Optima Health Regulatory News (OPT)

26 Jun 2007 07:02

Ocean Power Technologies Inc26 June 2007 Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. 1590 Reed Road Pennington, New Jersey 08534 USA June 26, 2007 OPT names draper as Chief operating officer Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: OPTT and London Stock Exchange AIM: OPT)("OPT" or the "Company") announces that the Board of Directors of OPT haselected Mark R. Draper as the Company's Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Draper, 44,has served since September 2004 as the Chief Executive and Director of thewholly-owned European subsidiary, Ocean Power Technologies Limited, based inWarwick, England. Prior to joining OPT in 2004, Mr. Draper's career encompassed a broad range ofmanagerial and engineering roles at Powergen plc - a UK energy business with anannual turnover in excess of £6 Billion, and its predecessor, the CentralElectricity Generating Board of the UK. Mr. Draper's most recent position atPowergen was as Managing Director of the Generation Business, with directresponsibility for nine major power stations (9,000 MegaWatts of capacity), acombined heat and power business, the technology division, and the company'srenewable energy business. He was instrumental in establishing and managing thegrowth of Powergen's renewable generation activities, including on-shore andoff-shore wind power stations. Mr. Draper worked internationally while atPowergen, and has also served on management teams assigned to oversee theintegration of newly acquired power plants, and also managed the sale of plantsto multi-national energy companies. Dr. George W. Taylor, Chief Executive Officer of OPT, stated, "I am very pleasedthat Mark has agreed to accept the position of Chief Operating Officer. Sincejoining the Company as Chief Executive of Ocean Power Technologies Limited, hehas demonstrated his strong abilities in the areas of operations, as well astechnology development and commercialization. Building on his prior experiencein the utility industry, Mark is well-suited to drive aggressively the Company'sgrowth in the US, Europe and other parts of the world." Mr. Draper holds a Master's Degree in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering fromCambridge University (UK), and has attended management training programs atWharton and Harvard Business schools. He is a Fellow of both the Institute ofMechanical Engineering and the Institute of Electrical Engineering. About Ocean Power Technologies Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. develops and is commercializing proprietarysystems that generate electricity by harnessing the renewable energy of oceanwaves. The Company's PowerBuoy(R) system is based on modular, ocean-going buoys,which have been ocean tested for nearly a decade. The waves move the buoy-likestructure creating mechanical energy that the Company's proprietary technologiesconvert into electricity. For Further information, please contact: Ocean Power Technologies, Inc Telephone: +1 609 730 0400Dr. George W. Taylor, Chief Executive Officer Telephone: +1 609 730 0400Charles F. Dunleavy, Chief Financial Officer Corfin Communications Telephone: +44 20 7929 8989Ben Hunt, Neil Thapar Collins Stewart Telephone: +44 20 7523 8353Adrian Hadden This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange