LONDON — Fuel-cell developer, Bac2, has added to its board as it strengthens the management team following a recently-completed À£500,000 investment round.

James Lewis joins Bac2 (Southampton, England) as chairman and director of sales and marketing, and Michael Burrow as non-executive director. Both are also investors in the company.

Lewis (left) is an electronics engineer and entrepreneur who has worked in Europe and the U.S. He co-founded Oxford Semiconductor in 1992 and headed up its sales and marketing activities, as it became a global business with 150 employees. After returning to the U.K. from the U.S. Lewis formed Parallaxis to apply his experience and knowledge in supporting start-up and small hi-tech companies to realize their full potential.

Burrow (right) is a former investment banker with 25 years' experience in corporate finance, specializing in M&A, IPOs, equity issues and other capital markets transactions. Most recently, he was managing director at Lehman Brothers in London with overall responsibility for the bank's strategic relationships with clients. Prior to this, Burrow was financial adviser to the Philippines for the development of major industrial projects, structural engineer with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in Chicago and software developer for Ove Arup & Partners in London.

"We are very fortunate to have the support of both James and Michael as we move into the commercialization phase of our business. The fact that these highly experienced individuals have also chosen to invest in Bac2 speaks volumes for their belief in our ability to produce technically and commercially attractive components for the emerging fuel cell market, said Bac2's CEO, Mike Stannard.

Bac2 is the developer of ElectroPhen, an electrically conductive polymer used to produce bi-polar plates for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cells.