Veteran Department of Energy Deputy and former GE Vernova leader join nationally strategic energy platform as company advances toward commercial-scale operations.

DALLAS, April 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — T5 Smackover Partners, a subsidiary of T5 Holdings, LP, is a Texas-based energy company advancing the potential of the East Texas Smackover region. The company today announced that Cole Fisher has been named President, and that Robert H. Edwards, Jr. has been appointed to the company’s Strategic Advisory Board.

The appointments represent a decisive step in T5 Smackover’s institutional maturation as the company moves toward commercial-scale development of its Smackover Formation project in East Texas. The company is backed by a resource report prepared by W.D. Von Gonten Engineering, one of the nation’s leading petroleum engineering and reservoir characterization firms.

“Our Geothermal strategy can deliver gigawatt-hours of baseload battery capacity throughout the state of Texas and that’s before you get to our critical mineral potential. This resource will be producing this year, not in ten years. That’s why you need innovators. Cole advanced global low-carbon solutions at GE Vernova. Rob negotiated the $465 million DOE loan that funded Tesla‘s assembly line while serving as Deputy General Counsel at the DOE. When the opportunity is this real, these are the people you want in the room.” said Bruce Thompson, CEO and Founder of T5 Smackover Partners.

Robert H. Edwards, Jr. — Strategic Advisory Board

Managing Director, Hamilton Clark Sustainable Capital | Former Deputy General Counsel for Energy Policy, U.S. Department of Energy

Rob Edwards is a senior energy executive with more than 30 years of experience across the U.S. electric sector, critical minerals, energy storage, and adjacent industries. Over the course of his career, he has closed more than $25 billion in energy and auto project financings and M&A transactions spanning domestic power markets, renewable energy, energy infrastructure, and electric vehicles.

Edwards brings to T5 Smackover Partners a rare depth of investment banking and legal experience in the development, construction, and operation of energy projects, alongside direct knowledge of U.S. government financing and grant programs across the Department of Energy, EXIM, and the Development Finance Corporation.

He began his career as a project finance lawyer, spending 13 years at Hunton & Williams where he became an equity partner advising major utilities on the development, financing, and construction of power plants and M&A transactions across the United States and Mexico. He later served as a Senior Presidential Appointee at the U.S. Department of Energy as Deputy General Counsel for Energy Policy, where he negotiated the landmark $465 million DOE ATVM loan closed in 2010 that funded Tesla‘s Model S assembly line.

Edwards also served on JPMorgan Chase‘s Global Commodities Group structured finance team in New York, advising on complex energy commodity transactions across the power, natural gas, and clean technology sectors. In 2021, he returned to the DOE as the first Director of the Outreach and Business Development Division of the Office of Energy Dominance Financing.

Today, Edwards serves as Managing Director at Hamilton Clark Sustainable Capital, a FINRA-member investment bank focused on energy transition financing, and as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Maryland Clean Energy Center, confirmed by the Maryland State Senate. A Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Edwards holds a joint JD/MBA from Stanford Law School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and an AB magna cum laude in Economics from Harvard University.

Cole Fisher — President and Co-Founder

Cole Fisher brings deep energy transition and institutional markets experience to T5 Smackover Partners, where he leads the company’s strategic direction, capital formation, and commercial development as President.

Prior to T5, Fisher served as Global Director of Decarbonization Business Development at GE Vernova, one of the world’s largest energy technology companies, where he led global commercial initiatives and decarbonization strategy.

Earlier in his career, Fisher held institutional business development and corporate development roles at ESG Book, an Energy Impact Partners portfolio company, Voya Financial, and Dimensional Fund Advisors, building experience across energy, institutional investing, and growth markets. Fisher holds a BA from Trinity College, CT and an MBA from Rice University.

“What we’ve proven in the Smackover Formation is extremely compelling,” said Fisher. “We believe it can play a meaningful role in strengthening America’s energy independence. Our focus right now is on bringing together the right people, partners, and capital to develop it at the scale it deserves.”

About T5 Smackover Partners

T5 Smackover Partners, a subsidiary of T5 Holdings, LP, is a nationally strategic, Texas-based energy company developing the Smackover Formation of East Texas. Positioning the region as one of the most compelling domestic opportunities for geothermal energy and critical minerals in decades.

T5 Smackover Partners is headquartered in Dallas, TX.

T5 Smackover Partners, LLC
A subsidiary of T5 Holdings, LP
Dallas, TX 75201
info@T5Smackover.com 

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SOURCE T5 Smackover Partners