Former California Energy Commission Chairman Joe Desmond Joins Ice Energy as Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer

WINDSOR, Colo., Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Ice Energy, a leading provider of advanced energy storage solutions to the electric utility industry, today announced the appointment of Joseph F. Desmond as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer.

As a senior member of the company's executive management team, Desmond will develop and drive strategic marketing and business initiatives to keep Ice Energy positioned at the forefront of the emerging energy storage market.

Desmond brings to the company more than two decades of public and private experience in the energy, energy efficiency, smart grid and utility sectors, including having served most notably as Chairman of the California Energy Commission (CEC) under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"Joe is an innovator and doer. His deep domain expertise and entrepreneurial experience in the energy sector, as well as his strategic insight into the utility, legislative and regulatory decision-making process, will be of tremendous value as we move Ice Energy to the next level," said Frank Ramirez, CEO of Ice Energy. "His vision, foresight, and imagination will help us to position and accelerate our presence in the market at this critical time in our company's growth."  

Desmond most recently served as Senior Vice President, External Affairs for NorthernStar Natural Gas, a developer of liquefied natural gas import terminals, where he was responsible for the company's government relations, public relations and investor relations activities.  In September 2008, NorthernStar's Bradwood project became the first U.S. West Coast LNG import terminal to win approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Previously, Desmond served the Schwarzenegger Administration as Chairman of the CEC and Under Secretary for Energy Affairs in the California Resources Agency.  In those positions, he advised the Governor on energy matters and was responsible for overall energy policy in the areas of electricity, natural gas and transportation fuels across state and federal agencies. In addition, he led energy-related legislative and policy initiatives and played a significant role in the development of the state's greenhouse gas performance standards for energy procurement.

Prior to public service, Desmond spent four years as President and Chief Executive Officer of Infotility, Inc., an energy consulting and software development firm. Previously, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Electronic Lighting, Inc., and Vice President of Parke Industries, two early innovators in energy efficient lighting systems.

"I've been a long-time believer in Ice Energy's distributed storage technology and its value proposition," said Desmond.  "By providing the utility industry a powerful, cost-effective solution for grid-scale energy storage to help meet the growing demand for clean, renewable energy, the company has the potential to fundamentally transform energy system efficiency and grid reliability at a time when it is critically important for this country. Today, Ice is poised to achieve significant market growth, and I'm thrilled to be joining the company and its stellar management team at this exciting time in its evolution."

Desmond began his career as a marketing and demand planning administrator for Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant, a publicly owned utility. He holds a bachelor's degree in business administration, with a concentration in marketing, finance and management, from Northeastern University.

ABOUT ICE ENERGY

Ice Energy is the leading provider of advanced energy storage and smart grid solutions to the electric utility industry.

Founded in 2003, the company is dedicated to transforming energy system efficiency and improving grid reliability through the development of advanced technology solutions that promote the efficient use of energy resources, reduce our dependency on fossil fuels, and enable the transition to a cleaner, smarter, more sustainable power grid.

Ice Energy's smart grid platform integrates revolutionary, distributed energy storage technology with an advanced software infrastructure and intelligent two-way control to provide utilities with a powerful, cost-effective alternative to conventional peaking power plants for meeting peak demand.

By leveraging the higher efficiencies associated with generating and transmitting cleaner, more efficient and more abundant power off-peak, storing it at thousands of distributed locations, and dispatching it during times of peak demand, Ice Energy delivers a sustainable new energy solution equivalent to thousands of megawatts of clean peaking power for utilities.

The company is headquartered in Windsor, Colorado, with offices in Orange County and Sacramento, California. For more information, visit www.ice-energy.com or follow us on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/IceENRG.

SOURCE Ice Energy