Smith to serve as Vast Energy CFO

On Aug. 22, renewable energy company Vast announced that it has tabbed Marshall D. “Mark” Smith as its new chief financial officer (CFO). His official first day on the job is slated for Sept. 18. 

“We are excited to welcome Mark to our executive team. He will be critical to our success as we globally scale our innovative CSP technology as a public company,” said Craig Wood, CEO of Vast, according to a press release. "Mark is a true energy industry veteran with deep experience as CFO of public and private equity-funded energy companies. He is the ideal addition to our team and will play a key role in driving international deployment of Vast’s modular CSP v3.0 technology.” 

According to the press release, Businesswire reports that Smith alternates between Vast’s Australian headquarters in Sydney and Houston and possesses over 30 years of industry experience. He comes to Vast from a similar position with a Texas-based privately held oil and gas company. 

Per Smith’s LinkedIn page, he has been an executive with California Resources Corporation, Occidental Petroleum, Ultra Petroleum, and J.M. Huber Energy in addition to working as a managing director of investment banking at Nesbitt Burns Securities, which is presently known as BMO Capital Markets. He holds a master of business administration (MBA) degree from Oklahoma City University (OCU) and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma (OU).

“It’s an honor to be joining the world-class team at Vast to accelerate its promising CSP technology that solves one of energy’s most enduring challenges – intermittency,” said Smith, according to the press release. “I look forward to working with the team to develop its pipeline of Australian, US, and international projects to bring low-cost, zero carbon, dispatchable energy to the world.” 

The press release notes that earlier this year Vast entered into a business combination agreement with Nabors Energy Transition, with the combined entity christened as Vast and listed as VSTE on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) while maintaining its headquarters in Australia.