ReliOn gets new president

Spokane-based ReliOn Inc. announced Friday that Gary Flood has taken over as president and chief executive officer, replacing John Werderman.

Flood, 51, joined ReliOn in 2003 as the privately held company’s vice president of marketing and business development.

Before joining ReliOn (formerly called Avista Labs), Flood worked for Redmond, Wash.-based wireless company Metawave Communications and before that, Adaptive Telecom Inc., based in Round Rock, Texas.

Werderman was named ReliOn CEO in March 2004.

He decided to step down “to pursue other opportunities. He’s moving on,” said ReliOn spokeswoman Sandra Saathoff. She noted Werderman remains a shareholder of the company.

“He hasn’t communicated to us what he will be doing next,” Saathoff added.

Flood said in a press release that he’ll focus on marketing and sales activities as the young company continues developing and selling its hydrogen fuel cell products.

Saathoff said ReliOn’s current corporate focus is on the marketing and sales, after receiving significant investment from outside backers.

ReliOn landed $12.5 million in venture capital financing in 2003 and another $25 million in 2004.

“That’s where Gary excels and it made him a natural choice for the role of CEO at this point,” Saathoff said.

Fuel cells are a highly regarded, nonpolluting, alternative power source for corporations and other large organizations, including the U.S. Defense Department.

ReliOn has targeted commercial and industrial customers who would buy fuel cells to serve as backup systems in the 50-watt to five-kilowatt range.

The company is a former subsidiary of Avista Corp. that was spun off in August 2003.

Avista remains a minority shareholder in ReliOn, but the majority of the ownership belongs to several major venture capital firms, including Oak Investment Partners, Enterprise Partners and Chrysalix Energy Management.

ReliOn has projected reaching profitability later this year.

The company has about 50 workers, said Saathoff.