GridPoint Announces Board of Directors Including Leaders from AT&T, Circuit City, First Energy, York International and the EPA

Board includes Chairman William A. Nitze, CEO Peter L. Corsell, Richard S. Bodman, J. Roderick Heller, Dean T. Langford, Joseph M. Perta, Paul J. Powers and Alan L. Wurtzel

WASHINGTON - November 1, 2005 - GridPoint, Inc., a provider of intelligent energy management (IEM) appliances, today announced its board of directors, appointing well-known executives and board members experienced in the executive management and financing of public and private companies as well as government organizations including AT&T, Circuit City Stores, Inc., First Energy Corporation, York International Corporation and the Environmental Protection Agency.

"We are extremely pleased to have attracted so many prominent executives to our board," said Peter L. Corsell, President and CEO of GridPoint. "Their leadership and experience will greatly benefit all aspects of the company and will help fuel GridPoint's rapid growth."

The company's board of directors includes Richard S. Bodman, J. Roderick Heller, Dean T. Langford, Joseph M. Perta, Paul J. Powers, Alan L. Wurtzel, as well as GridPoint's co-founders William A. Nitze and Peter L. Corsell.

Richard S. Bodman is managing manager of Bodman Oil & Gas LLC and BCF LLC, as well as a managing general partner of AT&T Venture Funds, which he helped form, Special Partners Funds and VMS Group. Previously, Mr. Bodman served as Senior Vice President of AT&T for Corporate Strategy & Development and as a member of AT&T's Management Executive Committee as well as the President of Washington National Investment Corporation. In recent years, Mr. Bodman served as a director of Reed Elsevier, Young & Rubicam, Lin Broadcasting, Tyco International, SPACEHAB, and the National Housing Partnerships, Inc.

J. Roderick Heller is Chairman and CEO of Carnton Capital Associates LP, a venture capital firm, and serves as a member of the board of directors for York International Corporation, a global supplier of heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment, as well as First Potomac Realty Trust. Mr. Heller served as Chairman and CEO of the National Housing Partnerships, Inc., where he built the housing consortium into the largest owner and operator of apartments in the U.S. and directed its public offering. As President and CEO of Bristol Compressors, Inc., a manufacturer of air conditioning compressors, Mr. Heller led the company to profitability within two years and later sold Bristol to York International.

Dean T. Langford is the former President and CEO of Sylvania and OSRAM SYLVANIA, retiring in 2001 as the lighting company's longest-standing chief executive. Prior to Sylvania, Mr. Langford served as Vice President of Marketing for GTE Diversified Products and Services following nineteen years with IBM Corporation where he held several key executive positions. Mr. Langford has been a member of the board of the Alliance To Save Energy and served as the first non-congressional co-chairman for eight years. In 2003 Gale Norton, Secretary of Interior, appointed Mr. Langford to a six-year term on the board of directors of the National Park Foundation of the United States of America. Mr. Langford has also served on the boards of the National Manufacturers Association and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association.

Joseph M. Perta is Vice President at Bernstein Investment Research & Management, a unit of Alliance Capital Management, one of the country's largest independent global investment management companies. Mr. Perta is responsible for the management of institutional and private client assets in discretionary investment accounts that include U.S. and international equities, fixed income, and alternative investment portfolios. Mr. Perta has been an advisor to senior corporate officers and investors for twenty-five years, initially as a management consultant specializing in mergers and acquisitions and more recently as a financial advisor to institutional investors.

Paul J. Powers is former Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Commercial Intertech Corp. Before his retirement from Commercial Intertech, Mr. Powers merged the company into Parker Hannifin Corp., the world's leading diversified manufacturer of motion and control technologies and systems, and spun off Cuno Inc., a leading manufacturer of consumer, life sciences and industrial filtration products. Mr. Powers serves on the board of directors of First Energy Corp., a diversified energy company, York International, the largest independent supplier of HVAC equipment in the U.S. and GlobalSantaFe Corp., a leading worldwide offshore oil and gas drilling contractor.

Alan L. Wurtzel is Chairman Emeritus and former Chief Executive Officer of Circuit City Stores, Inc., which during his tenure as CEO was among the best performing companies on the New York Stock Exchange, an accomplishment recognized and analyzed in Jim Collins' best-selling book Good to Great. Mr. Wurtzel is also a Director of Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. and formerly served on the board of Office Depot. Mr. Wurtzel has concentrated much of his non-business activities on higher education and K-12 education reform. He is a member of the board of the National Center for Education and the Economy, Chair of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), and a Trustee Emeritus of Oberlin College.

Chairman William A. Nitze, who has worked on energy and environmental issues for most of his career, also serves as Chairman of the Climate Institute as well as the Galapagos Conservancy. Mr. Nitze served as President of the Gemstar Group, Inc., a nonprofit corporation that developed market-based approaches to global environmental problems from 2001 to 2005. In the 1990s, Mr. Nitze served as Assistant Administrator for International Activities at the Environmental Protection Agency and as President of the Alliance to Save Energy. Prior to entering the public policy arena, Mr. Nitze spent fourteen years at the Mobil Oil Corporation (1974-1987), where he served as Assistant General Counsel, Exploration & Producing Division, and General Counsel, Mobil Japan.

President and CEO Peter L. Corsell is the former Director of Energy Markets at Gemstar Group, where he directed the Photovoltaics Market Aggregation Initiative and developed strategies to expand existing markets for renewable energy. Prior to his work at the Gemstar Group, Mr. Corsell served with the U.S. State Department as Special Assistant to the Principal Officer of the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba as well as a political analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency, where he received the Agency's Exceptional Performance Award for superior accomplishment.

GridPoint builds intelligent energy management (IEM) products to provide protection from power outages, reduce energy costs and manage energy efficiency for the home and business. Unlike any other residential and light commercial energy technology, GridPoint products uniquely incorporate advanced software coupled with communication technologies and network controls that allow the appliance to automatically execute intelligent decisions to improve power reliability and management. The single cabinet, "plug-and-play" appliances are easy to install and monitored by GridPoint's network operations center to ensure maximum efficiency and early detection of maintenance needs.

About GridPoint

GridPoint builds intelligent energy management (IEM) products to provide protection from power outages, reduce energy costs and manage energy efficiency for the home and business. GridPoint IEM appliances provide traditional and renewable energy users with instant, automatic backup power based on clean, high-capacity, battery-based technology. GridPoint products also offer the renewable energy user a superior way to integrate alternative energy sources. GridPoint's single cabinet, "plug-and-play" appliances are easy to install and sold through a network of premium home builders, utilities, retail chains and government entities as well as installers and contractors of electrical, heating, air-conditioning, home automation and renewable energy systems.

On the Net: www.gridpoint.com

Contact Information

Suzanne Lauer
703.862.3137 or slauer@gridpoint.com

Read More Press Releases

Media Contact
Suzanne Lauer
(703) 862-3137 or
slauer@gridpoint.com