Jeffrey Bland – Coxabengoa

Given the global need for sustainability, it’s ironic that obstacles and a lack of will impede progress often. So Jeffrey Bland muses while discussing his role as general counsel and secretary of the North American division of a new Spanish water and energy company that’s in this high-stakes, high-rewards industry.

Jeffrey Bland | Coxabengoa | General Counsel

Trade wars or pandemics might impact the supply chain, and recent years have seen both. Dealing with some critical countries, including Saudi Arabia and China, carries reputational risk. The level of government support and investor interest varies depending on many variables.

“These are not small-business issues,” Bland tells Vanguard in July while working remotely in Greater St. Louis. “Often, these are issues that can be less than transparent. My job is to help decision-makers see around the corners by delivering the right information to the right people at the right time.”

He seems to be doing well enough in helping Coxabengoa re-establish the U.S. strength of the legacy company Abengoa, in no small measure to his service since 2010 as Abengoa’s corporate and then U.S. general counsel.

The outlook seems encouraging as the revitalized Coxabengoa focuses its green agenda on the North American market after successes elsewhere, including the contract for the first phase of what will be Taiwan’s largest reverse osmosis desalination plant. That plant will supply drinking water to 1 million people and meet the needs of the island country’s burgeoning semiconductor industry, on which the United States depends. It’s also quite a commitment for Coxabengoa, which will construct and operate the plant for 15 years.

Appetite for renewables

Projects of a similar scale are pending in other locales, including the Middle East and China. The latter locale is a potential promised land, a major polluter and energy consumer. At least for now, there’s not so much happening yet for Coxabengoa in North America, but Bland says the company is anticipating many opportunities here.

“This kind of market economy only increases with the appetite for renewables,” he says. “Thermal energy, energy storage, transmission, and desalination will be big solutions that we can provide. That’s not to say there won’t be hiccups along the way, but we’re in it for its long-term growth trajectory.”

Calculated patience is a necessity, he emphasizes, as even Coxabengoa’s small projects cost hundreds of millions of dollars while the larger ones run in the billions. The company interacts with governments at all levels, and the United States is not immune to political instability. Nothing happens fast, and that puts a premium on Bland’s mix of business and legal aptitude.

“I’m working closely with decision-makers—the CEOs, CFOs, COOs and even managers at all levels as we weigh projects,” he says. “It’s very satisfying to see them make well-thought-out decisions based on my input.”

Those decision-makers might need to be mindful of detail, as Bland describes his responsibilities as decidedly unsexy. Each day brings forth issues related to a particular geography, and over time, the issues aggregate into volumes of dry reading with much implication for the risk profile. Any big-ticket project can get messy from the contractual end to execution.

Bland, well-versed in risk management, says he welcomes the challenge of helping decision-makers—be they the Coxabengoa brass or those from a partner—see around corners. He first embraced this role in 2010 when he joined the former Abengoa Bioenergy after a decade of cutting his teeth on commercial transactions at several leading regional and national firms.

Beyond ethanol

Upon joining Abengoa Bioenergy, ethanol seemed a boom industry and the company a major player and opening facilities in the United States, Brazil and Europe. Bland’s role included financing and refinancing, land assemblage, development and permitting, commodity transactions, procurement, and HR matters.

“I couldn’t tell you exactly how ethanol was made, but I knew what was important for the company and its bottom line,” he says. “I was embedded up to my neck and eyeballs and knew what its leaders wanted to accomplish.”

But Abengoa Bioenergy couldn’t escape the financial pressure related to the weak Spanish currency, among other headwinds, which contributed to the company’s U.S. demise and liquidation of assets. Bland, in charge of the Chapter 11 reorganization, helped Abengoa Bioenergy shed its ethanol facilities so its reorganized enterprise could focus on EPC—engineering, processing, and construction—projects and, following emergence from Chapter 11 in 2017, he became general counsel of the reorganized Abengoa North America. In 2023, the parent company’s assets were sold to another Spanish entity, Cox Energy. It rebranded as Coxabengoa and now looks to re-establish its U.S. presence, with Bland wearing many hats to support the mission.

“It’s like a phoenix returning to flight with clipped wings,” he says. “But we’re doing well, trying to cover many geographies, realizing our potential, being patient and taking the long view.”

Lifelong learner

For Bland, the wide-ranging role is all part of being the legal boss for a company that’s indeed risen from the ashes of financial reorganization and, with resources and reputation, can capitalize. The most-recent corporate reorganization is just in its infancy, so he can’t discuss too many projects but says much is in the mix.

Bland recently attended Harvard University’s 2022 “Infrastructure in a Market Economy Program.” Two lessons from the coursework especially resonated with him, particularly as it relates to his current responsibilities: a better appreciation of the role of risk in infrastructure projects and an enhanced understanding of what goes into successful public-private partnerships. Large-scale EPC projects include sizable inherent risk, so identifying, assessing, and mitigating risk is paramount. Bland emphasizes that he must recognize those dynamics and articulate sustainable paths forward to his fellow C-suiters and outside partners.

But he’s been essentially operating that way since topping off his University of Wisconsin-Madison poli-sci degree with a master’s in public policy from Duke University in 1998 and his law degree from Northeastern University (Boston) in 2001. This was Bland’s modus operandi while in private law practice, but now much more effective, he says, since going in-house with Abengoa in 2010 and adjusting to and leading his colleagues through the corporate reshuffling. The walk-through-the-wilderness analogy seemed appropriate, but now there seems to be a horizon with potential for U.S. growth.

Life’s also good in Missouri, where Bland, who hails originally from Minneapolis, and his wife are raising four teenagers, which he laughingly says is a job by itself and presents some of his most difficult and tenacious negotiations. But he’s learned to make optimal use of time and squeeze in the occasional round of golf. Only time on the links can be compromised, but such is the tradeoff—and one he’d make again.

“I do love my role,” Bland says. “I went in-house to be closer to the decision-making at all levels, and it’s incredibly fulfilling when your advice moves things forward. There also isn’t that artificial separation between attorney and client, which can exist in private practice; rather, there is a strong undercurrent that all the key personnel are in the endeavor together.”