Janet Rehberg, the next CEO of EPB, hired Robert Long from Chattanooga-based battery materials company Novonix to fill her former role as president of strategic initiatives.
Novonix announced June 9 that Long, its chief financial officer, would leave the company in July. The EPB board of directors approved hiring Long at a meeting Thursday.
As president of strategic initiatives, Long will oversee the newest business unit at the city-owned utility focused on innovative projects, such as quantum computing and grid-level batteries.
Rehberg praised Long as an executive with a wide range of experience in Chattanooga. Long is the former president of Chattem and led over-the-counter product manufacturing in North America for Sanofi, the French pharmaceutical company that purchased Chattem. Sanofi has since spun the company off into an entity called Opella.
(READ MORE: Novonix marks milestone in full-scale graphite shipment to Panasonic)
Long served as interim CEO at Novonix in early 2025 in a key period for the company as it sought and received tax breaks for a planned second plant in Chattanooga.
“During his time at Novonix, the board actually asked him to step into the interim CEO position during a critical transition period,” Rehberg said at the board meeting. “He helped stabilize operations, strengthen key stakeholder relationships, such as the Department of Energy, as well as lead the company’s capital raising efforts.”
Before Long joined Novonix in 2024, he founded his own over-the-counter products company, Bridges Consumer Healthcare, which Rehberg said reached $100 million in revenue.
“Robert brings a rare combination of entrepreneurship leadership as well as large-scale public company operating experience,” Rehberg said.
Long called into the meeting from out of the country while he was on a family vacation. He said he looked forward to July 6, when he will join EPB.
Rehberg joined EPB in 2024 as president of strategic initiatives and worked to increase the utility’s presence in quantum networking and computing. The early-stage technologies promise to increase the speed and capacity of computing and communications, and EPB has positioned itself as an early mover.
Long is Rehberg’s second hire to the top leadership ranks at EPB after she elevated Mike Kaiser as chief financial officer to fill a role vacated by the retirement of Greg Eaves on May 29.
EPB CEO David Wade informed the board he had selected an official retirement date after first announcing his departure last year. He will retire Sept. 1, handing the role to Rehberg, he said.
The board praised Wade’s accomplishments since joining the company in 1983 as a line helper.
“I’ve got ultimate confidence in our whole team here at EPB,” Wade told the board. “I have no doubt they will accomplish even more in the future than we have in the past.”
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Contact business reporter Daniel Dassow at ddassow@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.