Ørsted announced today that David Hardy, Group EVP and CEO Americas, has decided to leave the company to join GE Vernova as Chief Commercial Officer, Wind. He will step down from his position effective November 30.
The search for a successor Region Americas CEO is well underway. In the interim period, Ørsted's Chief Commercial Officer and Deputy CEO, Rasmus Errboe, will guide and support the experienced senior leadership team in the U.S. market.
Mads Nipper, Group CEO, says, “I want to thank David for his five years with Ørsted. During his time, he’s been a trusted voice within our Group leadership and built our Region Americas strategic capabilities as a multi-technology renewable energy company. Outside of Ørsted, he is a leading voice for the growing U.S. offshore industry, all positively contributing to our completion of America's first commercial scale offshore wind farm, and other historic milestones for Ørsted and the U.S. renewables market overall. I am very happy the renewable energy industry will continue to benefit from his leadership and expertise in his next chapter."
David began at Ørsted in March 2020. He integrated the U.S. business following multiple strategic acquisitions, and added and grew core capabilities in wind, solar and storage to nearly 11 GW in development, construction or operation. Under his leadership, the company built and began operations at America's first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, South Fork Wind, and took final investment decisions and began construction on Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind, both large commercial scale offshore wind projects off the coast of the Northeast US. These three U.S. offshore wind projects combine for 1,760 MW and will deliver American energy for more than 1 million homes and businesses in New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
David prioritized standing up a new U.S. supply chain and workforce development. Ørsted partnered with Kiewit to build the first American-made offshore wind substation in Texas and with Edison Chouest Offshore to construct the first American-made service operations vessel in Louisiana. These two examples demonstrate the geographic reach of the offshore wind energy industry and support a much-needed expanded offshore wind global supply chain into the U.S. In 2022, Ørsted and North America's Building Trades Unions partnered to build offshore wind projects with labor by creating and signing the National Offshore Wind Agreement, the first-of-its-kind in the U.S., which has set the direction for the industry.
"I'm grateful for the opportunities I've had with Ørsted and especially the time I've spent with a very talented and strategic team across the United States," Hardy says. "Together, we have measurably advanced a new and critical industry with many milestones, ranging from completing South Fork Wind to building new vessels and developing workforce programs that will support the industry for decades. Over the last five years, we’ve established and grown our U.S. onshore portfolio, as well. It now has about 6.5 gigawatts in construction or operation, including Ørsted’s largest energy storage asset at our Eleven Mile project in Arizona. Ørsted continues to have a bright future, and I will definitely miss the talented Ørsted team. I am confident that in my new role we will find ways to continue working together to move this industry forward.”
Before joining Ørsted, David held senior executive and international roles at Senvion, Vestas and GE. David will join GE Vernova on January 6, 2025.
