SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Oct. 01, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- H2C Safety Pipe, Inc. (H2CSP), developer of proprietary technologies for hydrogen transport and storage, announced that Robert M. Hertzberg, Martin L. Adams, and Janice Lin have joined the company’s board of directors. The appointments bring decades of experience in clean energy policy, public utilities, infrastructure development and operations, and hydrogen market formation as H2CSP moves to commercialize and deploy its patented Safety Pipe™ technology in the United States and internationally.
Hertzberg is a former Speaker of the California State Assembly and former Majority Leader of the California State Senate, the only person in California history to have held both positions. Across nearly three decades in public service, renewable energy, and public policy, he helped shape California’s clean energy and climate policies, including early efforts to establish the state’s Hydrogen Highway, before building renewable energy businesses with operations in the United States, Europe, and Asia. His work as a clean energy entrepreneur earned international recognition, including being named by The Guardian as one of the “50 People Who Could Save the Planet.” Hertzberg currently serves as a senior fellow at the Mission Possible Partnership, which works to decarbonize hard-to-abate industries, and on the board of First Public Hydrogen, a California public agency working to accelerate hydrogen market development.
“Public trust and attractive economics are indispensable to scaling hydrogen infrastructure. Ensuring that hydrogen pipelines are safe and leak-free will earn the confidence of local communities, serve our environmental goals, and save billions of dollars as we transition to sustainable energy distribution networks,” said Hertzberg. “From the time I first learned about H2C Safety Pipe™ technology, I was convinced it would be a key driver in achieving these objectives. I am excited to be joining the company and helping make that happen.”
Adams is the former General Manager and Chief Engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), the nation’s largest municipal utility. During a 40-year career at LADWP, he rose from entry-level engineer to lead an organization of more than 11,000 employees providing essential water and power services to more than four million people. Nearly half of his career was spent in system operations, including ten years directing the day-to-day operation and maintenance of Los Angeles’ water delivery system. As General Manager, Adams oversaw LADWP’s transition toward cleaner energy resources, including efforts to develop hydrogen as a fuel for reliable power generation. Adams also served on the White House National Infrastructure Advisory Council and serves as an advisor to the Japan Hydrogen Forum, bringing both national infrastructure and international hydrogen experience to H2CSP.
“Pipelines connecting production to end users are essential to delivering the economics and supply reliability that major industrial users and heavy duty fleet operators require to adopt hydrogen at scale,” said Adams. “H2C Safety Pipe™ technology addresses the critical challenge of doing that safely and economically, including by repurposing aging underground infrastructure. I’m excited to bring my experience operating critical utility infrastructure to the company as we work to build the distribution infrastructure that’s essential to industrial decarbonization worldwide.”
Lin is founder and CEO of the Green Hydrogen Coalition and a nationally recognized clean energy executive with more than three decades of experience helping emerging energy technologies achieve commercial scale. She held senior roles at PowerLight Corporation, a market leader in large scale solar power systems later acquired by SunPower, before co-founding the California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA). As Executive Director, she grew CESA to more than 90 member companies and helped establish energy storage as a mainstream resource in California. Lin subsequently founded the Green Hydrogen Coalition in 2019, where she works with government, utilities, technology innovators, hydrogen producers, major energy users, and other stakeholders in the United States and internationally, convening hydrogen leaders to advance the policies, demand, and commercial conditions necessary for a scalable hydrogen market.
“New energy markets do not scale through technology alone. They require producers, customers, infrastructure, policy, and capital to develop together,” said Lin. “H2CSP addresses a critical piece of that equation by providing a pathway to connect production with multiple users in a manner that labor, community groups, and environmental interest groups can support. I’ve worked with H2CSP and its parent company for five years and am excited to join H2CSP’s Board and help build the partnerships and market conditions necessary to commercialize its technology, which I believe will in turn be critical to the success of hydrogen producers and off-takers alike.”
H2CSP’s patented Safety Pipe™ technology encompasses three pipeline architectures designed for different applications and safety requirements, including dual-containment systems for new construction, systems incorporating a new hydrogen carrier pipe inside existing infrastructure, and a lower-cost design for applications where secondary containment is not required. The company’s dual-containment, pipe-in-pipe designs support continuous monitoring and automated controls to detect and mitigate leakage, while the composite hydrogen carrier pipe resists corrosion and hydrogen embrittlement. All three architectures can be deployed in new or existing rights-of-way, helping reduce cost, permitting delays, and disruption.
“Bob, Marty, and Janice bring complementary experience across the areas that are critical to commercializing H2CSP’s proprietary technology,” said Robert Shelton, president and CEO of H2C Safety Pipe. “Bob has worked for decades at the intersection of public policy, energy markets, and public trust; Marty knows what it takes to plan, build, and operate critical infrastructure at scale; and Janice has spent her career bringing together key stakeholders to create the market conditions necessary for emerging energy technologies to achieve commercial scale. Their combined expertise and relationships will be invaluable to H2CSP as we work with producers, off-takers, public agencies, and infrastructure partners to address what has become one of hydrogen’s critical missing links: the infrastructure needed to move hydrogen safely, reliably, and cost-effectively from where it’s produced to where it’s needed.”
The three appointments add to the H2CSP Board, which includes Chairman Rinaldo S. Brutoco, founder and CEO of H2 Clipper, which formed H2CSP as a subsidiary in December 2024. Brutoco is also founding president and CEO of the World Business Academy and a merchant banker with more than 40 years of experience ranging from start-up enterprises to public companies valued at more than $3 billion. The H2CSP Board also includes Ángel Gurría, who served three consecutive five-year terms as Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); previously served as Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Secretary of Finance, and is president of the Paris Peace Forum. Together, H2CSP’s eight-member Board of Directors brings experience spanning entrepreneurship, finance, public policy, utility operations, infrastructure development, environmental leadership, clean energy market formation, and international economic and diplomatic affairs.
About H2C Safety Pipe, Inc.
H2C Safety Pipe, Inc. is advancing safer, more cost-effective, and scalable hydrogen transport and storage through its proprietary Safety Pipe™ technology. The company has developed three pipeline architectures for different applications and safety requirements, employing combinations of composite hydrogen carrier pipe with secondary containment, continuous monitoring, advanced sensors, leakage detection, and automated control systems. H2CSP’s proprietary technologies also include digital systems supporting hydrogen provenance, regulatory compliance, and commercial transactions. These architectures can be deployed in new or existing rights-of-way and, where appropriate, within existing infrastructure, helping minimize hydrogen leakage and accelerate the development of safe, reliable, and economically viable hydrogen infrastructure. For more information, visit H2Csafetypipe.com.
Media Contact:
Lisa Murray
Trevi Communications, Inc.
lisa@trevicomm.com
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