Rock Tech Lithium adds to board of directors

Rock Tech Lithium Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, has appointed Esther Bahne to its board of directors. The company says Bahne will join the board effective March 11.  

According to a news release from Rock Tech, Esther will resign her position as chief marketing & strategy officer of Rock Tech to concentrate on the board of directors.   

Bahne was appointed as the company's chief marketing & strategy officer in October 2021. The company says she took on the role to reposition Rock Tech as a cleantech company and define the brand around ambitious sustainability goals. During this time, Rock Tech has successfully closed a large equity financing backing its plans to build Europe's largest lithium hydroxide plant and built up a strong team of employees and partners.  

"Esther brought on a strong strategic vision and is an expert in communication," said Dirk Harbecke, Rock Tech's Chairman. "Add to that her intimate knowledge of the automotive industry, and it is clear why we are pleased to see her join the team for the long-term."   

Esther has more than 16 years of experience in the car industry. Reporting directly to the board of BMW Group, she served as the global head of strategy and chief marketing officer at MINI after taking on the relaunch of the MINI brand in 2015. At Audi AG, where she started her career as the spokeswoman of the board, she set up the corporate sustainability strategy and ran the social innovation practice. Esther also founded the influential start-up accelerator URBAN-X, built a design center in New York City and steered the company as co-CEO.  

"We have achieved major milestones in record time," Bahne says. "Rock Tech Lithium is helping to future-proof our industry while spearheading low carbon, closed-loop industrial production. We are striking out on a new path and I am proud to help our strong team stay the course."