Fermi appoints Lee McIntire as new CEO after months of leadership turmoil

Fermi Inc. has named Lee McIntire as its new chief executive, ending a months-long leadership vacuum that began when the company fired co-founder Toby Neugebauer from the top job back in April 2026. McIntire, who had been serving as an independent board member, officially stepped into the role on August 11.

Neugebauer’s removal in April was framed as part of a broader strategic overhaul the company branded “Fermi 2.0.” As Fermi’s largest shareholder, Neugebauer remained entangled with the company through a suspended proxy campaign and legal disputes that stretched into the summer.

During the interim period, Fermi operated under a co-presidency structure, essentially splitting the CEO duties while the board conducted a formal search.

McIntire brings more than 40 years in engineering and infrastructure. He previously served as CEO of CH2M HILL, one of the largest engineering firms in the US, and later led TerraPower, the Bill Gates-backed nuclear energy venture.

What Fermi is actually building

Fermi, which trades on NASDAQ under the ticker FRMI, went public in September 2025 after reincorporating as a Texas corporation. Its flagship effort, Project Matador, is part of a broader HyperGrid campus planned for the Texas Panhandle. Fermi is targeting between 11 and 17 gigawatts of combined data center and power generation capacity, with nuclear elements baked into the energy mix.

McIntire’s background at TerraPower is particularly relevant given Fermi’s plans to incorporate nuclear power into its energy portfolio, as he has direct experience navigating the regulatory and engineering challenges of advanced nuclear projects.

The governance overhang

Neugebauer’s proxy campaign may be suspended, but “suspended” is not “abandoned.” The legal disputes between Neugebauer and the board that preceded McIntire’s appointment suggest the two sides haven’t exactly buried the hatchet, leaving McIntire to execute on Fermi’s development pipeline while managing a potentially adversarial major shareholder who also happens to be the company’s co-founder.

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