Press

Gene Berdichevsky is the Co-Founder & CEO of Sila. Prior to co-founding Sila, Gene was the seventh employee at Tesla Motors where he served as Principal Engineer on the Roadster battery, leading the development of the world’s first, safe, mass-produced, automotive lithium-ion battery system.

Gene holds two degrees from Stanford University; an MS in Engineering with a focus on energy and materials, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering. He has co-authored over 45 patents and academic publications. Gene has been named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list and the MIT Technology Review 35 Under 35.

Dr. Gleb Yushin is a Co-Founder & CTO of Sila. He is also a Professor of Materials Science at Georgia Institute of Technology and an Editor-in-Chief for Materials Today. Gleb has co-authored over 180 peer-reviewed publications, and over 210 US and international patents and patent applications. For his contributions to the development of energy storage materials Gleb has received numerous awards and was elected to be a Fellow of multiple organizations: the International Society of Electrochemistry, the Materials Research Society, the Electrochemical Society, the EU Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Inventors. Gleb was also recognized as one of the world’s most influential scientific minds.

Gleb holds BS and MS degrees in Physics from Polytechnic Institute and a PhD in Materials Science from North Carolina State University.

Ernst van Nierop is a Director of Strategy at Sila. In this role he leads Strategy Development & Planning, supported by market research and competitive intelligence. Prior to Sila, Ernst was VP of Scaling at GitLab where he built teams and organizational processes to help the company scale rapidly and globally. Ernst has also held the roles of Process Engineer with Akzo Nobel and VP of Engineering at C12 Energy. Ernst has a MSc degree in Applied Physics from the University of Twente, and a Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University.