Energy Focus Strengthens Its Board With the Electi

SOLON, Ohio, Oct. 7, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Energy Focus, Inc. (OTCQB:EFOI) today announced the election of two new directors Michael Ramelot and Jiangang Luo to its Board of Directors at its recent annual meeting.

"Not only does Michael Ramelot bring extensive financial expertise to our Board's finance committee, he brings a wealth of experience in successfully managing the transformations and rapid expansions of entrepreneurial companies, notably Flextronics International, one of the world's largest contract manufacturers—exactly what Energy Focus needs today. We very much look forward to tapping Mr. Ramelot's financial acumen and entrepreneurial experience to enhance the quality and execution of our financial management practices, global supply chain operations and strategic growth plans," said James Tu, Energy Focus Executive Chairman.

"We are also excited to have Jiangang Luo join our Board," continued Mr. Tu. "Mr. Luo's expertise in investing in and expanding leading edge cleantech companies as well as his broad access to global cleantech investor and corporate networks will be invaluable to Energy Focus as we seek to rapidly expand our capacities to penetrate the global buildings market with our leading LED products and to expedite the commercialization of our clean energy technology portfolio."

Both Mr. Ramelot and Mr. Luo join the Board as independent directors, preserving the majority of independent directors in the Board's composition that the Company has committed to maintain. In addition, Mr. Ramelot's financial credentials qualify him as a financial expert according to SEC guidelines.

"The election of Mr. Ramelot and Mr. Luo are also in accord with the Company's plan- to configure its board according to NASDAQ requirements to prepare for a return to the NASDAQ exchange at the appropriate time," concluded Mr. Tu.

Forward Looking Statements

Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For more information about potential factors that could affect the financial results of Energy Focus, please refer to the Company's SEC reports, including its Annual Reports on Form 10-K and its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. Energy Focus disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

About Michal Ramelot

Since 2002, Mr. Ramelot has been a consultant on many projects including being the project leader on BlackLine system implementation to enhance the financial close process of several multi-million dollar companies as well as a project leader on due diligence, accounting valuations and appraisals related to corporate acquisitions. In addition, Mr. Ramelot also engages with researching and preparing position papers for companies on complex accounting issues related to stock-based compensation, income taxes, business combinations and goodwill, and preparing various SEC filings, assessing and implementing Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley for client companies.

Prior to becoming a consultant, Mr. Ramelot was CFO and then President of Compro Packaging LLC, a manufacturer of corrugated packaging material, and CFO for Flextronics Inc., a publicly traded international contract manufacturer, and CFO of Cromemco Incorporated, a manufacturer of microcomputers.  He began his career with the auditing firm KPMG.

Mr. Ramelot received a BS degree with an accounting major from St. Mary's College, and earned an MBA from the University of Santa Clara.  He is a Certified Public Accountant, and a member of the Financial Executive Institute and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

About Jiangang Luo

Jiangang Luo is the chairman of Co-Founder of Faith Asset Management LLC., a global investment firm focused on the clean energy sector, and Managing Partner of Prime Science & Technology, Inc., a currently EFOI convertible note holder.  Mr. Luo is also the Chairman of Tsinghua Alumni Association in New York.

In 2009, Mr. Luo co-founded U.S.-China Cleantech Forum, a platform to foster and create dialogs and collaborations between cleantech industries and institutions in the U.S. and China for venture financing, technology exchange and market expansion. The Forum has organized many large-scale conferences and seminars and built trusted relationships with many American and Chinese clean energy enterprises and investors over the past 5 years.

Before his career in cleantech, Mr. Luo has been a seasoned enterprise systems developer and manager, having worked for Oracle Corporation Inc. as a principal consultant advising many Fortune 500 clients. Oracle Corporation (Nasdaq: ORCL ) is the world's largest enterprise software company.

Mr. Luo obtained his masters degree in Computational Mathematics from Tsinghua University in 1994.  In 1991, he received Applied Mathematics and Computer Science double degrees from Tsinghua University. In 1996, Rutgers awarded Mr. Luo a Fellowship for his mathematical Ph. D degree. In the meantime, he earned a Computer Science masters degree in less than one year from New Jersey Institute of Technology.

About Energy Focus, Inc.

Energy Focus, Inc. is a leading provider of energy efficient LED lighting products, turnkey energy efficient lighting solutions and a developer of energy efficient lighting technology. Our solutions provide energy savings, aesthetics, safety and maintenance cost benefits over conventional lighting. Our long-standing relationship with the U.S. Government includes numerous research and development projects for the DOE and DARPA, creating energy efficient LED lighting systems for the U.S. Navy fleet.

Customers include national, state and local U.S. government agencies as well as Fortune 500 companies, the U.S. Navy, swimming pool builders and many others. Company headquarters are located in Solon, OH, with additional offices in Nashville, TN, Pleasanton, CA, and the United Kingdom. 

Media Contact: Energy Focus, Inc. Public Relations Office (440) 715-1295 Investor Contact: Brion Tanous CleanTech IR, Inc. (310) 541-6824