ITM Power (LON:ITM) has appointed Robert Pendlebury to its board as the representative of JCB Research Limited.
JCB Research took a 7.2% stake in the energy storage specialist in March, with another JCB-linked firm, Valebond, acquiring an additional 1.9% through the £4.9mln funding.
Pendlebury, 73, has worked in senior management positions at Ford Motor and JC Bamford Excavators.
Currently he is Visiting Professor in Engineering Design at Loughborough University and the Associate Engineering Director of the JCB Academy.
Roger Putnam, ITM Power’s chairman, said: "Pendlebury’s engineering experience with Ford and JCB means that that he will make an immediate and important contribution to the next phase of our growth as ITM expands its manufacturing capabilities."
Pendlebury added, "I believe that hydrogen has a vital role to play in delivering lower emissions, a cleaner environment and energy security.
ITM Power has developed an electrolyser that converts excess electricity into hydrogen and has installed three power-to-gas storage systems in Germany.