Deep Sky, a Montreal-based venture commercializing carbon removal and storage solutions at scale, today announced that Damien Steel will take the helm as CEO.
Most recently, Steel served as managing partner and global head of ventures at Toronto-based OMERS Ventures (OV), part of one of Canada’s largest pension plans. There, he was responsible for investments, fund operations, and strategic global oversight of the group. During his tenure, he tripled the size of the platform to $2.5bn in assets while generating strong growth. Previously, he held roles with BridgeScale Partners and EdgeStone Capital Partners. Before joining OV, Damien was a healthcare entrepreneur, founding and selling a digital dental laboratory startup. He also serves on the board of tech disruptors, including Hopper, TouchBistro, Hootsuite and DuckDuckGo. Alongside his new CEO role at Deep Sky, Damien will remain a senior advisor to OMERS Ventures.
Steel brings significant finance, climate, infrastructure, and corporate governance experience in the highly regulated Canadian pension business to the position. In 2022, he led the early stage investment into a Toronto-based climate tech startup and gained first-hand insight into how businesses globally are prioritizing climate risk. Steel also led OV’s largest and most successful investment in travel app, Hopper, also started by Deep Sky founders Fred Lalonde and Joost Ouwerkerk. Through his work with Hopper in recent years, Damien has become increasingly committed to tackling the climate crisis.
“For nearly two decades I’ve had the privilege of supporting world class founders in their efforts to build world class companies,” said Steel. “At Deep Sky, I hope to apply all that I’ve learned from these great visionaries to what I believe is the greatest challenge facing humanity today – climate change inaction.”
“Building an ambitious company to reverse climate change requires an equally ambitious, big thinker at the helm,” said Deep Sky Co-Founder Fred Lalonde. “Damien is a proven visionary, leader, fundraiser, and operator who can catapult Deep Sky’s growth to meet the urgent threat that climate change presents. In working together since 2012, he’s demonstrated an uncanny knack for spotting the next moonshot that withstands the test of time. I’m pleased that he’s recognized Deep Sky as his next big bet.”
Deep Sky is working to build large-scale carbon removal and storage infrastructure in Canada. Acting as a project developer, the company is bringing together the most promising direct air and ocean capture technologies to deliver the largest supply of high quality carbon credits to the market. Powered by renewable energy, Deep Sky’s facilities are strategically located in Quebec, a region with an abundance of hydroelectric power, immense wind power potential and a vast territory with the rich geological makeup required for carbon capture.
