Dearman, the clean cold technology company, has announced the appointment of Allan Gray as its new chief financial officer.

This marks the second senior appointment at Dearman in as many months, and highlights the management’s commitment to broadening the business’s commercial scope.

Mr Gray brings over 30 years of senior global experience in commercial management and consultancy, supporting a number of early-stage emerging technology businesses in defining and achieving their strategic goals. Mr Gray assumes his new role as Dearman moves into the next phase of its rapid growth.

He joins Dearman following two years as chief executive of Aquapurum Water, delivering drinking water and water treatment in India through a partner-manufactured, ground-breaking water purification technology. Prior to this, his recent roles include that of commercial director at Essential Energy India, where he redefined the company’s market entry strategy and built its commercial team, raising revenues from zero to over £100 million.

Dearman is developing a suite of high efficiency, zero emission technologies for the transport, logistics and built environment sectors. At the heart of its portfolio is the Dearman Engine, a revolutionary piston technology which uses the expansion of liquid nitrogen to create clean cold and power. The first application of the Dearman Engine is a zero-emission transport refrigeration unit, which is currently in operation with a major retailer in the UK and is about to begin international deployment.

Following Mr Gray’s appointment, Dearman will continue to develop its commercial capabilities, delivering cutting edge cold technology across a range of industrial applications, including a liquid-air-diesel hybrid engine for buses and HGVs, and a zero-emission back-up power and cooling system for the built environment.

Commenting on his new role, Mr Gray said: “Dearman’s pioneering, zero-emission transport refrigeration unit has clear potential to make a significant, global impact on the increasingly important problems of air quality, climate change and resource scarcity. It’s an exciting time to join an extremely talented team at Dearman and I look forward to supporting the company as it tackles the next stage of its growth.”

“Air pollution, climate change and resource scarcity have climbed the international commercial agenda at pace, and finding solutions to tackle these issues is more important now than ever before. Dearman can help companies and countries alike to tackle the challenges they face and I am delighted to be able to play an important part in that project.”

Chair of the Board, Katherine Priestley, added: “We are delighted to welcome Allan Gray as our latest executive appointment. Dearman is at a critical stage in its development, as we strive to achieve our vision of delivering widespread commercial use of clean and sustainable cold energy across a wide range of applications. Allan brings with him a wealth of experience to help us achieve that.”

Mr Gray will join a strong and growing management team at Dearman, following the appointment of Scott Mac Meekin as chief executive in May 2017. Founder Toby Peters continues his role as strategic senior counsel, while Michael Ayres remains as deputy chief executive and the rest of the management team also remains unchanged.