August 31, 2009 - American Electric Technologies Accelerates Push in Renewable Energy Market with Two New Leadership Appointments

HOUSTON, TX (August 31, 2009) — American Electric Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AETI), the premium provider of power infrastructure solutions for the traditional and renewable energy industries, announced today the appointment of two new executives focused on accelerating the company’s penetration in the wind and solar markets.

 

John Skibinski joins AETI as vice president of New Market Development, reporting directly to AETI’s new president and CEO, Charles Dauber. Robert Thomson also joins AETI as manager of North American Renewable Energy Services, responsible for building and successfully managing the company’s North American wind farm and solar farm start-up and maintenance services.

 

Skibinski brings 26 years of power conversion and power distribution experience to AETI from Eaton Corporation. His background in engineering, product marketing and business development will enable AETI to successfully bring to market custom-designed renewable energy solutions. Skibinski holds bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and M.B.A.s in business management, program management and human resources from the Keller Graduate School of Management.

 

“John Skibinski is well known in the energy industry for his knowledge of customers and their critical power applications,” said Dauber. “He has proven success in driving new products and launching new business processes at Eaton, and we look forward to John leading AETI to meet our renewable energy market growth objectives.”

 

Skibinski commented, “The fast pace of renewable energy markets require aggressive product development efforts and a commitment to be flexible to meet customers’ changing requirements. AETI has a long, successful history as a power conversion OEM, successfully bringing custom, cutting-edge products to market, often within a few months, and I look forward to helping build the company’s renewable energy business.“

 

Thomson joins AETI from Electrical Power Systems (EPS) in Denver where he was responsible for managing teams that provided start-up and maintenance services for wind farms across the United States. Thomson also held technical services roles at Johnson Controls, Eaton/Cutler-Hammer Engineering Services and Piper Electric.

 

“We are also very excited to bring Bob Thomson to lead our Renewable Energy Services group at AETI,” said Dauber. “Bob commissioned 27 wind farms in the past 24 months and is really one of the country’s leading wind farm electrical infrastructure experts, so I am confident in his ability to help renewable project developers assure a safe, comprehensive commissioning process for their wind and solar projects.”

 

 

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This press release contains forward-looking statements, as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, concerning our anticipated future revenues, profits, plans and objectives. While the Company believes that such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that such future revenues, profits, plans and objectives will be achieved on the schedule or in the amounts indicated. Investors are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Actual events or results may differ from the Company’s expectations, and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those listed in Item 1A of the Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 27, 2009 and Item 3 of the Form 10-Q filed on August 11, 2009.  The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements even if experience or future events make it clear that any of the projected results expressed or implied herein will not be realized.