May 9, 2025: Mike Judd,  took to the BCI stage on the first full day of BCI’s annual conference this week to welcome delegates to the 101st convention and began his first talk as its new chairman, taking over from Chris Pruitt.

Judd, who is president and CEO of Stryten Energy, kicked off proceedings with a rallying call for the battery industry to “come out of the shadows” and makes its importance and views known.

But he also delivered a hilarious tongue-in-cheek turn on the usual housekeeping rules for evacuation and had delegates roaring with laughter as he reminded them all that in the case of a medical emergency, only the very fit should attempt to run all the way back to reception to collect the defibrillators.

“Oh, and you might want to pick up two,” he said. “Because by the time you’ve run all the way back, past Starbucks, and down the escalator, you’re probably going to need to use one on yourself.”

A quick introduction to himself started with a photo of him freshly started in the battery business — a photo of his 1991 ID card prompted a wave of affectionate laughs.

It was a warm opening to his speech and certainly did more than the coffee to wake everybody up.

But then he promptly moved on to more serious issues, spelling out the importance of everyone in the room getting out and telling the story of the lead battery industry and participating in national and global conversations on energy, security, and innovation.

“Everybody here has worked very hard on their plants and their environment,’ he said. “But for the past 100 years, we have largely operated quietly, often in the shadows, without comment on national issues and political trends, consistently serving the battery needs of the consumers, industry and the military.

But all that has changed in real time. There’s all kinds of conversations going on now, from national security, global security, renewables, grid security, technology and innovation and our input is critical at this point. We should all be encouraged and willing to participate in these conversations from here on out and tell our stories.”

He continued by emphasizing the industry’s critical role in the economy, contributing $35 billion annually and supporting 54 million jobs. “ “If you stopped for a minute to think what if batteries stopped tomorrow? What would stop in this country? And it’s clearly one in four jobs would cease to exist, starting from the very bottom of producing lawn mowers up to ATVs and snow wheels and jet skis and lawn tractors and vehicles, all the way up to running fork trucks and warehouses and everything people build every day in this country would all just come to a stop.

And so, when you think about the size of this industry and the critical nature of it, it really is incomparable to just about anything else out there.

And the government is listening now, and it has questions about how this industry can contribute not only to the future, but to make sure that we have the resilience needed to do what we’re doing today.”

An important part of Judd’s speech stressed the importance of advocacy, innovation, and environmental stewardship.

“I’ve always operated on one basic principle, which is we take care of our employees and the environments in and around our plants,” he said. “Doing those things earns us a place in our communities. And it isn’t always easy. You know, we are challenged constantly on environmental regulations but our voices are heard, and we do a very fine job on both those.

But we also have to strive to improve our regulatory position, our health and safety position, wastewater, all things environmental, and it earns us a spot in our industry, and it earns a spot at the table with the credibility we need to have conversations with regulators, our customers and the government.”