its former Beijing, China, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, offices. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

We believe Mr. Fink’s status as a qualified financial expert and extensive experience as a financial manager of large, public companies qualify him to serve on our board of directors.

C. John Wilder will be our independent non-voting board observer.

C. John Wilder has served as the Executive Chairperson, Non-Independent Director, and Chief Executive Officer of Bluescape Opportunities Acquisition Corp. since July 2020. Mr. Wilder is also the Executive Chairperson and member of the Investment Committee of three investment vehicles: (i) Bluescape Resources; (ii) Parallel Resource Partners; (iii) and Bluescape Energy Partners. Mr. Wilder serves as Chairperson of the Board and director on several portfolio companies. Mr. Wilder is the Executive Chairman of Bluescape, founded in 2007 as an alternative investment firm that leverages its private capital, global network, and deep domain expertise to deliver differentiated long-term investment performance in the oil and gas, energy infrastructure, power, and utilities with over $2.7 billion under management as of December 31, 2020. Mr. Wilder started in the energy business in Texas almost 40 years ago with the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, where he rose to the position of Chief Executive Officer of Shell Capital in London, before serving as Chief Financial Officer of Entergy and Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of TXU Corp. For his achievements at TXU, the Harvard Business Review named Mr. Wilder twice as one of the Best-Performing CEOs in the World, ranking 24th among 2,000 CEOs from publicly traded companies in 33 countries in 2010, and 74th among 3,143 CEOs from publicly traded companies in 50+ countries in 2013. No other United States power company executive was honored in either of these rankings. During Mr. Wilder’s leadership, TXU delivered 65% annualized returns to shareholders and ranked 5th best among the S&P 500. In addition, Mr. Wilder was named to Ten Best CEOs in America by Institutional Investor in 2004 and was named Best CEO and CFO in the Electric Power Sector in multiple years by Institutional Investor. Mr. Wilder earned a Master’s in Business Administration from The University of Texas, and he graduated magna cum laude from Southeast Missouri State University with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration, also receiving the university’s Distinguished Alumni Award. Mr. Wilder is on the advisory boards of the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin and the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University. He is a former advisory board member of the Global Energy Management Institute, University of Houston, and the Energy Management and Innovation Center, University of Texas. Mr. Wilder is also Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Texas Health Resources and is a past member of the National Petroleum Council, a U.S. Secretary of Energy appointment.