6.04.2007 - 10:35am ET

(CSRwire) NEW YORK- June 4, 2007 – SJF Ventures announced today that the ‘Cleantech Companies in Mainstream Markets: Third Annual CEO Panel on Innovative Strategies’ event will be held in New York City on Wednesday, June 13th from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM EDT at the offices of Deutsche Bank at 60 Wall Street in New York City. The event will feature a keynote by Nicholas Parker, chairman and co-founder of the Cleantech Group, LLC family of companies and nine CEO presentations from a wide range of cleantech segments including alternative energy, water purification, and consumer products.

Each presentation will demonstrate how well conceived cleantech business models can scale rapidly for global markets by reducing costs, improving quality and delivering innovative services to both established and emerging markets. Each presenting participant is an acting CEO of a growing venture-backed company who is currently executing innovative cleantech business strategies and tactics. The companies presenting at the event are from a variety of cleantech sectors, with revenues between $1 million and $20 million or more. The event will also feature business updates from a few of last year’s presenting CEOs, which included Zipcar, groSolar, and Intechra.

The term "clean technology" embraces knowledge-based products and services that optimize the use of natural resources while reducing ecological impact and adding economic value by significantly lowering cost and improving profitability. Such technologies range from alternative forms of energy generation to smart materials and next-generation water purification systems. In Q1 2007 North American and European venture investment in the cleantech category totaled more than $903 million ($731 million in North America), which was a 16.5% increase over the $775 million invested in Q4 2006 and a 42% increase over the Q1 2006 investment of $634 million, according to Cleantech Network® researchers.

Nicholas Parker is the chairman and co-founder of the Cleantech Group, LLC family of companies including the Cleantech Network, LLC, the Cleantech Forums, Cleantech Indices, LLC, Cleantech Advisors, LLC and Cleantech China, LLC. Parker introduced the "cleantech" concept to the investment community in 2002 after 15 years experience starting and investing venture funds worldwide through limited partnerships, family offices, corporate funds and endowments. He founded, built and sold a leading transatlantic environmental finance advisory and strategy firm. Parker has served as an advisor to multilateral agencies such as the World Business Council on Sustainable Development and the International Finance Corporation (World Bank).

The CEO speakers include:

Mark Leininger, CEO, Helios Coatings Inc., Canton, OH
Helios Coatings Inc. has developed an environmentally friendly decorative metallic coating system (Metallight) that provides the look of metal plating with the durability of OEM automotive coatings at a much lower cost to the end user, with little, if any, impact to the environment. www.helioscoatingsinc.com

Charles Newman, CEO, ReCellular, Dexter, MI
ReCellular is the world’s foremost collector, reseller and recycler of used wireless phones and accessories with 51% of market share and revenues expected to exceed $60 MM in 2007. www.recellular.net

Rick Steele, CEO, NuRide Inc., Essex, CT
NuRide is an Internet-based ride-share program that helps drivers and riders arrange trips while earning points toward the purchase of incentives offered by corporate sponsors. The company currently has 22,000 members in six states. www.nuride.com

David Van Seters, CEO, SPUD, Vancouver, BC
SPUD provides on-line grocery home delivery, concentrated on local organic food producers. The company provides groceries at no more cost than customers would pay at a grocery store, while donating a percentage of their profits to community groups. Items listed on SPUD’s Web site are labeled with the source and how many miles the item traveled to reach the company's warehouse. www.spud.com

Carlos Perea, CEO, MIOX Corp., Albuquerque, NM
MIOX is a water disinfection technology company with more than 1,300 capital equipment systems installed in over 25 countries. With salt, water and electricity, MIOX technology creates a cleansing solution strong enough to make filthy water drinkable and to neutralize biological weapons. www.miox.com

Rudi Wiedermann, CEO, BioDiesel Solutions, Sparks, NV
BioDiesel Solutions – The company designs and manufactures processing equipment and accessories to convert used and fresh vegetable oil into clean-burning biodiesel. Their worldwide customer base includes families, co-ops, farmers, ranchers, renderers and commercial fleet owners. Tech Laboratories signed a letter of intent May 30 to acquire BioDeisel Solutions. www.biodieselsolutions.com

Tom Boucher, President and CEO, NativeEnergy LLC, Charlotte, VT
Native Energy is a retail marketer of both traditional and premium Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) and CO2 offsets, the company is helping to build Native American, farmer-owned, community based renewable energy projects that create social, economic and environmental benefits. www.nativeenergy.com

Michael Gordon, CEO, ConsumerPowerline, New York, NY
ConsumerPowerline is a full service strategic energy asset management firm and is the largest provider of demand response solutions in the United States with more than 750 MW’s under management. www.consumerpowerline.com

Jeff Wolfe, CEO, groSolar, White River Junction, VT
groSolar is a leading distributor of sustainable, green energy products and services. groSolar delivers and installs solar power systems for residential and commercial customers, the company is among the largest solar energy companies in North America, with offices throughout the northeast and in Colorado and western and eastern Canada. www.grosolar.com

The lead sponsors for the event are Deutsche Bank and Citibank, official event sponsors are Reitler, Brown & Rosenblatt and Spencer Clarke LLC. The media co-sponsors are Investors’ Circle; New York Industrial Retention Network (NYIRN); Center for Economic and Environmental Partnership (CEEP); Industrial & Technology Assistance Corporation (ITAC); The Community Development Venture Capital Alliance (CDVCA); Opportunity Finance Network; NYC Apollo; Hedge Connection, GreenBiz.com, and SustainableBusiness.com.

The ‘Cleantech Companies in Mainstream Markets: CEO Panel on Innovative Strategies’ event registration fee is $125 and due to the high level of security on Wall Street, pre-registration is absolutely required. Interested parties can register by contacting Anne Claire Broughton at 919-530-1177 ext 403 or 919-306-2090, by email broughton@sjfund.com or online at www.sjfund.com. The media can register by contacting Anne Sweeney at sjf@matternow.com or +1 978 499-9250, x 228.

About SJF Ventures (http://www.sjfund.com)

SJF Ventures is a venture capital fund that focuses on the cleantech, technology-enhanced services, and premium consumer products sectors. The fund looks for experienced management teams that are driving exceptional growth and positively impacting the world. SJF Ventures specializes in companies with revenues of $1 to $20 million seeking equity capital of $1 to $5 million. For more information about SJF please go to http://www.sjfund.com

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