Advisory Board

Govind Arora brings more than 20 years of experience in energy materials, the automotive industry, industrial automation, and the aerospace industry to his advisory position with Li-Cycle. Govind currently serves as a partner and co-founder of Blue Horizon Advisors and Blue Horizon Capital. Previously, he was Chief Commercial Officer for Albemarle corporation’s lithium business, the global leader in advanced lithium materials, as well as a leader within the energy storage value chain. Prior to Albemarle, he led several businesses to achieve high growth, serving as president of Stanley Black & Decker’s Latin American Group, Chief Financial Officer for Stanley Black & Decker’s global emerging markets business, and Chief Financial Officer for Honeywell’s process solutions business in Asia, based out of China.

Govind holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from California State University, Fullerton, and acquired his Executive MBA in International Business from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.

John Mitchell brings more than 30 years of experience in executive leadership roles in specialty chemicals, energy materials, utility infrastructure, and industrial gases to his advisory position with Li-Cycle. He is currently a partner and co-founder of Blue Horizon Advisors and Blue Horizon Capital, focused on the world’s transition to the new energy economy by supporting leading companies to scale and providing index-based investment products across the new energy economy thematic. Previously, John served as President of Lithium for the Albemarle corporation, where he guided Albemarle’s lithium division to a global market leading position. Prior to Albemarle, he served as Rockwood Lithium’s North American President, Environmental Management Corporation’s President, and Senior Advisor to Linde’s business in Africa and South America.

John holds his Bachelor of Science in Materials Engineering from Drexel University.

Ahmad Ghahreman has over 15 years of hydrometallurgical/wet chemistry experience. He has deep expertise in the advanced recovery of many of the constituents in lithium-ion batteries, gained in the context of primary resource mineral processing and hydrometallurgy. Ahmad has a Bachelor degree and a Master’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, and earned his Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC. Upon completing his Ph.D., Ahmad joined the Technology Centre of Barrick Gold Corp. in Vancouver, as an NSERC Industrial Research & Development (IRDF) Postdoctoral Fellow. He joined The Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining at Queen’s University as an Assistant Professor in January 2014.​

Dr. Yuan Gao is Vice-Chairman of the board of directors of Qinghai Taifeng Pulead Lithium-Energy Technology Co. Ltd. (Pulead) one of China’s leading lithium-ion battery cathode producers and a key player in the lithium-ion battery supply chain. Dr. Gao was previously President and Chief Executive Officer of Pulead and prior to joining Pulead in 2014, Dr. Gao held senior positions with Molycorp Inc. and FMC Corp.’s lithium division. Dr. Gao originally obtained his BSc from the University of Science and Technology of China, and his PhD in Physics from the University of British Columbia