Cleantech Open Appoints Industry Experts to National Board of Directors and Key Leadership Roles

REDWOOD CITY, CA--(Marketwired - Jan 28, 2016) - The Cleantech Open (www.cleantechopen.org), the world's largest accelerator of early-stage clean-technology companies, has appointed five industry experts to its board of directors. The new board members represent a wide diversity of skills and expertise in the cleantech sector, and will help support and direct the organization's accelerating global expansion. Also announced today was the appointment of Ian Foraker to executive director, along with three new chairpersons to lead operational functions.

Founded in 2006, the Cleantech Open has grown from one region to eight regions nationally, and has also scaled up globally with Cleantech Open Accelerators now operating in seven countries in partnership with the United Nations.

"The welcome addition of these talented board members, along with an executive director and key leadership roles, will ensure continuous improvement in both our domestic and global operations in 2016. This will allow us to take maximum advantage of the COP 21 resolutions coming out of Paris in December. Now that we have a Global Accord on Climate Change, we must all focus on fostering radical innovation to drive disruptive solutions with a renewed sense of urgency," said Richard Franklin, executive chair of the Cleantech Open.

Executive Director appointment:

• Ian Foraker has played an active leadership role at the Cleantech Open since beginning as the volunteer Bay Area Director in 2013. Ian advanced to the role of Western Region Director in 2013, and Western Division Director in 2014. Through his efforts, the Cleantech Open in the west United States has expanded its volunteer organization and entered into strategic relationships with regional cleantech leaders, the Cleantech Alliance of Washington, and OregonBEST. Ian comes to the Cleantech Open from PG&E, where he managed strategy industry engagement for the Customer Energy Solutions organization. At PG&E, Ian worked closely with the Emerging Technologies, Smart Grid, and SmartMeter teams on industry engagement. Before joining PG&E, Ian worked across diverse staff functions (communications, IT, and human capital management) at Siemens, PriceWaterHouse Coopers, and IBM.

Board appointments: