Cypress Creek Renewables Names Kevin Smith CEO as Growth Enters Next Phase

New updates have been reported about Cypress Creek Renewables.

Cypress Creek Renewables has initiated a leadership transition, appointing veteran energy executive Kevin Smith as Chief Executive Officer while current CEO Sarah Slusser departs after a seven-year tenure. The move comes as the company manages more than 3.4 GW of solar and storage assets in operation or under construction and seeks to build on the growth trajectory established under Slusser’s leadership.

Under Slusser, Cypress Creek shifted from a pure development shop to a scaled independent power producer, expanded from its Southeastern base into 24 U.S. states, doubled its development pipeline, and commercialized its first standalone storage project in 2023. She also led the 2021 sale to infrastructure investor EQT, navigated two major federal tax policy changes, and repositioned the business toward large utility-scale projects and a scalable community-solar asset-rotation model.

Smith, who brings more than three decades of global power-sector experience, is tasked with converting this platform into the next phase of disciplined expansion and value creation. Over his career he has developed, financed, and operated energy projects across 26 U.S. states and multiple countries, backing power contracts totaling more than $75 billion in revenue.

Most recently, Smith served as CEO of Arevon Energy, where he oversaw roughly $5.6 billion of solar and battery storage builds in about two and a half years and nearly doubled operating revenues. Before that, he led the Americas business for Lightsource bp, directing rapid U.S. growth and completion of more than $3.5 billion in solar projects, and he holds a mechanical engineering degree from Purdue University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

EQT representatives and the Cypress Creek board framed the transition as a handoff from a transformation phase to a scaling phase, emphasizing continuity of strategy around utility-scale solar, storage, and large-load customers. Smith has signaled that his priorities include leveraging Cypress Creek’s differentiated platform, its more than 3 GW operating and under-construction portfolio, and its 4 GW third-party O&M business to enhance enterprise value and reinforce its position as a leading U.S. renewable energy platform.