Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., a developer and manufacturer of state-of-the-art, lightweight, and flexible thin-film photovoltaic (PV) solutions, announces new Board of Directors composition and Chief Financial Officer.
The Company has appointed David Peterson as a Class 3 director to be effective as of December 10, 2020. Mr. Peterson is currently the Manager of Crowdex Investment, LLC. Crowdex is the Company’s controlling stockholder through its holdings of the recently issued shares of Series 1A Preferred Stock pursuant to Form 8-K filing on September 30, 2020.
From April 2015 to present, Mr. Peterson has worked for EPD Consultants, Inc., a privately held engineering firm headquartered in Carson, California, where he serves as Senior Project Manager. From 2010 to 2015, Mr. Peterson was President and Co-Founder of Great Circle Industries, Inc., a water recycling company in southern California. Previously, Mr. Peterson has worked in management and M&A consulting, and as a private equity investor. Mr. Peterson has an MBA degree from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, and a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
The Company also appointed Will Clarke as a Class 2 director to be effective as of December 10, 2020, in replacement of the vacancy left by the resignation of Mr. G. Thomas Marsh as director of the Company in early 2020. Mr. Marsh’s resignation was not the result of any dispute or disagreement with the Company or the Company’s Board of Directors on any matter relating to the operations, policies or practices of the Company.
Will Clarke is the Founder and President of Clarke Growth and Sustainment Strategies, an advisory firm specializing in guiding startup companies’ business expansion. Will brings a gritty, disciplined, and principle-driven approach to corporate governance and dealing with complexity and change spanning the business lifecycle – all informed by his large company Executive Management and Senior Military Officer experience globally and across international markets. Most recently Will led the Global Supply Chain business unit for Atlas Airlines where he oversaw team members spanning 11 countries with a $166M P&L and $240M capital budget. Previously, Will directed turnaround initiatives for Best Buy managing a team in procuring material to update 1400 stores and facilities which improved the customer experience and spun negative sales into growth.
Prior to launching his second career in 2015, Will served 25 years as a Naval Officer where he completed 10 deployments in support of war and peacetime operations on two Aircraft Carriers, one Submarine, one Warship and, one on land. Furthermore, he lived and served in impactful finance, supply chain, procurement and logistics assignments across East Africa, Asia/Pacific, and the United States. He attained the rank of Captain (O6). Born in Trinidad and educated in NYC public schools, Will earned a BSc in Math from the U.S. Naval Academy, an MSc in Finance and Contracts Management from the Naval Postgraduate School and completed the Executive Development Program at Wharton Business School and the Corporate Governance Program at Columbia Business School.
The whole Board of Directors going forward will have five members comprised of Dr. Amit Kumar, Chairman of the Board, Kim Huntley and Will Clarke as the independent directors, and Victor Lee and Dave Peterson serving as Class 3 directors.
On October 5, 2020, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer, Victor Lee, resigned from his position as the interim Chief Financial Officer and appointed Michael Gilbreth to serve as the Chief Financial Officer of the Company effective October 5, 2020. Mr. Lee continues to serve as Chief Executive Officer and a director of the Company.
Mr. Gilbreth is a financial executive with more than 15 years of experience in accounting and business management, consumer packaged goods, e-commerce, and financial consulting. In April 2020, Mr. Gilbreth formed a financial consulting company, PVMG Advisors, Inc. (“PVMG”), which provides financial and business consulting services. While at PVMG, Mr. Gilbreth provided consulting services to Crowdex in connection with the Company’s recent restructuring and recapitalization process. Please refer to Form 8-K filing on September 30 and December 4, 2020 for more information.
Prior to PVMG, Mr. Gilbreth was Vice President of Finance from 2015 to January 2020 at Candy Club Holding Limited, a publicly traded company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX: CLB) and headquartered in Los Angeles, California (“Candy Club”). Candy Club is a leading specialty market confectionery company which operates in the business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer (B2C) segments in the United States. In this lead finance role at Candy Club, Mr. Gilbreth supported the company’s capital raising activities, including a successful initial public offering on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in February 2019. From 2013 to 2015, Mr. Gilbreth operated Gilbreth Consulting, which provides financial and operational management consulting services, and strategic and operational planning services. From 2010 to 2013, Mr. Gilbreth was VP/Finance at MediaTrust, a performance marketing company based in southern California. From 2005 to 2010, Mr. Gilbreth was a business manager at Duban Sattler and Associates LLP, a boutique tax accounting and business management firm based in southern California, which represents high net worth individuals.
“Despite the setbacks caused by various challenges including the lack of financial resources and the impact of COVID-19 this year, I am extremely pleased with our recent restructuring and recapitalization efforts, as well as the new Board of Directors composition and appointment of Michael Gilbreth as CFO.” commented Victor Lee, President and CEO of Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. “We will continue our reorganization effort and strengthen our balance sheet and streamline our business model to focus on our core strength in the Tier-1 specialty PV markets with high entry barriers like the space and near-space, aviation (drones), military, 1st Responders and emergency power markets.”
Mr. Lee concluded, “Great progress has been made in the space and near-space, defense and emergency power market in 2020 despite an extraordinarily difficult year. We are optimistic and look forward to stronger years ahead, as our high-value PV market focus begins to take shape. We look forward to updating our shareholders as we make continued progress.”
