Ascent Solar Technologies Names New CEO

THORNTON, Colo., May 02, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ascent Solar Technologies, (Nasdaq: ASTI) (“ASTI” or the “Company”), the leading U.S. innovator in the design and manufacture of featherweight, flexible, and durable CIGS thin-film photovoltaic (PV) solutions, announced today that the Board of Directors has terminated Jeffrey Max, ASTI’s President and Chief Executive Officer, effective April 26, 2023. The Company also announced that it has named its Chief Financial Officer, Paul Warley, as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Mr. Warley will remain in his current role as CFO on an interim basis until his replacement is appointed by the Company's Board.

“We are thrilled that Paul has agreed to take on this leadership role at Ascent during such an important moment in the Company’s journey,” said David Peterson, Chairman of the Board at Ascent Solar Technologies. “Paul brings tremendous financial and executive leadership experience serving middle market companies, that coupled with his depth of thin-film solar knowledge, will propel the Company to its next phases of growth and commercial adoption.”

Prior to joining Ascent as its Chief Financial Officer in December 2022, Mr. Warley spent nearly 40 years specializing in corporate turnarounds, restructurings, cross-border trade and capital advisory mandates at Bank of America, Bankers Trust, GE Capital, Deloitte Corporate Finance, and his consulting firm, Warley & Company. The firm provided executive management, capital and M&A advisory services to middle-market companies in the manufacturing, service, construction, technology, oil and gas, clean energy, food, retail and green-building sectors. Mr. Warley graduated from The Citadel with a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in accounting, and served in the U.S. Army, attaining the rank of Captain.

“I am eager to continue working with the talented Ascent team to build on the progress we have made this year to commercialize our exceptional technology and re-establish the Company as a leader in the thin-film PV industry,” said Paul Warley, Chief Executive Officer at Ascent Solar Technologies. “Following the acquisition of Flisom’s assets and the repurposing of the Thornton plant as a Perovskite Center of Excellence, we are confident the Company has a strong foundation and is well positioned for growth. We are now capable of meeting market demand in Europe, Asia and North America, while simultaneously advancing R&D efforts of Perovskite – long considered a promising material for next generation solar materials.”