Ascent Solar Announces Management Change
Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTI), a developer of state-of-the-art, flexible thin-film photovoltaic modules, today announced that the Board and its President and CEO have mutually decided that a change of leadership presents the best path forward for the company, as it heads into the manufacturing phase of its development. Effective September 19, 2008, Matthew Foster, its President and Chief Executive Officer, has resigned his position. Dr. Mohan Misra, Ascent Solar’s Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer, will serve as the company’s interim President and Chief Executive Officer until a permanent replacement is found. Ascent Solar intends to initiate a search immediately, and Mr. Foster will continue in a consultant capacity focusing on global expansion and business development for a period of one year.
“Ascent Solar is transitioning from a research and development company to a manufacturing and commercially focused organization. I am pleased to have been the leader of Ascent Solar during this initial stage, and I felt that new leadership would be better at leading Ascent Solar’s next phase of growth where operational and manufacturing expertise will be critical. I expect Ascent Solar to continue to grow as a leader in the thin film photovoltaics arena,” Mr. Foster stated.
“We thank Matt for his outstanding leadership during Ascent Solar’s early and formative years,” stated Dr. Misra. “Under his watch, Ascent Solar has grown quickly from a private start-up company to a publicly traded company with a well-defined manufacturing and sales strategy. We are pleased that Matt has agreed to continue to support our development efforts in a consulting capacity.”
Dr. Misra will begin transitioning into the role of interim President and Chief Executive Officer immediately. Dr. Misra, who has served as Ascent Solar’s Chairman since October 2005 and as its Chief Strategy Officer since April 2007, previously founded and served as the chief executive officer of ITN Energy Systems, Inc. (ITN) since 1994. Ascent Solar’s copper, indium, gallium, diselenide (CIGS) technology initially was developed at ITN before it was assigned and licensed to Ascent Solar. Before founding ITN in 1994, Dr. Misra spent 19 years with Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin Corporation) in the areas of material research, development and manufacturing. While at Martin Marietta, Dr. Misra worked as manager of Research and Technology (Materials and Structures), then led the company’s development of long-term Materials technology strategies. He was a scientist for the Martin Marietta Solar Company’s projects that developed solar thermal and concentrator-silicon photovoltaic plants. Dr. Misra has also helped develop and implement several key technologies for aerospace applications including thin-film photovoltaic, smart materials, advanced composites and lightweight structures.
Dr. Misra, age 63, holds a B.S. degree in Metallurgical Engineering from Benaras Hindu University in India, a M.S. degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in Metallurgical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines.
About Ascent Solar Technologies:
Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. is a developer of thin-film photovoltaic modules with substrate materials that can be more flexible and affordable than most traditional solar panels. Ascent Solar modules can be directly integrated into standard building materials, space applications, consumer electronics for portable power or configured as stand alone modules for large scale terrestrial deployment. Ascent Solar is located in Littleton, Colorado.
Forward Looking Statements
Statements in this press release that are not statements of historical or current fact constitute “forward-looking statements.” Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other unknown factors that could cause the Company’s actual operating results to be materially different from any historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition to statements that explicitly describe these risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements that contain terms such as “believes,”"belief,”"expects,”"expect,”"intends,”"intend,”"anticipate,”"anticipates,”"plans,”"plan,” to be uncertain and forward-looking. The forward-looking statements contained herein are also subject generally to other risks and uncertainties that are described from time to time in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.