Jeremy Leggett Passes Solarcentury CEO Role to Derry Newman to Focus on Chairmanship
London, England, United Kingdom December 3, 2007

Positioning for Further Growth

Social entrepreneur Jeremy Leggett today handed the CEO role at Solarcentury, the UK's largest solar energy company, to his Chief Operating Officer, Derry Newman, former Managing Director of Sony UK. Leggett, who founded solarcentury in 1999, has served in the dual role of CEO and Chairman since then. Newman joined Leggett as COO in December 2006, leaving a very successful career in Sony which saw him rise to the post of Senior Vice President and to the board of Sony Europe.

"A dual CEO/Chairman role is too broad for a company that is expanding as rapidly as Solarcentury, entering fast-growing new markets with our building-integrated solar products," said Leggett. "As a leader in the building-integrated solar space we are accelerating the deployment of our award-winning solar innovations in Spain, France, Italy, and other global markets. We also expect our home building-integrated market in the UK to grow fast, driven by local government support and energy-security concerns, plus the success of our first rooftile innovations. Facing these opportunities, I plan now to focus full-time on strategic planning, ambassadorship in pursuit of our growth, and the running of our board, with its world-class investor group. Having worked closely with Derry for the last year, I feel certain I am passing the operational leadership of this company into the safest of hands."

Derry Newman said: "Jeremy and I have very complementary skills, and have been increasingly excited at the potential of our partnership as we have worked together this last year. As an entrepreneur and visionary, he has no match in the clean energy business. I have been lucky enough to build great experience in leading businesses during my career. By splitting the leadership in this way, we will maximise our chances of delivering a world-class business that can achieve the vision shared by the wider solarcentury team and its investors: innovation leadership and significant growth in building-integrated solar markets so as to make a big difference in the struggle to abate global warming."

Sven Hansen, Chief Investment Officer of leading investor in renewable energy and energy efficiency, Good Energies, a recent investor in solarcentury, said: "We have built a multi-billion euro portfolio primarily via investments in upstream and midstream solar manufacturers. Solarcentury is our first pure downstream solutions investment, and we made it on the basis of their early product portfolio and the strength of their management team. We look forward to a spectacular growth story as Jeremy and Derry broaden their collaboration."

Solarcentury is Europe's leading solar energy company, specialising in the design and supply of building integrated solar technologies. Solarcentury is in business for a purpose: to help create a cleaner world and a sustainable future. Based in London, with operations in the UK, France and Spain, it has installed over 500 solar systems including those on the Eden Project, Vauxhall Cross Bus Terminal and Europe’s largest vertical solar facade on the CIS Tower, Manchester. Solarcentury has helped thousands of homes go solar through its network of associate installers and is the founding company of the schools initiative Solar4Schools. In 2006, Solarcentury was named the UK’s Fastest Growing Renewable Energy Company by The Sunday Times Tech Track 100.

Source: Solarcentury