LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Craig Bouchard is stepping step down as the leader of Braidy Industries at a time when the Kentucky company is still short of the $1.7 billion it needs to start building a long-anticipated and much-heralded aluminum plant outside Ashland.
In a news release, Braidy Industries said efforts to obtain financing for the project continue even as Bouchard relinquishes his dual role as CEO and chairman of the company’s board. Bouchard will remain on the board.
Braidy Industries President Tom Modrowski has been named interim CEO. Board member and investor Charles Price, a Louisville businessman, will take over as chairman of the board, the company said in the news release. The company did not say when the changes take effect.
RELATED: Braidy Industries says it 'removed' CEO Craig Bouchard
“The board is grateful to Craig for his vision, energy and dedication to the Kentucky operation. Tom and the board will continue to focus our efforts on completing fundraising and planning for construction of the Ashland mill,” Price was quoted as saying in the news release.
While Braidy Industries said planning and fundraising work for the mill “continues unabated,” the surprise development may raise fresh doubts about the future of the project.
Bouchard, 66, has been synonymous with Braidy Industries. He started the company, which is named after one of his daughters, and has referred to it as “my” company.
In an interview with WDRB in November, Bouchard said Braidy Industries was the company he wanted to build at his previous firm, Real Industry, before he decided to strike out on his own and complete the vision.
He has said the company has a broader purpose of “rebuilding Appalachia” with its promised 600 factory jobs paying at least $65,000 per year.
Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin bought into the vision and provided Braidy Industries a $15 million investment using taxpayer money in 2017, an unorthodox move for a conservative Republican.
The state House and Senate also approved the $15 million bond issue for the Braidy Industries without a dissenting vote. At the time, the project was kept under wraps and lawmakers knew only that they were directing the money toward an economic development project in eastern Kentucky.
"I regret that vote and will never take another vote to give Kentucky’s money away without knowing where it’s going," Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Middletown, said at a Greater Louisville Inc. last year.
The company raised about $5 million from investors besides Kentucky in its initial funding round.
Once projected to open in 2020, the mill was most recently targeted for the second half of 2021.
Bouchard told WDRB in November that he was “pretty close” to having enough funding to build the mill but still needed to raise “a few hundred million dollars.”
Kentucky Power Co., which needs to run a transmission line to supply electricity to the plant, can’t start that work until Braidy Industries provides assurances in writing that the plant funding is secure.
Kentucky Power said in filings with the Kentucky Public Service Commission that it anticipated Braidy Industries would provide that assurance by December 2019, but evidently it has not.
Bouchard wrote on Facebook on Jan. 23 that the fundraising is progressing and gave no hint of a changing role with the company.
“Dirt will fly when we are ready and no doubt sooner than you think,” he wrote.
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