Power Solutions CFO Who Served as Interim CEO Resigns With No Named Successor
Company Background
Power Solutions International (Nasdaq: PSIX) designs, engineers, and manufactures emission-certified engines and power systems for data center, industrial, and transportation applications. The company delivered a breakout 2025: full-year net sales of $722.4 million, up 52% from 2024, with net income of $114 million, up 65%. Those results were fueled by rapid growth in power systems for data centers.
The momentum has softened in 2026. First-quarter net sales fell 5% year-over-year to $128.6 million, and second-quarter net sales fell 21% to $152.5 million, as data center shipment timing proved uneven and the oil-and-gas business weakened. Gross margin compressed sharply, dropping from 29.7% in Q1 2025 to 22.9% in Q1 2026 and 27.1% in Q2 2026, partly because of elevated costs tied to a production capacity ramp-up at the company's Wisconsin operations. Management has consistently flagged those costs as an ongoing headwind.
Against that backdrop, PSI acquired MTL Manufacturing & Equipment Inc. on January 9, 2026 — a metal and steel fabricator located near its Wisconsin facilities — to vertically integrate components for data center enclosures. In September 2026, the company replaced its $135 million credit agreement with Standard Chartered with a new $220 million committed revolving facility led by HSBC, maturing September 25, 2029.
What Was Disclosed
Xun (Ken) Li notified the board on November 3, 2026 of his intention to resign as Chief Financial Officer, with his departure effective November 27, 2026. Li cited a desire to pursue another professional opportunity. The company stated that the resignation was not the result of any disagreement with the company. No successor was named.
Li has served as CFO since August 26, 2022, bringing a background that includes CFO roles at ND Paper and Caterpillar's machine product group, as well as finance leadership at Ford Motor Company. Beyond his finance duties, he had most recently been the face of PSI's investor communications — his contact information appeared as the investor relations point of contact on the Q2 2026 earnings release, the September 2026 credit facility press release, and the Q1 2026 earnings release.
Why It Matters
Li's departure lands about ten weeks after Nan (Richard) Hu joined as permanent CEO on August 17, 2026. Li had been carrying both titles — Interim CEO and CFO — from May 12, 2026, the day CEO Constantine ("Dino") Xykis resigned without explanation, until Hu's arrival. That six-month stretch made Li the principal executive and principal financial officer simultaneously during the company's MTL integration, its first full year of declining revenue, and the negotiation of the new HSBC credit facility. His exit so soon after the new CEO settled in is a common pattern in post-transition leadership changes, though the filing explicitly attributes it to Li's own career choice rather than any internal conflict.
The timing matters operationally. The $220 million HSBC facility requires quarterly tests of a consolidated interest coverage ratio of at least 3.00 to 1.00 and a consolidated leverage ratio of no more than 3.00 to 1.00. With revenue tracking below 2025 levels, elevated Wisconsin production costs persisting, and larger Power Systems orders still moving through the production schedule, quarterly financial oversight is consequential. The company is also still integrating MTL, whose operations contributed positively to Q2 net income but whose execution risk remains a disclosed concern.
There are grounds for a measured reading. The company is profitable — net income of $24.2 million in the first half of 2026 — and the balance sheet improved materially through mid-year, with cash rising to $70.1 million and total debt falling to $72.6 million as of June 30. The HSBC facility also reduced the borrowing spread from SOFR plus 2.60% to SOFR plus 1.80%. The absence of a named successor is the most immediate open question; companies often begin an internal or external CFO search before disclosing a departure, but this filing contains no indication of either.