NanoXplore Elevates CEO to Board, Betting on Unified Leadership

MONTREAL, QC – May 19, 2026 – NanoXplore Inc., a global leader in the production and application of graphene, has fortified its leadership structure by appointing President and Chief Executive Officer Rocco Marinaccio to its Board of Directors. The move, effective May 15, is being positioned by the company as a strategic maneuver to more tightly align its high-level governance with its ambitious operational and commercial goals.

The appointment comes at a pivotal moment for the Montreal-based company, which is aggressively expanding its market presence and production capacity in the burgeoning advanced materials sector.

A Mandate Solidified by Performance

Rocco Marinaccio’s elevation to the board is widely seen as a strong vote of confidence from the company’s directors. Since taking the helm as CEO in December 2025, Marinaccio has presided over a period of significant commercial momentum. He succeeded company founder Soroush Nazarpour, who transitioned to Vice Chairman before resigning from the board in February 2026 to serve as a special advisor.

In his first few months as CEO, Marinaccio has overseen the securing of several key partnerships that underscore NanoXplore’s expanding reach. A notable agreement with Club Car, a prominent manufacturer of golf and utility vehicles, marks the company’s entry into the recreational vehicle market. This partnership is being supported by a new manufacturing facility in Statesville, North Carolina, signaling a tangible commitment to servicing new clients.

Further bolstering its revenue pipeline, the company received an additional CA$10 million award from Volvo Trucks, bringing its near-term committed revenue from the heavy-duty truck manufacturer to approximately $50 million. Perhaps most significantly, NanoXplore inked a multi-year deal with industry giant Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPC) to supply its Tribograf™ graphene powder for oil and gas applications. This deal opens a vast new industrial market, with an estimated potential of 70,000 wells annually.

This commercial success is mirrored in the company's recent financial performance. For the third quarter of 2026, NanoXplore surpassed analyst expectations for both revenue and earnings per share, reporting revenues of CAD $32.35 million. The company has also emphasized its strengthening balance sheet, with liquidity in the first calendar quarter of 2026 reported to be more than three times higher than the same period in 2025, partly due to a $25.6 million equity offering late last year.

In the official announcement, Chairman of the Board Joseph Peter lauded Marinaccio’s impact. “Rocco has demonstrated strong leadership and a deep understanding of our operations, customers, and growth strategy,” Peter stated. “His addition to the Board will further strengthen the connection between management execution and Board oversight as we continue to focus on creating long-term value for our shareholders.”

The Governance Equation: Agility vs. Independence

While presented as a move to enhance synergy, appointing a sitting CEO to the board is a topic of ongoing debate in corporate governance circles. The practice, sometimes referred to as CEO duality, is common in North America and is often championed for creating a unified leadership vision and enabling swift, decisive action—a potential advantage in fast-moving industries like advanced materials. With the CEO directly involved in board-level discussions, the feedback loop between strategy and on-the-ground execution can be significantly shortened.

However, governance advocates often raise concerns about potential conflicts of interest and the erosion of board independence. An independent board's primary functions include providing objective oversight of the executive team and holding the CEO accountable. When the CEO is also a board member, it can concentrate power and potentially stifle dissenting viewpoints from other directors.

In NanoXplore’s case, the composition of its board may serve as a counterbalance. Chairman Joseph Peter brings extensive executive experience from his time at Nissan and General Motors. The board also includes figures like Rob Wildeboer, Chairman and Co-founder of Martinrea International Inc., and Catherine Loubier, a former Québec Delegate General in New York. The collective experience of these independent directors is expected to ensure robust oversight and strategic guidance, even with the CEO now at the table. The move follows the recent departure of the company's founder from the board, reshaping the governance dynamics and placing more emphasis on the new executive leadership.

An Operational Expert in the Boardroom

Marinaccio’s appointment is not just about his title as CEO; it is about integrating his deep operational expertise directly into the company’s strategic core. With over 26 years of leadership experience, primarily in the demanding automotive and industrial sectors during a long tenure at Martinrea International, Marinaccio is an operations specialist.

Prior to becoming CEO, he served for seven years as NanoXplore’s Chief Operating Officer. In that role, he was instrumental in scaling the company’s primary graphene manufacturing facility and overseeing the acquisition and integration of several other facilities. His hands-on experience in turning plans into productive, scaled-up realities is a critical asset.

This background is particularly relevant as NanoXplore nears the completion of a major capital project: its new dry-process graphene production module. This expansion is projected to increase the company’s total annual production capacity by 25%, reaching 5,000 metric tonnes. This scale is crucial for NanoXplore's strategy to penetrate large industrial markets, including a potential disruption of the massive carbon black sector. Having the executive who is ultimately responsible for delivering on this expansion sitting on the board could streamline decision-making and de-risk the final stages of execution and commercialization.

Charting the Future of Graphene

With its leadership structure now further consolidated, NanoXplore is poised to continue its push to commercialize graphene on a global scale. The company operates a unique model, acting as both a manufacturer of high-volume graphene powder and a supplier of value-added products, including graphene-enhanced plastics and composites for transportation and packaging. It is also developing silicon-graphene enhanced Li-ion batteries for energy storage and defense applications, positioning itself at the intersection of materials science and clean energy.

The recent strategic wins with major industrial partners demonstrate a clear path from R&D to revenue. The integration of CEO Rocco Marinaccio into the Board of Directors appears to be a calculated decision to ensure that this operational momentum is not just maintained, but accelerated, with strategic oversight and executive action moving in lockstep toward market leadership.