Monday, October 29, 2007

All-Stars

Energy: Powered up by the promise of battery tech

By Jay Rizoli

David Vieau is power-hungry. So is his company. And in an overheated world scrambling for clean, renewable energy sources, that's a good thing.

Vieau is president and CEO of A123Systems Inc., a Watertown developer of lithium-ion batteries based on technology developed at MIT. The six-year-old company set out to make a better battery, says co-founder and chief scientist Yet-Ming Chiang, and now provides a smaller, lighter, higher-power and longer-life power source for a variety of products. With Vieau in the top position, the company's sights are set on bigger things -- automotive and aviation, which weren't even on the table at the outset of the company.

"The vision was to create an advanced battery for portable applications and transportation, and we said at the time, 'We're going to shake up this space,'" said Vieau, who joined A123Systems in 2002.

A native of Rochester, N.Y., Vieau graduated from Syracuse University as a mechanical/aerospace engineer and, wanting to work on cryogenic systems in an aerospace environment, went first to Texas Instruments Inc., where he worked on forward-looking infrared (FLIR) systems for the military. Later he worked on commercial controls before moving to product marketing and then sales of industrial automation control systems.

Vieau later founded and served as president of Poly-Flex Circuits Inc., a Rhode Island-based designer and producer of flexible circuit assemblies. But his shining moment prior to A123Systems, he says, was at another Ocean State firm, American Power Conversion Corp., which became a $1.5 billion player in power protection for PCs and information systems and employed 6,000 worldwide.

"I've been CEO of a couple of startups but had a really good career experience as VP of marketing at American Power Conversion, during which (time) we grew the company from $40 million to $1.5 billion in 10 years," he said.

Around that time, MIT professor Chiang, business development vice president Ric Fulop and R&D vice president Bart Riley teamed up to build on the MIT research and commercialize the nanophosphate battery technology it employs now. Vieau, whom Riley knew through a friend, came aboard the following year as chief executive.

A123Systems worked initially on batteries for rechargeable power tools. In the ensuing years, A123Systems has put in its chairman's seat Sycamore Networks Inc. founder Gururaj "Desh" Deshpande -- whom Vieau cites as an outstanding influence -- and raised $100 million in funding.

It now has signed deals to develop a variety of hybrid electric vehicle batteries and systems, including the battery cell for the Chevy Volt electric car, and with Cessna Aircraft Co. to supply batteries for its Citation fleet of aircraft.

"It's a big step from portable electronics to power tools, and it's another big step to automotive applications," Chiang said.

Vieau says he can't wait for that next step.

"What we're doing here, I think socially has a much greater impact (than APC), but I'll feel better when we have that kind of financial return," he said. "This is much more game-changing and has more impact overall, both socially and environmentally. And it's still the middle of the game."

Jay Rizoli is a freelance writer in Franklin.