Former Tesla & Ford Supply Chain & Battery Executive Annie Liu joins Mangrove Lithium as Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer
[March 19, 2024 – Vancouver, Canada] Mangrove Lithium, the next generation lithium refining company, is thrilled to announce the appointment of Annie Liu as Chief Commercial & Strategy Officer. Annie brings over 20 years of executive and entrepreneurial experience to Mangrove.
In her prior role as Head of Supply Chain, Battery and Energy at Tesla, Annie developed and managed the company’s multi-billion dollar partnerships and sourcing portfolio. Annie’s leadership and execution-focus ultimately led to large scale agreements with industry stalwarts like Albemarle, Livent, and Ganfeng. Following this role, Annie also worked as an Executive Director at the Ford Motor Company, where she focused on securing the company’s battery supply chain for their Model E division.
“Mangrove’s breakthrough technology aims to deliver highest purity battery-grade lithium with an environmentally and socially responsible process as a result of less waste and fewer chemical inputs,” says Annie. “I am excited to lead Mangrove’s commercial growth and set a new global standard in lithium refining.”
Annie’s experience leading commercial teams and managing partnerships across the battery supply chain comes at a pivotal time for Mangrove, as the company begins construction of its first full-scale commercial plant in North America. Mangrove has identified a site and feedstock for this first independent lithium refining plant using their Clear-LiTM electrochemical technology and will be producing battery grade lithium in 2025. This North American plant will help bring refining out of China, where majority of lithium conversion currently takes place. This plant will empower a low carbon and cost-efficient domestic lithium supply chain.
“Annie’s unique blend of vision and customer-centricity will be instrumental in building upon Mangrove’s existing success and propelling us into the next phase of growth,” says Saad Dara, founder and CEO of Mangrove. “As a world-class leader with extensive expertise in the battery industry, Annie is well-equipped to accelerate Mangrove’s growth.”
Having proven out its technology at a commercial demonstration scale, Mangrove’s modular Clear-LiTM electrochemical technology will underpin its new facility and will be able to refine feedstock from various sources of lithium (including brines, hard-rock, and battery recycling). It is also expected to be a step-function improvement for the industry in terms of carbon footprint, and it will not generate any chemical waste, which is a typical burden for incumbent refining processes.
About Mangrove Lithium
Mangrove Lithium is commercializing a modular refining platform designed to convert any lithium feedstock directly into battery-grade lithium hydroxide and carbonate. Mangrove’s technology eliminates complex, costly, and environmentally harmful steps from conventional lithium processing, which enables the lowest cost production of battery-grade lithium needed for wide-scale electric vehicle adoption. Mangrove’s investors include Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures, BMW i Ventures, and the Business Development Bank of Canada. Visit www.mangrovelithium.com to learn more.
For media enquiries please reach out to:
Carl McBeath
carlmcbeath@mangrovelithium.com