Quoc Pham
Dr. Pham has over thirty years of experience in building companies and advancing technology development. He specializes in materials science, as well as chemical and electrochemical technologies relevant to energy generation, such as fuel cells, and energy storage solutions, including flow batteries, alkaline batteries, and power-to-X applications, like hydrogen generation and green ironmaking.
Most recently, Dr. Pham served as the Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of Electra, a startup focused on developing a groundbreaking innovative method to decarbonize steelmaking at low temperatures. He was responsible for establishing the company's vision and mission while creating the necessary technologies for the hydrometallurgical, electrochemical conversion of low-grade iron ore feedstocks into high-value iron metals, while also enabling efficient valorization of byproducts. His leadership was instrumental in securing $214 million in total funding, including a $186 million Series B round that was needed for the scale-up of the technology to a demonstration plant.
Previously, Dr. Pham was Vice President of Technology at Staq Energy, Inc., where he led the development of long-life, cost-effective alkaline batteries for energy storage from initial laboratory concepts to pre-commercial prototypes. At Staq Energy, he transformed Edison’s century-old innovation into a highly efficient iron electrode capable of thousands of cycles in a sealed environment requiring minimal maintenance.
Prior to his tenure at Staq Energy, Dr. Pham held the positions of Director of Materials and Electrochemical Technology and later Vice President of Technology at EnerVault, Inc., a startup developing grid-scale flow batteries based on iron-chrome chemistry. He spearheaded several critical projects, including high-performance electrolytes, rebalancing technology for battery capacity maintenance, methods to prevent catalyst destabilization, and novel battery stack designs, which led to a full-scale field demonstration of a 1 MWh battery.
Dr. Pham also held the role of Chief Technology Officer at Evogy, Inc., a startup developing tubular solid oxide fuel cells. Additionally, he served as the Program Element Leader at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, overseeing program development and providing technical guidance for various solid-state electrochemical device projects.
Dr. Pham earned his Bachelor of Science in Materials Science from Ecole Nationale Superieure de Chimie, Toulouse, France, and his Doctorate in Solid State Chemistry from the University of Caen, France.
