respected leader Joins Florida Hydrogen Initiative as Executive Director

--Edwin A. Levine takes leadership role to build Florida’s hydrogen economy--

TALLAHASSEE- The Florida Hydrogen Initiative (FHI) announced today the selection of Edwin A. Levine as Executive Director of the Initiative. The Florida Hydrogen Initiative is a non-profit organization incorporated under the laws of the State of Florida to move Florida to the forefront of the nation’s hydrogen economy. The Florida Hydrogen Initiative uses its resources to aid the development of a robust Florida-based hydrogen industry thereby establishing Florida as the cornerstone of a southeastern hydrogen hub. The nonprofit corporation is comprised of public leaders, university researchers, citizens, and industry representatives.

Mr. Levine served for three years as the Director the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Planning and Policy and as the US Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Administrator of the Office of Environmental Information and as the EPA’s Chief Information Officer. Prior to his duties with EPA, Mr. Levine served in a series of IT (information technology) positions in the executive and legislative branches of Florida and other state governments as well as in the private sector. In these positions, Mr. Levine was responsible for the development of information technology policy, strategic planning, and budgeting processes used by the executive branch agencies and for legislative policy development and oversight. Mr. Levine served as the Regional Director for the EDS (Electronic Data Systems) Corporation where he was responsible for the coordination, development, and communication of EDS' positions on legislative policy in seven western states. Mr. Levine also served as Senior Policy Coordinator in the Office of Financial Management in the state of Washington.

Mr. Levine served as Vice-Chair for the National Conference of State Legislatures Committee on Access to Information. In addition, Mr. Levine received the Charles McCarthy Award for Leadership in Information Services. Mr. Levine received his B.S. and an M.S. in Political Science from Florida State University.

“Ed is a remarkably talented individual,” said Stephen Adams, Chairman of the FHI Board of Directors, “we are extremely fortunate to have an executive of Ed’s caliber and vision as our Executive Director.”

As the FHI Executive Director, Mr. Levine will be responsible for the provision of day-to-day oversight and assistance to grant recipients in the completion and reporting of their projects, preparing and providing reports and other required materials to the US Department of Energy (DOE), providing staffing to the Board of Directors, and preparing for the Board’s approval all grant documentation required. He will also be responsible for the development and implementation of the FHI communication strategy for the dissemination of the results of grant projects and for working with the DOE in support of the National Hydrogen Program.

For more information, visit http://www.h2florida.org.