Licovolt, an emerging leader in advanced battery solutions, today announced the appointment of Kenneth Hoffman as a Special Board Advisor. He brings decades of expertise across the battery materials value chain and he will be a key advisor as Licovolt accelerates its growth and innovation strategy within the dynamic energy storage sector.
With a distinguished career spanning investment management, global research leadership, and consulting, he previously served as Global Head of Battery Materials at McKinsey & Company. There he spearheaded strategy across lithium, nickel, manganese, copper, and gold supply chains and battery raw material ecosystems, conducting over 100 due diligences and has researched how AI server farms will drive global battery deployment.
He was previously Global Head of Bloomberg’s Metals & Mining Research and served as Portfolio Manager and Director of Research for major investment funds including Millennium Partners and Reservoir Capital.
Licovolt’s technology is a patented and novel chemical compound and associated process used to extract critical minerals from spent battery material and black mass at a fraction of the cost and emissions of current methods. This enables the infinite recycling of these materials and creates a global opportunity for OEMs who manufacture cathode active material (CAM), the stable supply of which is essential for the electric vehicle (EV) and electronics sectors.
Clint Zahmel, Executive Director, Licovolt, said, “Ken is one of the leading experts globally in the battery space and given his extensive background in industry, including while at McKinsey, our Board is excited to welcome him to Licovolt and we now look forward to working closely with him as we further develop our strategic R&D roadmap and prepare for a Series A funding round.”
Kenneth Hoffman said, “The world continues to struggle to find the right solution for the recycling of complex lithium-ion batteries. Licovolt is an emerging leader whose process will reduce costs, eliminate many waste by-products, as well as produce a revolutionary final product in layered lithiated pCAM product, perfect for new battery production. I am really excited to partner with Licovolt as it ramps up its production process.”
He also serves as a Director of The Battery Show, North America’s largest battery event and advises or sits on the Board of other companies including, NEO Battery Materials, Firebird Metals (ASX:FRB), Pure Lithium and RedCloud Securities.
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Licovolt is a University College Dublin (UCD) spin-out company supported by NovaUCD.
The Licovolt technology emerged after three years of intensive research, partly funded by Research Ireland, following a breakthrough chemical discovery led by Associate Professor Tony Keene, UCD School of Chemistry, in partnership with Associate Professor Steven Ferguson, UCD School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, the company’s co-founders.
Licovolt is backed by Davencor Holdings, the family office of John Corcoran.
Sync NI's Summer 2025 magazine celebrates women in tech across Ireland as we continue to encourage more women to enter the thriving sector and address the current gender imbalance. Read the Summer 2025 Sync NI Magazine online for free here.
