Hal Koyama

The president and CEO of Bend-based fuel cell maker Ida-Tech LLC has left the company, according to an official release issued Thursday.

Claude Duss, who had been at the post since May 2001, resigned for personal reasons, officials from IdaTech said. Duss will be replaced by Hal Koyama, formerly the senior vice president of development and commercialization at IdaTech.

According to the release, Duss had moved to Northern California late last year and had been commuting between there and Central Oregon since then.

”My time with IdaTech has been rewarding,” Duss said in a written statement. ”I have enjoyed working with one of the industry’s leading fuel cell companies – and wish it great success.”

IdaTech employs about 65 people in Bend.

Koyama, who will take over president and CEO responsibilities immediately, said IdaTech’s focus of targeting commercial sales of its power generators in both North America and around the world remains unchanged.

”Our intent is to accelerate the growth of IdaTech,” he said. ”Like any change in management, my job is to look around and see if we can do any better in our markets.”

Koyama added that the company will look to add new employees to its staff in the next few weeks, although no number was announced. The positions will be administrative- and management-related, he said.

IdaTech produces generators that use chemical reactions to turn hydrogen into electricity, with water as the only byproduct.

The company has been actively marketing its generators to telecommunications companies as environmentally friendly backup power sources at isolated sites, such as signal towers.

IdaTech was sold to British specialty banking firm Investec PLC last July.