Pacific Ethanol, Inc. Announces Changes to the Board of
2006-04-24 08:15 (New York)
Directors and the Resignation of its Chief Operating Officer
FRESNO, Calif., April 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Pacific Ethanol, Inc.
(Nasdaq: PEIX) announced today that concurrent with the closing of its
offering of preferred stock to Cascade Investment, L.L.C. on April 13, 2006,
Charles Bader and Kenneth Friedman resigned from the Board of Directors and
Douglas L. Kieta and Robert P. Thomas were appointed to fill the vacancies
created by these resignations. The Company also announced the resignation of
Ryan Turner as Chief Operating Officer and Secretary effective as of April 19,
2006.
From 1999 to April 2006, Mr. Kieta was employed at Calpine Corporation,
where he was most recently Senior Vice President of Construction and
Engineering. Calpine is a major North American power company providing
electricity to customers and communities in 21 states and three Canadian
provinces. Mr. Kieta has more than 38 years of profit center and project
operations experience in the domestic and international power industries.
Prior to joining Calpine, he served as President and CEO of Century
Contractors West, Inc. During his time there, the company constructed more
than 3,500 megawatts of new power generation projects. Mr. Kieta holds a
bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Clarkson University and a master's
degree in civil engineering from Cornell University.
Since 1999, Mr. Thomas has held various positions and is now a portfolio
manager with the William H. Gates III investment group which oversees Mr.
Gates' personal investments through Cascade Investment, L. L. C, and the
investment assets of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Mr. Thomas is a
graduate of Claremont McKenna College.
Mr. Turner resigned from the Company to pursue family business interests
unrelated to the ethanol industry. The Company's Chief Executive Officer, Neil
Koehler, will assume Mr. Turner's duties on an interim basis while a search is
undertaken to fill the Chief Executive Officer position.
Bill Jones, Chairman of the Board of Pacific Ethanol, stated, "Ryan has
provided very valuable effort, dedication and crucial involvement in the early
phases of the Company's development that were instrumental in bringing us to
where we are today. As we transition to intensive construction and operating
phases of our growth, the Board of Directors is initiating a search for a new
Chief Operating Officer with extensive construction and operating experience.
We also wish to thank the outgoing directors, Charles Bader and Kenneth
Friedman, for their outstanding efforts over the past year. We are happy to
add to our Board a wealth of development, operations and financial experience
and expertise in the additions of Doug Kieta and Robert Thomas. Their
perspective, input and advice will be of timely value to our management team
as we rapidly move forward in our plans to develop new plants and begin
ethanol production later in the year."
About Pacific Ethanol, Inc.
The primary goal of Pacific Ethanol, Inc. is to become the leader in the
development, production and marketing of renewable fuels in the Western United
States. Established in 2003, Pacific Ethanol is constructing its first large
scale ethanol production facility in Madera County, California, and is
developing four additional plants on the West Coast. Kinergy Marketing, LLC,
a wholly owned subsidiary of Pacific Ethanol, is the largest West Coast based
marketer of ethanol. In addition, Pacific Ethanol is working to identify and
develop other renewable fuel technologies such as cellulose-based ethanol
production and bio-diesel.
