Highland Electric Fleets, a provider of fleet electrification-as-a-service, has appointed Brian Buccella as its new chief commercial officer. 

An industry veteran in the mobility space, Buccella brings more than 20 years of business strategy, policy efforts, and market growth experience to Highland's team. As CCO, Buccella will oversee Highland's commercial efforts to help school districts, municipalities, and third-party fleet managers across the United States upgrade their diesel school bus fleets to electric.

Before joining Highland, Buccella served as senior vice president of global policy and consumer products at electric micromobility company Bird, spearheading strategic government partnerships and a robust consumer products portfolio. Before that, he served as vice president of business development and marketing at vehicle manufacturer Segway, where he was responsible for developing strategic partnerships, driving business development initiatives, and supporting the expansion of the company's electric vehicle product portfolio.

Now, Buccella will continue his work in transportation electrification by scaling Highland's business through a customer-first, data-driven approach. He will be at the helm of nurturing Highland's partnerships with federal agencies, state and local governments, school districts and dealer channels.

"Clean electric transportation is a critical element of a resilient, sustainable future. I'm excited to help Highland accelerate electric school bus deployment around the U.S. and Canada," said Buccella. "With increasing interest in fleet electrification, it's a great time to join a fast-growing company in a dynamic sector that is making fleet electrification simpler, more affordable, and more accessible than ever."

On top of serving as a finance engine spurring school bus fleet electrification, Highland is demonstrating idle electric school buses' largely untapped potential to boost communities' energy resilience. Since its founding in 2019, Highland has helped Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in Maryland deploy the country's largest electric school bus fleet and was the first in the country to use electric school buses in a commercial vehicle-to-grid (V2G) program, in Beverly, Massachusetts.

"Highland's achievements to date are a testament to the team we have built, and it is with immense pleasure that we welcome Brian to the company," said Highland CEO and founder Duncan McIntyre. "With decades of experience in electric mobility, Brian has shepherded companies all the way from seed stage through IPO. We're thrilled to have an industry expert like him on board as Highland continues to grow."