Blue Bird, Generate Capital name GM for JV

School bus specialist Blue Bird Corp. and Generate Capital, a sustainable investment and operating company, have appointed Chris Baker to general manager of their 50/50 joint venture, Clean Bus Solutions LLC. Blue Bird and Generate Capital established the fleet electrification-as-a-service business to meet the demand for electric school buses and further accelerate the adoption of clean student transportation in North America.

Baker is expected to lead Clean Bus Solutions and drive its growth. A clean energy industry veteran, he brings more than two decades of general

Blue Bird and Generate Capital have appointed Chris Baker to general manager of their 50/50 joint venture, Clean Bus Solutions LLC. (Photo: Business Wire)

management, sales, and consulting experience to the organization. Most recently, Baker served as president of Enel Group’s U.S. charging business. Before then, he held senior sales roles at Stem, a provider of AI-driven clean energy solutions and services, and at Bloom Energy, a low carbon energy provider.

“We are pleased to welcome Chris Baker to lead Clean Bus Solutions,” said Britton Smith, president of Blue Bird Corp. and chairman of Clean Bus Solutions LLC. “Chris brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to our fleet electrification-as-a-service joint venture. He is driven and passionate about the electrification of student transportation. Blue Bird customers in North America are poised to benefit greatly from his leadership to avoid the significant upfront costs and complexity of electrifying their school bus fleets.”

The joint venture’s fleet electrification-as-a-service offering was created to make it simpler for school districts to decarbonize their bus fleets by offering electric school buses and associated charging infrastructure with a monthly fee. The turnkey electrification solution will include Blue Bird’s best-selling and widest range of electric school buses in the industry, financing of both electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, project planning and management as well as fleet and charging optimization.

Since 2014, Generate has invested in and operated sustainable assets across six sectors: power, mobility, waste, green digital, water and agriculture and industrial decarbonization.