The newly created state lithium company in Mexico now has an appointed director.

Pablo Taddei, a doctoral student in Harvard’s Environmental Health Department, will lead Litio para Mexico — or Lithium for Mexico — a firm that will manage lithium mining across the country. Taddei is also the son of a high-ranking federal official in Sonora, and his sister is a state legislator.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced the appointment Tuesday.

Explaining the selection of Taddei, López Obrador said that Sonora has the country’s largest proven reserves of lithium, a key component in batteries, and that the appointment gives a young man from the state the opportunity and responsibility to oversee the company.