Two-phase direct-to-chip liquid cooling firm Accelsius has announced a change of chief executive officer.

The company this week announced that founding CEO Josh Claman will assume the role of executive chairman, where he will focus on strategic partnerships, customer relationships, and the company’s capital strategy.

John Hewitt, an Accelsius board member, will be appointed CEO. The leadership transition is effective July 6.

“Founding Accelsius and helping establish two-phase liquid cooling as the foundation for AI infrastructure has been the most rewarding chapter of my career,” said Claman. “We have assembled a remarkable team, the science is proven, the customer momentum is real, and the platform is ready to scale. John has been a trusted partner on our board, and his operating record in this exact industry is the right fit for what comes next. As executive chairman, I will remain fully devoted to Accelsius, working alongside John on the strategic partnerships, customer relationships, and capital strategy that will define our next chapter.”

Hewitt joins Accelsius from Robertshaw Controls, where he served as CEO. He was previously president of Vertiv’s Americas business and has also held roles at TE Connectivity, Aptiv, and Motorola. He has served on the Accelsius board since the company’s founding.

“Accelsius has built something rare: a category-defining technology platform with the team, the customers, and the partnerships to scale it,” said Hewitt. “Having had a front-row seat to the accomplishments of the team in Austin, I know firsthand what Josh and the team have created. Two-phase, direct-to-chip cooling is becoming the standard for the most demanding AI and HPC workloads, and Accelsius is exceptionally well-positioned to lead that transition. My focus will be on operational scaling, deepening our manufacturing capacity, and accelerating our go-to-market with the hyperscalers, OEMs, and infrastructure partners who are building the AI factories of the future.”

Texas-based Accelsius was originally founded in 2022 by Nasdaq-listed industrial firm Innventure to commercialize technology developed by Nokia's Bell Labs that had not been productized.

Direct-to-chip systems usually rely on water, which has a high heat capacity, but Accelsius is using a dielectric coolant, allowing it to boil in the circulating system to remove more heat.

Accelsius has deployed its technology at several data center labs, and recently posted on LinkedIn that its NeuCool Thermal Simulation Rack is headed to London for deployment at Telehouse's new Liquid Cooling Lab. It has also deployed a cooling system to an Equinix lab in Virginia and at Park Place Technologies' new facility in Cleveland, Ohio.

The company closed a $65 million Series B funding round earlier this year, securing funding from Johnson Controls and Legrand.