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Verterra Energy Welcomes Former CIA Senior Executive Wayne McCool to Board of Advisors
- Verterra Energy, Inc.
- 43 minutes ago
- 2 min read
New Brighton, MN - February 2026 - Verterra Energy, Inc. is proud to announce that Wayne McCool, former Associate Deputy Director for Analysis at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), has joined Verterra’s Board of Advisors.
Wayne brings more than three decades of military and intelligence community experience leading global intelligence programs, strategic planning, risk management, and digital transformation. He served in multiple senior executive roles at CIA, building high-impact teams and strengthening mission execution in complex environments.
Most recently, Wayne served as Associate Deputy Director for Analysis, where he was responsible for identifying global risks, emerging trends, and actionable insights for policymakers and military leaders. In that role, he upheld analytic standards across the Agency, supported the development of thousands of officers, and advanced the technology and tools behind the analytic workflow.
Verterra is tackling one of the most critical challenges of our time—sustainable, autonomous energy for missions where reliability and resilience are non-negotiable. The team’s innovation, engineering discipline, and national security focus reflects exactly the kind of problem-solving culture needed at this time. I’m excited to help Verterra further connect its strategic vision with growing defense and national security requirements and mission.
Wayne’s addition comes as Verterra accelerates its technology development, with active DoD and DoE programs, field-tested prototypes, and a growing domestic manufacturing footprint. The company is advancing autonomous operational energy solutions aligned with contested logistics priorities.
“Wayne understands all the dots and how to connect them.” said Ted Christopher, Founder of Verterra Energy. “He is the real deal. When you’ve led at the CIA’s Directorate of Intelligence, you don’t need to exaggerate - your stories already sound like Hollywood, except they actually happened. And if you ever get the chance to hear him tell a story don't miss the opportunity to listen to a true patriot."
Verterra is on a mission to harness the power of flowing water in rivers, oceans and canals to produce abundant, reliable power.
Volturnus is a hybrid axis turbine that uniquely harnesses the power of flowing water by combining the working principles of centrifugal pumps & hydrofoils with a rugged, hydrodynamic design. Similar to an underwater 3D weather vane, VOLTURNUS works in harmony with the current to dynamically adjust once deployed. When installed in modular arrays, the technology creates scalable, continuous power from small, 100 watt backpack scale, up to multi-MW arrays.
Based in St. Paul, MN Verterra is funded by mission driven investors and a multi-year DoW and DoE contracts to commercialize the technology for multiple applications.
Phone: 651-315-8884
Press: press@verterraenergy.com
Website: www.verterraenergy.com