Geoffrey Ballard

Geoffrey E. H. Ballard is the Chair of General Hydrogen Corporation and Chair of the Canadian Hydrogen Association. He is the founder of BALLARD POWER SYSTEMS INC. Dr. Ballard serves on a number of boards and panels for the Canadian Government the British Columbia government, the California Air Boards and several universities in Canada and the United States. He serves on the Canadian Advisory Board for Energy Science and Technology. He is active in local community affairs. Prior to the development of BALLARD, Dr. Ballard spent 10 years with the United States Government. He was the Director of the Institute for Exploratory Research (IER) of the Army Electronics Command in New Jersey and then senior civilian of the Army Communications Command in Arizona. In 1974 he was appointed to the Federal Energy Office in Washington, D.C. as the Director of Research for the Office of Energy Conservation. In 1976, Dr. Ballard brought together and funded a technical team, Ballard Research Inc., to explore the development of high energy density, lithium battery systems. The battery development became Bluestar Battery Systems International Corp. listed on the Calgary Exchange and the fuel cell development culminated in the establishment of BALLARD POWER SYSTEMS, listed on Toronto and NASDAQ exchanges. Dr. Ballard was a visiting professor at Dartmouth College, 1964, participated in the National Academy of Sciences Woodshole Summer Studies, 1967, participated in the Defense Science Seminars of ARPA/DOD, 1966, and was Commissioner for Oil and Gas, State of Arizona, 1974-75. He received the US Army Meritorious Civilian Service Medal in 1969 and again in 1971 for innovative research management, and the Canadian Commemorative Medal in 1992. He is a Member of the Order of Canada. In 1996 he was honoured by Brock University with an Honorary Doctor of Laws for pioneering efforts in hydrogen fuel cell development. He received an Honorary Doctor of Science from University of Victoria and from Simon Fraser University in 1997, University du Quebec and Queen's University in 1999, LLD Concordia University 2001. Time magazine identified Dr. Ballard as a "Hero for the Planet" in the February 22, 1999 issue. He received the World Technology Award in Energy from the World Technology Network (WTN) in November 1999 and the Gothenberg International Environmental Prize from Sweden in December 2000. He was recognized as a 'Pioneer of Innovation' by the Vancouver Board of Trade. He won a second World Technology Award from WTN, this time for for Environment, in 2001 and in June 2002 he won the Discover Magazine Award for Energy. Dr. Ballard graduated from Queen's University, BSc. Eng. 1956, Washington University, PhD 63, Harvard University, AMP 73. He is a Registered Professional Engineer with numerous publications and patents to his credit.Ballard has been a member of the World Technology Network since 1999.