After nearly five years with the Hopkinsville-Christian County Public Library, its Executive Director DeeAnna Sova is bound for Ascend Elements — the EV battery materials plant currently breaking ground in Pembroke and Commerce Park II.
During a Friday morning conversation with the News Edge, Sova described her new job as an extremely unique opportunity — and one that will require her to assist with the management of a $480 million grant from federal authorities.
Sova noted she’s on the marketing and global strategy side of Ascend Elements, and not on the hiring side. In fact, she’s technically not on the job for the futuristic company as of yet.
But that’s soon to change, and she’s got a pretty clear timetable of how the industry will go from turned dirt to open doors and production — as the largest investment in west Kentucky’s history.
Sova’s boss, she said, will be Vice President of Global Marketing and Government Relations Roger Lin, and she’s been spending a lot of her off-time from the library gathering more information on the EV industry and her new company’s endeavors.
Ascend Elements won’t specifically be creating batteries for electric vehicles. They’ll be recycling materials to create cathoid active material — or CAM. Sova pointed out that these are the same ingredients in any lithium battery.
But as she goes into a new, expansive and futuristic feeling career, leaving the library wasn’t easy.
It’s a job, she said, she truly enjoyed — one that allowed her to be loud, despite its juxtaposition with the perceived quiet of a library.
Next up at the library will be Operations Manager Tiffany Luna, who will serve as interim executive director for the next six months, with the opportunity to become its full-time person.
Luna takes over as HCCPL executive director February 1.
