Cleantech Group announces addition of Sheeraz Haji to executive team and promotion of Richard Youngman

SAN FRANCISCO – June 23, 2009 – The Cleantech Group™, LLC, founders of the cleantech sector and providers of leading global market research, events and advisory services for the cleantech ecosystem, today named Sheeraz Haji to its management board as a managing partner in its San Francisco office, and the promotion of Richard Youngman to managing partner in the company’s London office.

As the newest member of the executive team, Haji will be responsible for the North American, East Asian and other operational activities of the Cleantech Group. Previously, Haji spent eight years co-founding and leading GetActive (merged with Convio), a venture-backed software-as-a-service (SaaS) company providing CRM tools to nonprofits, associations and educational institutions. As CEO, and later as President of the merged entity, Haji successfully built a company with 1,200 clients and 300 employees.

Haji also worked as a strategy consultant for McKinsey & Company, an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) for El Dorado Ventures, an operations executive for GMO and a Product Manager for Digital Impact (acquired by Axciom). He launched his career as an environmental engineer in the Washington, D.C. office of Environ International and has two degrees in Environmental Engineering.

“It's a privilege to join the talented team that founded the Cleantech Group and developed the leading brand in this sector. As someone with an environmental background, I’ve been impressed with the Cleantech Group’s contribution to the growth of an industry that barely existed ten years ago,” said Sheeraz Haji, Cleantech Group Managing Partner. “The company’s data and research, industry-leading events and advisory services give it a unique position in the sector.”

Richard Youngman has been a managing director with the Cleantech Group for over a year, responsible to date for the company's activities in Europe and Israel. In his new role, Youngman will be responsible for driving the growth of the group's activities in Europe, the Middle East and South Asia, as well as responsible for the company's industry data gathering operations and its other membership services.

Prior to the Cleantech Group, Youngman was the vice president of Research & Operations at Library House where he ran the Library House Research team. Youngman also previously ran his own advisory firm conducting research and consulting which followed nine years building a broad-based finance and research background with leading financial institutions such as ABN AMRO, Barclays Capital and BZW in the City of London.

Upcoming Events:
The Cleantech Group’s upcoming Cleantech Forum XXIII Boston is taking place from September 8-10, 2009. For information on the Forum, visit:
http://cleantech.com/cleantechforum/boston09/index.cfm

Nominations are currently open for the Global Cleantech 100 awards, to be published by the Guardian and Cleantech Group in September, and will close on June, 30th, 2009. To nominate cleantech companies, visit:
http://www.cleantech.com/news/4495/cleantech-global-100

Note: The Cleantech Group is now on Twitter and Facebook. Follow the company on both online communities:

Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/cleantechgroup

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Francisco-CA/Cleantech-Group/68040580785?ref=ts

About the Cleantech Group, LLC
The Cleantech Group pioneered the clean technology investment category in 2002. Today, it accelerates the development and market adoption of clean technologies globally. The company’s worldwide network of investors, entrepreneurs, enterprises, service providers and others—representing trillions of dollars in assets—receives access to capital, investment deal flow, networking, market leading research and data, sales leads and promotional opportunities. The Cleantech Group also provides advisory services for large corporations and governments, publishes leading cleantech sector industry news coverage and produces the premier Cleantech Forum® events worldwide. Details are available at http://www.cleantech.com.

Press contacts:
Liam Rose
Sterling Communications, Inc.
Tel: +1 (415) 392-3213
Email: lrose@sterlingpr.com