CEO & Director
Christopher Sorrells has served as our Chief Executive Officer since our inception and currently is Chairman of the Board for Spring Valley II and III. Previously, Mr. Sorrells served as the CEO and a director of Spring Valley I until the closing of the NuScale merger in May 2022 at which time he began serving as a member of the board of directors of NuScale Power (NYSE: SMR). Mr. Sorrells has been an investor, operator, advisor, and board member in the Natural Resources and Decarbonization industries for over 30 years. Mr. Sorrells served as Lead Director and Chairman of the compensation committee for Renewable Energy Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: REGI) until the completion of its merger with Chevron Corporation for $3.1 billion in June 2022, having previously served as Vice Chairman of its board and led the $100 million financing in 2006 to create the company, ultimately witnessing revenues increase from approximately $85 million in 2008 to over $3.0 billion in 2021, via organic growth and an aggressive acquisition strategy. In addition, the stock price for REGI appreciated significantly following its initial public offering in January 2012 of $10 per share to the $61.50 acquisition price paid by Chevron.
Previously, Mr. Sorrells served as a Managing Director and then as an Operating Partner of NGP Energy Technology Partners (“NGP ETP”), an affiliate of Natural Gas Partners (“NGP”), a leading energy private equity fund with $25 billion of capital commitments, which he helped grow into one of the most successful Decarbonization-focused private equity funds. Mr. Sorrells and/or his former firms including NGP ETP have invested in over 30 Natural Resource and Decarbonization platforms in a broad range of companies across those industries, including Renewable Energy Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: REGI), Power- One, Inc. (formerly Nasdaq: PWER), Caminus Corporation (formerly Nasdaq: CAMZ), and Waste Resource Management, Inc. (sold to Ridgewood Infrastructure), and others. Mr. Sorrells has extensive board experience serving on 13 boards including 5 public companies within our target markets.
As an operator, Mr. Sorrells has held a variety of senior executive leadership roles at Natural Resource and Decarbonization-focused companies including serving as Chief Operating Officer and Director of GSE Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: GVP). Mr. Sorrells started his career in the energy, power and decarbonization industries as an investment banker at Salomon Smith Barney in 1996 and later at Banc of America Securities LLC where he created one of the first decarbonization-focused investment banking teams in 2000. Mr. Sorrells received his Master of Accounting from the University of Southern California, an M.B.A. from The College of William and Mary and a B.A. from Washington and Lee University.