News Article
Ascent Solar Chairman to Retire at End of 2010
Mohan Misra is making way for Amit Kumar to become Chairman of the board as the company enters the manufacturing and commercialization phase of its latest developments.
Ascent Solar Technologies, a developer of state-of-the-art flexible thin-film solar modules, has announced that its Chairman, Mohan Misra, will be retiring from his position on the Board of Directors, effective December 31, 2010.
At the age of 65, Misra has decided that due to his commitments to family and for other personal reasons, he will retire from the Board.
Replacing Misra as Chairman of the Board will be current Director, Amit Kumar. Kumar is an expert on photovoltaics having performed his Ph.D. thesis research on solar energy conversion devices at Stanford University and the California Institute of Technology (“Caltech”).
He has been an entrepreneur who has built technology enterprises from start-up to public listing. He has also worked in venture capital with Oak Investment Partners and Acacia Research. Most recently, he was the CEO of the NASDAQ listed biotechnology company, CombiMatrix. Kumar has extensive strategic, financing, and business development experience. He has strong contacts in academia as well as in the federal government.
Kumar holds a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Occidental College. After joint studies at Stanford University and Caltech, he received his Ph.D. from Caltech before completing a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University.
Amit Kumar stated, “I am honored to be appointed Chairman of Ascent, and I look forward to working with the team as we enter the commercial phase of our development. Ascent’s thin film photovoltaic cells, on a light, flexible substrate have the potential to revolutionize and enable many solar energy applications. Our challenge is large-scale manufacturing and we have assembled a tremendous team to take us into that phase and into commercialization. I want to personally and on behalf or Ascent, thank Dr. Misra for his contributions to Ascent, and I look forward to working closely with Dr. Moghadam and others to continue building the company.”
“Dr. Kumar has been a tremendous contributor to Ascent, and I am pleased that he will increase his involvement by taking on the Chairmanship," commented Misra. "Ascent is entering a new phase of its development as indicated by the beginning of our manufacturing expansion activities. Our plant is running and we are working on expanding capacity, improving cost metrics, and delivering product. Also, considering certain family matters and other commitments, I felt this was the right time for me to retire from the Board. I will remain in my position until the end of the year, and I will always be available to provide advice if needed. I want to thank all past and present employees, shareholders, customers and partners for all of the support provided to me and Ascent, and I expect the most exiting days are ahead.”
“Dr. Misra founded Ascent and guided the company through our early years. He has been instrumental in the development of our revolutionary flexible, thin-film technology,” stated Farhad Moghadam, the company’s President and CEO. “We are delighted that he is making a commitment to family matters after a lifetime of productive technology innovation. We thank him for all of the valuable advice he has provided us, and are pleased that he will continue to be an advisor to me and the company in an unofficial role. Over the last year as CEO of Ascent, I have worked closely with Dr. Kumar and have found him to be an incredibly valuable advisor. I am looking forward to working with Amit as we continue the development of Ascent.”
Ascent Solar Technologies 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, commercial transportation, automotive solutions, space applications, consumer electronics for portable power or configured as stand-alone modules for large scale terrestrial deployment.
